Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Guest List, by Lucy Foley

42 reviews

vivikasweiven's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Grief, Gaslighting, Cursing, Sexual content, Abortion, Violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Mental illness, Body shaming, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual violence, Suicide, and Abandonment

sshabein's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

Really good! Some twists that made me say, "OH! I should have realized that, if I'd thought about it for more than 2 seconds" and some that I legit did not see coming. Sometimes the dialogue was a little... expository... but that's really the only complaint I have.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Self harm, Violence, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

adamsbookshelf's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

This novel is a blink and miss it type of story. We follow a celebrity couple who are getting married on a private island in Northern Ireland. This story revolves around 5 main characters 

Bride - Jules is essentially an influencer with her website and is striving to have the perfect wedding.

Groom- Will is a TV star with boat loads of charisma, every girl at the wedding can't keep their eyes off of him.

Best Man - Johnno is a stoner who doesn't come from money. His friendship with Will started in school and they have been best mates since then.

Maid of Honor - Olivia is Jules half-sister and has been going through a hard time with a recent break up.

Plus one - Hannah is the wife of Charlie who is Jules best friend. Her and Charlie left the kids with her parents and hope to spend the weekend reconnecting, enjoying the time away from parental life.

Through out the novel we alternate between the wedding night where the lights went out and a scream was heard and the two days prior. Secrets are revealed, games are played, and no one is who they seem. I enjoyed the fast pace of this novel and was genuinely shocked when it ended. I didn't want to put the book down.

Spoiler

I loved how we didn't know who even died until the ending. Without a clear victim I wasn't able to predict the murderer so all of the twists felt fresh. My biggest draw back was the ending. I feel like we just needed another chapter or two to wrap up all of the characters stories.

Overall such a good quick read with plenty of drama. For real the drama in this story was telenovela level of drama.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Minor: Murder, Sexual violence, Self harm, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Classism, Abortion, Suicide, Infidelity, Drug use, Bullying, and Vomit

chapterswithcass's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Vomit, Violence, Sexual content, Grief, Murder, Genocide, Gaslighting, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Pregnancy

mk4332's review against another edition

mysterious sad slow-paced

1.75

I listened to this on a road trip and didn’t really have anything else downloaded to switch to. It was not my favorite read. The setup/getting to know the characters was too drawn out and boring. Once the plot finally started happening it felt predictable in some ways, and like it wasn’t worth the slow build. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child death, Murder, and Self harm

lydias1's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

2.0

Ew trigger warnings seriously needed

Not sure how I feel about the use of present tense

I’m not sure I like any of the male characters. I liked Hannah a lot and the sisters a bit. 

I liked having lots of different perspectives and timings, which I don’t usually enjoy. It kept a nice rhythm and pace.

I liked the relationship between Hannah and Olivia 

I like the mystery of who dies

I have so many questions and that pushed me forward throughout the book

Spoiler

I properly celebrated when Will died!!!

The fact that Will was also Hannah’s sister’s bf felt like it pushed me out of how realistic it was. It was too much. I don’t feel an ounce of pity for Will in spite of his father

I was kind of disappointed by the ending. After so much effort went into demonstrating that Will was the most vile horrible person who carries the guilt of so many lives ruined, being quietly and quickly stabbed didn’t feel like justice. I wish the truth had gotten out. I wish they all had their moment to confront him. I don’t like the lack of closure on the trial for Jono - I know he deserved to be sentenced for the manslaughter of the young boy, but I just have to imagine that all the truth came out in the trial and true justice was served after Will’s death. I wish that had played out in the book though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Classism, Death, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Abortion, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Suicide, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Child death, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Self harm, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Body horror, and Emotional abuse

Graphic hazing

strawberrycasualreader's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual violence

r_a_bell's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.25

It was overall good, but the majority of characters weren’t likable in the least, which was kind of the point. The atmosphere was well developed and there were several big twists/reveals. Some of these were pretty predictable, and it was kind of improbably that ALL of these things could actually occur. It makes for a good story, but it kind of takes away from the realism of it. The ending sticks with the sense of realism, and although it resolved the issue at hand, it’s not the kind of feel good ending a lot of people would be looking for. All in all, a good quick read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcoholism, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Grief, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Infidelity, Blood, and Drug use

Minor: Classism and Pregnancy

While there’s not exactly an adult/minor relationship, there is a much older man involved in a sexual relationship with a 19-year-old girl, which is close enough and still has much of the same power dynamic, which could be really triggering for someone who finds adult/minor relationships triggering. The content warning for sexual violence is in relation to revenge porn and the threat of publishing revenge porn

linasofia's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Death, Child death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

avabarham's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

I really wanted to like this book. The concept intrigued me (Wedding murder mystery on a remote Irish island? Yes please). But I found it to be slow, lacking in believable tension or storylines, lacking in the murder-mystery aspect until the very end, and full of unsatisfying plot holes :(  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Self harm, Murder, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, and Gaslighting