Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

48 reviews

madisonjordan5693's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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randilion28's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

Just like Sagers other books I've read - this was nothing short of amazing! The entire book keeps you guessing up until the very last 3 pages and then BAM! You're hit with a truth you never saw coming. You think you know what's happened, how it happened, etc... but trust me when I saw, as someone who reads A LOT of mystery/thriller books... I didn't see this ending... And I am HERE FOR IT! I love when I'm unable to guess the plot line, it makes it all the more enjoyable.

The author also describes the environment so vividly that you feel like you are there at Camp Nightingale with the girls. It has that creepy, deep woods vibe that I love reading about. I would 10/10 recommend this read! 
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author_d_r_oestreicher's review

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mysterious 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? No

4.0

 
The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager. Thirteen-year-old Emma Davis goes to Camp Nightingale and gets assigned to Dogwood Cabin with three 16-year-old girls. They vanish. The girls are not found, and the camp is shut down. Emma feels guilty, PTSD-guilty, rehab-guilty. When the camp reopens 15 years later, she ends up in Dogwood again with three different teenage girls. These girls also disappear, and she is the prime suspect. There are so many suspects that until the end, you can never be sure. A well-written and fast-moving mystery. 
 
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Check out https://amzn.to/3vfHVqc to see my books. 

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations. 

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savvyrosereads's review against another edition

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

4.0

Rating: 4/5 stars

Emma returns to Camp Nightingale as an art instructor…fifteen years after her friends vanished from the very same cabin where she’s now staying.

I’m thrilled to say that with this book I’ve officially finished Riley Sager’s entire backlist! I enjoyed this one, though it doesn’t take my top spot for Sager (which is reserved for THE ONLY ONE LEFT). I will say that I’m rarely surprised by thrillers and I was genuinely shocked by at least two twists in this one, which is the primary reason for my rating.

That said, there was a part of me that was a little let down by how everything ultimately resolved here, and I felt like there was a lot of slow foundation laying in the beginning that took me forever to get through (this one took me 4-5 days to read which is LONG for me given the length and genre). But, I’d still recommend this one overall and I know a lot of people have LOVED it, so even the criticisms might be a me problem!

CW: Kidnapping; death/injury; mental illness
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hauntedantiqueshop's review

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

2.0

Not great 🫥  the only unpredictable twist was literally the last page and it could should have gone without! And if you’d have taken a shot every time “lie” was written in the book, you’d die of alcohol poisoning.
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gneumann's review

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emotional mysterious sad slow-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

3.5

i wish the twist wasn’t revealed in the second person. i didn’t like the second person chapters. it took away from the impact.
 

this was fun! i’ve enjoyed sager’s other books more, though. 
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epeolatrist's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.0

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rebeccarc's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-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

4.25

Read it with someone else, but they never even started it, and I wanted and never read more. I'm gonna try this again alone.
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aprilblues348's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

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bookcheshirecat's review

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

4.0

“Everything is a game, Em. Whether you know it or not. Which means that sometimes a lie is more than just a lie. Sometimes it's the only way to win.” 

➽ The Last Time I Lied is another fun Riley Sager Thriller! It's one of his older works that was still enjoyable to read. The story follows Emma, who spent a summer at  Camp Nightingale 15 years ago where three of her bunkmates mysteriously disappeared. Her new friends were never found and ever since Emma has been hiding them in her drawings in order to deal with her lingering trauma. However, the camp is supposed to be reopened soon and she's approached by the director again. Emma gets roped into becoming one of the counsellors and the resident art teacher, but there are a lot of bad memories at  Camp Nightingale and not everyone has forgotten what happened with her bunkmates.

➽ The story talks about Emma's trauma and mental health, as she's still trying to cope with the disappearance of her three friends. With the camp's reopening, she hopes to finally get some closure, but something strange is going on. Maybe she can finally find out what happened back then, as there are still so many unanswered questions. The story is told in dual timelines of Then and Now, looking back on Emma's fateful summer. She develops a codependent, slightly toxic friendship with three girls who are older than her. I didn't really like them, as they were your typical, mean Queen Bees, but the story was still compelling! 
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