Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

47 reviews

zoeelora's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Violence, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Gore, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Stalking, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

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, Blood, Classism, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Toxic friendship

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

Minor: Sexual content

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

Moderate: Mental illness and Drug use

ammerrily's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Murder, Child death, Animal death, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Eating disorder, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, and Drug use

tc_booksandmore's review

dark emotional tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Mental illness, and Animal death

Minor: Murder and Vomit

crackedspines_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Grief, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Violence, Mental illness, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Vomit, Addiction, Animal death, and Medical content

Minor: Racism and Drug use

ableism: against someone with psychotic depression medical content: mentions of hospitalization, medication

battysbooks's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol

Moderate: Mental illness, Animal death, Eating disorder, Drug use, and Death

lizgriffinwords's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

Delightfully twisty and saturated with dark academia vibes! The prose had such sensory detail — I could truly feel the crisp snow and the bitter coffee. Felicity is a truly unreliable narrator, sometimes calm & aloof, sometimes plagued by ghosts and creepy happenings, leaving the reader to only guess what is real and what is manipulation… until the moment all is revealed.

Content notes: death, murder, manipulation and emotional abuse, underage use of alcohol/drugs, brief discussions of lesbiphobia, transphobia, & racism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Drug use, and Mental illness

Minor: Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Sexual content, and Animal death

surefinewhatever_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

You had me at sapphic dark academia! This story reminded me a lot of White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi (whom is also referenced in this book). This book explored a lot (femininity, witchcraft, madness, class, queerness & conservativism) and I appreciated it. I ultimately felt less surprised by most of the twists & turns than I would have liked, but all the same, enthralling and hard to put down!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Death, Animal death, Drug use, and Mental illness

Minor: Vomit, Classism, and Racism

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.75

I was super excited to read this because queer dark academia is right up my street. It was very well written, and gave me modern classic gothic vibes. Shirley Jackson is mentioned a lot and it did remind me of her work somewhat. 

Unfortunately I found the characters to be a bit unlovable which really made it hard for me to feel anything for them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Outing, Alcoholism, Classism, Racism, Drug use, and Forced institutionalization