Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

161 reviews

lampbee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Really well done thriller, no overly unreal aspects so it’s really easy to stay hooked. The twists are semi predictable but that doesn’t cheapen the read , it’s still very entertaining. Reading it as a white person might make you question just how realistic some of the depictions are but just lean into it, she’s right. The two leads Sydney and Theo are a good pair but for a lot of the book I found Theo very unlikeable , though as it continued I feel that that was intentional. A lot of the situations of conflict within the book make your stomach turn with frustration and helplessness which is the whole point but get ready to be very angry at a plot point  with absolutely no recourse. The build up is fantastic, the final reveal is fantastic, the way that that is dealt with is sort of lack luster bit it’s still worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Police brutality, Classism, Murder, Sexual content, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Kidnapping, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery

Although it’s meant to be a huge if not the biggest twist in the book

Sydneys mom being dead the whole time

is fairly obvious from the first we hear of the situation. The reveal about 75% of the way through feels a little silly because of it, like, duh… Also I felt a little annoyed at how

blatant Kim’s racism and generally evil personality was

, it felt so intense that it was no longer believable. Also the

sex scene between theo and sydney

was pretty unnecessary, is that just me ? Is anyone else getting tired of every book having a weirdly graphic scene for no real reason?

passionatereader78's review

challenging emotional hopeful tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

If you liked Ace of Spade by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé you will like this book.  It's an emotional read! Well written and powerful.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Drug use, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Violence, Sexual content, Gun violence, Grief, Hate crime, and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Vomit

ariajb's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Police brutality

bringitona's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Violence, Death, Blood, Racism, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Mental illness, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Hate crime, Sexual content, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Drug use, Confinement, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Classism, and Fire/Fire injury

tey_lynn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Gore, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Blood, Classism, Gun violence, Cursing, and Fire/Fire injury

callidoralblack's review

challenging dark mysterious tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Abandonment, Infidelity, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Bullying, Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Sexism, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Medical content, Physical abuse, Stalking, Cancer, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Deportation, Mental illness, and Sexual content

jenbertface's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

This book was a fun read and very informative, I learned a lot about Brooklyn history! The down side was it took a while for the characters to get to the heart of the mystery at work in the story. Once they did, the last few chapters flew by and it felt like the story wrapped up a little too quickly. I really liked Sydney but wasn’t really a fan of Theo’s narration.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Gun violence, Grief, Violence, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Minor: Confinement, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Forced institutionalization

rurouni's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Colonisation, Murder, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Slavery, Stalking, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, and Police brutality

megan_bbender's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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 felt like this story was very slow in the beginning. When I got to around 200 pages, I logged it on my StoryGraph and said "holy sh*t, I'm not even halfway through?", but it really started to pick up towards the end, the last 150 pages or so were thrilling and it felt like the plot was finally moving, however the ending was so abrupt that genuinely can't believe that was it; it finally felt like something was coming out of this book and then *poof* it was gone.

With that being said I can actually appreciate the abruptness throughout the book, for example the very fast-ending sentences and scenarios really help to gain an understanding about how the characters are actually feeling and how fast everything in their community is actually changing. 

To be honest, I was having more fun learning about the history of the community and kind of forgot about the plot. I did really like the characters though, Sydney is someone that I would love to be friends with, and the way the neighbours always had each others backs was heartwarming, and I definitely got super invested in the slow burn romance. 

I liked the concept of this book and it was really intriguing but I feel like if it was shorter, I would've rated it a bit higher. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Slavery, Death of parent, Gun violence, Blood, and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol and Emotional abuse

bessadams's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Animal death, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Trafficking

Minor: Infidelity