Reviews

Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng

Only show reviews with written explanations

bkmckown's review against another edition

3.5

Girl band competition with sapphic twist and some creepy entity gory action. The competition and relationship side of the story weren’t that intriguing but I loved the supernatural side of it.

bookaddicted's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

cinderthemoon25's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.75

speterson47's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense slow-paced

2.0

Horror just isn't my cup of tea, but would recommend for readers that enjoy a horror/fantasy mix and K-Pop!

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anispaperbacks's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

I'm not sure if it was the fact that I was in a bit of a slight reading slump, the book itself, or a mix, but I struggled to stay interested, especially in the 2nd last eigth of the book (sorry that's SO specific). I was really quite intruiged for a lot of the book, and even forgot the gorey, thriller-y part that I knew awaited me. I just wanted to know what happened with Mina!! How Sunny was dealing with it!! How are Sunny and Candie going to get on now!!

While it did slightly feel all over the place, it's not something I can really hold against it to be honest. Even if not intended, I think that it was a good peek into how it feels for Sunny, the flashbacks included. She would be confused, she would be disoriented, she would be thinking about the past, about what happened, both out of grief and the fact that it was still very relevant to what was happening!

I would, however, have liked for the characters to be a little less flat. Some characters just felt a little lacking.

Some of the lines in this book were written so lovely. Beautiful yet horrid descriptions. Similarly, I was really fond of chapters 27, 28, and 29. They elicited strange and fantastical ghibli like imagery. Reading them, I could only picture them in ghibli style animation. The strange locations, the horrid clawing and rolling *something* that filled the air. You don't really know entirely what is going on, it's not logical, it's strange, it's a little bit awful to witness, but it's fantastic.

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