Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

11 reviews

hrubelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Blood, Physical abuse, Death, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse and Abandonment

emilywemily6's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This was an intriguing read based on the premise (YA criminal minds) and lives up to that. It was a bit more gory/intense than I anticipated but it’s to be expected when serial killers are involved. This was a quick read because there’s almost no depth to these characters. Cassie is just a girl whose defining features include her mother dying five years ago and that she is naturally good at profiling people. She felt very bland and while the other characters are more interesting, it’s not by much. The quality of the writing is mediocre. I appreciated the twist at the end though I saw it coming right before the reveal. This book is unique enough and I enjoyed this book enough that I will continue the series, though I will just be borrowing from the library.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Stalking, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Gun violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Gaslighting, Sexual content, Alcohol, Abandonment, Bullying, and Domestic abuse

kaitlynnnng's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The Inheritance Games books make up my favorite series ever, so I’ve always been a little nervous about reading more by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, in case the other books can’t compare. However, I finally decided to give The Naturals a try because I saw several TikToks about this series being even better.

The first half of the book felt very slow. I’m not sure if it’s because school just started so I’m back to worth and overwhelmed, or if I genuinely just wasn’t as into the book as I’d hoped, but it took me, like, 6 days to read the first half, and only 1 day to read the second half. Needless to say, it finally got good…halfway in.

I like that this storyline had a solid ending, and the hunt for the killer aka Lacey didn’t carry over into the next book!

I don’t feel very passionate about either boy in the love triangle. I like them both, but I’m not steadily on a team yet.

The whole time, I had a feeling that someone in the program and/or the FBI would be involved, but I did not see it being Lacey. As a matter of fact, at one point, I thought she’d end up being a target because she also had red hair! However, as a result of this, I didn’t really trust any of the characters, so I didn’t get attached to any of them. I hope I feel more connected to them in the next few books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Body horror, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Abandonment, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

issed's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Very fast paced, crazy ending in my opinion none of my assumptions were right. Characters are a little bit bland but it’s a short book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death, Sexism, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

samflowerv6's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this read. YA criminal minds with more leading women. I didn't expect the twist until very close to the end. I liked Cassie and all the other characters. I really liked the "YOU" chapters and by liked I mean it totally creeped me out. Tropes: Love Triangle, Found Family, Protective and Intelligent Love Interests, Main Characters are all smart including the girls (thank you god). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, Death, Mental illness, Deadnaming, Violence, Body horror, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Torture

cedarwinterberry's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Abandonment, Child abuse, Torture, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

nirellis's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I stayed up til 4 am to finish this and that should tell you how insatiable it makes you feel. Such a cool concept and executed very well. Some plot points I felt were a bit cheesy but overall this was easy to read, properly creepy at times, and overall an awesome time. 

(and to the people who didn’t know, like me until the very end of this book, this is the first book in a series)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Abandonment, Torture, and Death of parent

Moderate: Violence

c45p1n's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

• love triangle)??( was that really necessary???? 
• i really did not feel the love between the characters (cassie/dean/michael) 
• JLB has a thing for love triangles istg
• the murder “mystery” was very predictable
• legit the only reason i finished this book was to make sure i was right (i was)
• very much your standard, run-of-the-mill criminal minds episode/basic murder mystery plot with very little thought put into it
• “JLB has never written a bad book” i present my second piece of evidence (the first being inheritance games)
• nothing was explained it all just happened and then was looked over

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror and Torture

Minor: Gaslighting, Abandonment, Stalking, and Kidnapping

noceur's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

did i saw some of the things coming ? yes. did i still enjoyed it ? also yes. tbh it's not a perfect book like don't expect clever writing and amazing plot. but it was a great book for some time killing and i really enjoyed it. i didn't really care about the love triangle but i guess the author needed some drama idk the book can do without it. this book was like criminal minds for teens or a criminal minds fanfic i am not sure . read this if you want to have a fun time without needing everything to make sense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Violence, Death of parent, Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Sexual assault

savannahcook's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

love it would defiantly recommend to fans on the inheritance games by the same author!! The ending was very shocking

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Abandonment