444 reviews for:

Vibe

Liza James

3.39 AVERAGE


In my quick research before reading, I saw no mention of Content/Trigger warnings, and I feel they are definitely needed.
Overall, this book fell very very flat for me. Plot, spice, character development, all of it was just highly disappointing.

This book was highly recommended on booktok as a WLW spicy read, but... I was just utterly horrible.

DNF.
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This book, while entertaining, is extremely "dark", for the lack of a better word, which is fine, literature is meant to encapsulate all human feelings and not just the ones that makes us comfortable, but the things the two women go through seems to be written in an over the top way that makes it seem more like a trauma porn than a story about resilience. I was craving to read a sapphic dark romance, but I haven't had much luck with them, with the exception of two books — one of them being by this author herself — The Mad House. If you read this book and then read The Mad House, the improvement in the story is huge. While retaining the dark elements of Vibe, and focusing more on the religious aspect of a cult, it was infinitely more careful with the depictions of trauma, and they felt more important to the narrative of the two characters than Vibe's trauma ever did to Aura and Ruby. I have read the Mad House recently so I remember mostly everything, however I did not remember almost anything from Vibe, and I was craving a sapphic dark romance, so I decided to reread it, which is not something that I do, which proves the entertainment value of the book. While rereading it for the second time after having read The Mad House, I see what the book is trying to become, so I can appreciate it more. Despite this, if you want to read a sapphic dark romance, you're better off reading The Mad House by the same author.
dark medium-paced
maihbeans's profile picture

maihbeans's review

dark sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

jan 25- gonna reread this 
literarylocd's profile picture

literarylocd's review

DID NOT FINISH: 31%

i-

omfg this book is everything
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A