Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

78 reviews

dragonwriter's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Felicity has returned to Godwin House, hoping to face the ghosts that chased her into a sanitarium. The death of her secret girlfriend, Alex, weighs heavily on her, and in the mind of the other students, who all suspect that Alex’s death wasn’t as accidental as she claims. The only one who doesn’t look at her with suspicion is Ellis, a new student who is already legendary. Ellis is a prodigy author, formerly homeschooled, but coming to Godwin House to immerse herself in the legend of the Dalloway Five, girls who were accused of witchcraft and died after the Salem Witch Trials. Also obsessed with the Dalloway Five, Felicity allows herself to be woven into Ellis’s web, debating whether or not magic is real, and how, if it’s not, the girls were murdered. But Ellis’s methods hit too close to the trauma of Alex’s death, forcing her to face the truth of what happened that awful night.

I should have liked Ellis. She’s a homeschooled writer, but there was always something off about her. She kept pushing Felicity too far, kept forcing her to confront Alex’s death—even going as far as to suggest they dig up her coffin. Her behavior is fairly well explained by her sibling, Quinn, who tells a macabre story of Ellis’s childhood, but I was quite pleased when my suspicions proved correct 😈

CW: smoking, drinking, sex, witchcraft, parental neglect

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Panic attacks/disorders

takarakei's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I wished this was more dark academia, which to me is a critique of academic institutions. I didn't really feel like this book critiqued boarding schools - it just talked about the dark history of this particular one. It's kinda hard to say a lot more about this book without spoilers because it's very mysterious. Definitely there's a lot of 'you don't know who to trust'. Sapphic. I think there was a lot of potential here, but it didn't quite hit it out of the park for me. I'm also not a thriller person so take that how you will, but I have read other YA thrillers that I liked more.

In the end there not being any magic was not where I wanted it to go. But I guess it's not fantasy tagged so maybe that was the giveaway? But 'witchcraft' is literally also used in the description, so...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, and Drug use

Minor: Racism, Eating disorder, and Sexual content

I had to skip a whole chapter cause of TW: animal death, so... yeah (explicit scenes of hunting)

ada_rosales's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Animal death, Death, and Murder

zoeelora's review

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Violence, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Gore, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Stalking, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

darquedreamer's review

dark tense fast-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

3.25

The story was not what I expected. It was like Mean Girls meets Riverdale meets The Craft. It lagged in some places, but still kept my interest. There was a little bit of predictability and some twists and turns I didn't see coming. It was worth a read, but I wish it had been a little more dark, exciting, and witchcraft fueled. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

peachani's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

You should probably just read The Secret History instead...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Murder, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Gun violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Suicide, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Fatphobia, Gore, Lesbophobia, Outing, Racism, Sexual content, and Vomit

allisonmenck's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Violence

brukneem's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

This is YA as in it reads like you are watching a popular TV show- like Buffy or Sabrina. But the themes are DEFINITELY not YA! We love an unreliable narrator, mind games, magic, and murder.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Alcohol, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Panic attacks/disorders

evhanson's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, Hate crime, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Abandonment, and Sexual content

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Fine. It's a fairly engaging and enjoyable experience to listen to this. I didn't find it to spectacular, just a pretty solid YA novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Classism, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Blood, Alcoholism, Addiction, Murder, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual content