Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

425 reviews

evelynyle_88's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

WHAT A HELLA RIDE.... 5⭐

First, I wanna say thank you to Miss Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé for creating the world about Niveus Private Academy. This book is beyond perfect! Well, at the start... it feels usual, but after you read about 40 pages of the story, the chills started. I can imagine myself; there... being Chiamaka Adebayo. I positioned myself as her as I read the whole story.

Ace of Spades simply stole my heart! This book is a brilliant book. Disturbing, giving so many chills, brutally-emotional, scary at some points.. but this book is brilliant. Even scarier even there's no ghosts in this story. 

This book is the one to read and I hella can't put the book down even for only five minutes. The story, the characters, the settings, the plots... are perfect and sickeningly good! 

I never find the thriller-mystery book that left chills so much; even now.. when I write this review and finished reading this already. This book leaves a gasp for me and makes me smirk at the end; the epilogue.

What a perfect of twisted 'oh' ending. All hail, Ace of Spades! ♠️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Outing, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Forced institutionalization

k8lynn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

i love this book!!! could not stop reading it & when i wasn't reading it i was thinking about it. the audiobook only enhanced this experience!!

*also trigger warning for gay people being forcibly outed to the public

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

thehannahclaire's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

meganders22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Outing, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

daniellekat's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I wanted to like this more, but I think I'm just not the intended audience. Although exciting, the plot was somewhat predictable, and full of holes. So many characters were introduced for specific plot purposes only to be completely dropped later. And the characters that did stick around were one dimensional and lacked growth. The 

quick and neatly wrapped up

ending was lackluster and added to the book's strange pacing. This tackled some big and necessary themes, but ultimately missed the mark for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

jei_reads_sometimes's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Car accident, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

violetreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Outing, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicide attempt

miri42'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Racial slurs, Suicide, and Stalking

Minor: Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Murder

withlivjones's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Jesus Christ what a story. I heard someone say that this book is like if Gossip Girl and Get Out had a baby, and that is so true. The mystery had me absolutely hooked, and then the focus on institutionalised racism both within the education system and within society in general was simultaneously difficult to read and very important. Some of the things that Aces does made me feel sick to my stomach, and I was really rooting for Devon and Chiamaka - who are both fantastic, well-developed characters in their own right. I felt like the depictions of racism were a little heavy-handed at times and perhaps could have been written with more nuance, but that isn’t necessarily a criticism since this is a YA novel and it may well be many readers’ first introduction to an example of institutionalised racism - and the book does that job spectacularly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

miles's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt