Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan

16 reviews

raikowlreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Een onbetrouwbare hoofdpersonage, die ook nog je angst omhoog gooit. Je gaat misschien het karakter haten, want waarom vertrouw je nou de persoon die jouw leven heeft gered niet? 

Sloan heeft een grote trauma doorgebracht. Haar geheugen heeft haar proberen te helpen met het opsluiten van haar herinnering. Toch probeert ze de deur van de herinnering te openen. En dit leidt tot meer paniek, dan iets goeds.

Ik hou van een spannend boek, alleen soms werd de emoties van Sloan te veel. De paniek die zij kreeg nam ik erg over. Ik heb zelfs de laatste pagina gelezen, omdat ik zelf het moest weten. Het had mij voorbereid op een einde, die misschien niet iedereen zo leuk en aardig vind. 

Toen de maskers kwamen gaat echt over het verhelpen van trauma en het achterhalen van de waarom? Waarom toen Sloan er was? Waarom op die nacht? En waarom is zij samen met Cherry de enige overlevenden? Het gaf het boek meer spanning en meer theorieën. Je begint zelf ideeën te creëren die misschien helemaal fout liggen. En het feit dat je door Sloan's ogen kijkt, maakt al deze theorieën gevaarlijk. Ze weet eigenlijk helemaal niks en probeert haar eigen angst te overwinnen.

Als je van thrillers hou, hack and slash verhalen en hoofdpersonages die niet bepaald betrouwbaar zijn, dan is dit zeker een boek voor jou.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

illya18191's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Death and Gaslighting

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

michelle_mightbereading's review against another edition

dark slow-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Gaslighting

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

alanabie's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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

4.5

Well that was unexpected 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

clara_h39's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

I normally don’t like thriller/horror/psych books, but I really enjoyed this one. It was not too graphic since the mass murder took place before the book, and its only slightly gory during flashbacks. Very interesting and detailed world bulding. I appreciated the queer relationship wasn’t exploited or one note, it was just representative of two real girls in love strugglingg with trauma. I do think this book was somewhat predictable but it didn’t ruin the enjoyment for me, i was still on the edge of my seat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, and Abandonment

skye_era_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

I thought I fully figured out the ending 30 minutes into the book. I finished the book a few hours ago and I still don’t actually know if I was right or not lmao. I’m genuinely so confused by the ending. The characters were extremely unlikeable. I understand she just went through the most traumatic thing imaginable but oh my god. I did appreciate the sapphic rep but oh my god was it toxic as fuck. Every single relationship in this book was toxic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

sonygaystation's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

I love it when women are insane!


(i do wish this book had more of the summer camp slasher vibe than it did. It was pretty focused on life after the Event, which did keep me guessing. I feel like I got no answers though and I’ve definitely read better thrillers/horror, queer books, and queer thriller/horror. But it was just unhinged enough to satisfy the insanity palette iykwim. Although the main couple were TERRIBLE together like if I had to hear them fight one more time lmao 😭 as a 29 yo gay person in a committed relationship my young besties if you fight like this I’m gonna need you to do some serious inventory on if “love” is worth it lmfao 😭)

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Stalking, and Death of parent

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