sooky's review against another edition
3.0
Depression, teenage drinking and abuse; some heavy topics converge in Toxic, a novel by Nicci Cloke that could have been the ultimate YA summer read, but just wasn’t.
Again, this was one of those cases where my expectations not only didn’t meet reality, but weren’t even close. Based on the blurb I thought there will be some mystery surrounding the unfortunate events that befell poor Hope who went on a “lad’s holiday” and got thoroughly fucked up. But no, sir!
Toxic is basically a collection of three stories involving Hope, Logan and Daisy, that blur into each other through the characters’ slightly messed up relationship to one another.
The only reason why I don’t think Toxic is a complete waste of space and time is because it touches upon some important topics that are relatable whether you are a teenager, like our main characters, an adult, or a parent of a teen. Is getting hammered really the best way to have a good time? If you can’t talk to your best friend about personal stuff, is he really your best friend? What if the worst bully in your life is not an asshole from school, but one of your parents? What is consent?
For Hope, Logan, Zack and the other guys in this story having a good time means getting absolutely smashed, often to the point of passing out. If nobody puked their guts out during a party, the night was not successful. I’m not sure where this idea comes from, but I must say, I encountered this sort of opinion way more often ever since I moved to England. The amount of people who considers getting stupid drunk a success and are actually proud of it are just alarmingly high, and I’m not talking about only teenagers, but some of my colleagues also share this sentiment. Mind boggling, really…
After one of these parties poor Hope ends up on the beach, completely alone. What happened to her? She has no clue, and her “friends” are no help either, simply because they abandoned her. Some friends, eh? The mystery is never solved, and it’s up to her to come to terms with it. Tough titties, but so often in life this is just how things are. It’s up to you to learn from your mistakes.
If you are still confused whether I actually liked this book or not, you are not alone. On one hand, the stories could have carried more power if they hadn’t gotten lost into tiny details, like for example the very detailed list of alcoholic drinks these kids guzzled down on a daily basis was quite unnecessary, or shit like having to spend some time trying to figure out what were text messages between characters and what are only their personal thoughts, because there was no indication of who’s texting, and it got a bit too much when they were on the group chat. Like, maybe using italics would help. No? But on the other hand, I think Nicci Cloke managed to capture the essence of being a teenager very well. You know, the classic “I have no idea what I’m doing but I won’t ask for help, because reasons“. We’ve all been there.
Depression, attempted rape and how some people treat gay people were handled really well, and yay for the author for not falling into the trap we’ve probably all seen, where mental illness is magically cured, or the bully suddenly turns into a nice guy just because happy endings are cute. Just like in real life, some characters will remain assholes and refuse to see just how wrong they are, and make friends with other assholes who validate their opinions, some will learn how to live with some shit that happened to them, while others will realize there’s no harm in being honest with the people who are there to help them.
While this book was far from being wow, there are some great messages hidden under all that rabble, and considering how short it is, you might just want to give it a try.
Again, this was one of those cases where my expectations not only didn’t meet reality, but weren’t even close. Based on the blurb I thought there will be some mystery surrounding the unfortunate events that befell poor Hope who went on a “lad’s holiday” and got thoroughly fucked up. But no, sir!
Toxic is basically a collection of three stories involving Hope, Logan and Daisy, that blur into each other through the characters’ slightly messed up relationship to one another.
The only reason why I don’t think Toxic is a complete waste of space and time is because it touches upon some important topics that are relatable whether you are a teenager, like our main characters, an adult, or a parent of a teen. Is getting hammered really the best way to have a good time? If you can’t talk to your best friend about personal stuff, is he really your best friend? What if the worst bully in your life is not an asshole from school, but one of your parents? What is consent?
For Hope, Logan, Zack and the other guys in this story having a good time means getting absolutely smashed, often to the point of passing out. If nobody puked their guts out during a party, the night was not successful. I’m not sure where this idea comes from, but I must say, I encountered this sort of opinion way more often ever since I moved to England. The amount of people who considers getting stupid drunk a success and are actually proud of it are just alarmingly high, and I’m not talking about only teenagers, but some of my colleagues also share this sentiment. Mind boggling, really…
After one of these parties poor Hope ends up on the beach, completely alone. What happened to her? She has no clue, and her “friends” are no help either, simply because they abandoned her. Some friends, eh? The mystery is never solved, and it’s up to her to come to terms with it. Tough titties, but so often in life this is just how things are. It’s up to you to learn from your mistakes.
If you are still confused whether I actually liked this book or not, you are not alone. On one hand, the stories could have carried more power if they hadn’t gotten lost into tiny details, like for example the very detailed list of alcoholic drinks these kids guzzled down on a daily basis was quite unnecessary, or shit like having to spend some time trying to figure out what were text messages between characters and what are only their personal thoughts, because there was no indication of who’s texting, and it got a bit too much when they were on the group chat. Like, maybe using italics would help. No? But on the other hand, I think Nicci Cloke managed to capture the essence of being a teenager very well. You know, the classic “I have no idea what I’m doing but I won’t ask for help, because reasons“. We’ve all been there.
Depression, attempted rape and how some people treat gay people were handled really well, and yay for the author for not falling into the trap we’ve probably all seen, where mental illness is magically cured, or the bully suddenly turns into a nice guy just because happy endings are cute. Just like in real life, some characters will remain assholes and refuse to see just how wrong they are, and make friends with other assholes who validate their opinions, some will learn how to live with some shit that happened to them, while others will realize there’s no harm in being honest with the people who are there to help them.
While this book was far from being wow, there are some great messages hidden under all that rabble, and considering how short it is, you might just want to give it a try.
cjmrand's review against another edition
5.0
I started this book believing I was going into a 3 star read - honestly, the British holiday drinking culture was fun to read about, but just that - no substance (side note, a contemporary set in the UK/with British characters - especially English - is always a huge positive for me because the cultural references and small details make it so much more realistic for me than some American high school experience. I digress).
But then the pace changed - I mean, I knew it was coming but the execution was fantastic. The rating just went up and up from that point. Don't get me wrong, it was a hard book to read - I found the descriptions of depression difficult to pull myself through because sixth form happened to coincide with my depression (now diagnosed and being treated, thank god) getting quickly much worse. It felt so real, it felt like a strange cross between reading about me, about people I know, and about strangers I'd never met but who share the same experience of being a teenager in England in the late 2010s.
I don't think this review is making much sense, I'm still reeling a little bit from finishing this masterpiece of a book. Contemporaries aren't usually my favourite genre, they don't give me the sense of magic and wonder a nice low fantasy might, but this made me feel something else which I appreciated, maybe even a bit more - being shown the world as it is, with all its crap, and seeing yourself there, surviving.
This was just a last-minute decision to add to bulk up my order, and honestly, I've never been so grateful to have stumbled across something that really struck a chord with me. This book covers drinking culture, toxic masculinity, mental health, sexual assault, and captures the feeling of sixth form so aptly and skillfully in under 300 pages, without skipping on details or rushing the story forwards. Cloke has an incredible ability to make you do a complete 180 on your judgment of a character and to tangle your own emotions with those in the story.
Highly recommend, this is so underrated.
But then the pace changed - I mean, I knew it was coming but the execution was fantastic. The rating just went up and up from that point. Don't get me wrong, it was a hard book to read - I found the descriptions of depression difficult to pull myself through because sixth form happened to coincide with my depression (now diagnosed and being treated, thank god) getting quickly much worse. It felt so real, it felt like a strange cross between reading about me, about people I know, and about strangers I'd never met but who share the same experience of being a teenager in England in the late 2010s.
I don't think this review is making much sense, I'm still reeling a little bit from finishing this masterpiece of a book. Contemporaries aren't usually my favourite genre, they don't give me the sense of magic and wonder a nice low fantasy might, but this made me feel something else which I appreciated, maybe even a bit more - being shown the world as it is, with all its crap, and seeing yourself there, surviving.
This was just a last-minute decision to add to bulk up my order, and honestly, I've never been so grateful to have stumbled across something that really struck a chord with me. This book covers drinking culture, toxic masculinity, mental health, sexual assault, and captures the feeling of sixth form so aptly and skillfully in under 300 pages, without skipping on details or rushing the story forwards. Cloke has an incredible ability to make you do a complete 180 on your judgment of a character and to tangle your own emotions with those in the story.
Highly recommend, this is so underrated.
stephwalshe's review against another edition
5.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This has to be one of the best books I’ve read in a while! It starts off with a group of friends going on a guys holiday plus one girl and turns into a bunch of mysteries and confusion!
One thing I liked about this book is that it was in three different perspectives.
First was Hope. She had tagged along on holiday with her 5 guy friends: Dev, Nate, JB, Zack and Logan to Malia to get drunk and party every night. They were having an amazing time and decided they would spend one of their days on a booze cruise, which is where everything started going wrong.
The next morning, after the party, Hope was woken up on a beach by two guys she’d never met before. Her friends hadn’t made sure she’d got home the night before. But that wasn’t all.
Skip to the next section which is in Logan’s point of view. Logan is Hope’s ex boyfriend but they’re still good friends. During this part of the book we find out that Logan is having a hard time coming to terms with what’s happened during the holiday.
He feels bad for flirting with Hope while having a girlfriend as well as leading her on to believe he wanted to get back together. He feels bad for leaving Hope on the beach where anything could’ve happened to her. He feels bad for being led astray by Zack while he was drunk and beating a guy up two against one. He also feels bad that a girl he met once while on holiday goes missing, he worried this could’ve happened to Hope. And later on this feeling is worsened once we learn she was found dead.
He ends up breaking up with his girlfriend and locking himself away in his room, barely sleeping or doing anything. His cousin later says she thinks he has depression and he does eventually start accepting people’s help.
The last section is in the point of view of Daisy. She was Logan’s girlfriend before he broke up with after the holiday. He believed she deserved better and that breaking up with her would help but all it did was make the situation worse and break her heart, especially since he did it over text.
This last part was a bit more confusing to me as it was written like Daisy was writing to someone. I thought at first it was Logan, it wasn’t but we don’t find out who it was straight away. As it goes on, we see the girls getting ready to go to a party in which Daisy gets drunk, has no idea what she’s doing and then passes out. In which time she is led outside by who she would consider a friend to “get some air”. Instead, this person is pulled off her unconscious body as she lay on the floor. This person is Zack.
The person who jokingly called Hope names after she got back to the hotel after that night alone on the beach. The person who convinced Logan it was a good idea to follow the drunk guy down an alleyway and beat him up because he was being arrogant on the boat. The person that didn’t bother contacting Logan to see if he was alright like all his other friends did. The person that completely shuts out his friend JB after he comes out as gay because who knows what people will think.
This man should be a Disney villain. He’s worse than them all put together. Towards the end of the book, JB shows up at Zack’s house, drunk. He’s upset and tells him he’s wrong about everything he’s done, that he shouldn’t have done it. He’s leaves after Zack’s dad and brother turn up. But not even halfway home and he’s beaten up by the brother and his friends to the point he has to go to the hospital. After that they have nothing to do with him and he ignores them like nothing ever happened. The rest of them end up going to Ibiza a year later to celebrate Hope’s birthday. They all seem really genuinely happy. It’s unclear whether Logan and Daisy are back together but I like to hope so.
I really hope this book has a sequel at some point as I loved it so much and I’ll definitely be reading it again!
This has to be one of the best books I’ve read in a while! It starts off with a group of friends going on a guys holiday plus one girl and turns into a bunch of mysteries and confusion!
One thing I liked about this book is that it was in three different perspectives.
First was Hope. She had tagged along on holiday with her 5 guy friends: Dev, Nate, JB, Zack and Logan to Malia to get drunk and party every night. They were having an amazing time and decided they would spend one of their days on a booze cruise, which is where everything started going wrong.
The next morning, after the party, Hope was woken up on a beach by two guys she’d never met before. Her friends hadn’t made sure she’d got home the night before. But that wasn’t all.
Skip to the next section which is in Logan’s point of view. Logan is Hope’s ex boyfriend but they’re still good friends. During this part of the book we find out that Logan is having a hard time coming to terms with what’s happened during the holiday.
He feels bad for flirting with Hope while having a girlfriend as well as leading her on to believe he wanted to get back together. He feels bad for leaving Hope on the beach where anything could’ve happened to her. He feels bad for being led astray by Zack while he was drunk and beating a guy up two against one. He also feels bad that a girl he met once while on holiday goes missing, he worried this could’ve happened to Hope. And later on this feeling is worsened once we learn she was found dead.
He ends up breaking up with his girlfriend and locking himself away in his room, barely sleeping or doing anything. His cousin later says she thinks he has depression and he does eventually start accepting people’s help.
The last section is in the point of view of Daisy. She was Logan’s girlfriend before he broke up with after the holiday. He believed she deserved better and that breaking up with her would help but all it did was make the situation worse and break her heart, especially since he did it over text.
This last part was a bit more confusing to me as it was written like Daisy was writing to someone. I thought at first it was Logan, it wasn’t but we don’t find out who it was straight away. As it goes on, we see the girls getting ready to go to a party in which Daisy gets drunk, has no idea what she’s doing and then passes out. In which time she is led outside by who she would consider a friend to “get some air”. Instead, this person is pulled off her unconscious body as she lay on the floor. This person is Zack.
The person who jokingly called Hope names after she got back to the hotel after that night alone on the beach. The person who convinced Logan it was a good idea to follow the drunk guy down an alleyway and beat him up because he was being arrogant on the boat. The person that didn’t bother contacting Logan to see if he was alright like all his other friends did. The person that completely shuts out his friend JB after he comes out as gay because who knows what people will think.
This man should be a Disney villain. He’s worse than them all put together. Towards the end of the book, JB shows up at Zack’s house, drunk. He’s upset and tells him he’s wrong about everything he’s done, that he shouldn’t have done it. He’s leaves after Zack’s dad and brother turn up. But not even halfway home and he’s beaten up by the brother and his friends to the point he has to go to the hospital. After that they have nothing to do with him and he ignores them like nothing ever happened. The rest of them end up going to Ibiza a year later to celebrate Hope’s birthday. They all seem really genuinely happy. It’s unclear whether Logan and Daisy are back together but I like to hope so.
I really hope this book has a sequel at some point as I loved it so much and I’ll definitely be reading it again!
chrissireads's review against another edition
3.0
I thought that this sounded like an intriguing read, so I decided to request it. It was a story all about friendship and how it can go toxic over time…
It starts with a girl named Hope who is on holiday with a group of her guy friends. One night, things go terribly wrong for Hope and her friends. Relationships start to get broken. Each person is hiding something from another. The story is told through three narratives- Hope, Logan and Daisy. As expected (for me), I did prefer some narratives to others. I could have done without Daisy’s narrative.
I loved that Toxic had a male character with depression. It’s not nearly represented as much as it should be. So a big thumbs up for Nicci Cloke for that!
Something that I really enjoyed about this book were the characters. So many had flaws and I loved that. No one loves a perfect character, do they? I did get a little frustrated with some of their actions and behaviour but that didn’t stop me from reading the story. I think most of the actions and the relationships between the characters are very true to life.
Whilst this book didn’t blow me away, I thought it was a decent read!
It starts with a girl named Hope who is on holiday with a group of her guy friends. One night, things go terribly wrong for Hope and her friends. Relationships start to get broken. Each person is hiding something from another. The story is told through three narratives- Hope, Logan and Daisy. As expected (for me), I did prefer some narratives to others. I could have done without Daisy’s narrative.
I loved that Toxic had a male character with depression. It’s not nearly represented as much as it should be. So a big thumbs up for Nicci Cloke for that!
Something that I really enjoyed about this book were the characters. So many had flaws and I loved that. No one loves a perfect character, do they? I did get a little frustrated with some of their actions and behaviour but that didn’t stop me from reading the story. I think most of the actions and the relationships between the characters are very true to life.
Whilst this book didn’t blow me away, I thought it was a decent read!
rhireadsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Certainly didnt take the route i expected.... I'm a little confused with the turn out, like 2 seperate books cut in half and glued together
kba76's review
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this one.
A timely look into toxic friendships and the damage we can do to each other in a myriad of ways.
What seems to be a good holiday kicks off a hotbed of issues for this seemingly tight-knit group of friends. Excessive drinking, drugs, rape, homophobia...and a bit of angst about exams/futures and family relationships.
From within these pages emerged some characters that you really couldn’t help but admire-Daisy, Nate and J.B. in particular.
There’s plenty to dislike, but it was certainly an interesting read and the shifting views made for a well-plotted reveal.
A timely look into toxic friendships and the damage we can do to each other in a myriad of ways.
What seems to be a good holiday kicks off a hotbed of issues for this seemingly tight-knit group of friends. Excessive drinking, drugs, rape, homophobia...and a bit of angst about exams/futures and family relationships.
From within these pages emerged some characters that you really couldn’t help but admire-Daisy, Nate and J.B. in particular.
There’s plenty to dislike, but it was certainly an interesting read and the shifting views made for a well-plotted reveal.
maitaylor01's review against another edition
4.0
Initially I found this book to be faintly reminiscent of Colin Butt's "Is Harry On The Boat?" just told from the tourists perspective. It took me back to my first parent-free holiday and the antics that my friends and I got up to - the difference being that we always stuck together. As the points of view change throughout the book and the truth of what really happened on the holiday is revealed, you realise that this book goes a lot deeper than the initial chapters suggest, and you come to see that each of the characters was left with something far worse than a hangover after the fated boat party.
Covering topics such as depression and homophobia in teenage boys, and the question of consent and the placing of blame on intoxicated girls, this book has a much darker message than the light-hearted holiday romp that I first thought it would be. These subjects are handled well, and I think this books serves as a strong message for teenagers who are just stepping towards adulthood.
Covering topics such as depression and homophobia in teenage boys, and the question of consent and the placing of blame on intoxicated girls, this book has a much darker message than the light-hearted holiday romp that I first thought it would be. These subjects are handled well, and I think this books serves as a strong message for teenagers who are just stepping towards adulthood.