Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

58 reviews

idk_indigo's review against another edition

dark 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This is (I believe) my 2nd book by Lisa Jewell, & I loved it! I was a bit confused by the school in summer, but I guess the British do it differently out there, or maybe it was summer school? Either way, this book was phenomenal! I finished it in 1 day, & it certainly kept me on my toes. It was eery to think about the idea that people who have done evil, horrendous things, often think they’re being helpful & that they’re doing the kind thing. I do wish more of Pat’s storyline was discussed, ie, it can’t have been easy being raised by a singe narcissistic mother; I feel like her general come-through was “I know I wasn’t the best mother, but Josie was a lot…” & it felt weird & dismissive to not only the character development, but also the storyline. I also enjoyed the almost detached narration; we as readers don’t really see the MCs’ inner workings. We hear about their narrative, & obviously I always love an unreliable narrator, but we don’t hear a lot about the fear or anger they are experiencing, which in all honesty I kind of liked, I think? It made it interesting, & for Josie’s story specifically, made her feel much less real which I think was probably the point. The whole “I don’t believe people like that really exist!” Felt a bit more feasible after going the whole book not really knowing what Josie is thinking. Wish we’d gotten a bit more motive, but overall I really enjoyed! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Blood, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, Violence, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Ableism, Death of parent, Drug use, Incest, and Infidelity

sjpate14's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Riveting, disturbing, unsettling, but all in the ways that make it another unputdownable Lisa Jewell psychological thriller. You’re going to get ick and feel uncomfortable with the character’s stories in this novel but you’re also going to want to get to the bottom of what is actually going on as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Pedophilia

aquamarine32's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Child abuse

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia

lauren_lovestoread's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-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

I can’t really decide if I liked this book all that much. It was gripping throughout but the plot felt a bit messy for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Addiction

Moderate: Sexual violence and Abandonment

mybookturnedbrain's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

sebradley29's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This is one of those books, where I finished it and all I can think is “what tf did I just read?” And I genuinely don’t know what or who to believe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Torture, Violence, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

jennabeck13's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5/5)

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

About 365 pages

TW: Domestic abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, pedophilia, murder

Alix Summers has the life. She’s the host of a hit podcast, has two perfect kids, a beautiful home, and a seemingly great husband. Plus, she looks great for 45. This leads to jealousy from Josie Fair, another 45-year-old woman who happens to be celebrating her birthday on the same day in the same restaurant as Alix. Josie approaches Alix to comment that they are “birthday twins.” After this point, Josie becomes obsessed with Alix and convinces herself and Alix to let her tell her story on Alix’s podcast. The two develop a peculiar relationship as they question various elements of one another’s lives. Though weird, things seem to be going ok until one day Josie disappears… When searching for answers, Alix will discover the messes Jodie has left behind and that none of what she heard may be true.

Lisa Jewell is pretty much an auto-read author for me, so as soon as I saw this as a #BOTM pick, I knew what I was picking. This one fell short of many other Lisa Jewell books for me because of one reason, unreliable narrators. I’ve complained about them on #booksta before so I will save the rant, but I just am not a fan of them and that affected my ranking. BESIDES THAT, I did enjoy this book and I devoured it in about two days. The premise was solid and had me hooked from the start. I loved how Jewell told the story from multiple POVs and used “real-time” narrators, podcast clips, and Netflix clips to take us through the chaos.

If you have read it, whose story did you believe? Josie? Or Walter and the kids? I think they were all a bit crazy but lean more toward Walter and the kids.

Favorite Quote: “Both women fall silent. Then Josie sighs and says, “Men.” And there it is, the point at which it all boils down to eventually. The point where there are no words, no theories, no explanations for behaviors that baffle and infuriate and hurt. Just that. Men.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, and Medical content

mydystopianfuture's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.75

If she is 16 and he is in his forties, no matter what she does, what she wears, if she flirts, if she pursues him, he is still wrong for getting with a 16 year old. Full fucking stop. The end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Murder, and Addiction