Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

62 reviews

laurenbaggy's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Addiction, Classism, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Stalking

mseals's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting

Minor: Classism, Death of parent, Sexual assault, War, Abandonment, Death, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

assassinsweettea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Body horror, Death, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

Minor: War

boba_n_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

This is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. 

I love the personification of the devil through Luc and the Faustian bargains that took place. It was incredibly interesting and showed a lot of history. 

That being said, it took me quite a while to get into the story. It wasn't until maybe the last 50% of the book that I really got invested in the characters and their fates. It just felt TOO slow-moving sometimes, focusing on one century over the other, and rushed in others. 

I enjoyed the banter between Luc and Addie and their characters, but Henry is the one character I felt was well developed since we got to see his life played. With Henry, the reader gets a peek behind the curtain at his motivations while Addie's true motivations aren't revealed until the very end. I guess that just adds to the enigma that is Addie LaRue. 

Overall, I did enjoy this novel and will be thinking about the plot for a while. It's one I need to delve into and could definitely reread at some point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: War and Cursing

saturnpersonified's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Addiction, Death, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death of parent and War

msradiosilence's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

TLDR; 4.5 rating rounded up, I love monkey’s paw wishes, I love queer women, and I’m not gonna lie this book almost had me crying.


Full review to come. :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Addiction, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Classism, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Biphobia, Sexual assault, Violence, and War

Minor: Kidnapping, Stalking, Cancer, Confinement, Rape, and Religious bigotry

mary_stormageddon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

I think this story could have benefited from a few chapters being cut, as it did drag on from time to time. But, in the end, it broke my heart, ensuring that I'll never forget Addie LaRue.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

coco1mocha's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Rape

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Gaslighting, War, Terminal illness, Child death, Sexual content, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Suicide, Self harm, and Grief

Minor: Cancer

todorjelena's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Interesting premise. The story is pretty slow for the first 100 pages but it does pick up a bit afterwards. It has a couple of minor plotholes that become noticable by the end. I didn't mind the ending

The book part was probably its saving grace not gonna lie. Her big plan to outsmart Luc and beat him at his own game was a bit meh to me.

I don't know how I feel about the art and art history elements. They sometimes feel like they were just thrown in there as filler.
For a person who has lived for 300 years she has maintained a pretty limited worldview. I find it odd that after being alive for 3 centuries and all her talk of loving to read stories and learn as much about the world  as possible she has only learned some European languages and traveled to a handful of European countries and the US.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Body horror, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts