Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

18 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

1.75

Context: I wish I could remember the review that made me want to read this, I thought it was going to be more mystery and less thriller. 

 

TLDR:  I got hung-up on the foster care stuff, your mileage may vary. 

 

The plotting was pretty tight for the most part with a few plot holes that didn’t matter very much. The central mystery was interesting and fresh. Most plot twists were a surprise. 

 

My main problem came with the characterisation. The foster care system does heavy lifting in explaining Jess and Ben. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if there weren’t some important plot points that for someone somewhat familiar with the system are just plain unbelievable. I don’t know how much experience Ms Foley has had with the system but she might have benefited from an experienced beta reader.It’s rather like a non-Roma writer with a main character who is Roma and not having some Roma readers to advise them on Roma life. Just saying, “oh, they were in foster care so they are like this” is lazy. 

 

The ending felt like Ms Foley found her deadline approaching and her editor wanted a happy ending for all rewrite. Anyone surviving foster care could tell you that there never is a happy ending for everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Classism, Child abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Bullying, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, and Suicide

the foster care system

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This was such a good crime/thriller, I did not see any of the plot twists, it was done so well 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Stalking

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

1.25

...Yet another thriller that I did not enjoy.  It was filled with characters that had one main facet which was being awful.  Would not recommend.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Police brutality, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Violence, Vomit, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Grief, Sexism, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Blood, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infertility, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, and Suicide

readingtotravel's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Murder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Sexual content

Minor: Bullying

kiwichill's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

Many twists and turns which kept me in suspense.  The audiobook is narrated by different people for each character which enhances the experience 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Racism, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Alcohol, Cursing, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Domestic abuse, Outing, Pregnancy, Death, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Alcoholism, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexism, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Vomit, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Excrement, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts

kkopacetic's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Drug abuse, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Bullying

Moderate: Abandonment, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Misogyny

emilywemily6's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

I didn’t like this book as much as the other Lucy Foley book I read. It felt so long with nothing happening for most of the book. At the beginning, the general vibe was eerie and suspicious, but as truths came to light for some reason the tone and atmosphere was less and less sinister. I guessed the culprit(s) early on, though didn’t know how everything fit together. The author did a good job at fitting lots of details together that seemed unrelated. I was unsurprised by the big reveals of the whodunit and while the twist at the end was unexpected, it wasn’t satisfying- it was more like, “oh, okay, that makes more sense I guess.” I haven’t read a lot of mysteries or thrillers, but this one felt predictable, especially as the pieces of the puzzle began sliding together. The dual timelines and memories in the narratives were a bit confusing too, especially the closer we got to the crime and the memories and present day were only a couple of days apart. Overall, an alright book, but nothing stood out to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Blood, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Alcohol, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, and Police brutality

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, and Grief

Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, and Deportation

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I almost DNF’d this which I never do because it was so slow — it felt like nothing at all happened for the first 150 pages or so. The end picked up and was actually really good, which saved this book from being a 1 or 2 star. I didn’t see a lot of what happened coming but not because of the mystery, just because it felt like nothing at all was revealed at the beginning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, Torture, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Alcohol, Confinement, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Sexual violence

whitls's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Mental illness, Suicide, Vomit, Misogyny, and Self harm

jenna_justi2004's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Abortion, Child abuse, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Classism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Stalking