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tamara_joy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Blood, Confinement, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Mental illness, Child abuse, and Grief
Minor: Child death, Cursing, Alcohol, Biphobia, and Lesbophobia
leanne_miron's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual content, Confinement, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Lesbophobia and Grief
katie_lacour's review
3.25
The beginning and middle were the best. The end felt too rushed and not well flushed out.
I think the author wanted us to dislike Alex as a morally grey and weak character, but her (sort of?) change to a strong and empowered character at the end felt false and unbelievable. While Alex supposedly acts heroically, at the end it still seems like she is hung up on Roza. She thinks she is choosing herself, but at the end, it seems like she cannot continue her writing without Roza. If Alex is partially crazy too and goes off with Roza at the end, that would make more sense. Alex being weak and ending up with Wren also makes sense. But Alex being “strong” on her own but not being able to write without the validation of Roza just isn’t believable to me. I think the author, as a practicing therapists, was trying to display the complexities of human nature through Alex, but it fell a little flat.
I also thought it was weird how Alex finally realized she is queer after realizing her inter course in the basement wasn’t imagined, but for someone who is in her head so much and overthinks a lot, she never once readdresses it or talks to Taylor about it.
Roza getting away and just lurking behind the scenes was somewhat of a boring ending. I would have preferred her to have some sort of involvement with Alex, gone to jail/escaped, or escaped only to target women in other ways, even if not through writing. I feel like Roza’s tendencies wouldn’t just end, and her urge to act the way she does would still have consequences. While perhaps the author just chose not to show or hint about this, I think it would have made the book better if she had.
Some of the deaths felt unnecessary, and other reveals felt half-hearted or rushed through. I think the premise was good, and the sapphic thriller really kept me on my toes, but it should have been more developed. There were definitely some unhinged parts, but from what I’ve read some people thing the whole books is unhinged which so would disagree with. Some parts shocked me but for the most part it felt in line with other media I’ve consumed such as criminal minds or Lucy foley’s books. I felt like the author wanted to address too many themes: racism, lesbophobia, sadomasochism, self confidence, the supernatural, non-consensual drugging, and more that she ultimately spread herself too thin to fully address any one like she should have. There were so many “doors” she opened without pursuing that I spent some parts of my time reading just wondering if she was going to go down one path or a next or if she just wanted to sweep it under the rug after using it for a shock factor. Also as a therapist I feel like the author really failed to acknowledge that the main character was sexually assaulted due to her inability to consent to a sexual interaction while being drugged. Not only should this have been addressed, but the lack of a trigger warning in a book WRITTEN BY A THERAPIST is WILD!!!
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Confinement, Racism, Drug use, Blood, and Murder
itsheyfay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Blood, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Outing, Drug use, Sexual content, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Moderate: Homophobia, Abandonment, Confinement, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Suicide, Vomit, Racism, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Pedophilia
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
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
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
arthur_ant18's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Death, Gaslighting, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Gun violence and Sexual content
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Child abuse