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suneaters's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
A trashy, terrible book, but it is fun. We do get some pretty good narration from a highly unreliable narrator. Because Juliette is so unbalanced, we never know what she'll do next since the rules of society really don't mean much to her. The anticipation to when she'll see Nate again builds up, but it kind of fizzles when they get vegas-married and Miss Price becomes Mrs. Goldsmith for a few months. I mean, if she had just chilled out, he probably would've come crawling back, right? And the backstory with William never seemed to mean much in the end. Her and Nate visit his grave and she tells him the story, but it never seems to mean much. None of the backstory feels satisfying enough for how much it was built up so I felt kind of disappointed about William and Bella. She called Juliette/Elizabeth some names in school and was a typical mean-girl, but we never get any in-scene moments where Bella is outwardly cruel to justify Juliette's fear of her and why she volunteers to muck around in the fields in the rain just to get away from her. I feel that a scene like that would've helped the reader understand her more. I enjoyed our narrator despite not really sympathizing with her at all. Move on, girl. I've never been into the yandere trope, but she was an interesting choice for a protagonist. Nate was another issue. I don't really understand why she was so attached to him until she reveals he's the guy she lost her virginity to by the river at her old boarding school. Obviously she became attached to the first person to really show affection to her and make her feel pretty and desirable. So, overall pretty alright, but with some downsides. The ending was also unsatisfying to me. So Juliette murders Tara–Nate's new girlfriend–by shoving her off a balcony and acting like Tara fell taking pictures. When Nate returns from his piloting job, Juliette is waiting for him. He doesn't protest or say anything. There was a lot of unrealistic behavior on his end. No way is he not calling the police on a girl who trapped him in a bathroom. Once his family got into it and they were on the plane, it all felt like a soap opera. It just didn't do it for me, but I still enjoyed my time reading the book overall thanks to the strength of Juliette's unreliable narration.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking
Moderate: Grief, Child death, and Gaslighting
Minor: Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Bullying
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