Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - In My Dreams I Hold a Knife

I’m conflicted with rating this book because I absolutely hated the reveals near to the end and I hate most of the characters . On the other hand I can’t rate this less than a 3 because that’s unfair to the author. Her writing was good and I read this in a day, so clearly I didn’t find it boring. It was entertaining even though I disliked what happens. I’ll explain what I didn’t like (but it’s all spoilers so don’t read anymore of this review, if you haven’t read the book.

WARNING: RANT ABOUT EVERYTHING I HATED, INCLUDING SPOILERS.

Initially I wasn’t happy with who the murderer was because I kinda liked Mint, but I see how it makes sense for him to have done it. From the start I predicted Jess would be the killer. In fact she even thought she might be the killer, yet all she thought about was being popular at the reunion. She’s meant to be 30 so that’s pretty embarrassing and she should get more therapy if that was her priority.

I actually think that Jess was way worse than Mint. I don’t condone what he did but Jess was evil for cheating on him, even after what he told her. She didn’t express guilt once for being a cheater and her mindset throughout the book is disgusting. She really is a narcissistic sociopath, who doesn’t take accountability for anything. She was a horrible friend to poor Caro and an evil human being, to be honest. She seems like a psychopath because she didn’t care about the effects her actions have on others, she only cares about herself. As for Coop? He was likeable but he cheated on poor Caro. Also the fact that he loves Jess despite her evil doings isn’t cute to me, it’s weird. Caro isn’t completely innocent either, it’s kinda weird that she stalked her friends… There wasn’t really a single character who was likeable. The whole friend group was pretentious..

I feel like I read this all for nothing and I don’t recommend it tbh. It’s mainly because the ‘protagonist’ is so unlikeable, but maybe that was intentional and if so the author did a great job of portraying her as that.

TL;DR 3 stars is generous, main character is insufferable. It made me mad but I still wanted to read on, wasn’t worth the time though.

Content Warnings

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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erinmure5's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I can say without hesitation that I was not rooting for a single one of these characters. If you like to read about deeply unlikable and flawed characters, this is a must read!

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hdoomk's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.75

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lilawsahar's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Holy shit.

I can’t believe Mint killed Heather because he thought it was Jessica. I also can’t believe Mint and Jessica just let her die. They did nothing to save her. They are literally perfect together. I can’t believe that Cooper still wants her even though he’s a good person and she is most definitely not. Also I can’t believe Mint kept dating Jessica even after he thought he killed her!! Wtf. Why didn’t he break up with her if he hated her so much. Also what was he planning on telling Jessica when she ran after Cooper in the present day Homecoming…

All the people in this book are really shitty. They make terrible life choices and only think about themselves. They all need therapy.

Jake cheated on Heather throughout their relationship with Frankie. Frankie cheated with Jake. Mint KILLED Heather and never truely loved Jessica just liked being admired by her. Cooper cheated with Jessica. Heather threatened to expose Frankie for taking drugs and wanted to expose Jake for being gay. She also lied about how much work she put into her life and drove Jessica mad. Caro stalked her friends because she wanted to be included in everything. Jessica let Heather die and cheated on Mint. What a shitty group of friends.

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awkwardimagination's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

(these may be spoilers, but i dont know, ill keep it vague)

This book is (mostly) about entitled white people and their vanity and their inability to seek a decent therapist (i saw mostly bc two characters are poc), in the simplest terms. (i was wrong about jessica btw). Most of these characters were not likeable, they were all kinda horrible people. Except for Caro, who was like a little creepy, Jack, who was also a little creepy, and Frankie, who was probably the most normal motherfucker out of all of them (the diversity characters really got screwed over in the book). I liked the ending, and Jess in the beginning was likeable. Did not end how I thought it was gonna end and some things felt kinda convenient, but it was enjoyable.

I really dont think this book was for me, these arent the kind of characters i enjoy reading about.

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yafi's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

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stevienielson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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