Reviews tagging 'Blood'

That's Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger

15 reviews

asparklingzombie's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-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

All of the characters are well-rounded and behave like real people, and for that I call the characters loveable; I feel like a lot of YA novels I've read often misfire when they attempt this degree of realism, but I think Keplinger pulls it off. There are no special quirks to make the characters particularly memorable, but I think that's fine given the serious subject the novel covers, so I won't be harshly judging that here.

The novel focuses on the survivors' present-day timeline, three to four years after the school shooting that changed their lives. Lee decides to collect letters from the five other survivors to combat the narrative that will be published by her deceased best friend's parents, which martyrizes her death by way of her defending her faith. The plot offers a snapshot into the post-shooting lives of each survivor while adding their perspective to the horrific event.

There aren't any surprising twists, and Keplinger chooses to handle the traumatic event tastefully rather than to dramatize, so if you're looking for a dark, thrilling read, this isn't going to be your novel. However, if you like a simple plot with mellow pacing that examines the impact a school shooting has on its survivors and its town, this will be more your tea.

There is a lot of thought and care put into the novel's pages and how the story would be presented. The sentence flow is solid with enough description to paint the scene and get the themes across, without becoming long-winded. Overall, this is one of the better YA novels I've read that have come out within the past decade.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Blood, and Mass/school shootings

delaneylacerte4's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Bullying and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use and Blood

taylors_literature's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

lakinlindsey's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This book made me sob dealing with its themes of trauma, grief, guilt, and taking control of your own narrative. This book has some cool stuff to say of how important is the truth in the end. Is it better to give people that lost loved ones a sense of comfort? Or to be true to who people actually were? I Fall somewhere between where I think it’s fine to let people believe what they want but not at the cost of hurting someone else like in this book with Kellie. However, a favorite theme of mine from this book is Lee discussing how she hates that once people are dead they’re put on a pedestal and people refuse to be truthful about their flaws. This dehumanizes them and is unfair to their memory and to people still alive. That’s always been something I dislike as well. Last but not least I thought the book was building to a dark turn with Miles and I’m very glad that wasn’t the case in the end. This was a good, but triggering read so beware.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Drug abuse, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Addiction and Blood

daringreader13's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

stardustdreamer's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Medical content

chlo_123456's review against another edition

sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Blood

Minor: Cursing and Death

jodierose14's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Blood, and Mass/school shootings

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

First of all we love an asexual queen!! So that being said there is a ton of different representation in this and I can’t speak for most of them, but I didn’t find anything wrong with it. As for the story it doesn’t really focus on the shooting but the aftermath of it. Which I thought was important. Also it never gives the killer a name or the spotlight which I also thought was good. I thought it was interesting how religion played apart in this. I don’t think this is like the greatest book or the greatest book about a school shooting but I think it is well done. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

goodnightngo's review against another edition

3.0

This book is very engaging and took me out of my reading slump. Definitely dark but the author approached the heavy topics in a thoughtful way.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, and Murder