Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

7 reviews

ash_ton's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this is my second read from riley sager and i gotta say, he stays winning

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Cancer, Eating disorder, Medical content, Confinement, Death, Toxic friendship, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Alcohol, Car accident, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Blood, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Drug use

karen_lo's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

Really liked the book. Kept me guessing at all times and that ending. WOW. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

Minor: Suicide attempt

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

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Content Warnings

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

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Content Warnings

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

emily_mh's review against another edition

I had no idea that this book would sensationalise mental illness for tension and drama before going into it. I have finished it, but for that reason I won’t be rating it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Mental illness, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Murder, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Animal death, Grief, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia

Minor: Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, Addiction, Blood, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Excrement, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Cancer, Vomit, and Infidelity

readwithsuzanna's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Child death

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Addiction

ishtar_n's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

It was a quick fun read! Well paced and well written. Characters aren’t mind blowing but the mystery is the important thing anyway.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Child death

Moderate: Car accident and Addiction

Minor: Cancer and Body shaming