Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Sadie by Courtney Summers

92 reviews

bekah1210's review

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Abandonment, Child abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

tahmida's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

 I listened to this as an audiobook because many people were recommending to do so and my god, it was absolutely brilliant. There's a whole cast, a different voice for different characters, which is one of the things I loved. I haven't read many thriller/mystery novels, and this definitely was a break from what I usually read. Regardless, I think I have found one of my new favourite books of all time. I adored the main protagonist, Sadie. The way the story is unravelled and told has such a strong grasp on me. The dual POV of the podcast and Sadie was very well-established through the audiobook; if you want to read this book, I highly recommend listening to it as an audiobook. Please do check the content and trigger warnings before you read this book.

The ending left me absolutely numb. I was so invested in Sadie's story. When I realised there were no more Sadie POVs left and that the book was slowly coming to the end, I was dreading what would happen to her. After the audiobook was done, I sat there for a good 15 minutes trying to process everything and then I immediately jumped on the internet to see the theories and if there was a proper ending. I ranted to my clueless friend for another 10 minutes about the ending and the book as a whole. I needed the closure so bad.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Child death, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Vomit

ri_17's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Abandonment, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Drug use

lilysaddler's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Pedophilia, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

ivybean's review against another edition

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Death, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

shellig93's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-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

3.0

Entertaining but the dual story telling structure (podcast and first person) felt more redundant than anything. The writing was just okay. The audiobook was very well produced.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Drug use

lasagna's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Rape, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Child death

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, and Gun violence

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I listened to the audiobook and it was really well done, though thrillers aren't really my thing.

It was slow for me to get into since the switching between POVs was kind of jarring but as I progressed and got used to the style the pacing picked up quite a bit.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Stalking, and Violence

lucereads98's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-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? Yes

5.0

I didn’t expect much going into this book, but it quickly became one of my new favourites. It does deal with heavy subjects though so check TW if you need to.

I have never cried at a book, but this one very nearly got me. My eyes filled up at a certain part toward the end, and if you’ve read this then you can probably imagine which part got me.

I adored the format of this book. I wish I enjoyed listening to audiobooks because I know that this would’ve been done so so well.
We read from Sadies POV as she travels across the country in search of the man who killed her thirteen year old sister, Mattie. It is so clear that Mattie is Sadies entire world and she loved nothing more than her baby sister. There is nothing she wouldn’t do for her. Convinced she knows who is to blame for her untimely death, the nineteen year old takes it upon herself to track him down and get her revenge. 
We also get the POV of West McCray, a radio personality and podcast host. He received a desperate phone call from a woman asking for help to find a young girl who has run away: Sadie. In an attempt to track her down, he speaks with family, friends and strangers who Sadie crossed paths with on her journey.
It was so cool seeing McCray unravel the story and retrace Sadies steps. 

The thing that a few people don’t seem to like is the ending, but surprisingly I did. (SPOILERS AHEAD).

I usually don’t like endings that are open for interpretation. But for some reason this one was different. I think it’s because I could imagine it as a real true crime podcast / video. You don’t always get a clear answer with unsolved cases in real life, so this felt like listening to an episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved. 

A second theory is that Sadie didn’t make it out alive. As much as I hate to think it, because I came to really really love her character, I just think it makes sense. Why else would we stop hearing from her, right after she’s been hit in the head? Her dialogue stops, which to me meant that the worst had happened.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Murder

aidantriestoread's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia

Moderate: Drug use and Rape