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oliverreeds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
foreverinastory's review against another edition
- 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
Rep: white female MC (I think Ivy is queer but I'm uncertain), BIPOC bisexual male love interest, several lesbian female side characters, pansexual female side character, BIPOC female side character.
CWs: Body horror, abortion, cancer, gore, blood, death, murder, medical trauma, medical content, grief, past death of parent, alcoholism, alcohol consumption, terminal illness, bullying, emotional abuse, violence, mentions of past pregnancy that was terminated, vomit, gaslighting, toxic friendship, injury/injury detail, sexual content. Moderate: eating disorder and mention of weight checks, cursing, mention of past adult/minor relationship, panic attack, suicide, sexual harassment.
Graphic: Gore, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Grief, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Vomit, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Eating disorder, and Cursing
stormwise's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The main character, Ivy Gamble (PI), doesn't have magic, but she does know how to lie. As the POV character, the reader can see every choice she grapples with as she carefully manipulates the other characters, who all have their own agendas and give the impression of each thinking they are in a different kind of story. In her own way, Ivy reminded me of a stage magician using sleight of hand and misdirection to keep everything in the air - but of course, it doesn't take much before it all comes crashing down.
Halfway through this novel, I thought I would give it a 5 star rating, but the ending felt a bit too abrupt and there were a few characters whose plotlines I would have liked to have seen wrapped up. I can forgive that last complaint somewhat as the story is told through first person narrative but then again, it's established early on that Ivy is narrating from after the events of the book...yeah. Despite these minor grievances, I really enjoyed this book! I found the scenes between Ivy and her twin sister particularly powerful - Gailey does an incredible job depicting their fraught relationship.
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Eating disorder
scaluba's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism and Cancer
Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, and Panic attacks/disorders
nothing is really graphic save for a brief description of the dead body, but it's about the kind of stuff you would come to expect from a murder mystery novel