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A review by ginabee
The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
There are two survivors after a massacre at a summer camp leaves all the other counselors dead, Sloan and Cherry. Sloan and Cherry, who are dating, care deeply for each other. Sloan struggles with not remembering the night, and begins wondering if Cherry was involved.
This book was more a portrait of a toxic relationship than a thriller or a mystery. I found the dialog between them repetitive, and it frustrated me the only person who recognized their relationship was toxic was villanized.
I found the representation of trauma problematic - it relied on stereotypesz. The trauma was also not being addressed in any healthy way.
I stuck with this book because I wanted to find out what happened. The ending was ambiguous and unsatisfying. I can handle ambigous endings but I think this one missed the mark because I'm not sure what the entire book was building up to.
To me, this book had poor character development and not much plot either. I liked the lesbian representation and Dugan describes all skin colors, including when someone is white as all the MCs were. Those are about the only 2 things I liked about the book.
Initially I was thinking I'd recommend this book to Colleen Hoover fans, but because of how trauma is depicted I don't think I'll be recommending it to anyone.
This book was more a portrait of a toxic relationship than a thriller or a mystery. I found the dialog between them repetitive, and it frustrated me the only person who recognized their relationship was toxic was villanized.
I found the representation of trauma problematic - it relied on stereotypesz. The trauma was also not being addressed in any healthy way.
I stuck with this book because I wanted to find out what happened. The ending was ambiguous and unsatisfying. I can handle ambigous endings but I think this one missed the mark because I'm not sure what the entire book was building up to.
To me, this book had poor character development and not much plot either. I liked the lesbian representation and Dugan describes all skin colors, including when someone is white as all the MCs were. Those are about the only 2 things I liked about the book.
Initially I was thinking I'd recommend this book to Colleen Hoover fans, but because of how trauma is depicted I don't think I'll be recommending it to anyone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Toxic relationship