booksandchocolates 's review for:

Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James
3.0
Looking back I can see this book is more naive and juvenile than I remember it, but I first read it at 15 years old and it must have been the first psychological thriller I've read so it made quite an impression on me. It's not particularly bad-written, it creates suspense and mystery from the end of the first part and onward and the constant jumping to flashbacks/present worked very well. I certainly didn't see the plot twist coming. However when you've read a lot of books of this genre it's surely nothing special, it's unrealistic in a lot of aspects
Spoilerfor example how can 17 year old Katherine live completely alone, not giving any f*ck about school and responsibilities, messing around, and the worst part for me, how can her parents learn that she's pregnant at 17 and CONGRATULATE her, not even questioning her about the guy she has decided to live with or about her choices
the characters act unbelievably mature for their ages (you have to suspend your disbelief to buy that they're teenagers, not 20 something). All in all, it's kinda underwhelming for an adult reader. I have to give it to the book, nonetheless, because it sparked my love for toxic friendships. Toxic and narcissistic friendships in books are now my jam.