Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

13 reviews

hjb_128's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? It's complicated

2.5

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moonlightjuju's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

For starters these kids are bad af, however this book does do a great job at depicting how fast kids are in the UK.

As readers we are baited into thinking something more sinister has happened but,
no a death didn’t happen. I thought this maybe a murder mystery but it wasn’t - so you can imagine how disappointed I was.
Below are some spoilers. 
-

Taylor is the classic UK mean girl. She becomes territorial over the men in her life (Leo and Dylan), and lashes out on the girls around her. Because her own mother is just like her (and encourages this bad/dangerous behavior) there’s no one to fix how she is. The fact that she didn’t get caught annoyed me the most

The only good character in this is Pip, she acts her age and is one of the most harmless kids in this story. I read this for her and I loved the innocence she brought into the book. 

Grace is rude, too rude at that, but to give her a fair chance in this review, she is peer pressured into growing up too fast by the group of kids she hangs around. The fact that she covered for the girls that attacked her was insane, but like Pip said, it allows them to continue to do this to others.

Claire is a bad mother, and not a well developed character. I think all of these parents are neglectful in a way, and have a very hands off approach to raising their kids once they are pass the age of 9. She keeps their father away from them which makes sense as to why BUT this isn’t developed enough. There is a lot of things (for all characters) that happens off the pages and we are readers are just supposed to be fine with that. It weakens the characters and the plot. The only smart thing she did was move her family out of that area because all those girls were a danger to her children.

Now that I’m at the end of the book I don’t think Leo is as much as of a threat that Pip makes him to be. I think he is a bit touchy feeling (in the way of someone that hugs almost everyone) but I do not think he’s after any of the girls. That being said, Pip is just really well aware of how fast all those other children are which is why she’s so on edge. 

Dylan seems like a nice kid, he cut of Taylor and I think it’s partly because he knows she is CRAZY. But the closer of him and Grace still being together really wasn’t enough.

Overall, I wish the characters were more developed. The parents allowing their children to get away with putting another child in A COMA is crazy. Adele allowing Taylor to move in after all that is stomach turning. 
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c0d3nam3qt's review

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2.0

This is the second Lisa Jewell book that I have read. (The first being “None of this is true”) If I hadn’t bought this one years ago, I don’t think I ever would have read another from her. After reading this one, I can confidently say, this one is my last. 

I really dislike the marketing of these two books. They don’t lead on to the type of content within and I think it is inappropriate to not make the reader at least somewhat aware. These two books deal with very dark and disturbing content. From looking into this author’s backlist, it seems that the majority deal with the same few incredibly dark and triggering subjects, but no where is it warned. The front of this book has this kitschy whimsical drawn map, but there is no whimsy here. 

Following spoilers also spoil “None of this is true”.

There are so many parallels between this story and “None of this is true”. Both have men that are objectively bad people, that don’t get even a slap on the wrist for their abhorrent behaviour. Or other characters try their absolute hardest to defend those men’s actions. The whole time you are supposed to think it is one of these awful men that did yet another awful thing, but sike it’s actually a female victim(s) turned evil/crazy/violent. Everyone who could have stopped it or could prevent something else from happening, just makes excuses and basically says it’s none of their business. Or even goes so far as to destroy evidence. There is no justice for anyone in either novel.
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thissagreads's review against another edition

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

3.0

This book was a lot slower than her other titles, with a solid mystery, but left me with more questions that I wanted. 

Pros: 

1. Fantastic detailing with the characters and their lives.

2. The best character POV is told from Pip -the younger sister of Grace- because her innocence was refreshing! Plus, it never got in the way of having and using common sense. She was smart enough to listen to her gut feelings and made better choices because of it. 

3. A solid mystery -not thriller- where there were enough secrets to make a second book.

Cons
1.
Grace’s mom could have sought out her own revenge on her daughter’s behalf….. or Grace could herself, but didn’t and for some reason that just doesn’t seem realistic.


2.
Because none of the mom’s brought the 3 sisters and their neighbor Tyler, to justice, they’re all getting away with a LITERAL crime. A crime that could’ve ended in death! Those girls -no matter how much jealousy they had between them- should’ve been forced to take some accountability for their dangerous actions and decisions. 


3. LOTS of unchecked, nasty,
pedophile behavior, that went unchecked. Leo and his gross father, were out of line when they were you get and didn’t really get any consequences.


If there was more justice brought, I think I would’ve given the book 4 stars, but I’d say this is my least favorite novel by Lisa Jewell. However, I will still read her other works, because she’s fantastic at character development and mystery writing.
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kt314's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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esv_'s review against another edition

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

2.5

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ponyoloveslex's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • 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

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sydvaldez's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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jessiejonesbentley's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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ariel_marie's review against another edition

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

3.5

It’s been awhile since I’ve read a suspense/thriller, let alone Lisa Jewell. I’ve always loved this author but this story was not one of my favorites. The characters were well developed but the excitement/thrill of the story was quite low. I did really enjoy all the background information provided on the characters and how it allowed for multiple people to be side-eyed. I enjoyed the ending - which is all I will say otherwise I will spoil it. If you’re going to check out Lisa Jewell, don’t start with this book! This story does not do her justice.
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