Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Mijn vele gezichten

4.75/5 stars

this was so freaking good. i was gripped for the ENTIRE book which i don’t think has ever happened. and the climax was still climactic somehow. at one point, there’s a fire and the narrator is describing the smoke and i swear i could see smoke in the room i was in and smell it agh it was so well done.
i knew going into this that it dealt with abuse but i didn’t realise how much… so here are some trigger and content warnings:
- psychological & emotional abuse by a parent
- r*pe (not graphic)
- child m*lestation (mentioned a few times)
- gr*oming (mentioned)
- domestic violence and abuse
- family violence
- child abuse
- s*xual assault
- guns
- bullying
- fbi/police
- abortion (mentioned)
i might have missed some but yeah, there was a lot of heavy stuff but nothing very graphic and it wasn’t the whole focus of the story.
i thought the depiction of being a survivor was very accurate, especially the thoughts the mc had and the way she talked about it with her therapist. also the therapist was GREAT which i loved. and healing was a big part of it, like after the trauma she experienced she didn’t just get better straight after.
if anyone happens to read this review and wants more detailed content warnings please message me!!
but i loved this book so so much, it was almost impeccable.

Content Warnings

readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense 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? Yes

4.5

This book. THIS BOOK. This book makes me think I should read more thrillers. What a top tier piece of fiction. The plot was clever and exceptionally engaging, and Nora was a brilliant, compelling main character. I loved her relationship with Iris and her friendship with Wes, and their scenes together made the book so fun and emotional in equal measures. I'm going to need 3-5 business days to process how epic this was.

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4lifegirlboss's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective sad 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

5.0

girlboss

Content Warnings

vidya_is_vidya's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense

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

5.0

this book is absolutely amazing

PLEASE check the trigger warnings before reading this book

i adore nora, and wes, and iris. i love how the author wrote each of the characters in such a way where you could understand what they’re like

at no point did i know where the novel was going, but i enjoyed every second of it

Content Warnings

kell_xavi's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

3.0

A botched bank robbery turns into a hostage situation with Nora, her best friend (Wes), and her girlfriend (Iris) among the captured, which leads Nora to relive years of hiding and trauma in her childhood with a con artist (and psychologically abusive) mother.

The pull of this book is not the past, but the healing process. Iris, Lee, and Wes are strong supports to Nora, and there are complex bonds across love, trust, lies, and truths that wind and unwind and twine together in the course of the book. There’s a a sense of reciprocity and symbiosis that Sharpe, the characters, and I, too, valued.

The first two thirds spool out at a good pace as the three friends try to form a plan against two cruel men with guns and Nora recalls the first few long-cons she was bait in. The last third is harder to read and more dramatic as the violence increases in both timelines, and though I continued to care about the emotional core, the story is angsty and cluttered here in a way I didn’t like as much, though it resolved okay.

Content Warnings

tealikestoread's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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capybooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

I found parts of this novel slow to read, but the more I read, the more I enjoyed it. I wish the character's backstory came first, instead of alternating between the present-day chapters, because I found it hard to keep track of what each girl's story was.

Despite all of this, I really liked a lot of aspects of this story; the LGBTQ+ representation, endometriosis awareness, and an intriguing protagonist. The opening sentence was gripping too!

A great read.

Content Warnings

bluebirdy22's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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