Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Too Good to Be True by Carola Lovering

9 reviews

jesmardru's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Death, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Cancer, and Mental illness

maggies's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

Four stars because it was a good audiobook distraction during work. But it was about 30% longer than it needed to be, unfortunately. Hard to review without being spoiler-y, so here it is:

The twists (if you're paying attention, you'll see them coming a mile away) basically stopped halfway through, and then it was just explanation for the last half. Yeah, it was entertaining and I enjoyed seeing the characters change in my estimation over the last half, but it probably didn't need to be as long to get there. Speaking of characters changing, Heather was a completely different person in the last chapter...what the heck.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cancer, Bullying, Confinement, and Alcoholism

whatsamread's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, and Child death

lindavs22's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Infidelity, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Abandonment, Cancer, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Drug use

mair_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-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? No

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Rape

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug use, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment

kbergsten's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

strickortreat's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.5

Two things I'm not a huge fan of in thrillers: an ending where

every single character gets some type of happy ending

and an ending where the moral of the story is spoon-fed to me instead of letting me figure it out myself. This book has both of those things and definitely suffers because of it, but on the whole it was still a pretty decent read and I was interested in the story the whole way through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Bullying, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, and Emotional abuse

cblunier's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

As someone who knows many people with OCD, I find this book's treatment of it to be somewhat unrealistic.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

rachelb313's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

I rounded up to a three on this because I did enjoy about the first two thirds or so. But the final bit of the book just really annoyed me. I didn’t like where the characters went. It seemed like the reader was supposed to think everyone got a happy ending, and I think one did but the other two was very eye rolly and creepy. I thought it was cool to have some OCD representation but I think the ending didn’t really do right by that. 

We’re supposed to just think that Burke’s love just cured her OCD? Give me a break. I just hated their relationship and it spoiled the end for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Child death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Fatphobia, Ableism, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Terminal illness