Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Night Flowers by Sara Herchenroether

7 reviews

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious 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

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

hail_archangel's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

2.5

I wanted to love this, but it fell flat. It was confusing, and I couldn't keep the characters straight. The main characters' relationships are not explained well, so you end up wondering why there's cheating and unhappiness with their lives. It seems like this is set up to be a series. I can only hope it improves with time, like the Harry Potter books. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jcinf's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’ll break down some of the specific thoughts I had. 

What I liked:
• The characters and their mannerisms were well developed 
• The setting. New Mexico isn’t a setting I read about often. So it was cool to have that. 
• The plot
• The general idea of a cancer patient looking to help solve a cold case
• The graphic nature of describing certain cancer-related things. That sounds macabre, but having had multiple family member with cancer, I appreciated the thoroughness. 

What I didn’t like:
• The flashbacks were sometimes confusing. I found myself scanning back to them to try and put the pieces of the story together. 
• I don’t think I fully understand the Dale vs. Curtis dynamic
• The familial relationships between the characters confused me. I was having trouble understanding who was related to who. 

NOTE: heed the trigger warnings. Some of this book is not easy to read! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

cryfest's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jayisreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

2.0

I found The Night Flowers boring, unfortunately. Switching perspectives between two women, Laura and Jean, the two eventually work together to try and solve a cold case. And, for some reason, Herchenroether decided to throw some supernatural moments that didn't quite work for me. It was distracting more than anything.

I felt as though Herchenroether was just constantly feeding me information, to the point where I wasn't sure what to do with all of it, other than hope that it all comes together at the end without it being too muddled. Laura and Jean read as characters with random traits and back stories slapped onto blank figures, crafted in a way that made them seem more complex than they actually were. I think what made their characterizations fail was that they felt disconnected from the plot and even their motives.

Herchenroether isn't a bad writer by any means, but I think there was a lot left to be desired in this novel with the way it was executed.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jessiemurphy's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

laurenbookwitchbitch's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

In 1983 a group of unsuspecting hikers find the bodies of a woman and two children, wrapped in sheets and stuffed into a container, abandoned in New Mexico’s Gil’s National Forest. Years later two different amateur sleuths Laura and Jean are drawn to solve the case. They each become obsessed to find the truth behind the murders. “The Night Flowers,” is raw, shocking, emotional, dark, and deeply compelling.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings