2.79k reviews for:

She Started It

Sian Gilbert

3.5 AVERAGE

emeyer0718's profile picture

emeyer0718's review

3.5
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
heyjamers's profile picture

heyjamers's review

4.0
dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I got this from BOTM because it sounded like the summery, toxic friendship chaos of You're Invited.

And to an extent it was. But not nearly as good for me.

First off, I had to switch to the audio pretty quickly because I couldn't really tell the difference between POVs. The full cast was really necessary for me.

Then, and this is not the book's fault, but the ending was so glaringly obvious to me the second we knew Poppy had a sister. I think it's because I had read a book recently that had a bullied girl's sister avenge her after her suicide. So, I kind of figured where we were going.

But it was a fun ride. I guessed the most of the secrets the women were hiding (Tanya's drug problem, Chloe sleeping with Annabel's husband, Esther's abusive boyfriend) but not others (Annabel's kleptomania). I also took a while to put together that if Robin thought Annabel was the bride, Annabel was the one left standing in the opening.

The ending, with Wendy killing all the women but letting Annabel take the fall was great (my god, they deserved it) but again...SO similar to another book I read not that long ago.

I'm glad they got their comeuppance. It was hilarious when Annabel, the "smart" one was like "hmmmm, but who could look like Poppy and have seen her journal and know what happened?" knowing full well Wendy existed.

The bullying was horrific. Poor Poppy. Yay avenging sister.

Just a pretty middle of the road thriller.

I would've been happier if Robin was Poppy's secret fiance and helping her. Because then Poppy would be alive and vengeful bisexuals are fun.

Edit: I just looked at my review of The Girls Are All So Nice Here and...Poppy is literally the avenging sister's name lol
roseayyy_reads's profile picture

roseayyy_reads's review

4.0
dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

ckbteach's review

4.0

3.5

ellentjuhhh's review

4.0
dark emotional tense medium-paced
petals4pages's profile picture

petals4pages's review

slow-paced

I don't like how the perspective keeps changing and there seems to be too many details/personal encounters even from the beginning. 

emily_schreurs's review

3.0

Feeling a bit conflicted about this one. On one hand, it was decently entertaining. On the other hand, the plot/ twist was rather predictable. Also, Poppy comparing her diary to Anne Frank’s was wild. Maybe a slightly problematic comparison

ioa_c's review

5.0

amazing, no other words for me to say
cassiiepiie's profile picture

cassiiepiie's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 30%

Just not what I’m looking for in a book. Would be a great concept for a 1.5 hour film..