Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Perfect Little Monsters by Cindy R.X. He

16 reviews

siobhanward's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

1.5

Well... this was definitely a YA book. The plot itself was ok although wildly over the top and at times hard to read because of how cruel the characters were. It was hovering around 2-3* until I got to the end which was so silly and over the top that I couldn't believe what I was reading. With YA books I'm always willing to suspend my disbelief a bit more than with adult books but this was just ridiculous. The ending made no sense and felt like it was just thrown together at the last minute. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol

mysterymom40's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Bullying, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Classism, Car accident, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Confinement, and Drug abuse

minimicropup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

I liked this, but also felt frustrated with it sometimes. 

 

Energy: Tense. Destructive. Hopeless. 

Scene: 🇺🇸 Sierton Wisconsin.

Perspective: We mainly follow two characters. One is a senior high school student transferring schools after a terrible car accident. The other is a high school student transferring to a new school three-years ago as a self-taught cheerleader trying out for the team.  

 

🐕 Howls: Everything is terrible, sad, cruel, or tragic (it felt a little exhausting). 

🐩 Tail Wags: How the twist snuck up on me. Capturing teen angst and anxieties without being disrespectful or minimalizing. 

 

🤔 Random Thoughts:

I didn’t like choice of present tense for this. It made it read both too cold and too melodramatic for me. I think because it felt more like someone describing a screenplay in a tell-not-show style. Like directing characters where to appear and how to ‘feel’. 

 

Sometimes characters had their own voice, but other times it read super grammatically correct in a way no one, especially high schoolers, would speak with their friends.

 

There is a quote in this one that felt important: “…everything that adults, with experience and hindsight, recognize as trivial can seem insurmountable to a teen. Like the end of the world.” I wish more people remembered that instead of holding it over younger people. 

 

Check content warnings. It’s a tough read and for a bit can make you so angry that this stuff happens to people. Hang in there if you are just angry on a conceptual level though. Maybe nope out if you’re struggling with it for real.  

 

At first, I thought this was going to be a bit boring…then suspense started up…then it got out of hand. It didn’t feel cheesy or contrived, I haven’t had a Twist sneak up on me like that in a long time!

 

----

🤓 Reader Role: Deep in a character’s mind, sleuthing alongside them. Then ghost from afar getting snippets of a seemingly unrelated story. 

🗺️ World-Building: Enough detail provided to let your imagination run with it and not get squashed later. 

🔥 Fuel: How will our main character navigate their new school? Is she okay? How do her circumstances and new friends connect to a past perspective? What happened to that student in the past?

📖 Cred: Plausible with a touch of over-the-top

 

Mood Reading Match-Up:

• Cheer practice. Locker doors. Text notification. French fries and pizza. Party lights. Vodka burn. Hot cocoa. Pine forests. High school cafeteria. Smirks. Sobs. Whispers. 
• Mean girls revenge horror
• Not all is as it seems murder mystery
• You get me but can I trust you romance subplot

 

Content Heads-Up: Murder. Lesbophobia (brief). Bullying (pressuring, rejection, ghosting, body shaming, online). Narcisssism. Car accident, injury. Suicide attempt, suicidal ideation, suicide (descriptive, on page). Permanent brain injury. Fatphobia. Eating disorder (purging, binge eating, restricting). Drunk driving. Alcohol, intoxication, partying. Delusions, hallucination. Psychosis. Schizophrenia. Sex with a minor (brief, on page). Arson.

 

Rep: White, Latina, Biracial (Caucasian-Asian, Black-Chinese) Americans. Autism. Childfree by choice. 

 

📚 Format: Library Digital

 

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Bullying, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Car accident, and Mental illness

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fatphobia, Lesbophobia, Eating disorder, and Alcohol

bubblesparklereader's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Murder, Eating disorder, Self harm, Vomit, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Bullying

Moderate: Car accident, Violence, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Death of parent, Alcohol, Death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

dreamer626's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

This book was at times hard to read because of the trigger warnings (the author listed them on the first page when you open the book) but so ADDICTING. I was absorbed in trying to find out the mystery surrounding the murder of Ella.

I wanted to punch many characters in this book. Please Please check the trigger warnings before you start!

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Fatphobia, and Eating disorder

bookishlittlebird's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Death of parent, Self harm, and Adult/minor relationship

organizedxchaos's review

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Bullying, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Violence, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Death of parent, Vomit, Car accident, Eating disorder, and Murder

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Fire/Fire injury

alaris's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.0

Moderately interesting twist ending I won't spoil, but so many of the details of Dawn's attempt to investigate were predictable and "revealed" in an obvious way. Even the twist isn't a surprise and is there for shock value that just isn't actually there - but perhaps it's not meant for mystery/thriller fans? (Or anyone past teen years, considering the ridiculous throw-in lines emphasizing "Isaac's car is so ancient, it takes a key to start it, not a button" but no mockery of it having a CD player.) 

I did enjoy it, it's a decent first book, but it's oddly hollow. I might read more from this author but probably not anything else featuring teen characters.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Body shaming, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fatphobia

Moderate: Death of parent

kfajack27's review

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Suicide, Gaslighting, Self harm, Grief, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Child death, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Bullying

sahoek's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Ableism, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis