Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - One of Us Is Lying

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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miaaa_lenaaa's review

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adventurous dark emotional lighthearted tense fast-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

3.5

Probably 3.5
Enjoyable but like incredibly predictable
Literally nothing was a surprise

<SPOILERS>

Also it does feel like cheating that none of them were lying about that but ok
Also fuck u simon
Also really? Everyone is that pressed that she cheated on some tests? Im sorry did her teacher rly not notice that she went from a d to getting 100%?? Thats on him

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