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ecn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
It’s a thriller so the writing isn’t as flowery/deep as I usually like to read, but this one was still 😘👌🏻 chefs kiss
There were so many twists and so many different factors that actually kept me entertained and hooked into what would happen. So aspects were predictable (how different can you possibly make a thriller?) but still fun to watch it play out and keep guessing
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Alcohol, Confinement, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Drug use, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Outing, Racism, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Body horror, and Lesbophobia
laurafrances's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Biphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Confinement, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Body horror, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, and Grief
greatexpectations77's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Toxic friendship, and Confinement
Moderate: Drug use, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual assault
Minor: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Gun violence
readingwithcoffee's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
1.0
The main protagonist despite being thirty has a maturity of teenage girl and never seems to take almost maiming even if accidentally another author so she can’t write seriously but we’re expected to treat being ghosted by a friend as remotely a similar grievance especially as she imagines the woman as horrible friend any way but feels entitled to the woman never ending the friendship on terms different from the protagonist. It’s incredibly immature that we’re expected to both sides. Also the only black woman is constantly stereotyped and feels like she’s there to be the clan and collected characters and constantly associated with Africa, and slavery from lion necklace to someone who’s family is from Senegal saying her family came over the trans Atlantic slave trade when that’s African Americans. I genuinely think the majority of her on screen dialogue had the book discussing her in association with Africa or slavery more then anything else or having her awkwardly accuse the other white women reducing her to angry black woman that instead of critiquing racism in white liberal spaces felt the non black author feeling incredibly self conscious about her own black character and almost entirely white cast.
Also I’ve enjoyed books within books before but while the one here is related to the events in the book it reads like bad historical fiction.
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Misogyny, Blood, Vomit, Racism, Genocide, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Death, Cursing, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Drug use, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Addiction, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Child death, and Child abuse
penandpaper's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Body horror, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Physical abuse, Grief, Cursing, Confinement, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Stalking, Self harm, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Racism
yuyuv's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Excrement, Drug use, Homophobia, Rape, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Medical content, Outing, Toxic friendship, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Violence
adelinebal4's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gun violence, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Racism, Toxic friendship, Excrement, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship
blackcatkai's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
this was pretty good, especially for a debut, in my opinion. not a huge fan of how some mental illness was handled, especially the use of words like 'psycho' and such, but this was definitely entertaining. a couple twists, one of which I definitely saw coming, complicated characters, weird relationships, drama, and just kept my attention the entire time. I feel the pace was good, and it was well put together. I'd definitely read more from Bartz in the future.
Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Body horror, Murder, Blood, Gore, Death, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Racism, Ableism, Sexism, and Grief
itsalina's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcohol, Slavery, and Drug use
nickthebooktoker's review against another edition
- 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
My interest was finally grabbed once we get to the retreat itself, which makes me think this is where the story should have started to begin with. The introductory stuff leading up to this felt unnecessary, or could have just been included later on through flashbacks to contextualise Alex (and Wren's) history.
Nonetheless, the story mostly kept me intrigued, albeit the action could have kicked in sooner. There was a lot of scenes involving the retreat participants getting to know each other/developing cliques and participating in writing workshops, which just wasn't very interesting to me. In fact, the first half kind of felt like a high school drama rather than a thriller. The characters simply didn't read as a a group of adults in their mid-twenties to me and came across as caricatures at some points.
On the plus side, I did enjoy some of the themes explored, with Bartz posing the question: does great art require pain and suffering? And how far would you go/how much would you endure for the sake of your passion/art and for it to be recognised by others?
All in all, this is a competent thriller that's also full of a surprising amount of sapphic spice and plenty of twists once the action escalates. Worth a read but there's probably better thrillers out there.
Many thanks to Oneworld Publications and NetGalley for providing me with a digital review copy.
Graphic: Confinement, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, and Violence
Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Excrement, and Vomit