hannahs_library__'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death of parent, Blood, Murder, Violence, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicide, Stalking, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse
rebeccarudisill's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
5 stars for narrative drive and creativity. But 0 stars for
Spoiler
ALL THE MURDER.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Murder, Gore, Violence, Sexual assault, Blood, and Infidelity
chronicallyplotting's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This is my first book by this author and I must say I enjoyed her writing style and how she dives into her characters.
I liked how it was a fast paced thriller/ mystery and not a book I had to over think. The characters were diverse and took some figuring out (in a good way). I also enjoyed getting to read in reverse; as this book is written with the big “events” in the beginning and you read back in time to find out how everything came to be as it was.
The only cons for me was trying to remember that I was reading in reverse because sometimes you would forget and something would either not make sense (yet) or with the way they were segmented in time frames it was hard to realize things were not happening in real time. So settings and characters were hard to track for me.
I liked how it was a fast paced thriller/ mystery and not a book I had to over think. The characters were diverse and took some figuring out (in a good way). I also enjoyed getting to read in reverse; as this book is written with the big “events” in the beginning and you read back in time to find out how everything came to be as it was.
The only cons for me was trying to remember that I was reading in reverse because sometimes you would forget and something would either not make sense (yet) or with the way they were segmented in time frames it was hard to realize things were not happening in real time. So settings and characters were hard to track for me.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Cursing, and Murder
sbbailey's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Murder, and Suicide
nnread's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Suicide
Moderate: Suicide and Abandonment
shaunag's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Murder, and Suicide attempt
daniellafrella's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
3.75
The way this book is written is what makes it so wonderful. It starts at the end and back tracks, revealing more and more answers and details as we travel back in time with the main character. Beautiful writing. Really a page turner.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Murder
Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Stalking, Suicide, and Mental illness
gelila_123's review
dark
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
1.5
umm i think this book has made the "top 5 most underwhelming books of the 21st century" right next to we were liars. i would like to think of myself to be a very critical yet fair reviewer and i honestly can't get into e. lockhart's writing. i just can't.
main character: Jule West Williams
- parents die at age 9
- was taken in my her aunt (she does not have a good relationship with her though)
- goes to private school for a while (where she meets imogen)
- imogen and jule reconnect and become great friends quickly
- jule kills imogen, frames it to be a suicide, and steals imogen's identity (because imogen is loaded with cash)
- jule runs away to mexico (with the money) and lives the life pretending to be imogen
- detectives find her and she escapes to an island where she will live there forever
Spoiler
main character: Jule West Williams
- parents die at age 9
- was taken in my her aunt (she does not have a good relationship with her though)
- goes to private school for a while (where she meets imogen)
- imogen and jule reconnect and become great friends quickly
- jule kills imogen, frames it to be a suicide, and steals imogen's identity (because imogen is loaded with cash)
- jule runs away to mexico (with the money) and lives the life pretending to be imogen
- detectives find her and she escapes to an island where she will live there forever
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Mental illness
jillkaarlela's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
2.25
This book is extremely confusing and not very gripping at all. The story is told backwards, and it can be extremely hard to remember what happened when, and to keep the story straight. It also was just not that good, the mystery wasn’t that interesting and it didn’t answer many questions in the end. I didn’t particularly hate it, but I definitely didn’t like it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Suicide, Murder, Violence, and Death
tkatt20's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.0
I cant decide if i liked this book or not. This is the first book I've read from this author so I didn't have any expectations going into it like many other did that read the more popular We Were Liars, but I found the writing style very unique. The book itself is written backwards, so you know the aftermath of the events before actually knowing what took place and it was nothing like I had ever read before. I was extremely confused at first and it took me a bit to get in to it, but for a book that was less than 300 pages I didn't feel rushed or overwhelmed with information, and after it started to pick up and I started learning more it began to make a lot more sense to me. I do wish it had a bit more information on the characters motives, maybe an extra chapter or 2 on her past to kind of explain why she decided to take this route. I might end up rereading this in the future now that I know what happens, I'd like to see what kind of foreshadowing the author included early on and maybe see if there were any details I missed early on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Minor: Rape, Terminal illness, and Sexual content