Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

11 reviews

bessadams's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

missgrangerr's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

1.0

Cannot believe this is the same author as In a Dark Dark Wood. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

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.

mdgoodrich's review

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I struggled to care about any of the main characters - not even in an anti-hero sort of way. Isa was constantly squeezing things too tightly because she was always on edge and holding everything in. I hated the way she treated Owen! I cared much more for the minor male characters, wow did these women ruin their lives. Not a shocking reveal in the end, but the pace picked up the last few chapters and I had to know what happened. Didn’t hate it, but didn’t love it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death and Drug abuse

avidreader8725's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use and Suicide

Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual content

katipheria's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Incest, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Pregnancy

If you're squeamish about child rearing-related topics, there is very frequent, detailed mention of breastfeeding, as the main character is a new mother who has her infant daughter with her throughout the entirety of the book.

sylvestra's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Eating disorder, Infidelity, and Fire/Fire injury

katymat18's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Medical content, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Misogyny, and Islamophobia