The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
electrumempousa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Violence, Gore, and Sexual assault
sandy_21's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Homophobia, Abandonment, Drug abuse, and Murder
Minor: Sexual assault, Child death, and Death of parent
bonnienoire's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Grief, Sexual harassment, Classism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content
erynpaige's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, War, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death, Confinement, and Child death
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
emilywasbored's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Homophobia, and Child abuse
Moderate: Physical abuse and Murder
Minor: Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Child death
fictionalportal's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, and Drug use
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Murder
Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
azreddy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Sexual assault
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
One thing this does very well is show what gaslighting can look like in a way that gently and persistently provides a series of outside voices to counter the narrative being fed to the main character by her abuser. Her protests of this person's goodness and faithfulness become smaller and smaller until she finally has to decide what to do with the information she has been given. It begins subtly and slowly builds in a way that makes it a useful example of how insidious the abuse is and how much her abuser is controlling her understanding of reality, beginning when she was a much younger kid. As much as it muddles the message a little, I'm glad that the people trying to point out the one person's abuse aren't paragons themselves, that's especially important because it stop the main character from just switching which character has her undying loyalty.Â
I like how queer this is but please don't pitch it to anyone as a sapphic romance. It's sapphic, there is a romance, but the combination of traits implied by that conjoined phrase is not representative of this book. So much of the emotional core in THE MIDNIGHT LIE revolves around whether and how to trust untrustworthy people, whether they can't be trusted because they're personally cruel, they're not powerful enough to provide protection from the system, or they're impermanent and nothing and no one lasts forever. This commentary on untrustworthiness and betrayal makes for a fascinating book but an emotionally fraught romance. I'm also concerned about possible biphobia transphobia from some interactions with the love interest. The words the love interest chooses when expressing jealousy are suspiciously similar to some biphobic and transphobic talking points and it was uncomfortable to read, waiting to figure out whether the character was bigoted or just insecure and using bigoted language to convey those feelings. I think it's more the second one, but I remain unsure.Â
The end-of-book revelations about the truth of the setting worked well and made things make sense but I hate the decision that the main character made with that information. I don't know what she should have done instead given what she learned, but I hope the sequel takes the consequences of her choice seriously and doesn't treat it flippantly. I want it fixed but I don't want it cheapened by being handled too quickly.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Animal death, Biphobia, Death of parent, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Transphobia
CW for brief misgendering, threats of sexual assault.yvonne_cl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Police brutality
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
greendaisy's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Grief, Child death, Murder, and Blood
Abuse dyamics aren't present in the romantic relationship but play an incredibly large part in the story so beware if that is not something you are ready to read.