Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

The Girl Before by JP Delaney

20 reviews

shereadsmysteries's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder, Vomit, Abortion, and Abandonment

Ableism: Discussions of keeping/terminating a pregnancy where child could be disabled; Abortion: discussion only; Child death: Stillbirth; Rape: False rape allegations

sylvestra's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Stalking, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

caitmcv's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Stalking, Abortion, and Pregnancy

ayannamaslog's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Fast and easy to read. I really enjoyed it overall. You think it will be a predictable story but it has many surprises throughout. I couldn’t put it down! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, and Rape

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Animal death and Child death

thenonbinaryc's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Would be four star but spoiled it with ableism and eugenics. Incorrect language used to refer to people with Down Syndrome. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

kyptonight's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

kjwaddell's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A fast read, not sold on the ending though. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Abortion

stephvt22's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Grief, and Stalking

Minor: Animal death, Suicide, Abortion, and Murder

peppers_books's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

0/10 would recommend. I am convinced that every person who rated this above two stars is reading a different book. I heard some negative things but saw that it has an average of 3.7 on goodreads so I decided to give it a go. Yikes.

The premise of the story sounds really interesting and unique, but when executed felt really unrealistic and flat. This was really disappointing as the beginning was relatively strong - it went downhill exponentially after the first fifty pages. Also, absolutely none of the characters were likeable. They were tolerable at best, and outright irritating at worst. At points I was so annoyed with Emma's character that I would've literally roundhouse kicked her if given the chance. I also really disliked how her sections were written without quotations. Like?? why?? And I just never understood any of the character's decisions and actions. I felt like a majority of the book had no purpose, like it contributed nothing to the plot and was just a space-filler.

On top of the whole mess that is this entire book, I felt the way that certain topics were discussed was really crass. How sexual assault is used as a plot device, how the only criminals in the book are Black and poor, how abortion and disabilities are discussed. Just a giant mess.

And I absolutely HATED how we are made to sympathize with Emma's character and her trauma only to find out she lied. Not only does she lie about the sexual assault once, but again when she is asked to write a statement, and again when asked to identify the assailant. Then she immaturely passes the blame onto the detective, saying it was his fault that she continued the lie by requesting a formal statement thing. And THEN she lies to her HR department. She was petty and extremely childish and a pathological liar. I could barely stand to read her sections.

Anyways, I am furious that I spent five bucks on this book as well as precious time not only reading it, but thinking about the terrible characters after the fact. -10/10 would recommend. I have never felt this strong of a dislike towards a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Ableism, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, and Abortion

Minor: Cancer and Drug abuse

bbsbooks's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I couldn’t put it down. I’m not usually a fast reader but I read this within a week. I enjoyed the mystery, the twists and turns and I definitely didn’t expect the ending. 
I really enjoyed how this book explored psychology and why certain characters were driven to do the things they did. It made me question the intentions of other characters as well.
However, there were elements to this book that made me really uncomfortable and probably not in the way the author intended. First of all the sexual scenes were really cringey, as was a lot of the writing. “Yes daddy yes” made me want to throw up in my mouth. I’m not trying to kink shame at all but something about that really didn’t sit well with me, maybe because I knew it was written by a man? I also hated when they wrote “so he’s like” before a character’s dialogue, it just didn’t work for me.
Another thing that made me really uncomfortable was the opinions on abortion and disabled children portrayed through this book. I think it is Jane who refers to abortion as “cowardly” but later decides to terminate if her baby is diagnosed with Down’s syndrome. I know this book came out a few years ago now but those opinions just felt outdated and unnecessary.   
Emma’s character really grated on me, especially as she started to unravel and I was put off reading the book a couple of times by the thought of having to read more about her. 
I wish they had ended the book with Emma’s letter, that last chapter from Jane just felt unbelievable and fell flat. 
Overall a good mystery book that will keep you guessing until the end, if you can put up with the annoying characters throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Abortion