Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

75 reviews

junefish's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Vomit, and Death of parent

heather_harrison'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

3.75

Really enjoyed this - the dual timelines, the academic setting, the twists. Narration was fantastic. The real let down was just the length of this - it really didn’t need to go on for so long. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

maikelenz's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

1.5

I saw a lot of potential here regarding the setting, the split between the present and past, and Hannah's memory loss. However, I was very disappointed. The pacing was incredibly slow, April was so nasty in the flashbacks that it took a lot of suspension of disbelief that she even had a friendship group - let alone a best friend - and the protagonist was so stupid that it was at times painful to get through the book (the sentence "She has been so, so stupid" also appears multiple times in the book). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

bbbeth's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, and Pregnancy

tltorrez's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

The twists and turns were good. Never quite sure who did it or how or why though all the clues were there. Hannah’s character development was also good. But overall the book felt too long and the beginning started pretty slow. It picked up midway though. Overall solid but not my favorite Ware book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Toxic friendship

tiamaria3's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug use and Gun violence

hauntedantiqueshop's review

mysterious 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

1.5

Quick question— who WASN’T April fucking? Like, good for her but every time a name got added to the list I couldn’t help but wonder when she had the time. She must have had impeccable scheduling skills.

ANYWAYSSS

It’s entirely possible that I just don’t like Ruth Ware’s writing. This book’s friend group sucked ass (not a moral in sight betwixt them) and not one of them had any reasonable consequences for their actions. I don’t understand the heavily understated obsession with practical jokes or why no one just mollywopped April one good time. There were a lot of red herrings but the ultimate twist was boring and unsurprising.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Stalking and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, and Alcohol

anne_reader's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

em_gauts's review against another edition

mysterious slow-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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Toxic friendship

dilani's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

3.5

This book is a well written thriller that makes you doubt every character. Although it felt slow to start, I found myself getting into it closer to the halfway point. 

There were moments that I didn’t understand the MC’s thought process . But after all, she was well into her first pregnancy. So I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Infidelity, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use and Gun violence