Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Sweetpea by C.J. Skuse

5 reviews

dotty92's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Darkly funny and surprisingly relatable as the sociopathic protagonist lists the mundane yet very irritating ways people annoy her at the start of each chapter. Despite her many crimes, I found myself rooting for Rhiannon as the book went on. This was also my first audiobook and I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

4.5

This was a fun read. A good mixture of disturbing scenes and comedic passages, definitely in the same vein as How To Kill Your Family. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

beate251's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

"I just want some stability in my life. I want a house with four front windows and two hanging baskets and a garden where I can grow things. A bigger lawn for Tink. And a better job. And a book deal. It’s not too much to ask, is it?"

Rhiannon, 27, lives with her cheating boyfriend Craig and Chihuahua Tink. She hates her job and has anger management issues stemming from deep-seated childhood trauma. In her free time, she plays with Sylvanian families, walks her little dog and kills people like the unhinged  psychopath and serial killer she is.

I have a penchant for female serial killers who go after bad men but she is actually trying to lure them in by walking around deserted alleys at night. She doesn't shy away from killing women, and she derives sexual pleasure from her bloodthirsty deeds. So I was quite uncomfortable reading her matter-of-fact diary entries about balancing her deadly shenanigans with meeting friends and pretending to be normal.

I have to say her daily kill lists - strangers who annoyed her that day by queue jumping, overcharging or other heinous crimes - are kind of relatable but after a while she makes very sweeping statements and I found myself on them twice ("Everyone who lives or works in London" and later "the entire human race").

Once she complains about people who make grammatical mistakes but says "me and Craig" instead of "Craig and I" all the time! Personally, that needled me greatly, but Rhiannon's thoughts and behaviour are at no point logical, as she admits herself. For example, absolutely everyone who manages to lock two in-flagrante rapists in a van would drive that van to the nearest police station. But not her. Oh no. She finds a much more deranged but ever so entertaining solution.

I actually felt sorry for her a few times about how utterly unhappy she seems to be. But instead of throwing her boyfriend out (she knows all about the affair) or changing her job she gets her kicks by killing people. At the end, the tally I counted was 11 people, two of them historic. That's a lot! You need a strong stomach for this book - the gory stuff often comes out of nowhere. She also swears like a whole ship full of sailors.

Despite all this I was kind of mesmerised and read this twisted, deeply gripping and darkly funny tale as fast as I could. It's brilliantly written but dare I say 100 pages too long, especially as this is only the first of five books in this series.  The cliffhanger makes me want to read the next one NOW because I must know how she gets out of the situation she is in - pregnant and just about to hack her dead lover to pieces when the doorbell goes!

"How many men does it take to tile a bathroom? One – but only if you slice him veeeeery thinly."

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage

taggy96's review against another edition

challenging sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Murder

singalana's review against another edition

dark funny tense slow-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal cruelty, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt