Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Insomnia

Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough

25 reviews

katosta8815's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

Very creepy. Repetitive at times, a lot of filler sub-plots, but overall interesting and mysterious enough to want to continue.

There are some plot holes regarding the “family curse/gift” — there is mention of family members before Patricia having similar issues, however when the story concludes, we only get an explanation for Patricia, Emma, and Will.

Trigger warning for

child abuse and statutory rape (I have a big issue with the way this topic is handled in this book….)

Content Warnings

katyannreads's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-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? Yes

2.75

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cpachet's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.0

Lots of build up, very quick (but tidy) wrap up. Second Pinborough book I’ve read with a surreal/supernatural element.

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maddireads13's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

5.0

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tspice24's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.5

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marieeh's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

2.5

I guess I just don't really like Sarah Pinborough's writing. I can't quite place what exactly it is, it felt really middle of the road for me and I had a hard time staying motivated to finish it. Since reading Behind Her Eyes I knew to at least suspect that there could be a

supernatural element

and there was, but this one was not quite as shocking for me. Maybe because I did expect it.

The story itself was fine, if a little forgettable. There was one side plot in particular that felt really unnecessary to me, and in my opinion was not handled appropriately:

Chloe being groomed/abused by her parents' friend. It wasn't handled in the way you'd expect a parent to react to something like that. Even after it came out what was going on, her parents didn't do anything? It just kind of was brushed under the rug.

As for the meat of the story, some things just felt a little too convenient. And I guess I just didn't like the main device that caused everything to happen in the way that it did.

How time is cyclical and the reason Emma's mother lost her mind at her 40th was simply because she was having premonitions/visions and had to do these things to warn Emma of the danger that was coming for her in the future at her own 40th... but if she hadn't done those things, none of it would have happened to Emma, Caroline, etc. I just didn't like it.

My final little complaint was the epilogue. It's fine to write a stand alone book, you don't have to create a whole universe for each of your books to exist in together, and even if you do put them in the same universe, characters don't have to interact. Maybe I've just read too many books lately where that happens but I'm tired of it (maybe I'm just no fun!).

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amberjackonski's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

2.75

Content Warnings

dalmavatai's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

There were some decent twists in this book that I enjoyed - definitely similar to Behind Her Eyes so if you enjoyed that I'd recommend this book. However, a lot of it was very repetitive and boring, I honestly think this book could've been about 50-100 pages shorter. Plus, I'm tired of the trope of a woman not being believed & being gaslit by everyone in her life, it's just exhausting to read in a thriller for the millionth time, especially with how repetitive this book gets. Also there was a lot of ableism in this book from all of the characters, including internalized ableism from the MC, and a shit ton of throwing around words like 'crazy' and 'mad' which I thought wasn't properly addressed at all.

Content Warnings

mondovertigo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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