Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

84 reviews

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

cosmo_naut'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

First off: I am not a big mystery/thriller reader. It's not really my thing, so this will colour my preception of the book.
I read this book in one night, in the midst of exam season, because I just had to know that I was right with my predictions and guesses. I liked it in general and I had a good time reading it.
I don't think the prose will be to everyone's taste. It's supposed to be dark academia, so the book is littered with literary references that occasionally are rewarding to understand, but often seem very piled on. I did appreciate some of the meta-level a few of those discussions had. The plot was quite predictable (even for a newbie like me) and I could guess the plot twist pretty early on. I didn't really mind the tropy-ness of the book but I've seen some other reviewers complain about it. The ending seemed really rushed which was a bit disappointing because the build up of the tension was really good. I would have loved to spend more time on the aftermath of everything that happened. Instead, it feels like it was brushed off. The main character is 18 and this book being a mystery and Young Adult, I didn't mind her making a couple of stupid decisions - and in the grand scheme of things her decisions did make sense. The side characters sadly fell a bit flat. If the book had been 50, or even 100, pages longer, I think there would be the space to flesh out these characters as well as the ending more.
Whatever the technical issues with the book may be: I had a good time reading it. I would definitely recommend checking the content warnings before reading it - there's some pretty heavy things in here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Murder

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

takarakei's review

dark mysterious 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

3.0

I wished this was more dark academia, which to me is a critique of academic institutions. I didn't really feel like this book critiqued boarding schools - it just talked about the dark history of this particular one. It's kinda hard to say a lot more about this book without spoilers because it's very mysterious. Definitely there's a lot of 'you don't know who to trust'. Sapphic. I think there was a lot of potential here, but it didn't quite hit it out of the park for me. I'm also not a thriller person so take that how you will, but I have read other YA thrillers that I liked more.

In the end there not being any magic was not where I wanted it to go. But I guess it's not fantasy tagged so maybe that was the giveaway? But 'witchcraft' is literally also used in the description, so...

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, and Drug use

Minor: Racism, Eating disorder, and Sexual content

I had to skip a whole chapter cause of TW: animal death, so... yeah (explicit scenes of hunting)

ada_rosales's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Animal death, Death, and Murder

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

kryzysowa_narzeczona's review against another edition

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: Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, and Gaslighting

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

yeimyaileen's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

how did i pick this read after reading these violent delights by micah nemerever?? i dont know.
this book is very good.  super atmostpheric.  i audibly gasped a few times.  i felt like ellis was a bit less developed than i wanted, but in the end, i understand why.  i also liked the light commentary about the role of womens mental health in horror novels, and how their experiences are discredited despite their inclinations for the truth.  this book is peak gaslight gatekeep girlboss.
slight spoilers for these violent delights below, in conversation with a lesson in vengeance. 

- you dont understand how fortuitous it was for me to pick this up after these violent delights.  like gays going through violent things together and it ends up destroying them? 
- people keeping secrets from one another but also holding evidence against each other in sick and twisted ways?  when the romance is purely physical, and its hard for them to feel love, because love isnt what they see?  rather, they share violence and an inclination to controlling one another?
- i really like these novels about obsession, and the idea that one of the characters finds pleasure in the perverse, and thus feels shame, despite the other character accepting them for who they are
- and the book being dedicated to felicity?? as if she knew what was going to happen anyway?  just like the chess game with julian and paul?  
- and i really like how ambiguous the magic is in this book?  like was she really being haunted? did the magic actually exist?  my skewed answer is yes.  that doesnt mean she wasnt being gaslit so hard.  
- to end, this book has no men in it.  slay.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Suicide, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Suicide

ellsbells27's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Animal death and Gaslighting