Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding

10 reviews

jcinf's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

After my last few books had 70+ page chapters, it was nice reading something with short chapters again. I finished this book in 2-3 days. 

I enjoyed the plot, most of the characters, and (again) the short chapters. 

I will say, I had my suspicions from the start that

Jesse was a bad man. Never trust a love bomber, lol.

and I was right. Predicting that didn’t make it any less enjoyable for me, though. If the author didn’t want readers to make the hypothesis on their own, that could’ve been remedied by slower pacing. But I like fast-paced books and have been desperately in need of one. So I think it’s good as is. 

I liked that there were twists without it being confusing or hard to follow. That’s a trap a lot of thrillers fall into, and it ends up docking stars for me when they do that. 

The main critique I have is that I felt like one of the main characters pieced some things together too easily almost. You almost have to suspend disbelief about that in order to enjoy it. But I do feel like the ending kind of packages that up more nicely. 

I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys thrillers!

Note: heavy trigger warnings for everything I tagged. Especially on abuse and DV. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Misogyny, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

briana_elaine's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Still processing this read, but the twists and turns really got me emotional. I’m reminded how heartless and cunning someone can be. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Slavery, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

daniofthewood'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Slavery

katiedoesntftba's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

I haven't read a book like this in a LONG time where I thought I knew where it was going and I was completely wrong. I got whiplash multiple times and loved it! I wish I could wipe my memory and read it again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Car accident

kayrenee521's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

Homeless, and running from her past Lee discovers one morning a woman so desperate to get away from her abusive husband that she’s suicidal. She says her name is Hazel and her husband Benjamin is a criminal defense attorney who controls her every move. The two become close, hatching a plan to get Hazel away from Benjamin.
       Lee soon learns that Hazel isn’t everything she seems and she may have been running from one bad situation right into an even worse one. 
     I enjoyed this book, large portions were told from alternating perspectives of Hazel and Lee. I found myself sympathetic to both women and their situations. My only complaint is things seemed too tidied up at the end and it had a little too much of a “ happy ending “
Plus I had to suspend disbelief at the way Benjamin got away with some stuff he did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Dementia, and Classism

sierracaine's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

kylieduncan's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Trigger warning: suicide, slavery

I was going to give this a 4 but the ending left me questions moving it back down to 3.5. A pretty good thriller that kept me invested for most of the book. There were parts of the ending that I really did not understand. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Trigger warning: suicide, slavery I was going to give this a 4 but the ending left me questions moving it back down to 3.5. A pretty good thriller that kept me invested for most of the book. There were parts of the ending that I really did not understand.

asteinke's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

redefiningrachel's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Vomit

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Rating: 4/5 stars

A woman living in her car gets tangled up in more than she bargained for when she saves the life of a wealthy woman.

Another month, another great book club pick! I really enjoyed this one, which kept me entertained and on the edge of my seat the whole time. The chapters were super short (ALWAYS a plus), and the twists and turns made me excited to keep reading and find out what would happen next. I also really enjoyed the changing POVs, which I thought added a lot of layers and nuance to the story.

I did expect another somewhat more “groundbreaking” reveal at some point, but I think that is just a function of consuming a lot of thrillers and always expecting some massive shock at the eleventh hour. Overall, I thought this was really well paced and the plot unspooled pretty nicely—and while there probably could have been another left turn at the end, I’m not overly mad that there wasn’t. As an added bonus, I actually really liked the main characters (even if I questioned some of their decisions), which can be rare for a thriller and which I always appreciate!

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: shifting POVs; psychological thrillers; short chapters

CW: Domestic violence/abuse; dementia; death of parent; discussions of suicide/suicide attempt; discussions of homelessness/poverty

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Car accident