Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

She Started It by Sian Gilbert

10 reviews

cathcasper's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Lesbophobia

ivykennerauthor's review against another edition

mysterious tense

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Lesbophobia

ellejo3's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I love stories about a group of flawed women with a complex history who get stuck somewhere remote and things descend into chaos. I even love a good revenge book. However,

I'm so sick of suicide being used as a plot twist. Based on teenage Poppy's interest in art/lack of interest in other subjects and adult "Poppy" being a successful doctor, it was obvious who "Poppy" was early on. Even so, I hoped Poppy was still alive somewhere. If you've ever lost someone to suicide, you know how devastating it is. Suicide being used as a final plot twist left me feeling so angry. If the book had treated it with more care and included resources, I might not have been as bothered by it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Lesbophobia

amanda_reads89's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Self harm, Blood, and Stalking

Minor: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Lesbophobia

bleusbookblog's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

I hate to be brutally honest but I did not enjoy this book. The characters were horribly unlikable and frankly annoying. I figured out the twist at 198 pages and it wasn’t that exciting. The only part that evoked an emotional response from me was about 3 sentences long. The writing was great. I will not deny that there was talent. The story was just not there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Physical abuse

haleysversion's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

chasingpages1's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Biphobia, Body shaming, Cursing, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Stalking, and Lesbophobia

smsamuels4's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Lesbophobia

sebradley29's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

WTF did I just read?!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

minimicropup's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.5

Disheartening, frustrating, tragic

We are following five characters in their late 20s. Four of them were friends in secondary school, and together they relentlessly bullied a classmate. That classmate had their glow up, got engaged, and invited their former bullies to party with them on a private island before the wedding. We also get insight into the bullying through past diary entires of the bullied child.

• Set on a private island in the Bahamas

🔇 Narration wasn't bad, but most of the characters sounded very similar. I fault the writing and character development more than the different narrators. If you plan to listen while busy, it can be extremely frustrating knowing who you are following at any given time. 

Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐺🐕: 

• All 4 of the mean girls are written to sound the same. They are all insufferable, entitled, insecure, miserable people, and it's hard to keep track of whose POV you're reading. Every so often the first person narrative (where we are hearing EVERY thought/musing/pondering) hints at third party omniscient in a way that makes you wonder if the character is psychic knowing what others are thinking or why they are doing something. It breaks the story.
• Way. Too. Long. The plot wasn't bad, there were many moments I enjoyed. But there was so much extraneous information and slow progress with lots of overdramatic glares, stares, and snarks. 
• The characters lacked depth and there were SO many elephants in the room being kept from us. Most were predictable so you find yourself enduring the immature quips and pettiness waiting for the plot to progress. 
• Young adult writing style. What someone is wearing, how they did their hair, their plans and predictions. "I wore this, then I did this, then I said that, then I thought this, then I went over there."
• Poppy's past POV stories were well done. Except that her past POV was placed after important current events, so as the reader we were confused about why characters were freaking out. I think we should have read Poppy's POV beforehand so we can see the symbolism in the present and can 😬🤯😮 along WITH the characters. 
• If you hate diary entries written as narrative chapters with detailed dialog, then you'll hate this. Like, no one writes in a diary that way with word-for-word dialog so prepare to overlook it. 
• Until ~50% most of the suspense is built  through omission ("if only they knew..."), delays, and interruption ("There's something I HAVE to tell you" ~someone walks in room~ "never mind" ~everyone forgets~).
• If you hate tropes with women blaming other women b/c of cheating men, or women competing and putting each other down out of jealousy, then this could be a real slog.
• Villain monolog! So unnecessary too. The author didn't write themselves into a corner - the twists were creative and there were deep meaningful moments. The ending could have unfolded in a way where we find out someone escaped only to have us see the consequence. Then the last POV could have revealed even more of the truth and been an amazing double twist. Instead we got her overexplaining and pointing out things we already read about...instead of just showing us and trusting we're smart enough to put it all together as we think back on the story.

Cred Rating: 🥴

• Present day: OTT highly improbable (suspend all your disbelief)
• Past: Realistic IRL horrors of bullying

Mood Reading Match Up: 

• Revenge of the bullied trope
• Mean girls, unlikeable characters, petty arguments and scheming
• Slow burn, long-winded suspense plots
• Overly detailed YA style story
• Destination thrillers with summer vibes
• Isolated/locked room murder mysteries

Content Heads-Up: Bullying. Suicide and self harm. Substance use (intentional and unintentional).

Format: Library Audio via Libby

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Self harm, Suicide, and Excrement