Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Storyteller by Kathryn Williams

3 reviews

saliwali's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Torture, Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Cursing, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Classism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, and War

gssll_lpz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Forced institutionalization

unicyclegirl's review against another edition

2.0

I really aught to stop picking up YA "modern descendant investigates ancestral drama" historical fiction books. I found the Anastasia intrigue kind of interesting, but could not care less about the actual main character and her friends and family. Pretty sure Evan was the one redeeming feature of this story, he deserved better. She keeps saying she has to hide who she really is, but I don't really know who that is?? She doesn't seem to actually possess a personality. She treats Evan pretty badly most of the time- she's dismayed that he wants fair compensation for translating an entire trunk full of HANDWRITTEN Russian journals and gets super offended when he doesn't automatically take them at face value. (Everytime he expresses skepticism or says a box of notebooks isn't actually real evidence she gets real upset 🙄) She has the audacity to tell him information from incredibly basic Google searches on the thing he is literally getting a degree in and definitely already knows. She keeps bringing up his mom and then being confused as to why he is upset with her when its clearly a touchy subject. (Why does he even like her at all?? She's the worst) She thinks just because she WANTS her great aunt to be Anastasia that its got to be at least a *little bit* true. Worst of all, she (and the narrative) regularly equate her small, angsty teenage problems with the anastasia in the diaries. I know being a modern teenager is hard, but having to tone down your personality so your popular boyfriend still likes you is NOT THE SAME as having to hide your entire identity and go on the run across continents because you watched your entire family get brutally MURDERED in front of you. Nope. And in the end, everything is unrealistically tied up perfectly neatly with a bow, no loose ends. 

Anyway, take my two stars with a grain of salt. I'm well outside the target audience now, but if I'm honest I probably would've loved this book at 14-15. And I do have to give kudos for historical research, the author clearly did their homework on the real historical facts.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Alcoholism