Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

57 reviews

faduma's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Body horror, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I loved the build-up. I loved the intricate webbing of the neighborhood and white supremacy and patterns in history. I couldn’t stop reading! I sped through the book cause I was so curious about how it pieced together and what would bring it to a climax. But the ending did not pay off.

It fell a bit flat for me. And didn’t solve a lot of the intricate side plots. This book fell into its own trap. I think the plot got too big for itself so when the ending came, it could never have properly wrapped up all the loose threads. The main problem is a pitfall I’ve seen a lot of books struggle with: the villain became too omniscient.

There were ring cameras everywhere. The cops were in on it. Politicians both local and brand name, lawyers, nonprofits and nonethical companies alike. The white folk too indomitable by the end. And the ending does nothing to combat this. What is there to imply it won’t start back up immediately? If the gang of golden-oldies were in on it, why couldn’t they do more?? All they did was charge in to finish Sydney and Theo’s work?? They should’ve pulled Sydney into the work! They should’ve done more to stop local kids and families getting mixed into it! I can’t just believe everything is all right now. What about Drea and the man dead in Sydney’s house? What about the strange bedbugs?

I have more questions than answers after all that. And while I’m glad Theo helped Sydney through it all, I never trusted him. I was waiting for him to pull an Allison Williams the whole dang time. The ending felt like the end of a battle, not a war. And it’s hard to believe this one neighborhood can fight that big of a fight. Although I did appreciate the friendly neighbor motif and how togetherness is the way to win. I wish there’d been more closure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Racism, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Hate crime, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Death, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Torture, Slavery, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Racial slurs, Addiction, and Medical content

barefootbetsy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I really liked this. Yes, the pacing could’ve been more even, but the concept was solid and I enjoyed the story!  I, like many other reviewers, could’ve done without the romance subplot; but those issues aside, I thought the story was well done and it certainly drew me in quickly and thoroughly.

The history was fascinating and I have a new appreciation for how difficult (and horrifying) living with the remnants (and current iterations) of slavery and redlining and stolen land must be 😞

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Blood, Grief, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, and Excrement

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Police brutality, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Drug use, and Hate crime

Minor: Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Suicide, Vomit, Confinement, Dementia, Deportation, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Medical content, Racial slurs, and Sexual content

kumquats87's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Colonisation, Murder, Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Cursing, Grief, Alcohol, Confinement, Hate crime, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Kidnapping, Medical content, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Misogyny

Minor: Police brutality, Vomit, Infidelity, and Homophobia

thelibbyshow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, and Gun violence

cooperlentz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Physical abuse, Blood, Classism, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Slavery, Medical content, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

Minor: Deportation and Forced institutionalization

caitlyn_rehs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

asteinke's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

This book was painful to read and contained so many cringy moments that were so unrealistic. It was such a slow moving book and nothing interesting happened until about 70% through the book. Interesting concept but it could have been executed way better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Murder, Racism, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

pj_steph's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I overall enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the writing of this book. My favorite parts of the story were discussing the history of gentrification and going in depth on the horrors of the people who live in the neighborhoods. I will say the pacing was a little off. The beginning was a bit slow, but the ending felt REALLY rushed. I thought the middle had the best pacing. The mystery started to pick up and pieces were starting to come together, but then it kind of snowballed at the end. I'm definitely adding more Alyssa Cole to my TBR!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Stalking, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Racism, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Alcohol and Police brutality