Take a photo of a barcode or cover
motherofbooks93 's review for:
She Started It
by Sian Gilbert
*2.5
“In reality, we all stick together because we know no one else would ever understand what we did in the past. And the trouble is, we’ve all become so convinced that what we did was alright that we’ve accepted an invitation from the very woman we did it to.”
This really did start off so promising, but it honestly lost steam halfway through.
The premise is pretty interesting. The story is about this group of women, Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe, who have been friends since they were children. One day they receive an invitation from a woman, Poppy, who they bullied in school to be her bridesmaids and inviting them to join her for her Hen Do on a remote island. They are skeptical, but decide to go. However, when they get there, Poppy is acting weird and they realize she may not be completely over what they did to her all those years ago.
When I went into this book, I thought it was going to be a fun, dramatic, almost soapy thriller, which is what it started off as. In the beginning, when you’re getting to know the characters and what is going on in their lives, it was interesting. I found myself not liking any of them to be honest, but I didn’t expect to. This is the kind of story where you go into it knowing that you’re not going to like most of the characters, which I am more than fine with.
All of these characters are terrible and are awful friends. After they get on the island, you quickly realize how many secrets there are between them. While all of them are terrible, Chloe was for sure the worst. She was so self-centered and a bigot honestly, so I could have done with less of her. Now the character I thought I was going to have sympathy for, Poppy, was also an awful person. Don’t get me wrong, I felt bad for her, but the things she did as an adult were too much. By the end of this book, I didn’t care what happened to any of these women.
One thing that the book does in order for us to know what happened to Poppy while they were in school is give us flashbacks. This is where one of my issues with the story came in. I became tired of the flashbacks and a lot of that reason is that I felt there were too many of them. I also found it a little difficult to constantly read about the constant bullying that Poppy had to deal with. I appreciate the author trying to highlight a very important issue that unfortunately affects a lot of people, but it was just too much for me.
I also think another issue I had was the pacing. It was too slow for my liking. I can enjoy a slow moving thriller, but this type of story needs to move a lot quicker. It wasn’t that it took me too long to read it, but it’s just I felt the length, which I shouldn’t have in my opinion. This is a debut, so I will give the author a bit of grace on this.
As for twists, there were not many. It’s not that type of thriller. There was a twist at the end, but I saw it coming a mile away, so it didn’t really shock me. The secrets the women find out about themselves were probably the most shocking and entertaining to be honest.
This is a bit of a darker story with a darker tone the further you get into it. I did enjoy the beginning, but once we got to the middle, I was kind of over it and ready for it to end. Overall, an okay book, but one that is very forgettable. I would be interested in trying this author again though.
CW for self-harm, bullying, drug use, and abuse.
“In reality, we all stick together because we know no one else would ever understand what we did in the past. And the trouble is, we’ve all become so convinced that what we did was alright that we’ve accepted an invitation from the very woman we did it to.”
This really did start off so promising, but it honestly lost steam halfway through.
The premise is pretty interesting. The story is about this group of women, Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe, who have been friends since they were children. One day they receive an invitation from a woman, Poppy, who they bullied in school to be her bridesmaids and inviting them to join her for her Hen Do on a remote island. They are skeptical, but decide to go. However, when they get there, Poppy is acting weird and they realize she may not be completely over what they did to her all those years ago.
When I went into this book, I thought it was going to be a fun, dramatic, almost soapy thriller, which is what it started off as. In the beginning, when you’re getting to know the characters and what is going on in their lives, it was interesting. I found myself not liking any of them to be honest, but I didn’t expect to. This is the kind of story where you go into it knowing that you’re not going to like most of the characters, which I am more than fine with.
All of these characters are terrible and are awful friends. After they get on the island, you quickly realize how many secrets there are between them. While all of them are terrible, Chloe was for sure the worst. She was so self-centered and a bigot honestly, so I could have done with less of her. Now the character I thought I was going to have sympathy for, Poppy, was also an awful person. Don’t get me wrong, I felt bad for her, but the things she did as an adult were too much. By the end of this book, I didn’t care what happened to any of these women.
One thing that the book does in order for us to know what happened to Poppy while they were in school is give us flashbacks. This is where one of my issues with the story came in. I became tired of the flashbacks and a lot of that reason is that I felt there were too many of them. I also found it a little difficult to constantly read about the constant bullying that Poppy had to deal with. I appreciate the author trying to highlight a very important issue that unfortunately affects a lot of people, but it was just too much for me.
I also think another issue I had was the pacing. It was too slow for my liking. I can enjoy a slow moving thriller, but this type of story needs to move a lot quicker. It wasn’t that it took me too long to read it, but it’s just I felt the length, which I shouldn’t have in my opinion. This is a debut, so I will give the author a bit of grace on this.
As for twists, there were not many. It’s not that type of thriller. There was a twist at the end, but I saw it coming a mile away, so it didn’t really shock me. The secrets the women find out about themselves were probably the most shocking and entertaining to be honest.
This is a bit of a darker story with a darker tone the further you get into it. I did enjoy the beginning, but once we got to the middle, I was kind of over it and ready for it to end. Overall, an okay book, but one that is very forgettable. I would be interested in trying this author again though.
CW for self-harm, bullying, drug use, and abuse.