Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

68 reviews

littlealderman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death, Grief, Classism, and Pregnancy

Minor: Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

rad_reads_123's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and Pregnancy

allisonplus's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Stalking, Alcohol, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual content

madlain's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Drug use, Medical trauma, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Cancer and Stalking

adriennelarocque's review against another edition

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Stalking, Violence, Death, Drug use, Suicide, and Infidelity

Minor: Cancer

sarahmarie094's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Stalking, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use

kirstym25's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Stalking

Minor: Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

lindsayvale's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Drug use, Grief, Alcohol, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The thriller mystery of this was fine, but oh my god the main character just felt so incredibly clueless. I also wonder how much Ware had actually researched on PTSD because it didn't feel like the MC's reactions to the trauma, so many years later, made that much sense. She had already been through therapy, but she couldn't handle her mental health or seemed to have processed the event. And that makes me feel bad because healing isn't linear and everyone has their own schedule, but she's also fictional, so. I'm not sure if it's actually worse that the MC said over and over how stupid she'd been or if I would have had more sympathy if she was just incredibly clueless. May not try reading this author again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Classism, Drug use, Bullying, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Abortion, Blood, Eating disorder, and Injury/Injury detail

mal_reads_books's review against another edition

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 enjoyed the Oxford parts and last few chapters, but the story was at least 100 pages too long. The middle was a drag to read.

Hannah was irritating yet bland. Her constantly ruminating thoughts about April, the murder suspects, and the baby clogged up the narrative. I felt the author chose to make Hannah pregnant to add unnecessary drama (e.g. the high blood pressure scare and jeopardizing her baby's health while six months pregnant). It was tiring to constantly read about the baby kicking or Hannah feeling faint.

April was even worse. She was like a stereotypical popular mean girl from a high school movie. I hated how she treated everyone and how Hannah still worshipped her 10 years after her death, despite how cruel April was to her. I would've liked more backstory on April to understand her motivations better.

The other characters weren't likeable, or at least interesting, either.

I usually don't read thrillers, so the reveal at the end actually surprised me. (Ok, I did figure out the murderer toward the end, but not how it was done.) There were loose ends like the DNA not found in the murder scene that I would've liked to see resolved, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship