Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

What Lies Between Us by John Marrs

6 reviews

amalauna's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

doodlebeanz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

2.5

Honestly... this book FUCKED ME UP. It was such a wild ride and the more I read, the more chaotic and fucked up the story became. This book should've come with a list of trigger warnings like some dark romance novels do. This book touches on some very sensitive and dark things and the way it's written, it seems so casual and normal which was obviously the point. I also was having my own health anxieties while reading this book and the topics just exacerbated my own mental health/stress and I should've DNF'd it but I pushed through. That definitely clouds my judgment when it comes to this book. It was not a happy story, not a happy ending... no happiness found anywhere. I wish that I did put it down and come back when I was in a better headspace, I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more, but since I didn't do that I have to be honest with my review/star rating and that's a solid 2.5 for me. The story was interesting and INTENSE and WILD, it definitely kept my attention but there weren't many twists/turns like I want out of a psychological thriller. It was less thriller and more just a work of fiction, in my opinion. For a thriller to be good (4 star and up) in my opinion, it needs to creep me out and leave me feeling off balance and nervous (weird, i know!) and this book didn't do any of that for me. John Marrs is a phenomenal writer and I will definitely be reading more of his work, but I will definitely be checking trigger warnings before opening another!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Infertility, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

megan_wy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Oh my gosh. Where do I even begin with this book? So many plot twists that I truly NEVER knew what was coming next. Usually I think some twists are predictable and cliché, but this was nothing of the sort. A complex and deceitful story about an extremely toxic relationship between a mother and daughter. There’s so much I could say, but I think you should just read this book for yourself. If you love thrillers, suspense, twists, and vengeance - then you’ll love this book. It’s easy to follow, short chapters (my personal fav!), and just enough characters to keep the book complex and interesting. It will hold your attention and keep you fully engaged. It also challenges your own introspective thoughts. You really reason with the characters, Maggie in particular, and why people make the choices they do. I would love to have learned a little more about what happened after the ending of the story, but I think it was a full circle moment. I can see why the author chose to end it right there and leave you like 🤯🤯🤯. Also, this story shows how sometimes a mother’s love can be too much of a good thing. GREAT ploy and I’m so glad I read this book. It was a new style of thriller that has me wanting to read more John Marrs books!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

stacey_reads_books's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I did enjoy this book, I found myself looking forward to bedtime so I could read a bit more and find out what next. I also found it stayed with me after reading it. However, to enjoy the book I did have to suspend my belief as so much happened that I felt wouldn't realistically happen in real life. I'm not complaining as it still provided some great escapism. 

I was shook by the ending. Don't expect a happy ever after.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, and Blood

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

romam93's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

enl1974's review against another edition

dark sad tense

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

4.0

New to this forum so I hope I've painted an accurate account of the book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse