Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Black Sheep

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

17 reviews

rachaelwho's review against another edition

dark medium-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

Repetitive. Pacing issues. Didn't quite make sense. Protagonist is characterized as tough and difficult, but there's really no evidence of her being outwardly hostile (though she is often judgy, resentful and sullen internally) or fighting what she's supposed to do at pretty much any turn, other than leaving the faith and

dressing inappropriately at her cousin's wedding to passive-agressively outshine her (but even then, she pulls her punches and brings a cardigan to cover up)

. If this is supposed to be happening (a la being a lamb)... It's not particularly impactful or clear bc it's not consistent; she's constantly described as being a massive bitch who doesn't think about others' feelings or expectations, but she almost never acts out

until the final conflict

. CW for

cults and religious abuse

, which I didn't see available in the section for that.

Content Warnings

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

0.25

this is one of the worst books i’ve read this year, and just in general. the plot is incredibly misleading. the very early “twist” should’ve been mentioned in the synopsis, if it was i never would’ve read this. i think books should 100% mention if there are supernatural aspects, because that is a huge part of the book and something i don’t usually enjoy. the characters were flat and none of them were tolerable. the major plot twist is incredibly silly and just juvenile to me. overall, i don’t think this was written well at all and it was just silly, and not in a good way.

Content Warnings

mispaintedlady's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

melchncookies's review against another edition

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dark funny sad 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

I didn’t know what this book was when I started it. I rented it based off of pure recommendation without research, so at first I wasn’t sure if this was a real account vs a work of fiction. So, that was fun to figure out. I’m glad I got to experience this with no warnings.

I didn’t guess that

Lucifer was real

but I did guess that

Vesper would be sacrificed

, but I grew up with the Bible, so I feel like I had an unfair advantage. This book is basically takes Christianity and pours Satanic panic in thick. I don’t quite understand the dynamic between Vesper and her mom. I’m not sure if we are supposed to judge her by her works or her actions. She seems sad to me.

Content Warnings