Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Blood Orange

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce

43 reviews

percervall's review against another edition

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dark 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

2.0

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vicb40's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

A friend recommended this to me because she loved it. It was ok. No one was likeable, I didn't feel pulled in and I felt like moments that were meant to be shocking and should take time were over in a few pages. I commend the authors ambition, but it never quite got to somewhere fulfilling. Check the trigger warnings!!

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shropgirl's review against another edition

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4.0

Blood Orange is Harriet Tyce’s debut novel and on the whole I really enjoyed reading it. Tyce practised as a criminal barrister in London for many years and her heroine, Alison is also a barrister primarily a defence laywer. Written in the first person we only know things from Alison’s perspective.

Married to Carl, a house husband with one daughter, Matilda, Harriet is the main money earner for the family in spite of Carl setting up as a self employed counsellor. As a mother she has feeling of guilt but she is also extremely motivated to succeed in her career. She also drinks too much.

Harriet is also having an affair with Patrick, a solicitor and he has just handed Alison her first murder case. Madeline Smith has murdered her husband, Edwin while he was asleep. She admits that she killed him and that she has sent her son back to boarding school in order to protect him from the publicity.

This book has three plot lines, the gathering of information and evidence to present a credible defence for the murder case; the affair with Patrick which appears to be purely physical rather than a relationship; and the failing relationship with her husband and child, her drinking being a contributory factor.

There are some graphic sex scenes, some of which could be deemed as abusive and certainly towards the end of the novel there are descriptions of rape.

I found it interesting to learn how a defence team went about gathering the information from the defendant and how they would present the case to the court despite Madeline telling the police that she had committed the murder. I am not sure that a murderer would have been granted bail as is the case here but as there was a large amount of money involved I suppose it is possible.

I had an inkling as to how the plot would develop as regard the murder case. I also guessed certain aspects about the person responsible for the threats that Alison received.

What I didn’t expect was the conclusion to the story and I am not sure that I found it completely satisfying. However, as a first novel I thought the writing was good, the pace was maintained throughout and this was a quick and easy read. I shall be interested to read Harriet Tyce’s second novel whenever that occurs.

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beccanowell's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Spoiler review.
I found this book very frustrating. How a solicitor couldn’t see the life she was living and would blame herself for being a bad mother. Yes, she did wrong by cheating. But she was in a loveless marriage where her husband constantly belittled her! I was glad at the end when we found out what he had been doing even longer than her affair, although it did make me feel sick the things he did. I was left with a weird feeling of meh after reading this book. I did like how the beginning linked with the end, however it took me few times reading it to realise what had actually happened.

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taylorp98's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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hootypocket's review against another edition

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slow-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? It's complicated

0.5

It was readable. The characters were all so unlikeable and there was nothing else to keep the reader entertained. It was a slog to get through and most of the “twists” were easily guessable as they happened. I’ve read another Tyce novel and loved it and was really looking forward to this book because of that, however I was thoroughly disappointed. Also, would’ve appreciated a TW for very graphic depictions of rape - it’s like the focus for the whole second part of the book. If I could prevent anyone else from having to read that I would. (I promise that is not a spoiler)

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