Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Awakening by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham

54 reviews

ashleynp24's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

It was a nice and quick read that I did enjoy. I do think it started a little fast and there wasn’t a ton of buildup to the school. 

The main characters are lovable, but they need to stop being as gullible. That made parts of it hard to get through. Overall, a fun read and the ending murder did surprise me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Stalking, Death of parent, Car accident, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Classism, Blood, and Abandonment

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Honestly the writing isn’t Shakespeare but man was I invested. Those boys are so infuriating ahhh. I can’t wait to see these girls rise because I can see the fight in them and although I feel bad for what happened I know they’ll kick ass because they’re already badass.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Bullying, Death, Alcohol, Violence, and Cursing

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Murder and Child death

roxyc's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, Sexual harassment, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, Hate crime, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Car accident

autumnwitch14's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-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? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed the world building very much. I wish it focused more on the fantasy elements outside of just supernatural races. I wouldn't say this book is much of a romance even though it describes itself as a bullymance. Maybe later in the series, but this first one in particular barely has any outside of a little flirting (in between all of the sexual assaults)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Genocide, Incest, Abandonment, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Slavery, and Infidelity

Mind control is prevalent in this book, meaning sometimes characters are forced to do things they don't want to do.

cait's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Stalking, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Abandonment

selestre's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Minor: Murder, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Alcohol, Child death, Death of parent, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

autumnruth's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This was book kept me entertained and annoyed at the same time. I loved the magical aspects to it, and I liked discovering this new world along with the twins. What I didn’t like was that the main girls in this book kept lusting after the men who tormented them. People described this book as a bully/romance, but really they’re extremely abusive and it shouldn’t be romanticized.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Murder, Death, Violence, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

3.0

I didn’t love it. I get why others would, but it wasn’t for me personally. I’m just not a bully romance reader. The lore seems really interesting and the multiple romance partners the could choose is an interesting twist (if it isn’t Tory/Darius and Darcy/Orion in the end though I would be shocked). 

Bully Romance, Magical School, 2 🔥

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Car accident, and Cursing

kaiyoung_kop's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.75

Zodiac academy is like if every overused book trope had a baby - and I kinda love it for that
Dead parents ✅
Twins that are very different ✅
Secret heiresses ✅
New world ✅
It was… an experience,
It was like everything in a bad YA novel in a NA scene.
But I was here for it.
I devoured this trash up.
Like it was bad in a good way?
(I know, my standards are so low they are on the floor)
At around half way through the book, I was like, wow Seth is such a golden retriever
Well uhhh… we know how that worked out…
*sighs saltily*
The book condones abuse (?) as in the main characters accept that they are going to be physically, emotionally (and even sexually) abused until they get stronger?
The ‘love interests’ were so fucking creepy.
Eg; Seth (love interest) was licking and sniffing one of the fmc when they first met?
Smh
Also the alpha wolf thing?
*dies in cringe*
At most points, it felt like bad fan-fiction
But in the best way possible
It’s absolute garbage for me, but I love it.
It’s one of those books where you have to recognise it as bad to be able to enjoy it.
It’s just an easy, fun read.
I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone with standards
But if you want a quick, bad, fun read to help you escape a reading slump, I would recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Pedophilia, Cursing, Bullying, Alcohol, Abandonment, Car accident, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Death

maregred's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Bullying

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Car accident