Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

16 reviews

nagaakil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

chmpgneprcblems's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I read this so quickly lmao. idk but there were too many plotlines being added but not a very good execution/conclusion to all of it. it had potential and I wanted to know more but the way it was executed wasn't very good for me idk. the pacing was so slow too. the stuff that happened to the missing girls and the backstories of the characters were SO repeatedly mentioned imo. like, I do not need a reminder of malcolm being in declan's shadow, ellery's thoughts abt her mother and sarah, and recounts/theories abt what happened to lacey every two sentences. but, I did kinda like the mysteries, I just wish they had been better solved and discussed. the last sentence added a lot of surprise(?) gasps maybe, and thoughts. that was a good and chilling closer for the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Car accident and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug use

lilith_hmr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

3.75

This like the 'One of Us is Lying' series was an easy read. The flow was smooth and the plot twists were unpredictable. But McManus could have increased the tenseness a little more in the last act because I didn't find it all that satisfying. Although a little flimsy, the conclusion wasn't too horrible. The book's final sentence had such a shockingly unexpected conclusion. At first, it wasn't very apparent, but once I got it, it was good enough to state that Karen McManus is a plot-twist genius.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Vomit, Murder, Mental illness, Car accident, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Pedophilia, and Gun violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Alcohol, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Blood, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

ilo_the_duck's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Murder, Addiction, and Physical abuse

deadgirlwalking23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Addiction, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Car accident

esterslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Car accident, Cursing, Gun violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

halfbloodprincess_hogwarts's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Ugggggghhhh, the end was so fucked up🤢🤮 def a great read in time for the spooky month with a ton of suspense🤍

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Car accident, Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Stalking, Vomit, and Sexism

rayne_1906's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

3 hours 12 minutes - I was enjoying this book immensely up until the ending was revealed, and don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, but I was slightly disappointed, mainly because I didn't like how a lot of the information was relayed to Ellery via Ryan, almost an infodump of facts that the author couldn't figure out how to relay in a more natural way. However, I do think the reveal was good for the most part, unexpected but not unrealistic/far-fetched. I thought the character's were fairly interesting: Ellery maybe fell a little flat as a character but for the most part she was mostly fleshed out. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol and Vomit

inejstan's review against another edition

so boring. se siente como esos libros pretensiosos de wattpad. los personajes no tienen ni una gracia, y cuando piensas que se va a poner bueno, no lo hace 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Toxic relationship

joan_salder's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

First of all, this was 'the best book' of all Karen books I have read till now (only 2). The ending is mysterious, but the last sentence brings up a lot of thoughts to our mind.

It brought up the thought of Sarah sleeping with Peter, because that is the only way he would think of Ellery to be her daughter. Secondly, Sarah knew something which Sadie didn't and that is her and Peter's relationship, because if it was only homecoming queens getting kidnapped and murdered then there is no chance that Sarah might have suffered, because Sadie was the homecoming queen. I am literally so sorry to the characters I suspected because they were not guilty and I just had crazy thoughts. So, well, that is literally it.

I loved the plot set up and everything. I even liked Ryan Rodriguez and Ezra and Malcolm and Declan. Of course who doesn't. But beware of the choices you make...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Murder, Death, Cursing, and Car accident

Moderate: Bullying, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, Violence, Stalking, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Deadnaming, and Blood