Reviews tagging 'Grief'

To kan holde på en hemmelighet... hvis en er død by Karen M. McManus

25 reviews

halfbloodprincess_hogwarts's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Ugggggghhhh, the end was so fucked up🤢🤮 def a great read in time for the spooky month with a ton of suspense🤍

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

veronica_angel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, and Car accident

inejstan's review against another edition

so boring. se siente como esos libros pretensiosos de wattpad. los personajes no tienen ni una gracia, y cuando piensas que se va a poner bueno, no lo hace 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic relationship

bornachoker's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence and Alcohol

Minor: Biphobia and Sexual content

familiar_diversions's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Grief

melplays9000's review against another edition

dark lighthearted mysterious 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

4.0

This book was so much fun. Yeah it’s not particularly thrilling or mysterious but if you go in expecting that it’s actually a really nice high school contemporary story with an interesting twist. I loved the main character of Ellery. Her family was complex and the fact that she was new to the town and had an interest in true crime meant she had a fresh perspective and was the perfect person to tell the bulk of the story through. My favorite character though was Malcom. He was so sweet and I just want to be his friend he deserves to be happy and a life so much better than he got! Also Ryan was amazing I just loved the whole cast, they really made this book for me. 

I am myself a YA and honestly not super perceptive but even to me the twists in this were not done particularly well. Whenever a reveal was about to come it would be so over explained that I knew exactly what it was before it was explicitly said and I found myself just getting frustrated that the characters weren’t saying it.

I also hated that the characters were so incompetent that not only didn’t  help solve the crime but also got themselves in trouble with their crime solving and then couldn’t save their own asses. Just seemed like if the police were just gonna save the day, maybe it should have been told from Ryan’s point of view.

 

Overall a good book, this review is too long. I had a good time 4 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Car accident

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

thenonmouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Infidelity, and Gaslighting

gamora_zen1's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

libraryofkizzie's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, and Car accident

spearly's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

“You might want to tell that sister of yours to lie low for a change. Doesn’t seem like a great year to be homecoming queen, does it?”

Someone in Echo Ridge has it out for prom queens. First, a girl named Sarah disappears on Homecoming night 20 years ago. Then, Queen Bee Lacey disappears 5 years ago. When Ellory and Ezra's mother - who also happens to be Sarah's twin - is admitted to rehab, they are shipped off to live with their Grandmother in Echo Ridge. That's when the threats start showing up; I'M BACK. PICK YOUR QUEEN, ECHO RIDGE. HAPPY HOMECOMING

Honestly... I've been spoiled. A Good Girl's Guide to Murderhas set the bar for YA mysteries, and unfortunately, Two Can Keep a Secret just fell short.

Told in dual POV, the story follows Ellory, whose aunt disappeared from town 20 years prior, and Marcus, the brother of the guy everyone thinks killed Lacey 5 years ago. Which is all fine and good, except their voices were so similar, I had trouble remembering whose chapter I was reading.

The side characters felt weak, indistinct, and honestly, kind of pointless. The only one who ended up mattering to the story was Officer Rodriguez. I was disappointed to see that even Ellory's twin Ezra was relegated to c-character status. You'd think he'd play a larger role, given that all that familial trauma (of not knowing their father, of losing their aunt, of their mother having a drug problem and needing to go to rehab) that affects Ellory on a daily basis should alsoaffect Ezra. And yet, we barely see him.

I had a large issue with pace, too. It's more than halfway through the book by the time any real investigating goes on. For a murder mystery, readers never really get that satisfaction of clues falling into place, of solving the crime alone with our MCs, of rushing to put the puzzle together before it's too late. Ellory is a self-declared true-crime aficionado, and yet we're barely following her and Malcom solve the mystery because every theory of theirs is wrong. The only real sleuthing they do is when

they dig through the recycling to find what Brooke was looking for

. I never felt the stakes. Again, I'm spoiled by Holly Jackson's whodunits, and now nothing holds a candle.

That aside, I still feel that One of Us Is Lying is the stronger mystery from McManus. More intrigue. More teen detective work. Better reveal. Better characters.

But credit where it's due. You seldom read a mystery where the antagonist doesn't spell everything out for the MCs in some forced villain speech (even A Good Girl's Guide to Murder does this), but that is not the case here. Our villain reveals very little, and readers don't find out the whole story until after the climax. Which is a nice reprieve from the expected.

Overall, not the best teen mystery I have ever read, but a quick, easy read that kept me turning the page nonetheless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, Blood, Grief, and Car accident

Minor: Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Death of parent