Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Insatiable by Daisy Buchanan

7 reviews

ramalam98's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

2.25

I did expect more from this but it was still an entertaining read. 

The bad decisions by the MC got a bit annoying, and the sex scenes were frankly bizarre, starting and ending very suddenly. Plus the MC came within about four seconds every time which just made the entire thing feel even more unrealistic. 

It has some interesting things to say about rich people/the art world but when getting down to the nitty gritty story I was dissatisfied. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexism, Child death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit, Eating disorder, and Sexual assault

foxonabook's review

fast-paced

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

1.0

I picked up this book because it's different from what I would usually gravitate to. I thought this would be a more erotic version of Sally Rooney's books, but what I got was smutty fanfiction masquerading as a queer contemporary novel. 

Violet is a lonely 26-year-old millennial stuck in a dead-end job and drifting aimlessly through life. Until one day she meets the mysterious and attractive Lottie and her entire life is upended within the space of a few days. Literally. A few days. Is the reader truly expected to believe that anything portrayed in the book is plausible? 

Surprisingly, the poorly written sex (which, if I'm being brutally honest, is better described as written by a teenager whose only source material is really cheap and unrealistic porn) wasn't my biggest bugbear. It was how incredibly unbelievable Violet was portrayed. Perhaps I'm not the target audience, but, geez... this was the second contemporary millennial chick-lit that I read where I felt millennial women were very poorly, one-dimensionally and stereotypically portrayed. Violet has no redeeming qualities.

I was also infuriated by some of the blink-and-you'll-miss-it themes that Buchanan clearly included as a tick-box exercise, such as the eating disorder, coercive abuse, sexual assault, etc. 

Don't bother with this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

Moderate: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, and Mental illness

jodierose14's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

sib_reads's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol and Drug use

nialiversuch's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Alcohol, Classism, and Cursing

Moderate: Child death and Sexual assault

Minor: Drug use

hulkytwobelts's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Child death

daisyvb's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

It's like Sally Rooney read Bridget Jones and said hey what if she was in her late twenties, went through a bit more trauma, and actually got some every other day

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse