Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz

12 reviews

heresyourletter's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? Yes

3.25

Fast-paced, compelling and hard to put down.

I wasn’t a fan of the ending though — it felt forced and rushed into a “happily ever after” that wasn’t quite believable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, and Incest

Main character is traumatized throughout the book, after surviving a violent sexual assault

, helping her friend (who murdered the assaulter) dispose of his body, then repeating the action on a trip where her friend claims to have been assaulted and subsequently kills the man. There are detailed descriptions of blood and gore.

She also has severe asthma and occasional panic attacks. Gaslighting and blackmailing are major themes

as the main character’s friend tries to manipulate her sense of reality

One character mentions several times during childhood when she was unfairly spanked for regular childhood behaviour. One character was orphaned at a young age after her parents died in a house fire. Several mentions of religious beliefs that Christians automatically go to heaven once they die, and non-Christians do not. One character is said to have died by suicide many years before the book begins. The main character throws up several times (the descriptions aren’t graphic). Brief mention of a character surviving thyroid cancer. A rabbit is found dead. It is implied that the rabbit was killed by a human. Several scenes at bars, drinking alcohol. Two characters take THC gummies. Brief mention of a character smoking pot in college.

One character was sent to a correctional institution as a child for “severe behavioural and/or mental health issues”. It is revealed that when the antagonist was 12, one of her friends deliberately set her house on fire in an attempt to kill the antagonist’s father, who was sexually abusing the friend. When she learns this, the main character wonders if the father was also abusing his own daughter. One character is pushed off a cliff (but is later recused). One character is pushed in front of a moving car. In an effort to avoid hitting her, the car swerves, knocking the attacker off the cliff (who later dies of her injuries). The car driver also goes off the cliff and is severely injured, but survives.

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

adeavila's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

There are multiple twists and some moments of shock, but in general I felt the climax was predictable. The book was okay. I was expecting a lot more from it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

This book is nuts!! I still haven't fully processed it yet but good lord. The whole dynamic between Emily and Kristen is so well crafted because, like a toxic relationship, the warning signs aren't as red until you look at them under a microscope. I still have questions but I think thats why the book ends this way. It leaves you wondering whether Kristen really did it or whether Emily is just a violent compulsive liar. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

sweetordinary's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

If you are looking for an intense, challenging, and cynical story that centers around a dangerous cycle of behaviors and broken boundaries within friendships first and romantic relationships second, this book deserves a chance.

It's a fast pace book that centers around the struggle of identifying toxic relationships and breaking out of them. I found it difficult to fully understand and accept the dynamic between the two main characters from the first chapter. With that said, the book had a nice quick (yet, steady) pace that challenged me as a reader to understand Emily's - the main character's - perception of her relationships and how one in an extremely toxic relationship navigates the world.

A big issue I had with the storyline falls in the last handful of chapters. The final fifteen to ten chapter the speed of the story quickens heightening the tension and stress to align with the characters' experiences. In the final handful of chapters, the speed goes beyond helping to create and maintain tension and stress to match the mood of the plot. It wraps in a mess of non-closure and a glimpse into a cycle of behavior in relationships.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, and Violence

sydresnik's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Violence

sofiajearally's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I was pleasantly surprised with this book! I had heard some disappointed reviews but had already bought it so I thought I'd give it a try anyway and I ended up having lots of fun reading it.

First off, it's a real page-turner, with a fast pace and a good balance between the action and the more reflective moments - almost nothing was unnecessary or too long. The fact that the chapters were short helped too. What I think really made it work is the author's ability to maintain suspense and tension all throughout the story, and to engage the reader as to make us feel the doubts of the main character and to doubt the main character herself. There were lots of plot-twists, none of which I saw coming. However, I don't read much thrillers, so they might be foreseeable for people who are more into this genre.

What disappointed me though was the ending: I felt it was rushed and not explained enough, everything too neatly tied up in a bow, almost deus ex machina. A few elements remained unanswered like

what was Nana trying to say to Emily all these times?

. The secondary characters, especially Aaron, lacked depth, flaws and a backstory. As for the writing style, I can't really pronounce myself because I read a translated version but, even though it was efficient, I feel like some stylistic devices were a hit-or-miss.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, and Gaslighting

Minor: Incest, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, and Alcohol

kirkland433's review against another edition

tense fast-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

Lord. That was a shit show if ever I read one. Lets just start with Trigger Warnings: murder, assault, sexual assault, pedophilia, gaslighting.... that should cover the big stuff.

Thing I hated most: The writing style. Bartz need to over describe scenes and objects and use phrases and words just for the sake of using them. It didn't flow. It continually made me question what I even just read. Just overall not a fan.

Second thing I hated most: I don't know if this is Bartz feelings that she is trying to project onto her readers or if this is just her character Emily's feelings, but the way that she wrote about assault made me feel gross. She made blanket assumptions about situations and groups of people based on bad stereotypes that we continue to perpetuate in society. I hated it so so much. It's like she was trying to connect on a level of "we are victims, we all should feel the same way about this" and that's not true at all. We all handle things differently. That's what being a human is. Also her other blanket statement of majority of men are terrible was a big woof. No thank you. 

The twists were messy and predictable. Nothing is ever resolved. Things are introduced for some nonsense reason but don't actually move the characters or the plot along. None of the characters are likeable (not that they are really meant to be but like.. you want to keep reading for a reason right?). And the ending was absurd. Like am I really supposed to believe that Aaron is also not stable? Seems are far stretch. That's all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse and Pedophilia

sami_leigh's review against another edition

challenging 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

Captivating!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders