Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

What Stalks Among Us by Sarah Hollowell

6 reviews

ghouligann's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

RATING: 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.0 / 5.0 

 

REVIEW: 

I’ll be perfectly honest. The first few chapters of this book, I was not having a good time. The writing style is simple and straightforward, but the main character’s constant use of references from popular media really got under my skin. However, around the halfway point, I actually grew to like Sadie’s inner monologue. Not sure what it was in the beginning, but after that little roadblock, I realized that it was sort of endearing. 
 
The book, besides being full of creepy corn monsters, deals with a lot of heavy subjects. The toxicity of various relationships that most people, unfortunately, have to go through. The pain of not being able to fully move on from those past traumas. As well as the societal struggles of being overweight, which is something most books don’t shine any light on. 
 
I went into this expecting just a simple horror story and got hit by serious emotions. Sadie and Logan’s friendship was so sweet. This is the first book I’ve ever read by Sarah Hollowell and I would love to read more of her work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

sierrabowers's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

This was a very cool but also very confusing read. It was like Maze Runner met Children of the Corn. If you like fantasy, thrillers, and time traveling, this could be the book for you! It also includes LGBTQ+ characters but that isn’t their entire personality which I think is nice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

aceofknaves88's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Blood

dananana's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

What a TRIP! This was so compelling and weird and I had to keep reading to figure out wtf was happening

I really appreciated how it approached teen dating violence in an approachable and age appropriate way 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Abandonment, and Classism

tiff_taff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

5.0

What Stalks Among Us captivated me from the beginning! Sadie and Logan’s friendship kept me invested and the progression of it warmed my heart.

Sadie’s journey to identifying the abuse she endured with her former partner was challenging for me. It reminded me of old trauma I thought I had moved past. I love that Logan named the abuse while giving Sadie space to come to terms with it. I saw myself in Sadie. It is soul crushing to have a person you trust and love tell you that no one else will love you the way they do. It’s even harder to find the courage leave a relationship like that while fighting a voice that says,  “Maybe they’re right?”

All this to say that this book is without a doubt my book of the year. Sarah tackled trauma and neurodivergence with alarming accuracy and care. One last note,

the heckin wimdy line had me laughing out loud

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Minor: Biphobia and Fatphobia