Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Sweetpea by C.J. Skuse

3 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

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