Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Awakening by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham

40 reviews

wickeddelights's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

It was clear the book wasn't meant to be serious at all times. The Author's aren't afraid to make obvious jokes but nonetheless the book should come with some serious trigger warnings.
I wasn't aware going into the book that it contained outlandish levels of bullying. Like to the point where it's hard for me to find any redeemable qualities in the perpetrators. Consent is near non existent in the books to a level that it is borderline worthy of a dark romance tag. And the characters themselves are very trope heavy.

That being said. It was still a fun read. The concept of the astrology based school was interesting, and I am definitely going to read book 2. I am just crossing my fingers that there is a love interest who isn't a total jerk, or we at least get a deeper glance behind the veil to learn why they are being that obnoxiously cruel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

kalefactory's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Violence

ashleynp24's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

It was a nice and quick read that I did enjoy. I do think it started a little fast and there wasn’t a ton of buildup to the school. 

The main characters are lovable, but they need to stop being as gullible. That made parts of it hard to get through. Overall, a fun read and the ending murder did surprise me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Stalking, Death of parent, Car accident, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Classism, Blood, and Abandonment

roxyc's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, Sexual harassment, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, Hate crime, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Car accident

earlieststar's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

im cringe but im free

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Car accident, Classism, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

listen: it is described as bully romance but these girls get absolutely very much abused from beginning to end. it's not schoolyard bullying, those are crimes being committed every other page.

cait's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Stalking, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Abandonment

rmesquirrel's review

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

These books are supposed to be very spicy? It was a 450 page book and there was a 3 page vague description of heavy petting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Bullying

Moderate: Gaslighting and Torture

Minor: Death of parent

shaykay's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0

You can only hear about this series on TikTok or in the book world. Zodiac Academy was everywhere, especially last year. It has calmed down a bit this year but is still a super popular series. When a series is super hyped, they really intimidate me. Plus, I just haven't been into anything supernatural, and everything I used to pick up has been very contemporary/traditionally published, so Zodiac Academy was nowhere near my TBR. But this year, I've been picking up some crazy random books and decided to dive deep into this series. Now, I went in as blind as I could, but at the same time, I knew a lot about this series because it's been all over the place, and I honestly really liked this book. I felt confused about who was who because the book switches between Darcy and Tori's POVs, and since they are twins and the book keeps going between their POVs, I struggled to figure out who was who. But overall, I get the hype and really like what the story is starting to set up. I hope to get to the point where I can tell the twins apart. Everyone struggles with that, but it does get better in later books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

adalora's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

0.5

It had potential as a premise then quickly falls off. The storyline is a little addicting, but some of the things that happen are unnecessary and extremely off-putting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Drug use, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.5

I picked this up because everyone seems to be raving about this series, and I was curious.
"The Awakening" follows twin sisters: Tory and Darcy. Tory and Darcy have been in the foster care system since they were orphaned as babies. Now, 18, and kicked out of the system, they are just trying to make enough money to cover rent. But all of those worries seem inconsequential when they find out they are actually the daughters of the Savage King, and they are the rightful descendants of the fae crown. Now they must go through Zodiac Academy to learn about their true home and fight for their birthright.
This book was very fine. There is a lot of violence, nonconsensual acts, and ALOT of bullying, which I had a pretty good idea about before I started reading this. I found the hazing that the other students put Tory and Darcy through to be really off-putting, and the fact that none of the teachers did anything to remotely stop it was disheartening.
This book is definitely HEAVILY influenced by other popular stories, which is fine, but it made the book feel unoriginal.
I do not know if I will continue in this series, but I can now appreciate why everyone seems so enamored with this series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Death, Bullying, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content