Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

61 reviews

matheo's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Classism, Gaslighting, Stalking, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Car accident and Lesbophobia

Minor: Infertility

_savannahreads_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence

cepbreed's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

What a good way to get out of a reading slump! I read this entire book while on a flight to Chicago so I feel a little more accomplished than I would had I finished it on any other old day. It’s not a sad book but even the slightest mention of loss had me holding back tears in my seat. I miss Katarina and goddamnit I don’t think I’ll ever forget the feeling of losing her.  I know this review is lazy but I’m in a rush exiting the terminal.

Song: Dancing With Our Hands Tied - Taylor Swift

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Medical content, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, and Murder

Minor: Infertility, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

morganperks's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Child death

Moderate: Grief, Stalking, Bullying, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Murder, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Cancer, Racism, and Incest

keats_the_listener's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I honestly was hoping more for this book as it was recommended by someone who recommended it in the same conversation as A discussion of Knives Out.  The book is just a series of toxic conversations and relationships.  I just didn’t get the appeal 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Child death, and Classism

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious relaxing 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Abandonment, Biphobia, and Self harm

bookishgoob's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

The inheritance games was such a quick and fun read. I had so much enjoyment reading this story. I see on booktok that grayson is the favorite match for avery, but i am a grayson hater! Grayson filled me with so much rage i couldn’t handle it. 
The cliff hanger made me want to immediately jump into the second book, and i’m trying to make myself wait and sit with the story for just a little while before going to book number 2. 

this was such a good book and if you’re in the mood for a quick paced light hearted mystery, please give this book a chance.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

This book was alright.

It reminds me a little of a book a read when I was in elementary school called The Westing Game, but with a smidge of reverse harem trope thrown in and it was clearly written for a YA audience so all the romance bits were pretty cringe.

Favorite character was probably Oren the bodyguard.  Will likely read the next book because I'm curious where it will go with the puzzles and mysteries, but skim the romance bits since I don't care about the main characters enough.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Classism, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Death, and Death of parent

mightyola's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, and Physical abuse

Minor: Stalking

legalplanner's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I gave this a 3.5 because it didn't truly wrap anything up at the end, it set up book #2 which is frustrating for me. If things had been wrapped up this would have been a 4 star read for me.

Avery is your normal 16 year old high school student who just wants a chance at college and a stable career. She has a plan to make that happen, until she is set to inherit Tobias Hawthorne's entire fortune. Yet, she has never met the man. Upon moving into the house she meets the grandsons that she beat for the inheritance and tries to survive riddles, puzzles, and dysfunctional family dynamics all in the name of a stable future. 

The chapters were short and reminded me a bit of reading the online published serials that were only about 1000 words per release. However the short chapters kept you going because you wanted to know what happened next. I was seriously frustrated with the lack of diving deeper into the personalities of the Hawthorne grandsons. Avery was literally running to solve these puzzles with the grandsons but you got more of a surface level delve into who they were. I wanted to understand them more but even the deeper you got into their personalities at the end didn't feel like a true look at them.

The games that Tobias made them play leading up to the end was twisty and I had thoughts and opinions throughout the entire book and honestly enjoyed the thrill of the novel. Again, if I had a bit more wrapped up at the end for me and the characters were a bit more fleshed out I would have given this a 4/5.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gun violence and Emotional abuse