asophia1014's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Outing, Suicide, Homophobia, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Mental illness and Injury/Injury detail
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
dramagirl2003'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Outing, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Murder
Minor: Blood, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Mass/school shootings
prairieraven'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
3.0
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Outing, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Grief, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Drug use, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship
creativeworld'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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Child death, Classism, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, and Car accident
Minor: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Self harm, Mass/school shootings, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
sebradley29's review
4.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Gaslighting, Child death, Car accident, Alcohol, Violence, Drug use, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Outing, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Hate crime, Death, and Bullying
texas_reznikoff'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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cancer, Death, Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Grief, Outing, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Suicide, Death of parent, Homophobia, Violence, Bullying, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Addiction, Infidelity, Medical content, Racism, and Toxic relationship
jritc13's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Outing and Suicide
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Cancer, and Alcoholism
sophiemartin'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? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Infidelity, Racism, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Blood, Bullying, Homophobia, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, and Injury/Injury detail
sassyram's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Moderate: Sexism, Outing, Bullying, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Mass/school shootings