Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

206 reviews

k8lynn's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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: Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

jrow's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.25

The first half of the book was really engaging

but I was a little let down that it turned out to be just another case of a woman sacrificing herself so a man can “reach his full potential.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Grief and Sexual assault

Minor: Murder, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

ailiaris25's review

adventurous emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content and Emotional abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Stalking

julieslifelately_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Toxic relationship, War, Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

alexlynx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-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

4.5

Be patient with this book. It follows paths that you feel like you don't want to take. Give it time. I personally have a love-hate relationship with books that jump between time so much that at some point you can barely make out where the plot starts and where it ends. But this book has a very definitive start and end, only the middle is blurred. I got lost in it, and it was beautiful, and sad, and madning, and insane, inspiring, wonderful. Her writing is addictive to a point where I'm almost annoyed at myself for how long it took to finally continue reading this book. And I also want to scream at her for the things these characters have to go through, and for how attached to them I got.
Insanely beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Death

lilcassieg's review

challenging dark mysterious 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Minor: Emotional abuse

jessicadoom's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

4.0

I've put off reading this book for so long. Everyone would tell me they loved it with all their heart. That it became their favorite book after they read it. (Except my sister, who simply described it as "okay.) Hearing that kind of praise always intimidates me. I'm worried it won't live up to the hype and that somehow I'm going to disappoint my loved ones if I don't love their favorite books.

(Can you tell I'm a chronic people pleaser?)

But, we're moving soon and I'm trying to work on my physical TBR. With that, I'm trying books that I'm not sure I'll love enough to keep. This fit the bill, and the audiobook was available on Hoopla. So, I dove in.

For the first, oh, three-quarters or so of the book, I was in love. I couldn't wait to see where the narrators took us. How would their stories end? And, with this, I begun writing my own ending to their stories in my hopeful little head. (Writers....)

This is not the ending we received, however. I hit part six and all of a sudden my mood towards this book shifted a bit. Yes, the writing was still beautiful. No one can say that the style of this novel isn't lyrical, poetic, artistic, etc. However, the plot (or lack thereof) took me to a place I wasn't ready to go. So, we ended at a solid four out of five instead of that glorious five stars I planned to issue.

The highlights for me were the blatant queerness of both narrators, the history we were able to witness through Addie's eyes, and the small reveals that really did help to drive the book forward. Would I read it again? Probably not. But I'm certainly not upset that I did give this one a try. It just might not be something I take with me to my next home library.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual content, War, and Stalking

questionable ability to consent, plot? what plot?

juan_adhd_reading's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-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

5.0

I have never cried as much with any book as this one, and this is not hyperbole. This was such a lovely story; beautifully written; and it was fantastic, sad, epic, everything I expected it to be and still managed to surprise me. It is probably one of V.E. Schwab’s best works and the reason she will forever be my favorite author. 
I have nothing else to say for now, as I just have finished the story. Will probably come back soon to write a full review, but for now I feel completely satisfied and very hopeful about the ending. Highly recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, War, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

kathrynok's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexism, Alcohol, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

hdoomk's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Cursing, Grief, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and War