Reviews

Everyone Knows How Much I Love You by Kyle McCarthy

nahyee's review against another edition

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3.0

See my full review of this title on my blog: Books Under the Blanket (with a flashlight):
https://booksundertheblanket.com/hell-hath-no-fury/

pikasqueaks's review against another edition

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kyle mccarthy got so close to writing the story i've always wanted to read -- and then, alas, the dreaded chingon. i'm only joking, but really, it's not until the very end, and it made me laugh out loud, because it's truly funny to be so enamored of a book only to have each of your boxes on your 'domestic suspense/thriller bingo' card ticked

this book is not for people who need to love the characters they're reading about, who need to be able to see themselves inside the characters and never judge their actions or the why behind things. this is not the book you want to read if you want to be uplifted.

you spend so much time wondering, why lacie? what is it about this character? and you never get the answer because rose never has the answer either. because there is no answer. sometimes there are people in your life who are everything from sunrise to sunset. sometimes there are people who just are.

i really, really enjoyed this, but if i didn't once have a lucinda salt of my own, i could imagine being bored.

whitjobo's review against another edition

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3.0

I struggled a bit getting into this book because I found all of the characters so unlikeable. I listened via audiobook from my library and I almost gave up on it. Like many of my reading experiences, the closer I got to the end the more I wanted to finish. Unfortunately, I still found both women unlikeable and the situation so sad. I did enjoy some of the unexpected (and raunchy!) twists.

vlynch5's review against another edition

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4.0

Lacie and Rose have a complicated relationship. They were once best friends, but that all changed their junior year in high school. Probably the only way they could have reunited is in a new place, in the city, where a shared history meant more than a betrayal.
They dynamic between the two of them is so strange. They are jealous of each other one minute, practically in love another and indifferent at times. And I have to say that it really mimics a true-life love/hate relationship that is possible in our twenties, during that time when we are still figuring out who we are. It’s messy. And real.
As the book progresses, we learn more about Rose and Lacie. We learn what motivates them, what they admire, what they are good at, what they love and what they covet. And it gets ugly. And the betrayal goes deeper. And it becomes clear that maybe, people never really change.
I really enjoyed Everyone Knows How Much I Love You. It’s literary fiction, the best kind, with a dash of melodrama and a pinch of thriller. Special thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out June 23.

nafisa_alam's review against another edition

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2.0

This book is so fucking boring. I get it it's character driven, but the character stayed the same for whole 272 pages! I wanted to like this book, i really did. But it was way too boring and slow paced for my liking. 100 pages in still nothing. Literally nothing.

daniimcc's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

dai2daireader's review against another edition

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2.0

I was really curious about Everyone Knows How Much I Love You given the synopsis but it didn't keep my attention. The main character, Rose, is a girl who made a mistake as a teen which ended her relationship when her best friend, Lacie. Rose has grown up...but only in age. Rose and Lacie reconnect and seem to see the same life events in different ways - which I found interesting and was curious about that dynamic. However, I found it very frustrating how Rose went out of her way constantly to be juvenile and manipulative to no real end. She's knowingly repeated unnecessary and destructive behavior which often felt unrealistic and extremely cringy.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and Random House for this ARC.

fmurray97's review

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

3.75

energyrae's review

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4.0

Rose leads a very fictitious life. Her personality is that she doesn’t know how to hold on to something good, and she burns everything in her wake. Rose is not a likable character, but her self-destruction makes this book so good. She’s knowledgeable and college-educated, but she’s incredibly awkward, a broken and pathetic person.

I don’t feel this is a catfight as some other reviewers have said because Lacie is just an ultra-forgiving woman who keeps allowing Rose back into her life. All the drama that occurs between the two of them is because of Rose’s gnawing need to destroy everything in her path. She grows obsessed, and as that obsession grows, she spirals. Her perception of reality is hyper-skewed, and we see that in her inner dialogue and confrontations with Lacie.

The writing was excellent. The pacing was slow, and that suited the narrative. The things that Rose does is completely cringe-worthy, and there’s beauty in that because she’s an exceptionally well-written, bad guy who has no redeeming qualities like so many of these friendships portrayed elsewhere. Not everyone can get on board with such a toxic person in fiction, which is a shame because she’s written so well. The prose in this is beautiful, and it makes for a truly fun read. Thank you Ballantine Books for sending this along!

thoughtsfromtheafro's review against another edition

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

3.0