Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult

78 reviews

irisandfoxglove's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a beautiful, heart wrenching book. I thought the way the chapters were set up was so well thought out and poignant, especially with the epigraph at the beginning. I’d recommend people check the content warnings first before reading.

I loved the moments we got of Ava.

Her planning and forethought for the picnic wrecked me, it was so sweet.

For what we found out about the “day of” by the end of the book,

man, fucking Maya. Based on her telling, it was clearly an accident. Why didn’t she call 911? Or come clean? If I was Asher, I would never forgive her for that. But, I accept her actions as believable. And I’m glad we got to know what happened. I also so fell for Dirk as a red herring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Bullying, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Sexual harassment

The transphobia is not endorsed by the main characters of this book and is thoroughly dismantled. The suicidal attempt describes the method factually, and the emotions graphically, but only describes the set up in detail and not the actual attempt.

the method involved blades, and the character describes several times being triggered by knives and blades elsewhere in the story

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amandalachelle's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Cursing, Child death, Death, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Sexism, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Hate crime

Minor: Mass/school shootings

litliz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Outing, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Body horror, Cursing, Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

karlymarcy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual violence, Violence, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Hate crime, Transphobia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Outing, and Suicide attempt

nurse_who_readss's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

Very heavy on social issues such as transgender identity and domestic abuse 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Minor: Transphobia and Abortion

bookwormcat's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Deadnaming, Outing, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Violence

lvosler21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Gaslighting, Self harm, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Grief, Mental illness, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Outing, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Death, Deadnaming, Child death, Bullying, Body shaming, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

roveronez's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

A poignant novel written in duo with seamless perfection! So many delicate subjects treated with a lot of kindness and respect. There is a lot of emotion, a lot of second guessing, oh so many triggers... and a mistery to be solved. The story is written in 2 voices, one moving forward as the story evolves, the other backwards - which was a bit disconcerting at times - to slowly reveal the background and shatter our hearts. Beautifully written!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Grief, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Self harm

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion

jrow's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-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

3.75

Found the book boring until the trial revealed Lily was AMAB. I thought it was a clever way to surprise the reader with the knowledge, just like the court was discovering it. However, before that point reading the beginning was as easy as a walk through knee-deep mud.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Homophobia, Outing, Suicide attempt, Violence, Transphobia, Bullying, Deadnaming, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood

cari_mac's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

really appreciated this book. check the TWs, there's some serious content in here. but love the story itself and how it is revealed. y'all know i love a twisty turny 

i do not love a miscommunication trope, but when it comes to family secrets, its at least a more realistic use of them!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Child abuse, Death, Bullying, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Outing, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Self harm