Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

9 reviews

katjuschae's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Sexual content, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Child death, Lesbophobia, and Racism

Minor: Vomit and Self harm

bibliorama's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-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

4.0

Did I power through this in a matter of days? Yes. 

It was a pretty fast read compared to my normal speed. I was curious about this book series after remembering that I never really got any satisfaction from the show about A. I'm hoping the books give me that, and beyond that I'm in the mood for some toxic drama. 

If you see this review and are worried about my reading tastes, don't worry, so am I.

(My star rating is purely off of vibes and means nothing)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Stalking, and Classism

Minor: Self harm and Sexual content

The book is pretty much about how horrible young teens can be to each other, and there are some pretty crappy adults thrown in as well. The writing didn't feel as if it was showing these themes to be a good thing and it felt like it was highlighting how messed up it all is. While also dealing with heavy themes with the main characters, thr writing built in a lot of empathy for the main 4. I especially felt for Hanna and Emily.

emre's review

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Sexual content, and Lesbophobia

lheuredoree's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

The best kind of bad. I remember reading this back when I was about twelve to thirteen years old – I was obsessed with the show and wanted to read the books as well – but I ended up abandoning the book series somewhere along the way.

Reading it was very nostalgic, albeit very repetitive at times, since the TV show followed the plot pretty closely. It’s and easy and quick read and it pulls you in, even though it’s not the best written book out there.

I plan on finishing the book series this time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Fatphobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, Self harm, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Body shaming, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content

thecourtofreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Self harm

h0rvathzs0fia's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, Eating disorder, and Death

outcrye's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Body shaming, Bullying, Toxic friendship, and Stalking

Moderate: Car accident, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Racism and Vomit

regalreads's review

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Stalking

Moderate: Eating disorder, Bullying, Homophobia, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, and Vomit

nytephoenyx'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

2.0

Oh wow.  Okay.  Where to start with THIS book.

I guess I’ll start by extending Shepard the benefit of the doubt.  I think she was trying to write the most sensational, over-the-top, unrealistic and ridiculous teenagers ever.  I think.  I think this was on purpose and not bad writing.  Right?

The next thing I’ll do it give Emily some props.  Of all the characters in this nightmare of a novel, I think that Emily was the most… human?  Her character is the only one here who I think could have had an actual, interesting, “doesn’t make me groan aloud and roll my eyes a lot” story.  I more or less enjoyed the pieces from Emily’s POV, but she was not enough to save this book as a whole.

That aside.  Wow.  Pretty Little Liars is an absolute train wreck.

Lets make a list of some NOPEs, shall we?

1. Elitism
2. Fatphobia
3. Bullying
4. Adult/minor relationships
5. Infidelity
6. Homophobia
7. Just… really terrible parents?  And friends.  And boyfriends.  And characters in general.

I am almost 100% sure I missed something there, but those are some of the things that made me want to hurl the book across the room… only this was an audiobook and my phone is expensive.  Pretty Little Liars came out when I was in high school, near the age of these girls, and I’m so grateful I didn’t pick it up at the time because I was impressionable and already really really conscious about my weight, and the Hannah storyline was hugely problematic and probably would have been impressionable on 16 y/o me.  So many of the characters in this novel make the most dramatic, unkind, unhealthy decisions possible.  It was more disturbing than “thrilling”, I guess, with particular emphasis toward Aria/Ezra being a big fat NOPE, Emily’s boyfriend’s behavior bringing me SO MUCH rage, and of course, Hannah’s storyline.

Okay that’s the characters.  Lets talk about some other things.

The pacing on this book was slow.  It feels like it should be quick, but between the four POVs, I honestly felt like nothing was happening.  We went through each of the POVs once and each of the girls did A Thing.  Then went went through them again, and the girls did more or less the same thing again.  Then through again, seeing the discovery.  Again, reacting.  End of book.  Nothing happened, and it took forever to get there.

I have issues with the realism of everything, but again, that falls into the arena of giving Shepard the benefit of the doubt on her choices here.

The writing as well was just… sort of icky.  There’s this scene early in the book where Spencer decides to strip down to her sports bra, underwear, and knee-high field hockey socks and go into the hot tub.  And for some reason that scene bothered me an extra lot.  Like it had it’s own problematic bits, but I honestly just couldn’t get past the fact Spencer went into the hot tub with knee-high socks.  Why?  Socks are the best thing to take off at the end of the day, especially after practice.  I’m pretty sure Shepard did it just to allow Spencer to be mortified at her lack of glamour when A BOY OMG OMG OMG OMG sees her.  For whatever reason, it was this scene that stuck with me as an example of the overall drama and ridiculousness that was this book.

There was a point as I was listening to it when I realised, Oh no.  I’m going to have to read a bunch to find out who A is.  Because the underlying story was intriguing.  It was just everything else about the book that I disliked.  Then I remembered – the series was over and I could Google the answer.  Thanks Internet, you beautiful spoiler machine!  Now I know the end of this series and don’t have to read any more… and wow was it anti-climatic.  I would have been annoyed to read sixteen books and have it end there.  Goodbye and good riddance, Pretty Little Liars!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Racism

Moderate: Drug use, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content