Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

29 reviews

renyoi's review

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

YA fiction that simultaneously does and does not feel like YA fiction. Multiple gasp-out-loud moments and surprising subversions of popular tropes make this book one of the more sophisticated YA titles I’ve ever read. All characters feel well-rounded and representative of real teenagers—who, as the author clearly knows, are agents in their own world and not just victims of or reactions to circumstances. My main complaint? The author doesn’t actually know how Tumblr works. :P

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Grief, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Homophobia, Outing, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Chronic illness, Cancer, Classism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

serendipity421's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Chronic illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Cursing

olivia_elise_reads's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Outing, Sexual content, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Bullying, Chronic illness, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Cancer, and Cursing

abi_ineedtoreadmore's review

challenging emotional funny mysterious sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Self harm, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Outing, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Pregnancy

brandie_abbie19's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

mllewellyn's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Good plot but under whelming 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Murder, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Medical content

tayloremmap's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I wasn’t a fan of this book. I had high hopes for it but I thought it dragged through the first 3/4 of the book and then all of a sudden, with very little lead-up, the mystery was solved and everything was good as could be.

The characters weren’t very likeable either, the only one I was rooting for was Cooper. Bronwyn was precocious, Nate was a predictable, and Addy’s character arc felt one-dimensional and fell flat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Outing, Mental illness, Homophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, Mass/school shootings, Infidelity, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Cancer, Car accident, and Chronic illness

allyhoo811's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.0

From a pure reading enjoyment factor One of Us Is Lying should have been given a 4 star rating, but because of my background in mental health counseling/education I felt like I had to lower it to a 3 because of the handling of a couple of issues which I'll list at the end of this review.

Overall, I found this to an engaging YA mystery. The characters and their secrets/motives were pretty cliche and easily guessed, but the overall character development (especially with Addy) was wonderful and I would definitely recommend this one to most people. It gave me huge Breakfast Club vibes and I think fans of 80s/90s teen movies would especially enjoy the nostalgia factor even though it has a contemporary setting. 

I did not love the ending/epilogue,

it was just too cheesy teen rom-com for me and I don't think it really fit with the rest of the book. But I understand that it probably is what was expected in a YA novel.

My 2 Big Issues (contain major spoilers):

1. Simon killing himself was a really interesting (if somewhat predictable) twist, but the portrayal of Simon as someone suffering from depression was unfortunate. Many people (teens included) suffer from depression, but they don't create elaborate, evil revenge plots to take out everyone who ever looked at them funny. Most people with depression have a hard time getting out of bed. And Simon had been destroying people's lives for years, portraying him as someone who was depressed and felt like an outsider when he was actually probably suffering from some severe personality disorders puts a bad light on depression, especially in a YA book.

2. Jake's character arc. This is a thriller trope I hate, and I hate it even more in a YA mystery. Jake the "perfect" boyfriend with some controlling tendances turns into a psycho killer at the end of the novel. This is just so overdone and not logical. Yes, people who attempt to control their partners are more likely to engage in emotional and physical abuse. But Jake had gone months without the slightest indication that he was escalating after he found out about the cheating (and kept it to himself). His mask didn't even slip once. And by the end we have a crazy action sequence where he is trying to kill two people without any hesitation. It felt forced, and I think Addy's character arc would have been better served without the killer boyfriend trope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, and Sexual content

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Stalking, and Transphobia

leahlovesloslibros's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

How is it that five students walk into detention, but only four make it out alive? That's what Bayview Police are trying to find out after one of five students in detention suffers what investigators are calling a non-accidental death.

After Simon Kelleher dies in detention with only Bronwyn, Addy, Cooper, and Nate present, the four students are totally shaken, and all of them insist that they didn't do it - but the police are convinced that it had to be one of them. That is until the killer starts sending cryptic messages via a Tumblr post. Now, the four unlikely comrades must band together to prove their innocence before one of them is pinned with murder.

This multiple POV story was quick-paced and kept me guessing all the way through. The characters were quirky and definitely had flaws, yet they were still likeable. The high school setting was realistic as well. There were lots of twists in this book, and while I did figure out the killer a little bit ahead of time, I still enjoyed reading about their motives through the end of the story. I had a hard time putting this book down, and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good YA mystery/thriller. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Homophobia, Sexism, Cursing, Addiction, Mental illness, and Abandonment

Minor: Chronic illness and Sexual content

oliviaferlazzo's review

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Chronic illness