Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Lying in the Deep by Diana Urban

4 reviews

bookedandbusy's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Another fantastic thriller from Diana Urban!! I loved this book so much! The plot twists were great and I didn’t see a few of them coming! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

It was an okay book, but the MC Jade was annoying AF. She was stuck on one theory that didn't make that much sense to me and ended up being completely wrong. Also, the killer was mega obvious. And one part of the twist I suspected. The final twist I didn't though which did wrap the book up nicely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Gun violence

trippyotter's review

challenging emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

 I'm such a sucker for adaptations, and this one exceeds all expectations!

Though the story is inspired by Death on the Nile (Agatha Christie), all the modern twists and turns in the plot take it to another level.

I can't wait to see what Diana writes next! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Death, Grief, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content

beckyremillard's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Jade is a college student boarding a semester at sea (Campus On Board/CoB). She’s excited to see the world and get some time away, until she sees her ex-best friend and ex-boyfriend also boarding the ship. 

The first half of this book and the second half feel like completely different stories, held together by the same annoying main character.

She stabs someone and is like “oops, sorry, didn’t mean to, I’ll go to therapy”?! How can anyone stand to be around her?

The first half is incredibly whiny and I barely got through it. Obviously I knew what was coming from the description and the prologue, but it was hard to get through. 

Things started picking up in the second half and everyone was a suspect of something. Once I got to that point I read it in one sitting because it was captivating (albeit not the most believable). It was just brutal getting there. 

Also, everyone sounds like high school students. I know is classified as YA, but they sounded like 16 year olds, not 20ish year olds who had been in college for a bit already. 

I will say the ending was interesting, although I think that an epilogue could have worked here to wrap up one final loose end. 

Thank you to NetGalley and PenguinTeen for a chance to read and review this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Murder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Death of parent