Reviews

Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce

savealife's review against another edition

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2.0

This book was boring and not one character was likable.

heather01602to60660's review against another edition

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1.0

Good gravy, I even hated the kid in this one.

alison_fitzpatrick's review against another edition

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3.0

The ending was unexpected, I'll give it that. But I just don't understand the hype around this book, I thought it was fine.

It all wrapped up very quickly towards the end, which is a shame, as that's where the most interesting plot points are.

vezza's review against another edition

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

3.5

amanda07w's review against another edition

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3.0

It was just a bit one-dimensional for me and, though the ending was wrapped up nicely, it wasn't shocking or a twist. Maybe this was because I felt both the characters had done many wrongs and I didn't like any of them so wasn't routing for anyone to succeed. Having said that, it must have been pretty gripping as I raced through it!

charliewyethx's review against another edition

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4.0

bit of a slow start but did want to keep reading, then really got good. The ending was so fucked up but big twist

beccac8'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? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

AMAZING! Have been looking for similar reads ever since reading. Fully recommend all Harriet Tyce books, they are all great but nothing will ever top this!
Such a twist and so unexpected. 

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tarynandherbooks's review against another edition

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3.0

This is one of those books I picked up because I feel like I'd seen it everywhere, but ended up being a disappointing read overall.

Right from the get-go, Alison is a trainwreck. She drinks too much, is having an affair with a coworker, and is struggling to keep her shit together. Both her husband and her side piece are horrible people and I couldn't understand what she saw in either of them. This book is full of messy, unlikeable characters, so if that's not your thing, steer clear.

The writing was engaging, and I flew through this in just over a day. But I wanted more thrills, more mystery. This focused way too much on Alison's personal life than I thought it would, and I didn't find any of the twists all that surprising. To write a good mystery/thriller book, you have to master subtlety, and I definitely don't think Tyce has done that yet. The foreshadowing was really obvious, the parallels drawn between Alison's client's relationship to her husband and her own relationship with her husband were almost drawn in big flashing neon lights.

SpoilerI could tell right from the start that Carl was gaslighting her, so whilst I didn't entirely guess everything about the ending, I guessed enough to not be shocked. I also wasn't shocked with any of the development in the client's case, though I feel like it wasn't given enough time on the page for us to really be shocked, anyway.


Overall, the writing was engaging and when I picked this up, I couldn't put it down. But the actual story itself was not subtle or surprising. Tyce definitely has potential, and I'll be picking up anything else she puts out, but this one was just a little disappointing in my opinion!

ashtonesmith's review against another edition

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4.0

Pretty good! It was definitely infuriating at times but overall I really liked the story.

derigibleplums's review against another edition

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4.0

I pretty much universally disliked all of the characters, and was practically screaming at the book while she was making dreadful decisions, but could also completely understand why she was making them. It’s an incredible skill to be able to write such a compelling story while making sure I don’t like any of the main characters, and giving them dimensions. I enjoyed the thriller as well, the twists while a bit of a stretch felt just about believable. I do wish a few more just desserts were served in the wrap-up.