Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Salaseura by Amy McCulloch, Zoe Sugg

5 reviews

enmcurrie's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I actually enjoyed this book a lot, I loved the atmosphere (the secluded boarding school feel) and I loved the character development. The plot definitely kept me hooked. However, I think the first half was actually stronger than the second half of the book. 

I had 3 main issues with it:

1. The transitions between chapters weren’t very smooth, and I think that sort of comes naturally when you have two different writers. There were also some inconsistencies (albeit  some were quite tiny, such as Audrey - the American, saying ‘sofa’ or ‘shall’). Also, it’s pretty easy to tell Zoe wrote Ivy’s parts and Amy wrote Audrey’s parts.

2. The plot was very predictable in the second half (and maybe that’s my fault for reading too many YA mystery books) but it’s always the same stuff. The book is also scattered with cliches  - especially Ivy and Audrey. Ivy is the epitome of your typical intense overachiever student that’s good at everything and is definitely burnt out and Audrey is your stereotypical American moving to England - rich and a Southern sweetheart, who had the typical and probably unrealistic popular high school student life previously. Some parts of the plot just felt slightly forced - such as the attempts at romance, but it wasn’t awful to the point where I didn’t enjoy it. Maybe younger readers wouldn’t notice it so much.

3. The ending. I’m all for having an open ending to set up for a sequel/series, but I hated the way it ended so abruptly and practically mid-conversation. There was the big build up and culmination of tension and then it just ended. (More of a nit-picky one but still)

Even though it sounds like I had lots of issues with it, I still enjoyed it and I’ve already ordered the second book to read. It has potential, so I hope the sequel rounds the story off in a satisfying way.
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norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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eleanor_shaw's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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kinahgrace's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • 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

3.0

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annabella's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

I did just read it for some easy reading and it was mostly boring throughout particularly Audrey, and some of the plot points were so predictable. The potential paedophile, they way it was handled  and the lack of consequences for him just made me feel very uncomfortable. And I’m just so frustrated that
after all that reading we didn’t even find out the killer!!
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