Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz

7 reviews

neliadiedenise's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Freakishly terryfying story. Straight out of life and sooooo normal at first. The book creeped me out as hell but that's exactly why I love it. Sooooo many twists. Wow, just wow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

blueyogi's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

mariacorfias4's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Death of parent

blackcatkai's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense 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

4.0

CW: child sexual abuse (mentioned, not detailed), gaslighting, blood, violence, murder, sexual assault of an adult (on page), toxic friendship, trauma, mental illness, casual ableism, one moment of a trans-exclusionary reference in relation to periods/menopause

I was having the best time with this and still very much enjoyed it and would highly recommend it. my only issue was the info dumping at the end which brought up extra content that really didn't feel necessary to tack on just in the final chapters. otherwise, fun time!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content, Grief, Stalking, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Pedophilia, and Transphobia

archaicrobin's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

1.0

We Were Never Here is going to be a hard pass for me; for a thriller this was one of the most boring books I’ve read in awhile. We Were Never Here is another book that was on my radar from Reese’s book club and like many of her book club picks so far that I’ve encountered, this one was very underwhelming. 

Emily and Kristin are best friends that get together once a year to catch up and travel to some exotic locale. Unfortunately, on their most recent trips each gals night has ended with an assault and MURDER. After the most recent trip, Emily is trying to forget what happened and move on from the deadly secret the two girls once again share, reminding herself that it was self defense. However, as Kristin’s weird behavior escalates Emily starts to wonder if either murder was an accident, or if Kristin has more to hide then she does.

This sounded like such a good premise and I was ready for some strong female relationships and what I got was dull, boring, characters and an even more boring plot where all the action is in the first few and last few chapters. I had to switch from the physical book to the audio version, and listen to it at 2x the speed just to finish this book. There was nothing original here, and the writing was so awkward. Andrea Bartz has the strangest metaphors I’ve ever had the misfortune of hearing and it took me out of the story because I’d be sitting there trying to figure out wtf she even meant! 

I love thrillers, I read a ton of thrillers, and I say pass this one up. It’s not worth the time, it’s not worth being a book club pick, and it does not deserve the ratings it has.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

kshertz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I could not put this book down. The narrator is super unreliable. You never know who to believe. It twists at the end. It’s fantastic. Perfect mystery thriller. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

rachelwierick's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Overall this book was great. My heart was racing when I was reading the climax of the story, which is all I hope for with a thriller. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Suicide, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Child abuse and Cultural appropriation

There were two lines I had a hard time with:

Emily compares being murdered by her best friend to "taboos" such as pedophilia and incest. Sorry, no, you don't get to invoke those things for your made-up murder mystery.

Emily also says the blankets decorating the hotel in Phoenix look like they're stolen from a yoga studio. I can only assume she means the "Navajo blankets" that everyone uses for yoga, and this book does ignore that Phoenix and Arizona often uses Native American symbolism as decoration. To say they look stolen from a yoga studio is ignorant and stupid.