Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis

11 reviews

moeboutuncoated's review

dark emotional funny mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Addiction

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, and Ableism

Minor: Excrement and Mental illness

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Classism, Grief, Death of parent, Animal death, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, and Kidnapping

Minor: Physical abuse, Vomit, Bullying, and Infidelity

calamitywindpetal's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Alcohol, and Bullying

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault

aformeracceleratedreader's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

I have never read the Cask of Amontillado but I know the gist of it. I didn't know this was a retelling when I initially picked it up. I really enjoyed this! 

I was hoping that the ending would've been different but if you already know how the Cask ends, you'll know how this ends too. I'm so mad about it tho! Like they were so close to rebuilding their broken friendship and Tress was so close to finding out the truth with Felicity remembering but then Felicity passed out for a hot minute and Tress thinks she's dead and then everything is ruined!! And Tress' cousin KNOWS but hasn't told anyone what happened to Tress' parents! Why doesn't he tell the truth!?! I really wanted a happy ending, I was hoping for it with how Tress was changing her mind like maybe the author will flip the script and give us a happy-ish ending, but nope true to the og it is only misunderstandings, sadness, and heartbreak

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I will have to read more from this author since I did like this a lot.
EDIT: THERE'S A FREAKING SEQUEL?! I NEED TO READ IT ASAP. I need answers!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Classism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit and Car accident

froggreadsbooks's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

it was a pretty good book, it was insanely dark though. i wish it ended a bit differently 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Cursing, Bullying, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Blood, Drug use, Mental illness, Death of parent, Car accident, Death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing

trashboatwinter's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Vomit, Alcohol, and Confinement

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Cursing, and Death of parent

poppyseedromance's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

I’m going to say that even though I wasn’t a fan of this book, I am still going to reas the second one. I’m curious about what’s happening. 

There are a lot of errors in the book, such as switching character names. There is a spot where Felicity is talking to Tress, and when it switched to narrate what Tress is doing, it has Felicity’s name. 

The ended also just felt lazy. It didn’t seem like a cliff hanger. It was just the end is the book. It seemed like she was going to go somewhere, got bored or distracted, and then decided because it will have a sequel it was good enough. 

Also the cat POVs take away from the story and don’t make any sense to me whatsoever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Drug use, Grief, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, and Vomit

Minor: Racism

brendal's review

dark sad 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Bullying, Torture, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

beckyremillard's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Kidnapping, and Torture

Moderate: Bullying and Drug use

betweentheshelves's review

dark emotional tense fast-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

3.0

As per usual, I'm left a little confused at the end of this Mindy McGinnis book, but that seems like par for the course. I know this is going to be a duology, so it makes sense that the end is somewhat open-ended and a bit confusing. The end also features a lot of flipping back and forth between characters, which adds to the overall confusion.

I will say that McGinnis is great at writing extremely dark characters, and this absolutely shines through the book. There isn't really anyone you want to root for, as everyone in the cast has a dark secret hidden somewhere. This is fast-paced and dark and very much feels like a Poe story. Perhaps not my favorite book so far this year, but you can't deny that it's well written and does suck you in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Vomit, Torture, Racism, Physical abuse, Grief, and Gore

Moderate: Drug abuse and Death of parent