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cinthiaurora's review
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
3.5
I liked this book better than Final Girls and I do think the author has improved from it in terms of writing tension and suspense- HOWEVER Riley Sager very obviously has no idea how teenage girls speak, for one. To add to that, every female character (most characters are female btw) thinks and behaves in a way that makes it super obvious they were written by a male author, which is a pet peeve of mine. I gave this (almost) 4 stars anyway because I love a good Alison DiLaurentis-type psycho mean girl. Speaking of which I did pick up some lowkey Pretty Little Liars vibes from this book which is either the best thing about it or the worst thing about it.
Also, maybe it’s just that I had made the connection between PLL and this book early on but the whole “Vivian was alive the whole time” thing in the end didn’t really come as a huge shock to me. Vivian obviously being the Alison in this scenario. In the show one of Alison’s aliases was even NAMED Vivian. I wonder if Sager was inspired by the series at all because it would be a funny coincidence if not.
Oh one other thing, the whole moment with Theo in his car where he’s like “If you were older I would have kissed you back” ??? Now WHY would he go and say something like that? Ew. It sort of made sense when I thought he was trying to manipulate Emma’s feelings for him because he was up to something but now that I know for sure he was serious… Ick. Emma and Theo’s whole “romance” actually… questionable. Could have been done better for sure.
Edit: bumped this down from 4 to 3.75 because after you think about it for a little bit a lot of things don’t quite make sense. What else can you expect from this type of book though right
Oh one other thing, the whole moment with Theo in his car where he’s like “If you were older I would have kissed you back” ??? Now WHY would he go and say something like that? Ew. It sort of made sense when I thought he was trying to manipulate Emma’s feelings for him because he was up to something but now that I know for sure he was serious… Ick. Emma and Theo’s whole “romance” actually… questionable. Could have been done better for sure.
Edit: bumped this down from 4 to 3.75 because after you think about it for a little bit a lot of things don’t quite make sense. What else can you expect from this type of book though right
Graphic: Mental illness and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Stalking
Minor: Addiction, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Alcohol
hapalyn's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, and Death
Moderate: Bullying, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol, Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug use, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Terminal illness
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