Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

12 reviews

nagaakil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

lilith_hmr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This like the 'One of Us is Lying' series was an easy read. The flow was smooth and the plot twists were unpredictable. But McManus could have increased the tenseness a little more in the last act because I didn't find it all that satisfying. Although a little flimsy, the conclusion wasn't too horrible. The book's final sentence had such a shockingly unexpected conclusion. At first, it wasn't very apparent, but once I got it, it was good enough to state that Karen McManus is a plot-twist genius.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Vomit, Murder, Mental illness, Car accident, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Pedophilia, and Gun violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Alcohol, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Blood, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

This  novel is an extremely light murder mystery. You can skim whole chapters and still understand what's happening. Two of the twists were pretty dumb, but the last one (on the last page) was chilling and it made me wish that that had been the focus off the novel. Or at least part of the main plot. 

The story is told from the prospective of two characters, which was refreshing because so many books these days include way too many points of view. I prefer books from one person's perspective, but two were okay.

I'd say that this is the okay-est book I read this year.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Car accident, Confinement, Grief, Child abuse, Child death, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia

dariana12's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.0

This book was good but it kind of got me in a reading slump in the begining because there was wa too many things going on and way too many characters to keep up with. I stopped reading the book for 2 weeks with 300 pages left but one day I started reading it again and it was so good and juicy and I read the rest in 2 days and I loved it. I love that there are queer characters too and the characters seem really cool and interesting so I give this book a solid 3.5. But there was a mystery that was never solved… who killed the teacher?? The teacher being killed is not a spoiler btw, it happens in the first or second chapter of the book but it was never made clear who did it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Cursing, Death, and Emotional abuse

halfbloodprincess_hogwarts's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Ugggggghhhh, the end was so fucked up🤢🤮 def a great read in time for the spooky month with a ton of suspense🤍

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Car accident, Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Stalking, Vomit, and Sexism

annabookpaiges's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Gaslighting

thenonmouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Car accident, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Addiction, Gaslighting, and Infidelity

schwabbelliese's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

similar to McManus other young adult novel "one of us is lying", "two can keep a secret" stays thrilling til the end, with the constant uncovering of new evidence keeping the reader captivated to find out that in the end, notthing is as it first seemed.
Overall a definite page-turner of moderate lenght and okay pacing. Probably a good book to get back into reading. Some of the sentences were oddly phrased or seemed choppy/redundant, but that might just be the case for the German trainslation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, and Car accident

Minor: Biphobia, Blood, and Emotional abuse

pastry's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Karen McManus just has a way with YA murder mysteries. I genuinely didn't guess who it was AT ALL, and where usually that might annoy me, the way it's done here is so good. It makes sense while at the same time, not being too glaringly obvious from the start. Impeccable.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, and Confinement

gamora_zen1's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Stalking