Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Vicious

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Vicious by L.J. Shen

4 reviews

codicheyenne's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I genuinely enjoyed reading this book and I'm so excited to have received an ARC for the re-publication of it! I appreciated the pacing of the book and how the characters remained true to themselves even while growing. Millie was so easy to love and feel for. Her heart is so genuine and I really felt for her and how unable to be anything other than her kind, selfless self she was - even to her own detriment. Vicious was a "villain" I love to say suffered from the "he's just a boy" syndrome. (Other examples include Draco Malfoy, Jacks, Damon Torrance.) What I mean by that is he's a total jerk, hands down, but under that huge, standoffish persona, he's also a hurt little boy inside who needed an ounce of affection. I loved that while he was indeed a total jerk he was still lovable. I did find myself wishing he would just let himself cry every once in awhile though lol, I think it would help. I loved that there was no clear indication of the switch between enemies and lovers. It ebbed and flowed through time, distance and circumstance. I thoroughly enjoyed the dual timeline aspect as well. I'm excited to see what book 2 brings for Dean & Rosie.

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csantos's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

1.0

I usually like dark, angsty romance books with loads of pining and morally grey characters and this book had all of that but it just wasn’t for me. The MMC is abusive and immature. The FMC is strong-willed and smart until she gets around the MMC. He treated her like crap and I didn’t think his explanations and apologizes are realistically forgivable. I feel like this book romanticizes control and abuse. The side characters, the MMC’s so-called friends are awful, misogynistic, and just as cruel as the MMC. No redemption to be found for any character. I don’t think villainous characters necessarily need to be redeemed all the time, but it was clear that’s what the author was trying to do, and it just fell flat.
This is supposed to be a stand alone with other interconnected novels, but it doesn’t read as a stand alone. The author kept referring to things that happened in the prequel or that will happen in previous novels that makes it so you have to read the other novels to understand what’s happening in this one. That’s not what an interconnected standalone is. I shouldn’t have to read all the others to understand one of them. I don’t care enough for this work to even bother with the other books but I kept having to check that I was reading the first book in the series because so many things confused me. If you want to give this a chance, maybe read the prequel first. I feel like it will clear up the confusion, though I am not invested enough in these trash characters to care.

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spaghettii's review against another edition

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dark emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

valeria_gzz's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-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

2.0

Edit: the biggest reason I gave this such a low rating even though it was entertaining was because there was too much “you’re mine” and not in the cute way but in the creepy way ya know? 2 These people need therapy. This was entertaining enough because of the drama. I didn’t like Vicious at all for the first 60% which good for me.

I liked that Vicious got better about expressing his feelings and knowing what he wanted, even though I still don’t think this is a good relationship. I also liked that the author showed that while he did like her he knew that the way he was going about it was completely wrong.

I don’t plan on continuing this series because I didn’t like the other characters enough and don’t want to read another bully or dark romance, I’ll stick to my fluff.

I only have a few things to add about the bully romance aspect:

I think the author could have written Vicious a lot worse than how he was written i.e. as someone who physically hurt Emilia (did threaten her a lot though which isn’t any better, it’s the thought that counts). He also could’ve been written as someone who actually hated her and then felt bad about it and started to like her, unlike how he knew of his attraction to her but was hindered by his personal issues. Omfg I just went back and skimmed the first few chapters and yeah no this guy was absolutely crazy awful to Emilia and I’m just now remembering that I thought it was so weird how even though we were in Vicious’ pov he didn’t act like he knew he liked her more like he just wanted HER (and not to be with her) it was weird.

(Original)2,5 These people need therapy. This was entertaining enough because of the drama. I didn’t like Vicious at all for the first 60% which good for me.

I think the author could have written Vicious a lot worse than how he was written i.e. as someone who physically hurt Emilia. He also could’ve been written as someone who actually hated her and then felt bad about it and started to like her, unlike how he knew of his attraction to her but was hindered by his personal issues. I’m really glad the only bully romance I’ve ever read (this one) was one where the characters were not physically abusive and hateful.

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