Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent

20 reviews

veelaughtland's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Murder, Torture, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, and Child abuse

tillie__'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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Alcohol

k_lupin's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

I enjoyed this but I thought it had one too many plotlines -

the france episode backstory, I think could have been taken out

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

loubraryoftheforest's review

challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

A dark and unexpected novel, that made me question everything about what friendship means, and how far you would go to forge and keep those bonds.

Clare has decided to reinvent herself, as many of us do as we start university, to throw away the parts of her that people dislike, and be the person others want her to be, bright, engaging, to fit in. It’s her chance to begin again

She has goals, and ticks them off one by one.

She thinks she has found what she craves in Tabitha, a girl who isn’t afraid to be her true self, who shines a little brighter than most, and gathers a circle of friends around her who seem to trust each other implicitly, who know each others secrets, and look out for each other.

Surprisingly they invite her in, and Clare bathes in this warm glow of attention. They look after each other, almost crave each other, and when they begin to plan an enterprise together, honing each other’s best talents, and satisfying a part of her that she thought had been buried deep, it feels like all she hoped for has come to pass.

But as things take a dark and shocking turn, can Clare keep up the charade of who she pretends to be, or will her true self resurface in ways too horrible to contemplate. Are her friends as wonderful as she hoped, or does something flitter under the surface, threading them together in a beautiful lie.

This was a shocking read, brutal at times, and comes with a lot of triggers. But it was well crafted, with hints of Clare’s past littered throughout, keeping me wanting to know the whole story, even though the first page sets out in horrifying detail what you think you know happened, it’s so much more than that, Clare is so much more than that.

It would make a good book group read as there is a lot to digest and discuss, and I would relish others thoughts on it, especially Clare’s character. Only 3.5 stars for me, but a good read nonetheless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Sexual assault and Violence

kers_tin's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

this felt like it was really trying to be an edgy modern british version of the secret history but absolutely fell flat. was expecting more 🥲

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Sexual content, Violence, Suicide, Infidelity, Murder, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty

zxphyrean's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It starts off quite slow-paced but gathers speed as the book goes on. None of the characters are likeable, in fact they're detestable but the kind where you just have to keep reading to find out how it's going to end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Violence, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, and Child abuse

Minor: Abandonment, Classism, and Toxic relationship

l_and_l's review

dark lighthearted mysterious slow-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

2.75

This book felt very bland overall. Clare does so little besides floating around in the story it seems forced to have her as the narrator. Apart from Tabitha, none of the characters are much developped when they could all have participated in the story in a much more significant way. Samuel and Imogen are basically useless, they are just there and do like one thing throughout the whole story. Overall the settings are great but I don't understand why we got the details of the episode at the very end when we get boring details of Clare's new life after the accident. It could have been such a great novel with a somehow refreshing plot among dark academia but it really only manages to look like a draft and that's what's disappointed me after everyone hyped it up. It's just not what I expected.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Torture

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Alcoholism

caitdonlew's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Vomit

aileron's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual assault, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Torture, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Suicide

Minor: Animal cruelty and Alcoholism