Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

63 reviews

mamawantsbooks's review

emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

bringmybooks's review

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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

2.75

tl;dr → as a middle grade novel, this would have been fantastic

B̷R̷I̷N̷G̷ B̷O̷R̷R̷O̷W̷ ✨ 𝗕𝗬𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗦 ✨

I loved the idea of this novel, I loved the characters, I loved the island setting, I …. liked the book okay enough. 

That being said, I truly don’t think it should have been marketed for adult readers. 

Hear me out! Every element that felt weaker could have been stayed exactly the way they were if the elements around the children and the original book series had been emphasized. (For example, a lot of the relationships and interactions between the adults seemed oversimplified in ways that I would have expected from books geared towards a younger audience.)

I think that the pure simplicity of loving books and how much magic books hold for us will make this book work for a lot of people, and there are parts that brought a huge smile to my face, but it just missed the mark a bit overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

kitausu's review

emotional hopeful medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

This book had me crying by page 16 and kept me emotional throughout the entire thing. What an absolute lovely gut punch of a book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

louisekf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Alcohol

taylorjones118's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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: Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Chronic illness and Abortion

thesonnetsilence's review

lighthearted medium-paced

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

1.5

I wanted to love this one so badly, and I just can’t.
I disliked almost everything about this book. Especially Lucy. 

The only positive thing I have to say about this book is I love the fact that the raven is named Thurl…Sadly an obscure reference to a voice actor from the 50s isn’t enough to make this novel even slightly interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Minor: Child death

amhud1030's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

What a wonderful book for those of us that grew up with or as adults loved Willy Wonka, Charlie and the chocolate factory, and reading our favorite book series and wishing that we could be a part of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

kcbatts's review

adventurous 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Terminal illness

gholdreith's review

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

mjadeh's review

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship