Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

56 reviews

stepnic's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, War, Suicide, Infidelity, Infertility, and Cursing

kshertz's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a great read! It kept me reading, I was very intrigued. I couldn’t wait to see how it all unfolded. I couldn’t guess who it was and don’t think it’s guessable. There’s a ton of twists and turns. The only reason it’s not a 5 star rating is because it started to feel like twists for no reason and over the top at one point. The ending didn’t totally feel like the vindication I was going for. But still super satisfying and intriguing and I couldn’t put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Child abuse, Death, and Violence

gillianengelbrecht's review

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Sexual assault, Cancer, Murder, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Infidelity

Minor: Suicide, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Bullying

hward's review

funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual violence, War, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, and Suicide attempt

zosiablue's review

funny mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

SO FUN. I love an epistolary novel, I really do. Super clever & engaging murder mystery told through emails and texts, treated sort of like a game for the reader. Plus, a very accurate depiction of a community theater group. Definitely got overlong and complicated, but the format was like candy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, War, Murder, Mental illness, and Child abuse

Minor: Infertility

jeffreydgrant'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? Yes

3.0

Interesting structure but ultimately unsatisfying resolution to mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic friendship, and Chronic illness

atalea's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Bullying, Murder, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse

Minor: Child death, Excrement, Pregnancy, Vomit, Rape, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Infertility, and War

bessadams's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Murder, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Medical content, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Medical trauma

librarianlirael's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Murder, Medical content, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Addiction, and Cancer

calicat42's review

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

The structure was creative—a fun twist on the who dunnit genre.  At the start of the book, there’s no real information about what has happened, so instead of knowing what will happen and watching the characters figure it out, the reader only gets to know as much as the characters. Hard to put a book like that down! 

Although I fell in love with the structure, the content left me wanting a little. There were times where the plot moved quickly because the twists and turns were coming in every line. Yet there were times where I wished I could have read in x2 speed to move things along. I think this just comes to my preferences regarding mysteries; I don’t want to take my foot off the gas once the plot picks up! 

Overall, I enjoyed the read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Stalking, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: War