Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

El Proyecto by Courtney Summers

57 reviews

thereadingshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

libraryghost's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Blood

diana_blackmoon's review against another edition

The book is boring and I can see how will the plot goes from a mile away...
Maybe it is my bad experiences with Christian Polish church. Maybe it is just the book's fault. Maybe it is because the main character is blind and her thoughts are repetitive. We will never know...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Stalking

Minor: Addiction and Alcohol

lisacanteven's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This is my first Courtney Summers book. I know a lot of people read Sadie before and this book did not measure up. For me, I do not have that book to compare to. I still was left wanting so much more from this book that she gave us. I felt as if so much happened off the pages that we were hardly given enough of the story for it to make its impact. I've never read a book that left so much unsaid before, and let me say that I did not like that at all. 

The cult vibes were great though, so I rated it higher than I would have normally I think. I wanted a cult book, and I got one. It was pretty predictable the whole time, even without as much context as we deserved as readers. I didn't love it, but I didn't dislike it as much as I was expecting based on other reviews. I'm not sure I would read another book by this author though.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

kbergsten's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

gbyd's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, and Car accident

maiagaia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I loved the relationship between the sisters. It was complicated, and I think it really captured the tensions that can arise when you feel you have to choose between helping someone you love and helping yourself. I felt for Bea because she was so young and so emotionally traumatized but was expected to be the support system for her even more traumatized younger sister. The author did an excellent job of showing that internal struggle.

The final chapter was absolutely stunning. A total gut punch. Tragic and hopeful at the same time: a deadly combination.

I loved Lo as a character. I understood her. I got where she was coming from. Until I didn't. To be more specific, once Lo starts palling around with the cult, I intellectually understood what the author was trying to do, but I don't think the execution was successful. Lo went from being supremely distrustful of every member to trusting them so quickly it gave me whiplash. It started out as the members slowly wearing her down and winning her over and then BLAM she's convinced her sister was a manipulative liar the whole time. The groundwork was there for another 50 or so pages of her struggling with herself and
 being manipulated into the position she ended up in, but it moved too quickly and ultimately felt cheap and rushed.

The climax was simply not good. I'm not sure if you can even call it deus ex machina because the character doesn't even remember how they got out of their situation. It is textually written off as god intervening? Which I guess means it literally is deus ex machina...... Which is to say: lame. And this is coming from someone who LOVES a Greek tragedy.

Ultimately, I didn't realize this was YA, and I don't think I would have picked it up if I had. I only mention this because I think many of the issues I had could have been fixed by adding more pages and diving more into the characters' internal worlds, neither of which are fair expectations for a YA book, imo. The adult and YA markets have different expectations, and when expectations don't match reality, it's tough for the book to make up that ground.

The audiobook was good. The narrators were distinct enough for me even when I cranked it up to 2x speed for the last quarter or so.

Overall, I enjoyed this read (mostly) and don't regret picking it up. It was a quick listen that I got through in a single work day, so I can't complain.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Murder

lou_o_donnell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Body horror, Confinement, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

lilythebibliophile's review against another edition

dark slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-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

1.5

This book ended up being nothing like I expected. I find cults fascinating, and I enjoyed Sadie, so I thought this book would be right up my alley. Instead it was simply boring. 

A majority of the book is conversations between several people. One of them is constantly preaching, which just ended up being annoying after awhile. The multiple timeline ended up not giving as much insight as I hoped either, so it just never really felt like anything was happening. Lo, the sister trying to find the one who joined the cult, goes to the Unity Project, yells at someone, goes to work, and repeat. That's it, that's the book. 

I thought there would be some surprise, or intrigue, but it just ended up being a stereotypical cult story. The climax of the story even happens off screen, and since the MC doesn't even know what happened we never get any answers. Unfortunately for me there weren't any likable characters to make up for the plot either, so this one is a disappointment in the end.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Murder and Pregnancy