freckles'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, and Child abuse
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Child abuse, and Suicide
Minor: Mental illness, Sexual harassment, and Murder
mayaism_01'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
This leads me to this novel's biggest shortcoming - the characters. I did not care at all for a single character in this story, Scarlett is foolish (and fell in love in 4 days - oy vey) and Donetella is barely given time to be fleshed out (despite being the more interesting sister), the most compelling thing about either of them was their relationship as sisters but even that doesn't seem fully realized. Julian seems like a halfway-decent character because he's been given the most interesting motivations and backstory by far but everything else falls flat. The main villain began as something that could've been interesting only to end up being cartoonish.
The ending has me intrigued though so I'm tempted to try the next one and hope for more improvement on Garber's end with the characters, considering it's seemingly following Donatella I feel like this could get very interesting.
Graphic: Kidnapping, Suicide, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Blood
eatingbrains's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.25
There was enough mystery and world building to keep me interested in reading more, though the characters were a bit one dimensional they managed to hold my attention.
Other books I've read with this vibe did not have strong enough characters to keep me engaged and since this was a debut novel it has a lot of promise for what comes next.
Minor: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence
kcmg710'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? No
4.0
I really loved this book so much, the writing as a whole was so beautiful it was like a feast for my eyes and some of the descriptions/metaphors I re-read over and over again because they were so beautiful.
Loved the characters and the development (well Scarlett’s - I’m assuming we will see the others in the rest of the trilogy).
Like in the beginning Scarlett really bugged me
Spoiler
with how obsessed she was with her sister and getting married and all that palava I actually (stupidly) thought she was quite boring and I understand because of her trauma and stuff and in reflection I was probably abit too harsh on her just because of my views on marriage but that doesn’t mean that other peoples are wrong // I saw on TikTok one of the characters from little women? Say something similar and thought she has a frickin point actually) and seeing how brave and resilient she was in the end and strong for standing up to her father and going after her actual dreams (adventure and stuff)Even though I loved this book and it didn’t really have many faults but it’s just not quite 5*for me and I can’t figure out why ☹️
As you can tell from my rambling I am not a writer but I hope my review was helpful
(I also don’t know if I’ve used the spoiler tags properly so sorry in advance)
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, Gore, Gaslighting, Death, and Murder
Minor: Sexism, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
skeptic_hecate's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
"I should do 'x', but if I do 'x' then I cannot do 'y', but perhaps people will expect me to do 'y' so I shouldn't do 'y', unless when two dimensional and pointless side character hinted that doing 'x' is better..." and so on.
The only character I liked was Donatella, and she was in a few pages of the book. The decisions taken by the characters are very stupid to the point of being random, and the clues are designed to be solved by something that happens to appear out of thin air rather than forshadowed.
The climax is meh, there are no real consequences to the actions of the characters. I had to force myself to finish this book. The outfits and setting are nice.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Murder, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Sexual harassment
tenshiwing07's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Blood and Physical abuse
Minor: Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Confinement, and Emotional abuse
eeread247'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Blood
Moderate: Murder and Physical abuse
Minor: Kidnapping and Sexual harassment
helloimjacq's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicide, Child abuse, and Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Abandonment
Minor: Alcohol
jja_b's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Blood, Violence, Sexual assault, and Murder
ebonycantread's review
- 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: Child abuse
Moderate: Sexual harassment
Minor: Murder and Suicide attempt