Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

185 reviews

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Fine. It's a fairly engaging and enjoyable experience to listen to this. I didn't find it to spectacular, just a pretty solid YA novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content

jessjess125's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

This book was phenomenal! Definitely was giving a queer style of A Secret History. I was guessing and second guessing everything the whole time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Murder

bookishsapphicshay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racism and Classism

aichaa's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, and Gaslighting

mfrisk's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It’s hard to fully wrap my head around my thoughts on this book. I enjoyed the characters and world building of the school throughout and thought that was well done. However towards the end I felt the book lost steam. I had hoped for a darker ending or for the book to have another twist I didn’t expect but I guessed part of the twist earlier on so it didn’t feel like there was enough after that point that amped up the intensity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use and Mental illness

em_of_swags's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

what the fuck

(in a good way)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, and Classism

looseleafellie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

When Felicity returns to her elite all-girls boarding school for her senior year, she’s eager to put her past of death and witchcraft behind her. But when she meets prodigy novelist Ellis, who needs her help with research for her new book, Felicity finds that her ghosts may be coming back to haunt her …

This book has been on my TBR for a while, but a friend of mine read it recently and then forced her copy into my hands the second she was done with it. So of course, I had to see what entranced her so much!

Five words: queer dark academia with murder! The vibes of this book are absolutely impeccable, and while the story unfolds slowly, the creeping tension really makes it work. Schemes rumble beneath the surface, the protagonist isn’t always the most reliable narrator, and the ending is absolutely WILD.

The characters are extremely pretentious in a way that felt, to me, quite tongue-in-cheek, so luckily I was able to enjoy their exploits without getting annoyed. A fun tidbit about this book is that there are no men mentioned anywhere in the story. All the characters are female or non-binary, and none of the plentiful literary references come from male authors.

Basically, don’t go in expecting a fast-paced thriller, but do expect an eerie slow-burn of a narrative that will keep you on your toes. This is definitely the kind of book you should read at night by the fire with a cup of tea and a storm raging outside. Just keep an eye out for any ghosts that might be lurking in your corners …

CWs: Death, violence, manipulation and emotional abuse, child neglect (past/offscreen), mental health issues, substance abuse, suicide references (no actual suicide), references to racist history at a PWI.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Racism, and Suicide

niccolowilliam's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

It was good. Definitely kept my interest as i was reading it. Solid story. I love lesbians so that was nice. (Shout out to lesbians)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty, Racism, and Classism

its2early4this's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

Plot twists from early in the story, a poetic prose that flows in a way that remains easy to read, and a feeling of satisfaction upon conclusion. This is definitely one of the best books I've read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Classism

graspuppie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, and Mental illness

Minor: Grief