Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

64 reviews

loscamp4lyf's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.25

what the FUCK was this book. i thought i knew what was going on and then it just kept turning and twisting. the reveals had me in shock every time, though the ending was ugggh.
there is a graphic rape scene 80% of the way through the book as a warning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Stalking, Murder, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abandonment and Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy

marieqc's review

dark sad tense slow-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

3.0

content warnings: rape, abuse, murder, etc. there's a lot
it was entertaining until it got too graphic for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Medical content, Abandonment, Abortion, Car accident, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Blood, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Rape, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

sofiacanread's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, and Medical trauma

triforcefusion's review against another edition

dark 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

0.5

As a thriller, this book created some tension in the beginning, but as it went along, it became boring. There are too many ideas going on to intentionally mislead and confuse the reader. It is not smart. The entire storyline that includes sexual assault is completely unnecessary and ads nothing of substance to the book. I hate books that use sexual assault for the horror/shock of it just to be horrific and shocking. It did nothing with it other than be vulgar. 

The main character/s are very unlikeable and I hope that this author had a consultant for mental illness, or else she is just using mental illness tropes/notions to write the story she wants. I would have given it a 1 if there wasn't two final "gotcha" moments, one of which doesn't even make sense based on the characterization of the main character/s. I feel I can see the author smirk and say, "Aren't I so clever?" No. You are not. 

Her writing is fine, 0.5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Mental illness

Unnecessary sexual assault that is just there for the shock and horror. Nothing comes from it. No emotional fall-out, no relationship fall-out, nothing. It's just there to be vulgar. The book would have had the same message and impact without it since the main tension is not with the character who sexually assaults.

lulureading's review

dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

This book broke me lol. I've been reading fantasy romances since because this book was such a bummer. It's just a real feel-bad story. It doesn't have a happy ending as far as I'm concerned. So many terrible things happen from start to finish. I hated all of the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Infertility

jessicafacchinigould's review against another edition

mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

megansreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I only read a handful of thrillers a year, so I’m glad a friend recommended this one to me.

I read it in about two days. By the time I was on page 20, I was invested in finding out what had happened right alongside our protagonist, Amber. The actual reading experience was perfect for me. The author’s language was rich and thoughtful, and I loved the character voice in all three “timelines.” The diary entries were especially engaging.

The plot twists kept me guessing. I can understand some people not liking just how many there were

—I personally could have gone without the Taylor told me to do it line and I didn’t love the open ending—

but they kept me entertained. I knew we were going to have an unreliable narrator, but I hadn’t realized how unreliable. It makes me want to reread this book to look for the clues I missed and how I might interpret things differently knowing the ending. I will also say that I recommend reading the physical book if possible because I think the audiobook would have been too confusing for me.

Overall, this is a thriller that will stick with me. I would recommend it to people who are looking for a twisty thriller hosted by an unreliable narrator. I could see this making a great book club book since there’s so much to discuss!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism and Death of parent

alexisgarcia's review

dark mysterious tense slow-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

please PLEASE check the trigger warnings  before reading!!

i felt like the coma chapters were really slow and dragged for me. the twists were okay but some of them seemed so pointless. some of the twists were unnecessary and awful. it brought the book down so far for me. there was no reason for some of the book content to be in there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Gaslighting, Grief, Car accident, Child death, Emotional abuse, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Torture

theimposter's review

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, and Miscarriage

aselin's review

dark mysterious tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Sexual assault, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Rape, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Infertility, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Grief, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit