Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

227 reviews

thetearex's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Alcohol, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Grief, Infidelity, Child death, Stalking, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Incest, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

carlimact's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 I picked up this book on a whim when I was grocery shopping.

So glad I did! I was gripped from chapter one and never let go. Even now I'm not sure if I actually knew what was going on half the time.

Would read again. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcoholism

Minor: Grief, Infidelity, Murder, and Gaslighting

chapters_and_pages's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Bloody hell, this was a wild ride! I absolutely love Lisa Jewell’s thrillers. 

While celebrating their 45th birthdays, two women from different worlds meet. Alix, a popular podcaster, and Josie, a seamstress, have nothing in common, except that they are birthday twins. When Josie approaches Alix with an intriguing idea for a new podcast, the pair team up, but Alix soon learns that Josie isn’t the person she seems to be. 

This book is insane, and I think I’ve said that about most of Lisa Jewell’s books that I’ve read. In terms of the storyline, Jewell always manages to keep me on the edge of my seat from the first page to the very last. 

The characters in this book were very interesting, and definitely problematic and untrustworthy in their own ways. By the end of this book, I didn’t really know who to trust. Between Josie, Walter, Ann, Roxy, Erin and Nathan, there were lots of lies and accusations, and lots of not knowing who is telling the truth, even on the very last page. 

I would have liked there to have been a little more accountability of Walter in the final podcast/documentary. Whether Walter was a good or bad father, whether he was abusive or not, whether Josie manipulated him into a relationship, he was still a grown forty-something year old man getting into a relationship with a minor. 

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to read my next Lisa Jewell book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, and Stalking

hillarym's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Kidnapping, Death, Blood, Torture, Stalking, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Toxic friendship, and Child abuse

coco78337's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Violence

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Excrement, Pregnancy, Drug use, Kidnapping, and Pandemic/Epidemic

smilagros's review against another edition

challenging sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

I had high hopes for this thriller. It’s the first thriller I have read in a very long time. Everyone has been talking about it and so I wanted to see if it is worth the hype. I can see why it is popular and I can see why people love it. I thought it was okay. It was very easy to figure out what was going on. I really enjoyed the audiobook and how it was basically a full cast. I recommend reading it that way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Child abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Murder, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

runefactories's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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

1.5

I enjoyed this book until ~80% through but the last 20% ruined it! What a shame. 

When discussing people who have been victimized and go on to victimize others, it’s important to have nuance and recognize that someone’s abusive actions don’t magically cancel out abuse they previously experienced. You can be a victim and an abuser at the same time - this seems to be a foreign concept in this book. This book had a shred of nuance at first, but it was gone by the end and the author did not handle this important theme responsibly. It was said throughout by multiple “reasonable” characters that a grooming victim actually manipulated the much older man into being with her, with minimal criticism, that it seemed like this was the (gross n misogynistic) point the author was trying to make. The notion that children are responsible for adults’ sexual abuse is always false and I cannot in good faith recommend this book as a result of that notion being promoted. It is always the adult’s responsibility to decline any sexual advances from children. There was so much bullshit at the end about

how the groomer husband was actually such a nice guy and good dad and aww he loved video games and the twitch chat loved him and Josie is pure evil and so mean and manipulated him into grooming her when she was 14. despite him grooming and raping Josie as a 40yo man, we should totally feel sorry for him now that he’s geriatric and dead lmao. as if! and multiple characters saying that it’s ridiculous to suggest that he might be sexually abusing his daughters even though he has a track record of sexually abusing girls…wild. also calling her a basic b*tch at the end - is that the best you can do? just a typical misogynistic insult? for someone that stole from her, killed her husband, etc. you’d think she’d have more material than that

idk I had higher hopes, I’d avoid this one if you don’t want to hear misogynistic crap about how teenage girls can mANiPuLaTe poor little 40+ year old men into relationships

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Misogyny

kelceyq's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Violence, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Stalking, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Murder, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Death, Cursing, and Child abuse

bettymer91's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Kidnapping, and Stalking

thereaganator8's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Violence