Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington

14 reviews

nychta_diamanti's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Cursing, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Classism, Blood, Bullying, and Confinement

browneyesblue84's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I like the setting of Their Vicious Games. This marks the second YA thriller novel that I read in the past year. Despite being an elder millennial , I still like YA novels especially YA thrillers and horror stories. I was unfamiliar with the author but saw the cover in Target last year. This book took residence on my TBR from then on. I needed something fast paced and different to fill in the gap between preorder releases. This novel definitely satisfied me. Also, I realized that I preordered the authors next book without realizing who the author was. 

Joelle Wellington’s writing is easy to read. I was hooked from the first chapter. Adina is a relatable character who strives to fit into a world of opulence and power. She loses her one opportunity after a moment of intense emotion brought on by a “friend” who was jealous. That reaction cost her everything except for a change to obtain her diploma. Adina decided to do what she could to take part in The Finish, a competition that offered something that she truly needed a second chance. However, she was not prepared for the truth about this competition and how truly high the stakes were. 

I am rating this novel five stars out of five. Yes, it’s that good. Each chapter has an even balance of well thought out prose, dynamic characters and even pacing. I’m looking forward to reading the author’s next novel. If Their Vicious Games is this good , I get the feeling  that it will be even better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Gaslighting, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Cursing, and Blood

Minor: Grief

booknerderika's review

challenging dark mysterious tense

4.0

This was intense. Vicious doesn't even begin to describe the games or the people.  I immediately got "Ace of Spades" vibes and then it got weird with the whole Bachelor-ish situation. I was on edge through so much of this and didn't trust anyone. I'm glad that there was an epilogue and we were able to see what happened after, but this story was just shocking overall and I needed a few days to process before I posted a review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Vomit, Death, Classism, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm and Animal cruelty

teeclecticreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Gosh this was good! When I finally got to read the book without distractions I ended up finishing it in one whole day. It was giving me serious Squid Games/Hunger Games meets Bridgerton vibes. I must admit that the pacing was too slow in the beginning and there was a lot of talking in riddles until we got to the action. Adina was also annoying me a lot with all the terrible decisions she was making, but I enjoyed her determination to succeed. The juiciness of the plot and the ending made up for all of that though. I just love that it also highlighted a serious issue that minority groups, especially black people, face where we try to work twice as hard in a world with an uneven playing field just to get a chance at making a better life for ourselves. Definitely a fav read of the year so far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Violence, Cursing, Gore, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Blood, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

on_my_bookshelf's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Bullying, Gun violence, Classism, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Racism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Hate crime, and Death

caseythereader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Gore, Child abuse, Racism, Violence, Blood, Classism, Grief, Murder, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Gun violence

sophiamckinleyy's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Murder, Racism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Classism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Bullying, Gaslighting, Death, Violence, Racism, Classism, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Sexism, Alcohol, and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Minor: Sexual content and Infidelity

sarah984's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I get the concept that this book was going for, but I just didn't like it. I think part of it is that the Squid Game comp gave me an idea what the book was like and then the actual book was not like that.

All this over a man??

Most of the characters' motivations are obscured by the first person pov so I didn't really care either way what happened to them, characters made decisions when it was convenient for the narrative and not in a way that felt like it was following a character arc, and the writing for Saint, the only Asian character, felt really suspect to me (why was she wearing bondage gear??)

The ending felt very silly to me as well

, I would have liked the book better if she had made that decision earlier during Simon Says.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Classism, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Bullying, Cursing, Grief, Confinement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism

Minor: Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Animal death

bellebookcorner's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

The premise of this book sounds very interesting, fortunately this book did not disappoint me. In fact, I got hooked into the story pretty fast and really enjoy it!

If you wanted to read something where Hunger Games meet The Selection then I highly recommend picking up this contemporary thriller!
Don’t forget to read the trigger warnings below cause there are some parts that may be sensitive to some readers.

The first few chapters felt slightly confusing and it feels like I’m starting a book from the middle part but eventually there will be an explanation as it goes deeper.
Things started to get a lot more interesting once Adina (the FMC) enter the competition and the other girls were introduced as well.

I really like Adina’s character cause she feels relatable. She’s not a perfect character cause she didn’t make the best decisions at the beginning. But after going through a couple trials and see the true meaning of the competition, she powers through and started to grow into a badass intelligent girl!

I also love the growing friendship Adina and Saint has and I was rooting for them in every trial, at least Adina has one ally she can trust in this barbaric game where loyalty is rare.

As for the romance, I wasn’t rooting Adina with any of the love interests to be honest.
One guy was a psychotic and a narcissists, the other one was just too meek even though he has a good heart. I admire Adina for keeping her head on the game without getting swayed easily.

Overall, this is a fantastic read with great writing style and well developed characters which also comes with a satisfying ending.
The author raises several important topics that occur in the real world and I love the way he conveys these topics really well throughout the story.
I’m really looking forward to read more books from this author in the future!

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: Death, murder, violence, racism, cursing, drug use, confinement

Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tour, Netgalley, author and publisher for giving me an e-ARC of the book and for having me on this book tour. I’m leaving this review voluntarily!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Racism, Gun violence, and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, and Cursing