Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

31 reviews

erinnnn's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

A pulpy, seaside I Know What You Did Last Summer that may be a bit too long to be a satisfying beach read. While I would normally dislike spending so much time on details and relationships unrelated to the plot, I didn’t mind it much here because I thoroughly enjoyed Isa and colorful friend group. They are by far my favorite characters in any of Ware's books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Suicide, Blood, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, and Dysphoria

kaymlink's review

challenging mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Death of parent, and Murder

ksilvio's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Physical abuse

rochelleisreading's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Suicide, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction and Drug use

Minor: Sexual content

eloisetaylor's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

talii's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse and Drug use

Minor: Incest and Self harm

adelinebal4's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Suicide, Islamophobia, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Incest, Self harm, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

alanabe's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This has been my favorite, I think of the "trashy thrillers" I've read this year (free little libraries ftw) but it fell short in a lot of ways. She's a better writer than others I've read, but the pacing and the stakes were low. I didn't love the big reveal, about halfway in the book, about "what they did"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Self harm, and Sexual violence

Minor: Child abuse and Pedophilia

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This was an interesting story, but I felt like the ending was a little unsatisfying. The very, very ending I appreciated, but it's just a bummer to get sucked into a story expecting a good payoff, and then not getting it. Also! I am really wondering if there was a Muslim sensitivity reader for the part of Fatima. Parts just didn't seem nuanced. Also, Fatima and her family were named the first names that come up when you search "common Muslim names" on Google, which I did to verify. There may be a reading of this that says that since Kate is the main POV that we're getting, the book is written as a white person's view of Islamic practices, since it's Kate's view. But that also feels like a blah reason. Like this whole "you cover your hair now and that makes you a whole different person" thing is like... but what if we didn't?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Suicide, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Medical content

The MC talks quite a lot about her young baby, and that might be not excellent for anyone going through a time where they don't want to read lots of worshipful language about babies.

cmklaft's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.75

Main character and obsessive relationship with child unnecessary to plot and honestly obnoxious. I don't need to read that you breastfeeding every other page, got it your child it hungry thanks for all the unnecessary details with 0 value added. Plot was predictable, no wow factor, slow slow start that just seemed to drag everything out.  So many holes in the story.  Major details compared to previous novels

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Suicide, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Self harm, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death