Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

36 reviews

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.0

“The question isn't whether magic is real. It's whether I can touch it without being consumed by it.”

There is a certain irony that a book that criticises characters for pursuing witchcraft in a shallow and aesthetic way finds itself more focused on aesthetics than a plot. This is a story that values witchy and dark academia vibes first and plot second. 

When I say that I didn’t know where this book was going, it is not in the usual way you’d expect from a tale marketed as a thriller. It was because for 75% of this story, it didn’t really go anywhere. The bulk of this book involves Felicity experiencing her slowing building flirtation, struggling with mental illness, and ignoring a sea of red flags amidst a list of dark academia brand backdrops. 

The real substance in this book hides in the final quarter. It is here that the events I expected 100 pages ago started firing off in quick succession. The last 15% is a whirlwind and a victim of pacing issues due to the sheer amount of plot existing within. 

Overall, this is a book with a strong start and an okay ending (although I am conflicted about the epilogue and if it even has a place in the story). But it got severely lost along the way. As a literary tale of grief and female anger and its relationship to witchcraft both past and present, it is a fully fledged entity with pacing issues. As a thriller, it misses the mark. It is not a bad book, it’s just not a memorable one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Murder, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Racism, Classism, and Emotional abuse

sylexlibris's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Death, Grief, Murder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

gmat's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Grief and Suicidal thoughts

solarel's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

At some points in this book I thought I was able to predict what would come next but I was always proven wrong. It kept me in a state of shock at every step with plot twists and reveals. 

With the subject of high school girls, it makes sense that it read like a YA. At some points it felt like it was almost pretentiously trying to be adult, but that’s also on theme. The prose felt like it was trying too hard at times to be dark and edgy, but overall the vibes were very spooky academic. 

Definitely a page turner. I enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Gun violence, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Grief, Murder, Outing, Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Sexual content, Abandonment, Ableism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, and Vomit

Minor: Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, and Transphobia

ettegoom'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book did everything that Plain Bad Heroines completely failed to achieve.  The characters and their means of dealing with the situations in which they found themselves were sufficiently mysterious and stressful to keep me engaged.  The twist wasn't unexpected, but was still enjoyable, and the conflict between the main character's own delusions and anxieties and the reality of the situation was quite engaging. 
I did find Felicity a little annoying at times, but in the main, I enjoyed the book and wanted the best for her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Gaslighting

Moderate: Murder, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Death, Child abuse, and Alcohol

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? No

3.75

It was an interesting read. I did not go into it knowing very much. I really enjoyed the beginning in the premise that set up about unreliable narrators and trying to figure out what’s going on with these two girls. Also trying to figure out what happened with Alex. But it jumps around a lot which can make it hard to follow. There’s animal cruelty for seemingly no reason. I don’t fully connect with the characters and don’t really care what ended up happening to them so I can’t really recommend it. I’m not really loving that it seems to say killing people is so awesome. Some other review said “sorry, killing is not supposed to be a girl boss move” and that’s exactly how I feel too. It’s hard to get behind a message that feels like “lesbians are clearly all psychopaths”. I hope that’s not the intent. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, and Gore

squinnittowinit's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.25

Personally I'm not a fan of psychological thrillers, as I find the theme of obsession to be boring. As much as I still did not enjoy what this book was about or any of the characters, I have to admit that it is very well-written. The pacing feels both laid-back and dream-like, yet suspenseful at the same time, as

the narrator slowly reveals herself to be more and more unreliable as she deals with both past trauma and current manipulation.

This is one of those books where all the pieces come together in the end to finally reveal the entire picture, creating a satisfying wrap-up, if nothing else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Mental illness, and Death

Moderate: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Sexual content, and Addiction

Minor: Blood and Gun violence

rais's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Blood and Alcohol

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

Minor: Suicide, Child abuse, and Racism