Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

37 reviews

looseleafellie's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

When Felicity returns to her elite all-girls boarding school for her senior year, she’s eager to put her past of death and witchcraft behind her. But when she meets prodigy novelist Ellis, who needs her help with research for her new book, Felicity finds that her ghosts may be coming back to haunt her …

This book has been on my TBR for a while, but a friend of mine read it recently and then forced her copy into my hands the second she was done with it. So of course, I had to see what entranced her so much!

Five words: queer dark academia with murder! The vibes of this book are absolutely impeccable, and while the story unfolds slowly, the creeping tension really makes it work. Schemes rumble beneath the surface, the protagonist isn’t always the most reliable narrator, and the ending is absolutely WILD.

The characters are extremely pretentious in a way that felt, to me, quite tongue-in-cheek, so luckily I was able to enjoy their exploits without getting annoyed. A fun tidbit about this book is that there are no men mentioned anywhere in the story. All the characters are female or non-binary, and none of the plentiful literary references come from male authors.

Basically, don’t go in expecting a fast-paced thriller, but do expect an eerie slow-burn of a narrative that will keep you on your toes. This is definitely the kind of book you should read at night by the fire with a cup of tea and a storm raging outside. Just keep an eye out for any ghosts that might be lurking in your corners …

CWs: Death, violence, manipulation and emotional abuse, child neglect (past/offscreen), mental health issues, substance abuse, suicide references (no actual suicide), references to racist history at a PWI.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, and Animal death

Minor: Suicide, Child abuse, and Racism

abbyhrc's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

i put no for the diverse characters because despite the main ship being lesbians and the short appearance of a non-binary character, most of them are white and the black character's role was pretty much narrowed to educating felicity about racism... i also knocked it down to 4.25 because the ending felt very rushed compared to the slow pace of the book. however, contrary to most, i loved the way her psychosis was portrayed because it felt very real, we had no idea what was going on or not

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Murder

Moderate: Gore and Alcoholism

ammerrily's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Murder, Child death, Animal death, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Eating disorder, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, and Drug use

nicoleacedit's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No

2.0

 

This was a very weird book. Aside from the general unlikeableness of the characters, the writing was very repetitive at times. Certain phrases would appear multiple times even in the same chapter or on the same page but not in a way that makes it feel like it was intentionally done for emphasis or the like. Just really not my cup of tea :/

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Murder, Abandonment, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Death, Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Transphobia

hmurff's review

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol and Cursing

Minor: Confinement

lizgriffinwords's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

Delightfully twisty and saturated with dark academia vibes! The prose had such sensory detail — I could truly feel the crisp snow and the bitter coffee. Felicity is a truly unreliable narrator, sometimes calm & aloof, sometimes plagued by ghosts and creepy happenings, leaving the reader to only guess what is real and what is manipulation… until the moment all is revealed.

Content notes: death, murder, manipulation and emotional abuse, underage use of alcohol/drugs, brief discussions of lesbiphobia, transphobia, & racism.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Drug use, and Mental illness

Minor: Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Sexual content, and Animal death

milly2222's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Gore, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Alcoholism

Minor: Animal death and Gun violence

monaluffy's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Yes! A dark academia book with witchy vibes that I LIKED!!!!! I wasn't dissapointed AT ALL, Love to hate this characters!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror and Emotional abuse

Minor: Eating disorder

lennatheunicorncat's review

dark mysterious 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Murder, Alcoholism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death

Minor: Mental illness, Bullying, Gaslighting, Grief, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Murder

werewolvesnotswearwolves's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Classism, Gore, Violence, Bullying, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship