Reviews tagging 'Death'

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

67 reviews

carousel's review

challenging mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Stalking

Moderate: Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Alcohol

alysereadsbooks's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

1.5

I wanted to love this book, but I really, really didn’t. I’m trying to explore outside of my normal genre preferences, but this just wasn’t my favorite. 

The main action is really the last 20 pages or so, and while the twist with Claire/Taylor/Amber was gripping, it was very hard to keep track of who was who and who did what. Maybe this was intentional to mirror Amber’s confusion, but it was jarring and difficult to read. It felt like the author was trying hard to make the ending surprising. I had a hard time finishing this. I didn’t find the character of Amber likable, so I didn’t feel invested in her story. Part of that was intentional with the diary entries, but really overall was not my favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

pplydm's review

dark mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

Sometimes I Lie is the debut novel of Alice Feeney. It wouldn't surprise me if it was heaped praise on many thriller book video blogs because there are definitely mind blowing plot twists in it. Sometimes I Lie was impressive in portraying obnoxious characters. Had me assessing if Claire and Amber's personalities occur in reality life or if so, how many turn out alike them? No doubt there were abundance of lies to be detected once a reader finishes the novel.  The pacing was medium and two specific chapter even deeply shocked me. This may be disturbing, agonizing and mind-bending all in one read.

Nana always said that books made better friends than people anyway. Books will take you anywhere if you let them, she used to say, and I think she was right.

Nana used to say that if you didn't let the tears out of you they can turn to poison.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

ekmoore11's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying and Infertility

Minor: Cancer

v171's review

dark mysterious sad tense 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

1.0

Yuck.

The good: Paced how you'd expect a thriller book to be paced. The twists at the end were interesting.

The bad: I don't like the concept of an unreliable narrator being used as a plot device. It was burdensome to have to mentally track what was true and false throughout the entire story. I found all of the characters to be unlikable, but I think some were written in a way that I was supposed to sympathize with them. Shifting POV is fine when done well, but I found it to be disruptive in this book. However, the automatic 1 star for me was the multiple instances of rape and sexual assault. There are better, more creative ways to make me to hate a character than making them a rape a woman in a coma. I found it to be a lazy way to add shock factor to a story that didn't need i 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infertility, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer and Vomit

michelie101's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

WOW this book is dark and twisted. The book is centered around Amber who starts off in a coma. She doesn't know how she got there and starts recounting the last couple of days she remembers. You also hear excerpts from a journal and what people around her say in the hospital. The more you hear these 3 things the more the puzzle starts to clear up but it isn't until the end what actually occurs. It is very twisted and kind of a sad story for everyone involved. This is one of the first thriller books that I've read and really enjoyed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Medical trauma

ellalafontant's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Medical content

Moderate: Cancer