Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Broken Knight by L.J. Shen

5 reviews

honyombooks's review against another edition

Whelp that was completely misogynistic garbage. Wow just wow. This was like a man’s wet dream under the guise of a romance novel. What shit. Oh no Luna is changing to be more certain in herself but Knight is not having it. From constantly being shitty but excusing it with my mom is dying and

Luna slept with someone else

pity me bullshit. Luna didn’t grow she still bends to whatever Knight wants and puts up with such toxic behavior. Basically everything outside of Knight we see some growth but nope Luna must go back to being whatever in Knight’s presence 🙄

If you want to read about a hellah toxic relationship under the guise of ‘soulmates’ go for it. I still can’t BELIEVE how everyone in the book continues to encourage this bullshit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Misogyny, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Emotional abuse

nbitzer's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Medical content, and Drug use

Moderate: Rape and Self harm

brucethegirl's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

2.5

On one hand- this is terribly written. There’s no sense of an actual plot. There’s misunderstandings that make no sense for the sake of misunderstanding. There’s terrible ableism and victim blaming. 
Literally

Luna is hurt and thinks knight forced a blowjob. NOT REALIZING she signed her consent to him??? That’s actual two page dilemma that happens.

 

Too often in the beginning Knight FORCES Luna to talk, there is no concern about the mental state she's in to do so. He and his idiot friends- all teenagers, without training or physiological degrees- think it's high time she talks, so therefore she should. So they hold her hands and try to make her talk. This was such a triggering scene. And the worst, is this is all portrayed as Luna just "taking too long" to bite the bullet and use her voice. There's an air of "what an ass." but its also a very strong "This is the tough love she needs." Yea no. I need Shen to take at least one course of basic compassion. Let alone disability rights. 

On the other hand - think I wasn’t sobbing,

when Rosie was dying/died

whole tears falling down my cheek at certain scenes. I also finished the whole book, and I do not hesitate to dnf. 

The official rating is a 2.5. I would have given this a 1 based on the negative issues I have with it, but I kept wanting to read more (so I added a star) and another half star for pulling that strong emotion out of me when I rarely cry for books. 

Would I pay actual money for this book? No. Would I get it free on kindle? Yea sure why not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Cursing, Grief, Addiction, Medical content, Death of parent, Death, Terminal illness, Ableism, Drug use, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Rape, Vomit, and Stalking

ymread's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

this book destroyed me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Sexual content, Alcoholism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Abortion, Car accident, and Vomit

chronicoverthinker's review

dark slow-paced

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

don't read it, it contains sa

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Misogyny, Drug abuse, and Drug use