Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Girls I've Been: Du glaubst, du kennst mich? Falsch gedacht. by Tess Sharpe

121 reviews

rinku's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Girls I’ve Been combined many typical elements of YA fiction in such an interesting and engaging way that I haven’t seen before. I wish I could give five stars but apparently, I’m very critical at the moment with giving books five-star ratings and always find something why I won’t give them this rating. 

Without spoilers, I can’t say a lot about the plot but this much: In the past, Nora has lived with her abusive and criminal mother from whom she was able to flee when she was a teenager. Now, in the present, she just wants to pay in some money with her friends when a bank robbery happens, confronting her with her past and giving her chance to put it behind her. 

What this novel did especially well was the combination of coming-of-age elements with the mystery/crime aspect of the story. The coming-of-age story is quite dark and serious which I didn’t expect but which was still greatly done. When looking at the mystery front, it was so clever how the characters slowly gathered pieces of information and things that could help them. The plans they had were just so creative and fun.  The ending was great as well but what I didn’t like about it was the fact that

the robbery wasn’t connected to Nora’s past at all. I think it would’ve been even more interesting if this had been the case

. 

Throughout the whole novel, there was a great feeling of tension. This tension was mainly created through the short chapters and the mixing of the past and present storyline which was executed so well. In general, I enjoyed the writing style, and there were so many sentences I just had to (virtually) underline since they were so great. 

Looking at the characters, I generally liked them and found them interesting, even though there was a bit too much telling around them at the beginning. I especially loved to see the relationship between Nora and Iris which was just so cute. Talking about Nora, it’s so empowering to see how tough she has become after the abuse she had to endure. It was also so amazing to see how she

was able to free herself from her mom in the end

. 

All in all, The Girls I’ve Been was a great read with great characters and storytelling. I would love to read more from this universe or from the characters. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual assault, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Abortion, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Rape

gabbyjc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Death, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Sexual harassment and Vomit

onion's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, and Medical content

Moderate: Misogyny, Stalking, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Abortion, and Alcohol

sterrasbookadventure's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Emotional abuse

maisiemoo's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Abortion

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Pedophilia, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, and Misogyny

Minor: Body shaming, Abortion, and Fire/Fire injury

theunfinishedbookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Abortion

vniasf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

i love it! it didn’t glorify any abuse the characters went through and shows that it’s hard to leave abusive relationships. 
it’s filled with the found-family-trope, friendships, romance, funny characters and action! i did cry a couple times but found a new favorite character: Iris Moulton. i love her <3

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Abortion, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Vomit, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

debussy's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.5

The Girls I've Been is immersive and burns rubber the entire ride, which makes it a quick read. I enjoyed nearly everything about it, especially how much deeper the plot became outside of the surface level bank robbery. That said, I found some of the flashback scenes a bit hard to buy given the age of the main character is always referenced but never quite feels true-to-age for these sections. Granted, Nora is forced to grow up fast, but I still had a hard time suspending my disbelief. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Blood and Sexual assault

Minor: Abortion and Pregnancy

hobbitatheart's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Blood, Gore, and Sexism