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womanatee's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, and Stalking
gremlinsarevil's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Child abuse and Murder
sheriffrockyraccoon's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I don’t even know where to start. Maybe the good stuff?
I loved Verona’s writing. She absolutely has a strong voice and creates a compelling world to write in. I loved how she described everyday suburbia and created unnerving visuals through the mundane. While I am so-so on putting lots of nostalgic references in books, it is still fun to read about a kid enjoying a Fruit Roll-up!
That being said, this book was frustrating. It was absolutely a mistake to make this story non-linear. It absolutely ruined the pacing and, in my opinion, made the twists and reveals obvious instead of exciting. Honestly, there were multiple points I was rooting for Amy to die just because I couldn’t stand her. Her character was very contradictory- she’s “shy and non-confrontational” according to her own narration and yet she takes every opportunity to cuss out her boyfriend and his brother. It makes her final scenes of actually doing something to stand up for herself and the kids become less poignant. Side note: it also drove me crazy that they didn’t get the hell out of that house when THE MAN WITH A RESTRAINING ORDER SHOWED UP? Maybe this is playing into how slashers always have dumb characters but honestly, it was ridiculous.
I should also add that Verona repeatedly goes over the same irrelevant information every 4 chapters. In case you forgot who Amy’s cousins were or that Amy has panic attacks. It almost felt like no one had read the novel before it was published or were trying to keep it at a certain word count. It was odd.
I will end on another good note I remembered about this book: Ben is absolutely adorable and I wish he had narrated the entire story. If this was a slasher story told from a child’s POV, it would have been much more interesting.
Graphic: Body shaming, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Homophobia
michelle_mightbereading's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Violence and Blood
frahhn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Child abuse
bookishchaos's review
- 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? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Bullying and Domestic abuse
slimepuppy's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
The beginning of the book was actually a little creepy, though, so one star for that? Meh.
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Vomit
Moderate: Bullying, Self harm, and Violence
queenginger's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Categorized as a thriller/horror I was curious to see what that meant.
The thriller element completely missed the mark. Things don’t speed up until the last 30 pages or so. Even within those moments I found myself skimming the paragraphs to get to the end.
Horror? The only element of that is the ode to classic slashers. There are others stories that have pulled off that trope in a more successful lens. It felt as though this idea needed to be fleshed out a bit more.
The strongest element of the book was the dialogue between characters. Especially between Amy and the children. I loved the energy of Mira and her sassy quips. Bens character was okay, but I just don’t jive much with young kids overall.
The POV and time jumping was almost nauseating. I couldn’t keep my head straight and not in a good, pay-off sort of way. The six year jump back felt unnecessary.
Lots of folks mentioned the overall writing felt very Y.A. — and I couldn’t agree more.
It was alright. I didn’t hate it. I’d be curious to see more from this author in the future.
Graphic: Mental illness and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse
Minor: Vomit
haleybre's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Minor: Bullying and Child abuse
nicolesbookreviews's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail