A review by archiveofrasa
Bad Fruit by Ella King

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

5.0

considering the streak I had with most dark fiction recently, I thought this was going to be something similar, but oh BOY, my heart feels like there's a knife in it.

very well written; the tensest scenes were carried out perfectly, sharp and cruel as they are said to have been portrayed and the slow unravelling into Lily's past abuse and her mother's abuse was incredibly gripping, while also haunting and terrifying. definitely, Lily and May's relationship was this story's strongest trait. her relationship with her siblings was painful to read, but I really appreciated the nuance and realistic manner they were portrayed.
when I put this onto my TBR, I was told that her siblings made fun of Lily for doing what she did, but honestly, it came off more like they didn't understand why she was doing it when Julia was crueler and Jacob more distant and were trying to get her to stop, which is what makes their relationship so heartbreaking for me.
 

this review (https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/20e94bb5-edc3-46ab-8a0e-9c03a7b89f7b) (help idk how links work here) sums up everything I'm unable to say about this book (I literally just finished reading it) but, yeah, a really great piece of work.

also, this has to be what those American girlies feel like when they see their town represented in fiction because I had the biggest jumpscare when I saw my school's borough and village was this book's setting. I don't know if that grounds this book more for me.
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