Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

89 reviews

jmross10's review

dark slow-paced

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

2.5

The premise of this book sounded excellent and in the first few chapters it really seems like something epic is going to happen. Then you hit the halfway point and you start to wonder what the plot actually is. The problem being, that’s around the point you stop caring. 

At 3/4 the way through I guessed the ending and probably would have DNF’d if I hadn’t been curious enough to see if I was right. I was, for the record, but it was so anticlimactic that being right wasn’t even satisfying. I wish I’d read something else instead. 

To me, this reads as more of a domestic thriller (that just happened to be in a school) than it does dark academia (I know opinions on what this actually entails vary). The plot was familiar in that I basically read the same thing earlier this year and Lee didn’t add anything to it that made it feel new or worthwhile. 

I wish Lee had leaned into the Supernatural aspect more because the story of the witches and the mystery surrounding their murders would have been a far more interesting than what we actually get. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Animal death, Gaslighting, Murder, Vomit, Alcohol, Violence, Grief, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Sexual content

librarianlayla's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

Dark and twisting, this dark academia thriller grips you from start to finish.

I struggled to put this book down, it truly is a masterpiece for the mind. Disturbing and luscious all at once. A story within a story that unfolds not like a flower but like broken origami, sharp and crisp.

If you love psychological thrillers dashed with a hint of supernatural in a dark academic setting - then this could be for you!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Blood, Murder, Death, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Animal death

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, and Cursing

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Racism, and Confinement

faefires's review

dark mysterious sad medium-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

This book seems it was written directly for me. Witchcraft, lesbians, dark academia, literature students, engaging writing, murder. (The only negative was that it was in in first person, but considering the use of unreliable narrator, I forgave this sin rather quickly)

We follow deranged literature girlie Felicity as she returns to her def not witchy school after definitely not murdering her ex girlfriend, who is now def not haunting her. We then watch her descent into utter madness, obsession, paranoia, magic and darkness. This book is very cliche. There's really nothing novel here, nothing that makes it special or unique in the dark academia murder genre. It's not a satire masterpiece like The Secret History, nor an unique retelling of a Shakespearean tragedy like If We Were Villains. But in my opinion, it didn't need to be. It's a fun, thrilling little murder story, and while it is not particularly novel or revolutionary, I enjoyed it and read it very quickly. It's fairly well written, with my only complaints being the internal monologue of Felicity being quite repetitive at times.

If you think you'll like this book, you probably will. You might guess the twist (I did) but the twist isn't what makes the book good, and you can enjoy it without being shocked. Pick this one up, read it in a day, and enjoy the lesbian murder girlies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism

katsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

“Ex Scientia Ultio. From knowledge comes vengeance.” 

“The question isn't whether magic is real. It's whether I can touch it without being consumed by it.”

This book was alright. The dark academia vibes were spooky and fun. The fact that there was absolutely zero characters that were men was delightful. I didn't fully realize until the very end but every character either identifies as a woman or nonbinary. Loved that representation! I also really liked when the writing got a little meta. However, I found it slightly annoying when the author said something to the extent of "she touched me and I felt a tingle go down my spine" for the 50th time. Like find a new description, please. But ultimately, the atmosphere was this book's saving grace, for sure. The writing and plot weren't terrible. I found different parts intriguing but the first two-thirds or so were kind of slow. It really picked up in the last third but by then I had predicted a major plot twist so when it happened, it didn't impact me the way I expect it was meant to. If  YA thrillers and dark academia are your jam, you'd probably enjoy this more than I did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Animal cruelty, Blood, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Gaslighting, Violence, Bullying, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Gore, Sexual content, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Cursing

bookishgoob's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I was really excited for this book, and it felt disappointing. i went into it with an idea of dark academia and left with gothic horror, which i guess you could say are similar. I wasn’t expecting a gothic horror, i was expecting a dark academia mystery. this book was slightly confusing at times, with an unreliable narrator. that can be great, because you never know what’s true but if done poorly, it can be confusing, hard to read, and not enjoyable. this teetered the line of poorly written and well written. having lgbt characters at the forefront was nice and the atmosphere was awesome. i was not expecting the animal death scene and that was kind of triggering for me. all around it felt like it lacked something. i’m glad i read it and it feels like a nice introduction to gothic horror but it also feels like you’re not missing much if you skip it. i gave it a 3.5 because the atmosphere was just really great and i did enjoy it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Outing, Abandonment, Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, and Gore

cianarae's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Very slow beginning, it takes awhile for something interesting to happen. The writing itself was just alright. I liked the mystery/guessing and the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Gaslighting, and Death

Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, Drug use, Blood, Alcohol, Animal death, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, and Addiction

Minor: Racism, Transphobia, Suicide, Alcoholism, Classism, Vomit, Cursing, and Confinement

xander09's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

4.25

not for those looking for light hearted reads. some content warnings: this book is heavy on the death and murder, not graphic but keep that in mind. lots of mental illness (implied? we don’t really know since it’s an unreliable narrator) parental neglect, toxic relationships and drug/substance abuse. overall solid 4.25 stars, not a huge fan of unreliable narrators but pretty good storytelling

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Toxic relationship

cyan_altaria's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

For my first dark academia book, I was not disappointed.  The characters in it are great.  Felicity and Ellis are wonderfully complex, and I liked the side characters to.  The twists are very well done.  I also liked the setting, and the overall vibe.  This book goes into darker places than I was expecting, even from reading Story graph's general trigger warnings.  One big thing I disliked about the book was the repetitiveness of the plot.  Felicity and Ellis go on secret spooky hangouts with each other too many times.  The pacing also suffered towards the end.  All in all, this is a great book.

Who do I recommend this to? People who like dark academia, people who like unreliable narrators, and people who like complex relationships between characters
Who should skip this? People who don't want to read about a very toxic relationship, people who like lighthearted books, and people who dislike a repetitive plot.
Will I read more by Victoria Lee? Maybe.  This book was pretty good, but I wasn't super thrilled by it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

nightmare_maven's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Animal death

Moderate: Alcoholism