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directorpurry's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Racial slurs, Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Pedophilia, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Blood, Murder, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Alcoholism
czoltak's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I honestly don’t know what happened with this. This book started out really well and then just fell apart more and more as the story went on. This was entirely too long and did not need to be over 400 pages. Especially since the ‘big reveal’ happened basically 100 pages in. I don’t understand why Christina Henry felt the need to reveal the twist so soon. Also the racism in this was over the top. This is not that old so why did it feel the need to fall into the trap older books have of beating us over the head with the fact that a character is bad with almost constant racism. News flash, I already knew the character was bad I didn’t need to listen to her racist ideals for pages and pages. And then, in the same story she wanted to have powerful conversations about female empowerment 🤨 which fell completely flat. I honestly don’t get this book and hope Christina Henry stays in the lane of Near The Bone instead and stays far away from this kind of writing again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Death, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, and Death of parent
sabrinz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I really could not put this one down. Despite it being a bigger book the pages flew by.
The story is told from the point of view of different characters, but the different chapters all fit seamlessly together and provide a cohesive and continuous story.
The story mainly follows 14-year-old Lauren (typical teenager - and I mean this in a very convincing way that she is contrary, emotional and not as wise as she would like to be, but it's not in a way that would make reading her chapters annoying).
We are in the 90s and 1 year has passed since Lauren's father has been killed - allegedly by a drifter. While Lauren navigates teenage life and realized that she and her best friend are slowly drifting apart in their friendship and what they find important, there are strange things going on in this small town. When two young girls are found murdered in a backyard, it is only the beginning; and Lauren is determined to figure out what happened to them and why no one seems to care about their death - or her father's.
The story is told from the point of view of different characters, but the different chapters all fit seamlessly together and provide a cohesive and continuous story.
The story mainly follows 14-year-old Lauren (typical teenager - and I mean this in a very convincing way that she is contrary, emotional and not as wise as she would like to be, but it's not in a way that would make reading her chapters annoying).
We are in the 90s and 1 year has passed since Lauren's father has been killed - allegedly by a drifter. While Lauren navigates teenage life and realized that she and her best friend are slowly drifting apart in their friendship and what they find important, there are strange things going on in this small town. When two young girls are found murdered in a backyard, it is only the beginning; and Lauren is determined to figure out what happened to them and why no one seems to care about their death - or her father's.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Racism, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Eating disorder, Vomit, Death of parent, and Child death
sonygaystation's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Cool concept but muddy execution. Especially towards the end. Plus i felt the slurs and vitriol to express racism was so unnecessarily too much
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, Child death, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Racism, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, Murder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, and Vomit
Minor: Body shaming, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Deportation, Pregnancy, and Infidelity
thekissballad's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
The idea was good, but poorly executed, in my opinion. As much as it pains me, 2.5, and that .5 is a gift because of the potential. The rest of my review may contain spoilers so it's hidden just in case.
First and foremost, Mrs. Schneider deserved a lot worse than a shot in the foot and being slapped / punched. Her POV also felt pointless. The only time her BS mattered was right at the end, and that scene could have easily been rewritten or removed all together.
Second, Miranda's POV was completely unnecessary. Her "slutty" thoughts and behaviors had no real purpose. She was so vapid and shallow that when she died, I wasn't moved. I was actually kind of glad. Sorry, not sorry.
Third, the witchy aspects were completely wasted and not thought out very well. Hell, Lauren ignored it and refused to believe it until the very end. Then David, the one character who even did anything truly witchy, was a side character.
Not to mention the "end the curse" moment was so anti-climactic, and the ending itself left much to be desired.
Fourth, the whole dynamic between Lauren and her mom, Karen, is ridiculous. There's so much hate between them over the most pointless of shit, and then Lauren finally gets her first period and suddenly things are better? How tf does that make any sense? If this were a day or two thing, sure, I could see it, but the fact that Lauren alludes to their discourse having started shortly after (if not before) her father died, makes it such a cop out.
Additionally, Lauren suddenly switching personalities all because Jake expressed his feelings? Ugh.
Fifth, the repetition and abundance of minute details was the real killer of this book. I feel like you could have cut out all of this, plus Miranda's POV and a few others, and reworked Mrs. Schneider's existance, and you'd have a much better story. Possibly novella. And I'd probably have enjoyed it then. This just felt like an attempt to write a full novel, without having enough content to actually write the length needed.
Second, Miranda's POV was completely unnecessary. Her "slutty" thoughts and behaviors had no real purpose. She was so vapid and shallow that when she died, I wasn't moved. I was actually kind of glad. Sorry, not sorry.
Third, the witchy aspects were completely wasted and not thought out very well. Hell, Lauren ignored it and refused to believe it until the very end. Then David, the one character who even did anything truly witchy, was a side character.
Not to mention the "end the curse" moment was so anti-climactic, and the ending itself left much to be desired.
Fourth, the whole dynamic between Lauren and her mom, Karen, is ridiculous. There's so much hate between them over the most pointless of shit, and then Lauren finally gets her first period and suddenly things are better? How tf does that make any sense? If this were a day or two thing, sure, I could see it, but the fact that Lauren alludes to their discourse having started shortly after (if not before) her father died, makes it such a cop out.
Additionally, Lauren suddenly switching personalities all because Jake expressed his feelings? Ugh.
Fifth, the repetition and abundance of minute details was the real killer of this book. I feel like you could have cut out all of this, plus Miranda's POV and a few others, and reworked Mrs. Schneider's existance, and you'd have a much better story. Possibly novella. And I'd probably have enjoyed it then. This just felt like an attempt to write a full novel, without having enough content to actually write the length needed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Toxic friendship, Violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Vomit, Child death, Death of parent, Death, and Racial slurs
sunshinestark's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Racism, Death of parent, Death, and Adult/minor relationship
kagehime's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Racism, Death of parent, Murder, and Child death
ladykatka's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I really like the concept of this story, it is quite good. Also, David is too good, we don't deserve him.
I didn't rate the book very high though because the romantic relationships in this book are actually pretty gross. The main heroine is 14, and the author makes us the reader painfully aware she is a very young 14, a child. She dresses like a child, plays pretend like a child, and has no interest in boys. Yet this 18 year old is interested in her and wants to date her? Why? Why? Why I ask you? It is gross and makes no sense what so ever. Ewww.
Then there is her friend, she wants to be a grown, she wants to womanly and worldly and cool. She thinks she has to be sexy and desirable to do so. Ok, granted, we all know young teens with this mindset, but to have her actually get into a sexual relationship with an adult is seriously messed up. In the end, it doesn't work out and you could say the take away is "This kind of relationship is dangerous" but it is still really gross.
I didn't rate the book very high though because the romantic relationships in this book are actually pretty gross. The main heroine is 14, and the author makes us the reader painfully aware she is a very young 14, a child. She dresses like a child, plays pretend like a child, and has no interest in boys. Yet this 18 year old is interested in her and wants to date her? Why? Why? Why I ask you? It is gross and makes no sense what so ever. Ewww.
Then there is her friend, she wants to be a grown, she wants to womanly and worldly and cool. She thinks she has to be sexy and desirable to do so. Ok, granted, we all know young teens with this mindset, but to have her actually get into a sexual relationship with an adult is seriously messed up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content and Fatphobia
leighsnerdlife's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This story borrows heavily from the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, and seems a bit light on substance otherwise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Death of parent