tearstoflowers's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Suicide, Sexism, Addiction, Bullying, Death, Alcoholism, Violence, and Toxic friendship
alinapth'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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Death, and Sexual content
Moderate: Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Outing, Drug use, Violence, Hate crime, and Homophobia
Minor: Emotional abuse
wild_mustang's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.25
Pretty much just teen drama - sex, drugs, alcohol and depression. Oh, and trying to stay out of jail - but to be honest there wasn’t heaps of focus on the murder mystery. At least there wasn’t until the last 100 pages or so.
Personally, I didn’t really care for the romance sub-plots either.
The writing was also in a more juvenile voice than what I normally read, which makes sense because it’s first person perspectives from teenagers, but it took me a little while to get used to. Additionally, many of the plots were very trope heavy and painfully stereotypical at times
However, if was a very easy read and only took like 7hrs so it gets an average 3 star rating. The extra quarter of a star is an appreciation of some of the authors writing choices and the execution of perspective narrations to reveal relevant things in the intended literary light and at the right narrative time.
I recently studied Reader-Response Theory and I think, in this light, McManus did a very good job at writing for the implied reader (so the rating is bumped up), however, I really don’t think that I am the implied or intended reader (so it’s still a fairly average rating).
To take a strategic leaf from Simon’s tumblr…
JT recommended this to me and I’m not mad I read it but I certainly don’t care to continue the series.
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Outing
Moderate: Alcoholism, Violence, Cursing, and Homophobia
Minor: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Vomit, Abandonment, Sexual content, Cancer, Car accident, Sexual assault, Mass/school shootings, and Self harm
jasmineslibraryy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Suicide, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death, Outing, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Homophobia
honestrabbit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death
hadams_1003'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Alcohol, Suicide, Bullying, Death, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Murder, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Mass/school shootings
gingerbread_candel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Homophobia and Violence
katerinamckenna's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Violence, Cancer, and Toxic relationship
lifeonasofa'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? N/A
3.5
“That's the kind of person you can get away with killing: someone everybody else wants dead” Karen M McManus 💀
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 3.5 Stars
I can see why this book is so loved. It’s a lot of fun. Teens will love this book, it’s very Breakfast Club. Really well written and a nice range of characters ✍🏻
I loved the mystery, the first half was really intriguing. But I did feel like I lost interest and wasn’t surprised by the twists. 😮
Moderate: Bullying, Toxic friendship, Violence, Outing, Death, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
2j4d3'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
4.0
Graphic: Hate crime, Death, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Death of parent, Grief, Addiction, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Cancer