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karapillar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Classism, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Blood, Stalking, Infidelity, Murder, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Chronic illness, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
helenferg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Toxic relationship, Child death, and Drug use
Moderate: Abandonment, Homophobia, Chronic illness, and Death of parent
kallio08's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Medical trauma
Minor: Homophobia
deenice2819's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Gun violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Chronic illness, Blood, Cursing, Medical content, and Terminal illness
brittishliterature's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
After spending most of the book in the dark about what was going on, I felt that when the truth was revealed, the buildup/anticipation was very anticlimactic. I wished there would have been more clues/seeds planted throughout the book so that then I could have felt like "Whoa it was there all along and now we're piecing it together!" but instead the answers and twists were surprises simply because the author never mentioned anything previously for the reader. And a lot of information being withheld from Avery and the reader was simply due to the fact that the characters just wouldn't communicate what they knew, so by the end of the book when they do talk it's like, "Really? You could have said that like ages ago" and then it wasn't even as mysterious or shocking as we were led to believe.
And I just didn't find Avery interesting as a main character. She often repeated lines of text verbatim in her thoughts and explained things in her internal dialogue that were already obvious to the reader, which I found annoying. The brothers also weren't as interesting as I hoped, although I did like Xander and Jameson the most. Also maybe I'm not really into love triangles, but the fact that Avery was drooling over whichever Hawthorne brother happened to be in front of her at the moment was weird. The characters weren’t really fleshed out or developed, and the romance aspect seemed a bit shallow and unrealistic.
I personally wanted more of the focus to be on the mystery and the puzzles and the game rather than teenage drama. But I guess it is a YA book, after all.
The ending left me slightly curious about a couple of things, but not enough to actually jump into the rest of the series right away. I will say that this book was fast-paced and easy to read, so it does have that going for it, and that's probably why I gave it two stars instead of one. The chapters are short and kept me propelling along; plus I really liked the cover and the feel of the book in my hands (trivial I know, but there it is).
I read this as a buddy read so that part was fun because there are plenty of moments to share reactions.
Glad I could check this one off my list, but now I’m off to other things ✨
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Homophobia
thyroyalreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Violence, Misogyny, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Homophobia
brandie_abbie19's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Grief, Violence, Alcohol, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Gun violence, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse
quejk25's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Infertility, Biphobia, Alcohol, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Gaslighting
gabbyjc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
Graphic: Death
Minor: Homophobia
whatrhireads22's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Violence, and Alcohol
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, and Physical abuse