Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Sweetpea by C.J. Skuse

7 reviews

frogggirl2's review against another edition

dark funny fast-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

3.0

This serial killer premise is unoriginal, there's too much explanation for why she is the way she is, and the narrative voice is deeply unpleasant.  The excessively short chapters, journal entry style, daily minutae, boyfriend drama, and catty tone make this feel like an evil Bridget Jones.

This book just keeps doing the same things over and over, and her narrative voice doesn't change, so it's just really tiring to read this un-pc, fat phobic, agist, condescending, judgemental POV for 450 pages.

She tells so many unnecessary lies, and it's frustratingly ludicrous that she wouldn't get called on them.  Especially when she's lying to a journalist - why make up a lie that you could easily disprove with a google search?  The book letting the character get away with this undermines the believability of the book overall.

I wanted to like this - it's occasionally funny, and she's mostly hunting rapists and pedophiles so there's a justified revenge element. Ultimately, although it was a quick, easy read, there was nothing memorable here, and it wasn't as funny as it was grating and unrealistic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Rape, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Blood, Gore, Infertility, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Misogyny

katndrsn's review

dark 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, Fatphobia, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Stalking, and Rape

Minor: Abortion, Vomit, and Infertility

bees_knees735's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

This was such a weird, fun read. Rhiannon is bad but in a way you can’t help but find kinda great and the voice of the whole thing is so engaging I read it in a couple of days. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Blood, Sexual assault, Stalking, Death of parent, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, Child death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Pregnancy, Abortion, and Suicide attempt

clotalksbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Well that was dark! Similar in style to a couple of more recent books I have read (How to Kill your family/how to kill men and get away with it), and initially I wasn't as big a fan of the writing in this one. I feel some things went a little far for my taste, and there is A LOT of sex - not necessarily a bad thing, just unexpected. 

It is darkly funny, you feel terrible for laughing. I think it depends what order you read the similar books in to be honest, as you can't help but compare. 

There are some very unexpected twists and turns which I loved, my mouth hit the floor on occasion. By the end I was hooked and will read the rest of the series.

The narrator is perfect, so I will stick to audio for the rest of the series too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Abortion and Torture

Minor: Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Infertility, Miscarriage, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

singalana's review against another edition

dark funny 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Pregnancy, Cursing, Rape, Mental illness, Infidelity, Abortion, Body shaming, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Death of parent, Vomit, Stalking, and Sexual violence

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Self harm, and Animal cruelty

librariangeorgia's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-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

3.5

I actually got recommended this book by a staff member at Waterstones as I’d enjoyed HOW TO KILL YOUR FAMILY by Bella Mackie. 

 

This is book 1 in the Sweet Pea series. 

 

I really enjoyed this book. I can see the similarities to HOW TO KILL YOUR FAMILY. 

 

This follows the perspective of a serial killer, as opposed to the victim or detective. Even though it’s fiction, I actually found it so interesting seeing their view of events - which actually turned out not to be overly exciting. 

 

The first chapter was so graphic and disturbing that it actually made me more intrigued. This does actually continue throughout the book… 

 

My favourite bit was the kill list at the start of each day - most of them being minor reasons like the fact that she hates people. The fact that I would agree with a lot of the points she made actually disturbed me - am I a psychopath?? 

 

Though the ending was left on a cliffhanger and did make me curious as to what happens next, I’m not sure that I’ll be in a rush to pick up the next book. 

 

If you liked HOW TO KILL YOUR FAMILY, I recommend giving this one a go! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

jbistheinitial's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I’ve just done the CN notes and honestly it would be quicker to list what Sweetpea doesn’t include. But for all that it’s a brutally funny and page-turning take on Bridget Jones-meets-American Psycho. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Fatphobia, Rape, and Torture

Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Infertility, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Suicide attempt