Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

A Dead and Stormy Night by Steffanie Holmes

5 reviews

niamhstorme's review against another edition

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

2.75

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abicaro17's review

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was slow to get into but once you pass the 20% mark it starts to ramp up. I will say the mystery part was pretty fun but definitely predictable. I did really enjoy the relationship between Mina and all the boys as well. I think it'll be interesting to see how everything progresses. 
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bzliz's review against another edition

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

2.0

This was a TikTok recommendation and I’ve gotta stop listening to some people on that app because this was not great. I thought the premise was interesting- a woman starts working in a bookshop where book characters keep coming to life- but of course all three of them are obsessed with her immediately and the mystery aspect was just so poorly done. Children’s media have better mysteries that are less heavy handed in doling out clues. 

Mina’s main personality traits are 1) that she’s going blind and 2) ignoring the constant compliments from the 3 bookshop occupants, which is just weird. 

I don’t know if I’ll continue this series. It was tolerable once I started thinking of it like fanfiction but then I remembered I can read so much fanfiction that’s leagues better than this…

Content warnings:
Sexual content (on page):
Mina gets fingered by Morrie against a wall semi-publicly. They then have sex in the bookshop which is partially witnessed by Quoth.

Ableism (off page):
Mina is fired from her fashion job because she’s going blind.

Alcohol (on page):
These people are constantly drinking and at all hours of the day.

Blood, murder (on page):
Ashley is murdered in the bookshop. Descriptions of the scene itself are very brief and not explicit. Less traumatic than any episode of CSI ever.

Toxic friendship (on & off page):
Ashley and Mina’s relationship was definitely toxic. Ashley latched on to Mina’s dreams and followed her to a new continent, then used Mina’s medical condition to undermine her and steal her job, then acted like she didn’t do anything wrong.
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nkmustdie's review against another edition

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

2.0

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applejacksbooks's review

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funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

A super fun and fast paced cozy murder mystery, with some of the classics best (or worst) leading men. I will say I was off put by the repetitive use of the g-slur, but the author does address that it is in fact a slur several times. 
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