Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Girls Are All So Nice Here by L.E. Flynn

23 reviews

mariamj's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Could not put this book down! Messed up storyline but SO SO GOOD!!!!

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bookishgoob's review

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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? N/A

3.5

Before the ending, i was thinking this book was gonna be a 4-4.5 star read, but the ending fell so flat for me. 

I loved the exploration of toxic female friendships and the feeling that you’re competing with the group or person that you want to be friends with. The uncomfortable thought of “do i hate this person or do i love them? do i want to be friends? is this an enemy?” Mean girls come in so many different shells, and the fact that Amb couldn’t admit that she was mean is one of the biggest types of mean girls there is. The quote earlier in the book where sully tells amb “flora is a mean girl, she’s a bitch. at least i can own it” felt like a subtle stab at Amb, because amb did the same thing. she hid behind her moral high ground. destroying Flora and her relationships because Flora had something she want. She had to make flora the villain in her fantasy. </ I think it’s really a bad choice to have ambrosia go to jail and have Poppy basically take over her life. it didn’t feel like justice to me. It felt like just another generation of mean girls, where poppy is hiding behind her moral high ground of “she did this to my sister so i’ll do this to her” the last chapter made me angry. Killing off Sully and Kevin and having Amb go to jail made me feel like the author didn’t know really how she wanted to end the story. I also feel like killing Kevin was just Poppy’s way to get rid of him. He was an asshole, sure, but he didn’t have anything to do with Flora’s death. it was completely Sully and Amb. killing Kevin was a vendetta because she never liked him. getting rid of these characters was lazy and honestly boring. Also it wasn’t revealed or clear what actually happened to Flora. Did sully kill her?> 

I was invested in this story and the way the story was told. i’ve come to enjoy dual timelines because it adds so much depth to the story. I enjoyed the story, again, up until the last chapter. it’s a quick read so i do recommend it. 

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pernillelsk's review

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

4.0


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iuliaq's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

2.5


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roughdraftofmylife's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0


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thewoodlandbookshelf's review

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challenging dark 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

3.75


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bella_cavicchi's review

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challenging dark 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

A solid thriller, one that's well-plotted and keeps you on your toes. That said, I never found myself particularly invested in the characters' outcomes and was weirdly... unsatisfied (?) by the ending. I'm not sure what to make of it!

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soobooksalot's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

"I don't know if  it's disgusting or impressive that girls can do that for each other. That we can achieve that level of deceit in the name of sisterhood."
 For me, The Girls Are All So Nice Here has  Heathers vibes without the satire.
 Someone died at Wesleyan University 14 years ago. And someone knows how it really happened. 
 A reunion invitation is accompanied by a note sent to three people who were involved with the deceased, stating "we need to talk about what we did that night".
 Chapters alternate between "then" and "now", chronicling the toxic friendship between Ambrosia Wellington and Sloane Sullivan, aka Sully, during their time at Wesleyan and at the reunion. 
 Manipulation, lies, power through sex, and distortion through it all with the party substances of youth make up the story. 
 It's tense, it's taut, it's awful and it's fantastic reading.
 These are not girls you want to be, or be friends with, but you can't look away.
 I'll definitely be picking up whatever Canadian author Laurie Elizabeth Flynn writes next, assuming it's in the same dark vein as this one. Recommended!

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signediza's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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kamin8882's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5 stars !! wow! this book was intense! this books covers all the things that we try to prevent our kids from going through- bulling, mean girls, suicide. definitely a book about how people form themselves to be something to fit in, and turn into the people they hate they most. 

Ambrosia Wellington, our main character, is a "nice girl" turned mean. This book follows her on two timelines, now and freshman year-when something horrible happened and she was the cause. Ambrosia wanted to leave her good girl, suburban life behind her, become an actress and be on top.  Amb's new friend Sloan was a wild child and a force to be reckoned with. All Amb wanted to be Sloan's right hand and so she did anything she could to be that... partying, sleeping around, drugs, bullying... not caring for anything or anything except themselves. This included Amb's super sweet, perfect roommate, Flora. They despised her because she was pretty, nice, cheerful, great boyfriend and always positive. So they decided to do something about it. 

This book was CRAZY!!! All the girls are soooo NOT NICE !! This book covers all the things MEAN GIRLS are... selfish, jealous, vicious, cruel, beautiful! I loved the mystery of the story, trying to figure out what happened. I loved the class reunion and all the girls who were all MEAN WOMEN now, still competing to be the best. The characters were all so horrible that you loved them and hated them at the same time. The twists and secrets in this book will leave your jaw dropping for sure. 

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for allowing to listen to this book as a ALC. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading more from this author. 

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