Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

18 reviews

katymat18's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Medical content, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Misogyny, and Islamophobia

ellynicholem'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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Fire/Fire injury

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I rarely read mysteries, but I am so glad I picked up this one! The emotions Isa and her three friends go through are palpable. And I greatly appreciate the fact that the women had goals, ambitions, fears, hopes, etc. that went beyond being wives and mothers, even though most of them are wives and mothers. They felt fully fleshed out, complex, and interesting. It's a great boarding school, dark academia story told from the perspective of an adult looking back on her harrowing teenage years. 

I took off one star because the ending is a bit confusing and a little ambiguous considering the amount of detail that went in the rest of the novel.

Be mindful of the trigger warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Incest, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

angrybookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

I enjoyed this book but honestly all the characters were a bit flat for me. I couldn’t stand Isa and Freya just felt like a metaphor the entire time. I did finish this book in about 2 days though because it was easy, got to the point, and was interesting at every turn. A lot of it was predictable but the few twists in the ending were pretty good. I’d recommend it for people who like mysteries. Plus it passed the bechdel test. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Incest

kaylasoos's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Eating disorder, Incest, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

chronicallyplotting's review against another edition

dark 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

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was my first book written by this author but she has a writing style that hooks you in on page one. Although you slowly can connect the dots as you read the author has full control over what you as the reader know and when you get to know it. I enjoyed following the four main characters. And loved how I was not able to put everything together until the very end. To me that’s what makes a good mystery and suspense writing. I never got bored while reading or felt that it had a slow spot. The book kept a nice pace. Will definitely read more by this author.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

hannahet's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Suicide, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, and Infidelity