Reviews tagging 'Murder'

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

311 reviews

bkc's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Rating: 2/5

I was bored from the get go and for the majority of the book. A few moments piqued my interest but barely. I didn't like the characters and the plot gave me a 2000s chick flick vibe with all of the sour parts, no sweetness. The writing was also overly descriptive for me and the book just didn't engage me. Having said that, I liked the ending. It wrapped up perfectly.

Jessica was a disaster and I hated being in her head.

She was clearly traumatised by her invisibility and inadequacy but I disliked her vain personality. I honestly couldn't care less about any of the friends either. They were horrible and pathetic, except perhaps Coop. In fact, I don't think I even remember much about them and I just finished the book!

To summarise, this book should have been right up my alley but it wasn't. I hated everyone and everything except the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

mecreamer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault

j_emerson18's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Toxic relationship, Death, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Grief, Addiction, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

dilani's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

what a let down. i loved the cover and title of this book, but unfortunately felt the complete opposite for everything else.

i absolutely l o a t h e d the characters. damn near no redeeming qualities for any of them. i only saw people who were immature, whiny, and way too secretive at their big age. Caroline is the only one who had some sense towards the end. and why did this whole group even bother staying friends with Court if she was a major bitch??? 😤

most of the “twists” were not twisting. they fell flat and by the end i didn’t care much about who killed Heather. in fact, i didn’t even really know who Heather was as a character because she wasn’t developed like the rest, yet i’m supposed to care about her death???

i’m giving this book two stars instead of one because of Jessica’s explanation towards the very end. i can honestly say i wasn’t expecting it.

this is also the second book i’ve read and disliked from the same author. maybe Ashley Winstead is just not for me…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Addiction

Minor: Suicide attempt

frantically's review against another edition

It was just so lackluster and I couldn't find it in myself to care about any of the characters, honestly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Death of parent, Drug use, Murder, Death, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Stalking, Classism, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

goatieboi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The beginning was slow, but when it picked up it really picked up. Jessica is such a compelling character, I hated her so much but she just grows on you more and more after you see why she is the way she is. 

And that ending??? I was sitting at work, hand over my mouth just shocked. 

I loved learning about the other characters as well! They were all so  horrible in their own unique ways. Some worse then other obviously. Thats what I LOVED about it honestly, that no one was  perfect it just made the characters feel more and more human. 

Over all a fantastic read, if I didn’t make it a book I read at work I would have had it done in one day instead of two. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Murder, Violence, and Drug use

helenlivesslow's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.75

Sometimes there are characters you love to hate, in this book they were all just horrible people, except maybe for Coop. 
Also feel like I was miss sold on this one being dark academia, sure they were at a university but that was merely the setting, not particularly part of the whole vibe. 
Also feel like this one needs *all* the trigger warnings

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Suicide, Addiction, and Sexual assault

kirstenpod_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Addiction, Grief, Murder, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Blood, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Classism, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, and Gore

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Stalking, and Homophobia

logsbooklog's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

2.5

a pretty by-the-numbers, tropey whodunnit with overwraught writing and a cast of stock characters with very few interesting inversions. despite these problems, the books pace does pick up quick from a rough beginning, and it kept my attention even as i groaned at a lot of the twists and cliches.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Addiction, and Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia

adrianaslibrary's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Infidelity and Drug abuse

Minor: Rape and Suicide attempt