Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Perfect Little Monsters by Cindy R.X. He

9 reviews

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

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

grunkle's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

He’s debut is everything you could dream; shocking, thrilling, and at times downright stomach-churning. This novel puts the importance of “anti-bullying” initiatives into an extreme but very emotionally real context. Can’t wait to see what He cooks up next.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Body shaming, Death, Self harm, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Murder, and Bullying

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Eating disorder

Minor: Ableism and Adult/minor relationship

reading_under_covers's review

3.0

Ella was the most popular (and hated) girl in school, so when she turns up murdered, there are too many suspects to count. Unfortunately for Dawn, being the new girl puts her in suspect spot number one. She puts on her own investigative hat to find out who the killer is.

PERFECT LITTLE MONSTERS by Cindy R. X. He is a bingeable YA thriller that will have you screaming at the meanness of the popular kids and rooting for the outcasts!

This isn’t the strongest book I’ve read - some of the characterization fell flat and the pacing never really took a moment to breathe. It was overall lacking a bit of substance…

BUT, with that being said, this was a very quick read and, being a debut, I’m very intrigued to see what Cindy may be cooking up next!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: May 7

tw: suicide, suicidal thoughts, eating disorder, murder, bullying, fatphobia, mental health

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

yalibrarianjen's review

challenging dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Bullying, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, and Death