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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
Saw the twist coming pretty early on but story was fast and still good. Different POV chapters was great from the audio book, liked the writing style.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
you ever hate characters so much you turn the audiobook up to 1.75x and grit your teeth? because YIKES.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Suicide
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Physical abuse
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Suicide
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
I could no longer care what happened to these people. The whole thing seemed really convoluted and I wasn’t up for the ride.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m scoring this at a 4.5 ⭐️ as I really enjoyed this book!
I was very impressed with the author at the start of the book as in her Authors Note, Sian Gilbert provided content warnings for the reader and also emphasised about the removal of stigma surrounding mental health, as well as making sure that being open and honest about mental health takes priority.
Gilbert also has two pages at the back of the book for useful contact numbers and website details, which again I am very impressed with! 👏
Now going onto the actual story…….
I read a book at the start of the year called “Truth, Truth, Lie” and this book had a very similar plot and also location setting. However, I really enjoyed that book, so had high hopes for this one too.
Thankfully I was right and I thoroughly enjoyed “She Started It” aswell.
I did guess the plot and the main twist quite quickly, however I did not guess the bigger twist to the book 👏
I really enjoyed the small bits of nostalgia when thrown back to the girls school years and the diary entries from Poppy during this time. The author really helped me to picture the sort of girls each character was and it also reminded me of a few similar girls from back when I was at school 😂
I gave it 4.5 ⭐️ mainly because I was a bit impatient and wanted to get to the “gritty bits” quicker than the author actually did.
At no point did I lose interest or not enjoy it, it’s just more because I was impatient and wanted it a bit sooner 😂
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Self harm, Suicide, Murder
Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia