Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Karen McManus One Of Us Is Lying Paperback - 1 June 2017 by Karen M. McManus, Karen M. McManus

67 reviews

jolyn's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Suicide, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Outing, and Violence

mj_hyperfixation_station's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

holy crap! I bought this book ages ago and it stayed on my shelf forever. I didn't expect much, not being into murder mysteries but I was blow away with the writing. I fell in love with all the character within 20 pages, and was loudly cursing the annoying ones.

when I started this I didn't like addy and thought she was the murderer but after about 50 pages; her dumping a toxic piece of crap boyfriend, cutting and dying her hair, and just becoming an overall badass I feel in love. Nate and Bronwyn where absolutely adorable and yes I do think that they were a little rushed but not in a bad way. Cooper and Kris became one of my favorite couples and both deserve the world. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Outing, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Death, Self harm, and Grief

Minor: Toxic friendship, Eating disorder, Car accident, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicidal thoughts

brandie_abbie19's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

oliviapye's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Started off slowly and the writing wasn’t great, but improves as the book goes on. Found myself not wanting to put it down once about halfway through.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Drug use

syd991's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. The concept is interesting, but the writing didn’t sit right with me. I know there’s lots of people who enjoy this book, and I can understand why, it’s just not my personal cup of tea.

Each of the main 4 characters felt like a typical high-schooler cliche, you have the brains, the jock, the criminal, and the popular one. It’s part of the story, but it almost felt superficial for me.

I enjoyed the mystery aspect, although I feel like I could guess at it from the first few chapters. It almost felt too obvious.

I don’t know if I’ll pick up the sequel just yet, but I’m intrigued enough to watch the TV show adaptation. Overall, it was okay, I just didn’t love it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Terminal illness, Transphobia, Self harm, Physical abuse, Outing, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Car accident

daniellearlotta's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Terminal illness

eleni1201's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Murder, Suicide, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Drug abuse, Mass/school shootings, and Medical content

discountrl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Suicide

justmeandmybooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Suicide

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Bullying

Minor: Car accident and Mass/school shootings

allyhoo811's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

From a pure reading enjoyment factor One of Us Is Lying should have been given a 4 star rating, but because of my background in mental health counseling/education I felt like I had to lower it to a 3 because of the handling of a couple of issues which I'll list at the end of this review.

Overall, I found this to an engaging YA mystery. The characters and their secrets/motives were pretty cliche and easily guessed, but the overall character development (especially with Addy) was wonderful and I would definitely recommend this one to most people. It gave me huge Breakfast Club vibes and I think fans of 80s/90s teen movies would especially enjoy the nostalgia factor even though it has a contemporary setting. 

I did not love the ending/epilogue,

it was just too cheesy teen rom-com for me and I don't think it really fit with the rest of the book. But I understand that it probably is what was expected in a YA novel.

My 2 Big Issues (contain major spoilers):

1. Simon killing himself was a really interesting (if somewhat predictable) twist, but the portrayal of Simon as someone suffering from depression was unfortunate. Many people (teens included) suffer from depression, but they don't create elaborate, evil revenge plots to take out everyone who ever looked at them funny. Most people with depression have a hard time getting out of bed. And Simon had been destroying people's lives for years, portraying him as someone who was depressed and felt like an outsider when he was actually probably suffering from some severe personality disorders puts a bad light on depression, especially in a YA book.

2. Jake's character arc. This is a thriller trope I hate, and I hate it even more in a YA mystery. Jake the "perfect" boyfriend with some controlling tendances turns into a psycho killer at the end of the novel. This is just so overdone and not logical. Yes, people who attempt to control their partners are more likely to engage in emotional and physical abuse. But Jake had gone months without the slightest indication that he was escalating after he found out about the cheating (and kept it to himself). His mask didn't even slip once. And by the end we have a crazy action sequence where he is trying to kill two people without any hesitation. It felt forced, and I think Addy's character arc would have been better served without the killer boyfriend trope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, and Sexual content

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Stalking, and Transphobia