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zaineylaney's review against another edition
2.0
“But when I get the phone unlocked, it’s not Milly. And the text is only three words. I NEED YOU. ”
SIGH. This might be the first time I have rated a buddy read so low. And Ruth Ware’s books seem to be hits or misses for me. Fortunately I was able to read it with my friends Erin and Francesca. Be sure to follow them on the gram as well for lots more book reviews (@talkbooknerdytome and @bookish_francesca). But we were all kind of in agreement here. Nothing happened in this book, the characters were unlikeable, and the main character’s thoughts kept repeating the same thing over and over. You suspect someone, it draws you away from that suspicion, gives you a few more, and then circles back to your original suspicion with a different view. I was very disappointed, but I will say her more recent works, with the exception of Zero Days, I have generally liked.
SIGH. This might be the first time I have rated a buddy read so low. And Ruth Ware’s books seem to be hits or misses for me. Fortunately I was able to read it with my friends Erin and Francesca. Be sure to follow them on the gram as well for lots more book reviews (@talkbooknerdytome and @bookish_francesca). But we were all kind of in agreement here. Nothing happened in this book, the characters were unlikeable, and the main character’s thoughts kept repeating the same thing over and over. You suspect someone, it draws you away from that suspicion, gives you a few more, and then circles back to your original suspicion with a different view. I was very disappointed, but I will say her more recent works, with the exception of Zero Days, I have generally liked.
mainereading's review against another edition
5.0
4.5⭐
I LOVED this book and couldn't put it down. I loved the boarding school aspect of it and the very close friendship between the main characters. I'm a sucker for books revolving around a good friendship. I did guess part of the twists but not completely, so I was still pleasantly surprised and towards the end of the book, I was tearing up! I highly recommend this book if you're even the littlest bit curious about reading it. You should!
I LOVED this book and couldn't put it down. I loved the boarding school aspect of it and the very close friendship between the main characters. I'm a sucker for books revolving around a good friendship. I did guess part of the twists but not completely, so I was still pleasantly surprised and towards the end of the book, I was tearing up! I highly recommend this book if you're even the littlest bit curious about reading it. You should!
amyhord's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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
2.5
rwalker101's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
hey question, what if the plastics from mean girls hid a body? great, now what if they were british and 75% less interesting? what's that? you lost interest?
there were some parts towards the end that were really poignant, but it was such a slog to get there that i just didn't care anymore.
there were some parts towards the end that were really poignant, but it was such a slog to get there that i just didn't care anymore.
kaymlink's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Self harm, Child abuse, Addiction, Drug abuse, Murder, and Physical abuse
rkstumblingbear's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
callistag1's review against another edition
2.0
I honestly was so invested in this story and was really liking this book at first. The plot of Isa going to meet her three friends and talk about their secrets that they had, the flashbacks of how they met in boarding school and how they were awful liars as teenagers and it bit them in the asses as adults was really interesting. I liked it up until the point that Isa went home to Owen. After that the entire plot just fell apart.
They way Isa treated Owen, a man who was honestly a better partner than most male love interests are in romance books made me so angry, especially because Isa kept expecting Owen to apologize for "jumping to conclusions" in thinking she was having an affair, even though his thoughts and assumptions were reasonable, considering all that happened. Also, so many things in the story simply weren't addressed as being wrong when they most definitely were, and the narrative just glosses over it. Some examples were Ambrose drawing Isa and her friends and Luc in very inappropriate settings at times. The book mentions it as an ethical violation and an abuse of position, but it doesn't really talk about the moral and legal issues with him drawing underage girls and an underage boy, sometimes in positions where they were naked. The book acts like that was only wrong because he was their teacher when it was wrong in any sense of the action. The fact that Ambrose was treated kindly by Isa and everyone else is so wrong.
Also, the book glosses over the fact that Luc and Kate were sleeping together and "in love" when they were step-siblings (the only characters who seemed disgusted by that were Ambrose, who drew pictures of Kate, Luc, and the other characters naked, and Mary Wren, who seemed less grossed out about Kate and Luc being step-siblings and more disgusted just because she hated Kate and wanted to slut shame her.) Isa, Fatima and Thea never seem more than shocked when they find out, and I can't understand why they aren't horrified. Especially Isa, who nearly slept with Luc during the book.
That is another thing that is glossed over - Isa and Luc kiss, and would have fucked on the couch of Kate's home if Kate hadn't seen them. Isa, at this point, was angry that Owen thought she was having and affair, and Isa never breaks up with Owen but just leaves after an argument which has to do with him thinking she's cheating on him with Luc. She is angry at him because he'd believe that... and then goes on to cheat on him with the very person he thought she was cheating on him with, and it's just never mentioned? She never feels any guilt for it, even though in the end she goes back to Owen and says she loves him and admits that she's lying because she wants her daughter Freya to have two parents. Honestly, I started losing sympathy for Isa when she started picking fights with Owen, but I lost all sympathy for her when she cheated.
Also, another problem I had was when Kate told Isa, Fatima and Thea that she killed Ambrose (even though we later learn that was Luc who killed Ambrose), and she tricked her friends by acting like it was a suicide so they'd help her hide the body, the three of them aren't nearly as mad at Kate as they should be. They seem a little shocked, but you would think with how close Isa keeps telling us they are, she, Fatima and Theo would be angry, hurt and feeling betrayed by Kate, but they're just kind of shocked. It doesn't feel believable.
It's upsetting because this book was interesting as it started, but it just went down hill as it went along. I'll still listen to more audiobooks by Ruth Ware because I listened to In a Dark, Dark Wood, which had a somewhat similar premise, but because the main character in that book, Lenora, acted a bit more realistic when her friends acted like assholes, I liked the story. Plus that book didn't make shitty actions glossed over. They pointed out that they were shitty things to do, and acknowledged it, unlike this book. So while I'll listen to more audiobooks by this author, I'm going to not go in with high expectations.
They way Isa treated Owen, a man who was honestly a better partner than most male love interests are in romance books made me so angry, especially because Isa kept expecting Owen to apologize for "jumping to conclusions" in thinking she was having an affair, even though his thoughts and assumptions were reasonable, considering all that happened. Also, so many things in the story simply weren't addressed as being wrong when they most definitely were, and the narrative just glosses over it. Some examples were Ambrose drawing Isa and her friends and Luc in very inappropriate settings at times. The book mentions it as an ethical violation and an abuse of position, but it doesn't really talk about the moral and legal issues with him drawing underage girls and an underage boy, sometimes in positions where they were naked. The book acts like that was only wrong because he was their teacher when it was wrong in any sense of the action. The fact that Ambrose was treated kindly by Isa and everyone else is so wrong.
Also, the book glosses over the fact that Luc and Kate were sleeping together and "in love" when they were step-siblings (the only characters who seemed disgusted by that were Ambrose, who drew pictures of Kate, Luc, and the other characters naked, and Mary Wren, who seemed less grossed out about Kate and Luc being step-siblings and more disgusted just because she hated Kate and wanted to slut shame her.) Isa, Fatima and Thea never seem more than shocked when they find out, and I can't understand why they aren't horrified. Especially Isa, who nearly slept with Luc during the book.
That is another thing that is glossed over - Isa and Luc kiss, and would have fucked on the couch of Kate's home if Kate hadn't seen them. Isa, at this point, was angry that Owen thought she was having and affair, and Isa never breaks up with Owen but just leaves after an argument which has to do with him thinking she's cheating on him with Luc. She is angry at him because he'd believe that... and then goes on to cheat on him with the very person he thought she was cheating on him with, and it's just never mentioned? She never feels any guilt for it, even though in the end she goes back to Owen and says she loves him and admits that she's lying because she wants her daughter Freya to have two parents. Honestly, I started losing sympathy for Isa when she started picking fights with Owen, but I lost all sympathy for her when she cheated.
Also, another problem I had was when Kate told Isa, Fatima and Thea that she killed Ambrose (even though we later learn that was Luc who killed Ambrose), and she tricked her friends by acting like it was a suicide so they'd help her hide the body, the three of them aren't nearly as mad at Kate as they should be. They seem a little shocked, but you would think with how close Isa keeps telling us they are, she, Fatima and Theo would be angry, hurt and feeling betrayed by Kate, but they're just kind of shocked. It doesn't feel believable.
It's upsetting because this book was interesting as it started, but it just went down hill as it went along. I'll still listen to more audiobooks by Ruth Ware because I listened to In a Dark, Dark Wood, which had a somewhat similar premise, but because the main character in that book, Lenora, acted a bit more realistic when her friends acted like assholes, I liked the story. Plus that book didn't make shitty actions glossed over. They pointed out that they were shitty things to do, and acknowledged it, unlike this book. So while I'll listen to more audiobooks by this author, I'm going to not go in with high expectations.