Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Truth About Keeping Secrets by Savannah Brown

26 reviews

savreads28's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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: Grief, Cursing, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Bullying, Outing, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Murder, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

tarshka's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

For some reason I just didn't really relate to or care much about the characters. I thought maybe it's because I haven't been a teen in a while now, but then I read other books and I did care about them. So this book just didn't vibe with me for some reason. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Car accident, and Outing

zsometimesreads's review against another edition

emotional

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Car accident, Stalking, Outing, and Blood

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts

theythemreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

Really dark and I don't think some of the topics covered were handled very well. It seemed a bit repetitive and there wasn't much digging for clues like you'd expect in a mercer mystery/thriller 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

The main characters father dies in a car crash at the beginning of the book. That scene is then speculated and written about in detail. There are lots of scenes of the main character watch others die too in different ways. Do not read if you are struggling with grief, I still found it disturbing and I haven't experienced anything described.

dawnli's review

dark medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

mjwilliamson's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

This book was a conflicting read. Although I’m not someone who usually enjoys slow-paced books, I found that I couldn’t put this one down. There was something raw but comforting in Sydney’s narration. Even though it was such heavy content. The emotion and grief that was able to be conveyed was so honest and there were some beautiful analogies in there also. I did find myself being bored a little at times. I kept questioning when the story might come to a conclusion because the “mystery” I’d been drawn in by — if Sydney’s dad’s death was foul play — didn’t seem to connect to it all. Still I stayed for the emotion and my investment in Sydney and wanting her to feel better. 

I guessed the twist a mile off. I’ve watched enough criminal minds and seen enough awful situations to know an abusive relationship when I see it. Once we got to know a little bit about Heath and June’s relationship it became very clear to me. But I wasn’t let down when it came to it. There was enough personal connection in the story for me not to care about twists, only the characters

If I knew what I was in for, I don’t think I would have started this book, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. I would think very carefully about who I recommend it to. Trigger warnings most definitely apply. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Outing, Gaslighting, Car accident, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Stalking, and Mental illness

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Alcohol, Abandonment, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual assault

faythfarrar's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Outing, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Rape

lilliansbooks's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

ok, so. j gonna sum this up w a few bullet points because overall i enjoyed, but it wasn't the most incredible work of literature i've read in my life. also, definitely agree with the reviews saying that this was much more of a contemporary young adult novel than a mystery or thriller, but i still thought it was pretty decent.

i liked:
- the main relationship!
- the lesbian rep
- the mental health rep

i disliked:
- the writing style
- the fact that i called the ending on like page 2

again, not a groundbreaking read, but definitely enjoyable + would recommend if you can look past the almost fanfiction-esque writing style! sydney + june >>>

EDIT: i'm calling this a 3.75 rounded down because i've gone back a couple times just for the main relationship, but it just wasn't good enough to reach that next level imo. would recommend though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Outing and Toxic relationship

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Sexual assault

cosmicsapphic's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Rape

lifegivesyoulemons's review

mysterious reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Stalking

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Death

Minor: Rape