Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Bully by Penelope Douglas

11 reviews

maria8w4's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Grief, Bullying, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

caroras's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Soo let’s be real here. If this was real life, no way Tate would’ve forgiven Jared, and if she did, I’d consider it Stockholm Syndrome.

But I will admit it, I gobbled up this book like it was my last meal.

I’m a sucker for love-hate tropes. 

I love Penelope’s writing style, and that may be partly why I devoured this book.

Some of the passages in the book were so amazingly written and clever.

Character development in this book is top notch. I loved the way Tate went from someone who could never stand her ground, someone who would run away, and to someone who stood up for herself and fought back. As cringe as it sounds, it was kind of inspiring lol.

I found that the characters were surprisingly lovable, despite all their flaws.

My personal favorite character must be Madoc. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Grief, and Blood

rosie_valadez's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault and Misogyny

kengtwozero's review against another edition

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

antidietleah's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Violence, Bullying, Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Cancer, Infidelity, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Grief

saoreads's review

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

It's a big cliché and dramatic, which led to a plot story that really is predictable, yet that's on me as I wanted to take a breather from reading high fantasy books to school setting ones. What made a huge impression on me was Tate's monologue. I had to read that twice. That part was both soothing and painful because of the sort of way their friendship ended up. It felt like a last call and a voice indeed to express how she felt from the duration she was made to suffer over trauma dumping and incidents in school from bullying and pranks. It had a lot of messed up scenes to the extreme, but it was fiction for a reason. Anyway, that monologue definitely saved the book for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Medical trauma, and Sexual assault

itoriseva's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child abuse, Medical content, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cancer, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Drug use

karambit's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

Minor: Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Vomit, Drug abuse, and Drug use

ajd64's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Violence

stephanieclarex's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Violence, Sexual content, Rape, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Bullying, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Blood

Some scenes with non-consensual touches and mentions of r*pe. Someone says the D slur.