Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

4 reviews

risaleel's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, Bullying, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexism, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Classism, Murder, Death of parent, and Mental illness

litliz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Grief, Bullying, Blood, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infidelity, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Vomit, Alcohol, and Classism

shaylac's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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

2.5

TLDR: the writing style is slower paced with 3 character perspectives that navigate Monteverre with flashbacks from 10 years previous. There are points in the book that are interesting and will keep your attention but there are other points where you're confused as to why the event makes sense in the storyline.

To start off, I was excited to read this book just by the description it seemed like the book was going to be about adventure, love, and mystery. However, as I was reading, it was slow-paced with no world building or character building. 

The entire book is based around the grand jeu but it was never explained how it was played or what is involved with making a grand jeu. I felt that I was left confused half the time trying to figure out who the characters were and how they fit into the story. With that, there were 3 different perspectives which "The Rat" would not have been missed if their perspective wasn't written.

It seemed like there wasn't enough thought put into writing the storyline and how the book would have ultimately ended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Suicide, Bullying, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Confinement, Mental illness, and Murder

Minor: Cursing, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Classism, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

wemily0's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-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 a book that made me think a lot about the inaccessibility of the past and the ways in which we grow as we age. I enjoyed this book overall, it was a little reflective, had a big twist (!), and ended well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, Abandonment, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Religious bigotry