Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

48 reviews

alexismoodie's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, Murder, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

blyndwolf's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

review soon

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

daybreakreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I finished this book in a day and a half. It was impossible to put down. I haven’t read his other book — I find it interesting that most of the negative reviews simply say that this one isn’t as good as The Silent Patient (makes me wonder how great that one is if I loved this one so much) — but I’m happy I read this one first because there’s a subtle connection between the two.

I actually suspected the right person early on (ultimately for the wrong reason), but mostly dismissed it because of a very powerful red herring (even though I at one point suspected the red herring as being such). I would say the true ending would be very difficult if not impossible to guess the first time through; I almost want to re-read it again now that I know how it ends.

The audiobook was fascinating to listen to; they used a different voice actor for the alternate perspective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Blood, Murder, and Death

Minor: Infertility, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual violence, Animal death, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Forced institutionalization

miggyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Torture, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness

ekclar's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, Murder, Child abuse, and Stalking

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

whatsophsreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Murder

Minor: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault

beeper's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Really enjoyed the first 3/4 of this book. The last 1/4 fell flat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

witsabouther's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Gore

Minor: Sexual harassment and Child abuse

ashleyvaleria's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

i read a few bad reviews before picking up this book and that usually affects my judgement but i for one very much enjoyed this book. very hard to put down and i couldn’t stop reading. i love the greek tragedy aspect of this authors writing which is what drew me to his other book The Silent Patient which i loved as well. i liked the little cameo with Theo, was a little shocked cause i didn’t know they were interconnected so it caught me off guard. ending is reminiscent to me of a Scream film. i guessed the killer but the backstory and motive was a complete shock to me.  i don’t care if the ending was abrupt and kind of out of nowhere cause my jaw was dropped and i was entertained and that’s all i need from a book at this point. only criticism is that many characters were introduced for no reason. the story could’ve done without their introduction and plot lines, kind of pointless to the story. but ending tied it all together for me and i loved it. his writing is great. would definitely read another one of his books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, and Violence

alba_marie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

"Death was no stranger to Mariana. It had been her constant companion, keeping close behind her, hovering just over her shoulder. She sometimes felt she had been cursed, as if by some malevolent goddess in a Greek myth to lose everyone she ever cared about."

Not as good as the Secret History, but as dark academia and thrillers go, this one was very addictive and juicy. The Maidens follows Mariana, a recently widowed group therapist from Greece who receives a desperate call from her niece Zoe, a student at Cambridge. There's been a terrible murder, and Zoe is terrified that the victim is her friend Tara, who's been "missing" since the day before.

Upon arrival, Mariana gets swept up into the lives of the charismatic Greek professor, Edward Fosca, and his weird group of favourite female students known only as "The Maidens." As the days go on, Fosca gets weirder, Mariana gets obsessed, and the murders pile up.

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I HATED The Silent Patient . I mean, HATED. I think it might have been my worst book read of the year. I thought it was so poorly written, so amateur, so ugh. But I decided to try this one because the premise intrigued me and ever since The Secret History , I've been intrigued by dark academia. And I'm glad I did! I thought this one was SO much better than The Silent Patient. Better written, better characterised, better plotted, better setting. He actually described stuff this time! And made 3-D characters! Imagine that.

I also LOVED the Greek tragedy and literary elements. Michaelides included the just right mix of Greek tragedy, literary references and academia mixed with real world challenges and psychological drama to make the unbelievable somewhat believable. As thrillers go, this one felt like a step up from your usual cheap thrills and often, the academia side overtook the thriller side of the book, leaving the reader with the impression of reading something a bit more high brow than your usual thriller. This worked well for me!

If you like dark academia, thrillers and psychology, this book is perfect for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Incest and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual assault