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Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'
Barátnak tartalak - Családi állapot: bonyolult by Abby Jimenez
17 reviews
callistabanks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I was definitely expecting a cute cheesy romcom but this book was a lot more than that. It had me sobbing over so many different things, it was a really beautiful story. I loved all of the characters, this story made ma laugh, and cry and feel all the feels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Miscarriage, and Blood
bgrenier83's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I wanted to beat Kristen over the head with a stick. She was incredibly selfish. Stringing Josh along because she just "couldn't bear to let him go, etc etc". The "I love you so much it hurts but we can never be together" angst got really old quick. She was gaslighting him hard. He was so emotionally beaten by the end I had no clue as to why he still wanted her so badly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infertility, and Gaslighting
mbattiest's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Infertility, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
thecuriousbean's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Car accident
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Gaslighting
Minor: Classism
rickireadss's review against another edition
emotional
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
2.0
⛔️WARNING: this is a VERY negative review, so if you are not into those, you haven’t read this book, or this is your favorite book, stop reading now. there are also MAJOR SPOILERS below. you have been warned.
let me start by saying i was very excited for this book and series after reading “part of your world” by jimenez which i absolutely LOVED. with that being said, i absolutely LOATHE this book and am very glad i never purchased a copy but instead borrowed from libby.
i’m just going to list each point that i hated and go into detail of why.
⚠️tw/cw: infertility, car accident, death of side character, chronic illness, medical trauma, injury/injury detail, grief, emotional abuse, toxic relationship, infidelity (not mcs), gaslighting, miscarriage, pregnancy, body shaming, sexism, stalking/breaking in, war
⛔️SPOILERS BELOW⛔️
⛔️SPOILERS BELOW⛔️
⛔️SPOILERS BELOW⛔️
both mcs: i honestly found them both to be insufferable at times - mostly kristen but josh also pissed me off at times. i am also not a fan of the miscommunication trope - especially in contemporary romances WITH ADULT MAIN CHARACTERS.
infertility/fertility issues: this was the MAIN (and really only) conflict between kristen and josh. he wanted kids, made it abundantly clear in multiple conversations (by saying he wanted them the “natural way” and didn’t want to adopt… RED FLAG, BRO, RED FLAG), and it was why he left his ex girlfriend because she didn’t want them. BECAUSE OF THIS, kristen decided to keep her fertility issues from josh - which is in her right - and made it clear to josh that if they were to have any type of relationship, it would only be a friends-with-benefits deal, no romantic feelings. they both enter that and then of course both catch really feelings for each other. my issue is that she doesn’t disclose WHY she can’t be with josh until like the 80-85% mark. he repeatedly confronted her to see why she felt like they couldn’t be together and she just kept not telling him. MISCOMMUNICATION AT ITS FINEST. i was getting so upset at her for not just saying it because she felt like it would break his heart and he wouldn’t want to be with her, but she kept pushing him away???? like girl, you’re are confusing yourself and everybody around you.
ALSO- with that being a main conflict between them but then they finally decided to get together and that it was okay, they have a miracle baby…. are. you. fvcking . kidding. me. i understand that this is fiction. i understand miracle babies happen. but i wanted a more realistic outcome and ending. it felt like the fertility issues at that point were just thrown into the plot to create conflict and used as a ploy. why did they have to miraculously have a baby??? why couldn’t they just be happy with the two of them?? why couldn’t they have adopted children?? why couldn’t they have used one of the sisters (like they talked about) as a surrogate??? just that entire thing made me angry.
OCD representation: it wasn’t revealed until the like 85/90% mark that kristen had OCD and i felt like it was a vvvvvvery poor and stereotypical portrayal of someone with OCD. when she first said something about her “manic-bess” and “OCD self”, i thought it was one of those times where people just use ACTUAL MENTAL ILLNESSES/DISORDERS in everyday convo and i was about to get really angry. come to find out, she has OCD??? where? how? why is this JUST now being brought up?
brandon’s death: i felt like this came out of left field to create chaos. it also felt like a ploy to shove the two mcs together like “this made us realize how short life is” and josh even mentions how he doesn’t want her to end up like sloane and having no say over him if he were to just die AND THEN PROPOSES??? fvçk no.
impromptu proposal: literally wtf. this was unnecessary, way too fast, and made the ending that much worse.
family trauma / lack of therapy: kristen’s mom was a grade-A b!tch and a horrible mother. we were introduced to the sh!tshow that was her, but then it was never addressed again until sloane told kristen to grow tf up and go after josh. um excuse me??? why was that not unpacked at all… like her mother clearly fvcked her up with her comments and how she treated kristen but also kristen mentioned that she didn’t go to therapy (or did a long time ago but doesn’t anymore, i honestly don’t remember) but also if she has OCD, i would think going to therapy on a regular basis would be normal for her because she has the means to go to therapy - she makes good money this is referenced several times throughout the book, and the fact that she doesn’t go to therapy regularly makes the whole OCD diagnosis feel like it was also just thrown in there for sh!ts and giggles.
okay, i’m done. i honestly don’t want to expend anymore brain power on this. i did not like this book. i would not recommend if any of the cw listed below trigger you. the 2 stars are for the mere fact that i did not DNF this, and the fact that this could have been a good book if the author had taken a few different approaches and had some good sensitivity readers (idk if she had some or not, but if she did, i do not feel like she had the right ones.)
let me start by saying i was very excited for this book and series after reading “part of your world” by jimenez which i absolutely LOVED. with that being said, i absolutely LOATHE this book and am very glad i never purchased a copy but instead borrowed from libby.
i’m just going to list each point that i hated and go into detail of why.
⚠️tw/cw: infertility, car accident, death of side character, chronic illness, medical trauma, injury/injury detail, grief, emotional abuse, toxic relationship, infidelity (not mcs), gaslighting, miscarriage, pregnancy, body shaming, sexism, stalking/breaking in, war
⛔️SPOILERS BELOW⛔️
⛔️SPOILERS BELOW⛔️
⛔️SPOILERS BELOW⛔️
infertility/fertility issues: this was the MAIN (and really only) conflict between kristen and josh. he wanted kids, made it abundantly clear in multiple conversations (by saying he wanted them the “natural way” and didn’t want to adopt… RED FLAG, BRO, RED FLAG), and it was why he left his ex girlfriend because she didn’t want them. BECAUSE OF THIS, kristen decided to keep her fertility issues from josh - which is in her right - and made it clear to josh that if they were to have any type of relationship, it would only be a friends-with-benefits deal, no romantic feelings. they both enter that and then of course both catch really feelings for each other. my issue is that she doesn’t disclose WHY she can’t be with josh until like the 80-85% mark. he repeatedly confronted her to see why she felt like they couldn’t be together and she just kept not telling him. MISCOMMUNICATION AT ITS FINEST. i was getting so upset at her for not just saying it because she felt like it would break his heart and he wouldn’t want to be with her, but she kept pushing him away???? like girl, you’re are confusing yourself and everybody around you.
ALSO- with that being a main conflict between them but then they finally decided to get together and that it was okay, they have a miracle baby…. are. you. fvcking . kidding. me. i understand that this is fiction. i understand miracle babies happen. but i wanted a more realistic outcome and ending. it felt like the fertility issues at that point were just thrown into the plot to create conflict and used as a ploy. why did they have to miraculously have a baby??? why couldn’t they just be happy with the two of them?? why couldn’t they have adopted children?? why couldn’t they have used one of the sisters (like they talked about) as a surrogate??? just that entire thing made me angry.
OCD representation: it wasn’t revealed until the like 85/90% mark that kristen had OCD and i felt like it was a vvvvvvery poor and stereotypical portrayal of someone with OCD. when she first said something about her “manic-bess” and “OCD self”, i thought it was one of those times where people just use ACTUAL MENTAL ILLNESSES/DISORDERS in everyday convo and i was about to get really angry. come to find out, she has OCD??? where? how? why is this JUST now being brought up?
brandon’s death: i felt like this came out of left field to create chaos. it also felt like a ploy to shove the two mcs together like “this made us realize how short life is” and josh even mentions how he doesn’t want her to end up like sloane and having no say over him if he were to just die AND THEN PROPOSES??? fvçk no.
impromptu proposal: literally wtf. this was unnecessary, way too fast, and made the ending that much worse.
family trauma / lack of therapy: kristen’s mom was a grade-A b!tch and a horrible mother. we were introduced to the sh!tshow that was her, but then it was never addressed again until sloane told kristen to grow tf up and go after josh. um excuse me??? why was that not unpacked at all… like her mother clearly fvcked her up with her comments and how she treated kristen but also kristen mentioned that she didn’t go to therapy (or did a long time ago but doesn’t anymore, i honestly don’t remember) but also if she has OCD, i would think going to therapy on a regular basis would be normal for her because she has the means to go to therapy - she makes good money this is referenced several times throughout the book, and the fact that she doesn’t go to therapy regularly makes the whole OCD diagnosis feel like it was also just thrown in there for sh!ts and giggles.
okay, i’m done. i honestly don’t want to expend anymore brain power on this. i did not like this book. i would not recommend if any of the cw listed below trigger you. the 2 stars are for the mere fact that i did not DNF this, and the fact that this could have been a good book if the author had taken a few different approaches and had some good sensitivity readers (idk if she had some or not, but if she did, i do not feel like she had the right ones.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
Minor: War
valeriabee's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
I am being purposefully mean about rating this book because it was honestly painful to read through it. I finished it because I have issues about not finishing books.
There is just so much wrong with this book that I cannot even really process it or articulate it. I want this book to be rid from my memory. I want to forget I read it.
I'll tell you a little bit about why:
1) The "cool girl" trope in which the MC is literally described as a "unicorn" amongst women because she's "not crazy" like other girls and can eat cheeseburgers and drink beer. All of that pained me so much.
2) The hyper-macho love interest that is ridiculously possessive and does all the stereotypical manly man stuff -- with the exception of not being afraid of periods.
3) The lack of showing us how and why they fall in love. It's just declarations of love (and a lot of lust) that dont really have any support in the book.
4) I dont even want to talk about the way they fucked up the supporting characters.
5) The mess that is the surprise pregnancy because WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?
That's a long ass list of things I didnt like with little detail about it because I just cannot bring myself to talk about it any more.
It was painful to read and not because I cared about the characters. It was so hard to care about them.
There is just so much wrong with this book that I cannot even really process it or articulate it. I want this book to be rid from my memory. I want to forget I read it.
I'll tell you a little bit about why:
1) The "cool girl" trope in which the MC is literally described as a "unicorn" amongst women because she's "not crazy" like other girls and can eat cheeseburgers and drink beer. All of that pained me so much.
2) The hyper-macho love interest that is ridiculously possessive and does all the stereotypical manly man stuff -- with the exception of not being afraid of periods.
3) The lack of showing us how and why they fall in love. It's just declarations of love (and a lot of lust) that dont really have any support in the book.
4) I dont even want to talk about the way they fucked up the supporting characters.
5) The mess that is the surprise pregnancy because WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?
That's a long ass list of things I didnt like with little detail about it because I just cannot bring myself to talk about it any more.
It was painful to read and not because I cared about the characters. It was so hard to care about them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Mental illness and Misogyny
riella_reads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol