Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman

17 reviews

heyitsseph's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

I loved how the author wrote the whole story . The book it’s about an elite / exclusive group where they get chose from freshman year to become THE PLAYERS from senior class. One of the main characters Shelia was killed everyone think her boyfriend did it . Jill wants to make her senior the best this year will be different, as they try to move on from Shells death.  Now that jill and her friends are seniors . Jill wants  to to find out who killed her best friend . Jill had to go through a lot to find out actually killed Sheila. It was a shocking surprise it emotional. Imagine find out who killed your best friend was someone close to you. You never even knew it. There is little bit a spicy and romance in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Confinement, Alcohol, Blood, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Body horror, and Child death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

If you like to read a mystery/thriller book with mix of romance , and some shocking clues then this is the book for you. I enjoyed reading this book.

the_true_monroe's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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

3.25

Decent read- the first half was super slow for me but the 2nd half was captivating. This can be shown by how even though I read this book over 20 days, the last 50% were all in one day! It was pretty predictable but despite the outcome not being a shocker, I still felt all of the tension as things came into place. I also did not really like most of the characters but some who I really disliked for the majority of the book did get to me near the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Grief, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Racism, and Self harm

maggie_hamel's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Alcohol, Medical content, Grief, and Drug use

libraryghost's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Murder, Blood, Misogyny, Classism, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Death, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Confinement

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Classism, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Infidelity, Misogyny, Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Blood, Bullying, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

abigailsmathews's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual content

morethanmylupus's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Murder

phoebe_erh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

While I at first found the characters way too unlikable and annoyingly privelliged, as the book progressed and their flaws became highlighted I found it a great read. I had some difficulty distinguishing some of the players but eventually got used to having so many characters. the beginning is a bit weak due to how annoying they were before they encountered difficulty and how weird their school and traditions are as a non American, but it is worth holding on past this for the pay off of the book overall.

having Adam as the killer despite many potential suspects and also his closeness to Jill made the twist even more intense. i also loved the self awareness to make it that what effectively killed Shaila was the power that came with being a player and how Adam’s self entitlement as a result of this made it easier for him to become cruel and manipulative in a way that was unimaginable.  Also having an ending other than them disbanding the players would have been really frustrating so the ending really rounded the book out. </spoilers>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Car accident

amyluck's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

Moderate: Sexual content, Cursing, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Vomit, Sexual assault, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Grief

theromanticace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Child death, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Murder, Alcoholism, Death, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Grief, Vomit, Sexual violence, Cursing, Infidelity, and Sexism