Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

18 reviews

carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

4.5/5

Stevie continues to be my little baby. She's so weird and awk and SMART! Oh I just wanna swaddle her. She's so unintentionally --and also intentionally-- funny (

running away from David???? lmfao!

). 

In contrast, we have my enemy: Nate 👿🤬. He's soooo fucking annoying I'm sorry literally the only reason this book is 4.5 instead of 5 stars. Every time he showed up I'd literally yell at my book for him to go away (let's remember, I never claimed to be sane). He irked me to my very core. Less of him in the next book, hopefully.

God, poor Ellie. To die like that. Fucking horrible.

The whole David/EK/Stevie situation was annoying, I both get and am annoyed by David's reaction to it. Def understandable given the circumstances but I wish he would just forgive her (selfish, ik). There's actually something clinically wrong with that boy -- someone needs to get a therapist involved frfr. But just like Stevie running away, it's hard to fault them for their behavior. They're literally 17.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Confinement, Grief, Child death, Mental illness, and Kidnapping

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Vomit

headinthepages's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Abandonment, Death, Gore, Body horror, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Alcohol, Confinement, Violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

rylin_marie's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.25

oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my goshhhhhhhhhhhh i’m speechless

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug use, Medical content, Mental illness, Addiction, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Murder

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, and Child death

Moderate: Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Murder, Infidelity, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Ableism, and Drug use

tangleroot_eli's review

adventurous 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? It's complicated

I like every part of this book except David; I dislike David so much it almost ruins my enjoyment of everything else in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Animal cruelty, and Death

Minor: Kidnapping, Body horror, Vomit, and Sexism

jennamuggs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness and Murder

whewtaewoon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism

laurenevlyn's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.75

I can barely write this review because I am so eager to pick up “The Hand on the Wall” which is currently calling out for me on my shelf. This book is incredible and in my opinion better than book 1. Maureen Johnson is a genius at writing mysteries that incorporate every little detail in the story. And what a cliffhanger! Excuse me as I stay up all night reading book 3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Medical content

Moderate: Physical abuse, Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, Chronic illness, Animal death, Alcoholism, Addiction, Self harm, Violence, Child death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Misogyny and Emotional abuse

oceanwriter's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Picking up shortly after where Truly Devious left off, we return with Stevie to Ellingham Academy after making a deal with her worst enemy, Edward King. Things look a little bit different now that one student has died and another has gone missing. Going against all of the warnings, she continues investigating the Ellingham case as well as the recent death and disappearance. The plot thickens when there is another death. If she wasn't suspicious before, she is certain now that there is foul play. Is this the work of a fellow student? A faculty member? Or is it an outside job? Between riddles and bizarre behavior, Stevie has her work cut out for her.

Given we were introduced to the characters in the first book, there's no shortage of action and intrigue in the sequel. I ended up enjoying it even more than Truly Devious. We also get a deeper look into Stevie and David's complicated relationship, though David has been acting strangely since she left and returned. This becomes another mystery Stevie wants to uncover. However, she's yet to make peace with the knowledge of who his father is.

Once again, the book leaves off on a cliffhanger that is perhaps even crueler than the first. Be sure to have The Hand on the Wall ready because you aren't going to want to wait for the conclusion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Mental illness, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

readerette's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I still find myself conflicted about David. He does not bring out good things in Stevie, and he does not make many good choices, even considering he's a teenager. 

I'm having trouble following what's actually remaining to solve the case now, with the flashbacks and Stevie's doubts and the drama with some of the people she knows. I'll read the third book, but this whole story probably should have been a duology if not a standalone novel. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Blood, and Cursing