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wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Cursing, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Grief, Police brutality, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Murder, and Violence
patricktreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I didn't realize going into this exactly how dark it would end up being. I knew it would be semi dark, but it ended up being way more intense. However, it did truly keep me on the edge of my seat. I would absolutely recommend this to those interested in dark thrillers, but please absolutely check the trigger warnings. I kind of wish content warnings were given at the beginning. I feel it would help more readers be more away going in to make the reading experience easier.
My arc (courtesy of NetGalley/Wednesday Books) was an audio, and I greatly enjoyed consuming the work in that way. In regards to the audio portion, I only really had one critique. I wish that at the beginning of the new chapters the character POV name would be given to help with keeping track of the character switches.
Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Cursing, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Stalking, Body horror, Gaslighting, Animal death, Body shaming, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Violence
hollyk's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I wanted to love this book. I truly did. I love a creepy small town vibe with paranormal elements. But this book had so many flaws and inconsistencies that it wasn't enjoyable.
There's a fair amount of diversity--a Latina main character, lesbian MC, two sapphic LIs, and diverse side characters/townspeople. I also enjoyed the girls' friendships, although we don't see how exactly these bonds were forged beyond living together, and the strife within their friend group doesn't make sense at the beginning.
All four girls' POVs read the same way, and the only way to differentiate them was to remember the chapter number (the book cycled through the four in the same order, no complaint there) or the general plotline of each girl. Personality-wise, they all seemed the same because their personalities felt underdeveloped.
In terms of plot, the underlying plot of a curse in a small town was really interesting, but all of the moving parts solely created confusion and did not enhance the plot. A list of examples:
-Timeline: When everything happened is confusing--That Night seems to refer to several nights which defeats the purpose of there being "That Night." Unless I'm missing something, which is fully possible because of the lack of clarity.
-Lack of exposition. Normally this isn't a huge problem, in media res is a thing, but since the plot goes from 0 to 60 at the 60% mark, at that point, the reader still doesn't have a baseline or enough information to piece together the underlying story before being thrown into the action despite ample time to do so.
-Inconsistencies: When Whitney and Eleanor started dating is very confusing--it sounds like they met the night of the bonfire, but Whitney's mom was aware of Eleanor and wanted to meet her?
-Psychic powers?? Suddenly the girls seem to have psychic powers?
-Mother Abandonment:
-Medical inconsistencies:
-Deeper subjects relegated to surface-level: SA and police brutality as plot points.
-Police brutality: Alma is taken by the police for Whitney resisting arrest? And Whitney is concerned about Alma being beaten and harmed because she's Black, but then when Whitney goes to bust her out, Alma is just sitting in a chair perfectly fine? This felt completely unnecessary--while it's important to acknowledge police brutality, Whitney does nothing to try to help her crush and just says that she's worried because of police brutality. It seemed very performative and was brought up for no real reason other than to bring it up?
-The curse
I don't think this is the worst book ever, I will reiterate that I enjoyed the underlying plot, but there were a lot of moving parts that took away from the potential of this book.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review:)
Graphic: Misogyny, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Death, Gaslighting, Violence, Abandonment, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Alcohol, Bullying, Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence
Minor: Colonisation and Police brutality