Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz

8 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

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

laurataylor's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

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

ashleycmms's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, 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.

rachrreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship