Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

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

15 reviews

aichaa's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

meeklovestoread's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

Honestly this book is just such an experience from start to finish. This book is told from a then-and-now perspective where "THEN' is Ambrosia starting her freshman year of college and the "NOW" chapter surround her current life as a thirty-one-year-old as she contemplates going to her 10-year high school reunion and the events that followed.

Now, I will assume that the author made Ambrosia the way she was on purpose. Like we were supposed to dislike her and Sully because immediately she was giving me insecure vibes and not a "girl's girl" and I was right. Ambrosia frustrated me so much in the "then" chapters because I honestly can't begin to fathom how someone could be so callous, but a people pleaser, and yet internally insecure all at the same time. It took a while (I thought this book was just going to be a cliche mean girl trope), but this book did hold my attention and get me hooked. I was so anxious, angry, and frustrated for the rest of the book because Ambrosia and Sully's actions were downright reprehensible (Kevin is no saint either).

I still felt empathy for Ambrosia, Sully, and Kevin towards the end, however, I feel like they did get what was coming to them. It was really hard to have more sympathy because what they did was just downright wicked. 

Although I do think Ambrosia, Sully, and Kevin had their fates coming to them, but the moral compass in me just can't help but not support Poppy's actions. She stabs Sully and then pins her murder on Ambrosia and then goes out of her way to steal Ambrosia's husband and weasels her way into becoming her daughter's potential stepmother. Like what?! Although I'm not defending what they did to Flora at all I still think what Poppy did after lowdown behavior and I just can't support it (but they still had it coming so props to Poppy for being so smart). Honestly, Flora is the only good character in this book and it sucks that Sully just went out and killed her. 

 

Overall this book was surprisingly very gripping and was super dark! I really liked how it shed light on the nuances and dark side to mean girl culture as well as displayed the different types of mean girls and how such a mentality can drive you to do unspeakable things. One thing I do wish though is that we got more of Sully's past. I don't think we got enough to fully understand why she was the way that she was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicide

Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Bullying, Pregnancy, Blood, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Cursing, Fatphobia, and Vomit

stolenwater's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I hated having to put this book down. This story is DARK, and makes big statements on bulling, gaslighting and doing whatever it takes to fit in at the expense of other people. As much as I loved this story, there were a few things that I took issue with in the last 30 or so pages: 

1. There didn't need to be a murder for there to be retribution. The tragedy would have been more impactful if it wasn't revealed that Sully actually killed Flora and staged a suicide. It also makes little sense how gory the scene was, and how conveniently free of blood Sully was after the murder. 2. The punishment doesn't particularly fit the crime, and the big twist ending didn't fit the overall tone of the book. Yes, Flora dies, and Amb and Sully are the worst, but Amb's punishment was way overboard and not believable. 3. Poppy is an absolute psychopath. I knew it was her sending the notes and emails, but the twist of making her into a killer was just too far out there. 4. Amb's pregnancy reveal was just pointless.

I loved this book until the end. I still love it, but I'm deducting 1/2 star for the off the wall ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug abuse, Suicide, Gaslighting, Murder, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Abortion

brooke1718's review

slow-paced

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

0.5

Hated the characters so much, waiting the whole time for them to be anything but awful. Plot was rough. Bad ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Pregnancy, Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Rape, and Toxic relationship

vennyreads's review

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Drug use, Blood, Death, and Murder

bealittlebrave's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Drug use, Bullying, Stalking, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, and Murder

kirklandprosecco's review

dark sad tense medium-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

4.0

3.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, and Rape

Minor: Classism

somelibrarychick's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Bullying, and Infidelity

Moderate: Grief, Blood, Suicide, and Drug use

Minor: Rape and Body shaming

mariamj's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Bullying

Moderate: Blood and Murder

Minor: Pregnancy and Rape

bookishgoob's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness