Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan

28 reviews

bethbaty's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.5

This book had so much potential to be a dope mystery with a satisfying ending, and then it was just dark with no real rhyme or reason in the end. Which, if you’re into that, I’m sure this was great. But I kind of hated it.

She’s literally just crazy by the end due to all her trauma and PTSD and murders her own girlfriend happily? Ugh.

I also saw the ending coming and I’ll be honest, I just stopped reading with only a chapter or two left because I knew what was coming and I knew I was going to be mad about it. And then I was right on both fronts. 
The book had SO MUCH potential to be a thrilling rollercoaster of uncovering the truth of a horrific event little by little for one big crazy reveal. But it didn’t do that. Instead, we got a show of mental health and unchecked trauma that spirals out of control. And it feels like the actual main premise is simply poor communication or lack of it altogether. In every single relationship. In painfully obvious and annoying ways. 
The only character I actually liked was Sloan’s ex best friend, and then that just kind of  ✨ went away ✨ and never came back. Even though after understanding and kind he’d been, it seems out of character for him to just never come back? 
Also, I hated—HATED—Cherry and Sloan’s relationship. These girls knew each other for what? 3 days before they trauma bonded and decided they were soulmates and entirely codependent on each other in every aspect of their lives?? They were SO toxic it was gross and made me strongly dislike both of them. 
Finally, I prefer to understand a story and what really happened once it’s over. But we never actually get answers here. Was Sloan right?? Was Cherry lying? Was her mom in on it?? Her dad?? The whole sister Sasha character also seems so random and unexplained honestly. The ending comes, and yeah, Sloan is definitely mentally unwell no matter what, but like… was she right?? What really happened? 
I don’t know. I’m just annoyed and angry now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

shaunashares's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Murder and Gaslighting

_p0ssum_'s review against another edition

medium-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

3.75

Wow that is really toxic

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

smugreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

ginabee's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

1.0

There are two survivors after a massacre at a summer camp leaves all the other counselors dead, Sloan and Cherry. Sloan and Cherry, who are dating, care deeply for each other. Sloan struggles with not remembering the night, and begins wondering if Cherry was involved. 

This book was more a portrait of a toxic relationship than a thriller or a mystery. I found the dialog between them repetitive, and it frustrated me the only person who recognized their relationship was toxic was villanized. 

I found the representation of trauma problematic - it relied on stereotypesz. The trauma was also not being addressed in any healthy way. 

I stuck with this book because I wanted to find out what happened. The ending was ambiguous and unsatisfying. I can handle ambigous endings but I think this one missed the mark because I'm not sure what the entire book was building up to. 

To me, this book had poor character development and not much plot either. I liked the lesbian representation and Dugan describes all skin colors, including when someone is white as all the MCs were. Those are about the only 2 things I liked about the book.   

Initially I was thinking I'd recommend this book to Colleen Hoover fans,  but because of how trauma is depicted I don't think I'll be recommending it to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Murder

humblebookdragon's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

moreadsnrambles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

kat_tas_trophe's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death and Violence

The representation of ptsd and trauma in this book doesn't seem to be healthy or based on anything substantial so just be aware

islandbookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment

thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The Last Girls Standing pays homage to Friday the 13th and the extreme climate change movement in this slasher thriller.
  
While it's an odd combination, this book mainly focuses on Sloan, who lost her memory of that awful day and her girlfriend and fellow massacre survivor, Cherry, as Sloan attempts to remember what happened through hypnosis. 
  
As the story goes on, the plot twists so slightly that you will feel like you are starting to question what is happening with the character's motives and what actually happened during the massacre. 
  
This is a very thrilling and compelling read, the ending is rushed, confusing, and abrupt but leaves an opening for a sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Blood, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship