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cathcasper's review against another edition
- 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
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
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
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
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Lesbophobia
amanda_reads89's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
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
- 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
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
- 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
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
- 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
Graphic: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Lesbophobia
sebradley29's review against another edition
- 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
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 against another edition
- 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
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.
- Present day: OTT highly improbable (suspend all your disbelief)
- Past: Realistic IRL horrors of bullying
- 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
Format: Library Audio via Libby
Graphic: Bullying, Self harm, and Violence
Moderate: Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Self harm, Suicide, and Excrement