Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould

5 reviews

marcostorin's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This book felt like watching a good thriller/horror movie with lots of well-handled social commentary. I couldn't put it down after I started it. I think my favorite part - besides how fun it was to read the book - is that it makes you face your (internalised in my case) homophobia. I think the best way to read this book too is without knowing much about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Murder, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Alcohol, Biphobia, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Stalking

robin_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.5

Paranormal small town murder mystery. A married gay couple return to their terrible small town in the buttcrack of Oregon with their adopted daughter.

The romance in this felt completely unnecessary and did little to nothing for the plot. I didn't connect with any of the characters and didn't much care what happened to any of them. 
The plot surrounding the mystery wasn't bad. 
The pacing is weird sometimes--very slow and then time jumps of days and weeks. 

The ending was so weirdly happy and didn't feel like it fit. I get that a Happy Ending is always nice and most people want those but I would've preferred if it ended it a more tentative, maybe almost wary open ending

Additional CW: Drowning, attempted murder

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Blood, Kidnapping, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol

magellen's review

dark funny sad medium-paced

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

3.5

A nice queer ya that captures the fear and enclosure of small town life while *other*. While some of the supernatural elements are poorly landed, the overall twist of plot is well executed (though you're gonna guess the killer pretty quick 😎)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Death, Abandonment, Misogyny, Homophobia, Bullying, Hate crime, and Grief

Minor: Murder, Child death, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Kidnapping

author2223's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Murder

Moderate: Bullying and Toxic friendship

Minor: Hate crime

rachrreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I received an ebook ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own


Logan has never felt at home; constantly on the move growing up, she has never had roots anywhere. Her dads, Alejo and Brandon, are the stars of ParaSpectors, a tv show focused on ghost hunting. When Brandon and Alejo are brought back to Snakebite, Logan is dragged along. Once  they arrive, Logan senses that not only are they unwelcome, but that there’s more going on in this town than ghosts.

A teen has been missing for months and there has been a sense of foreboding in the air ever sense. Ashley’s boyfriend was the first to go missing, with no evidence as to where he went. She’s been seeing and feeling his ghost ever since. When Logan shows up, the two team up to figure out who, or what, is haunting Snakebite. As the investigation intensifies, so does their blooming feelings.


This was such a great story— I was constantly on my toes while reading this. I felt like the beginning was fairly slow, but granted I was also in a bit of a slump from Our Violent Ends. Not only is this a paranormal mystery, but it’s a sapphic love story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Toxic friendship, Murder, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Hate crime, Grief, Gore, and Death