Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine

7 reviews

dizzymisslizzy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual violence and Vomit

k_shimer's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, and Blood

Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexism, and Sexual content

purplejazz97's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

I think this story was lost on me. I don't really know if I understand what I read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, Blood, and Medical content

Minor: Vomit, Stalking, and Murder

breeoxd's review

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

People say this is too flowery and overwritten, but it suited me just fine. Fit the baroque Venetian setting and dark academia tone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

melissa_b_67's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Infidelity, Sexism, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

maaikereadsbooks_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

Many thanks to Headline and Julia Fine for the advanced copy of Maddalena and the Dark via NetGalley, in return for my honest and unbiased review. Quick note: I don’t recap plots in my reviews, as it’s easy enough to read the book’s synopsis and blurbs, I purely focus on my feelings & opinions of how the books makes me feel. 

This is a tale of longing and horror. Of lust and jealousy. 

I do wish book blurbs would stop comparing books to other, already-published books. This can unfairly set a book up to fail if it is compared to a particular favourite if it does not quite meet the standards of the mentioned book in the reader’s mind. 

Maddalena and the Dark is well written and is a sapphic tale of unrequited, jealous love. The strong and, at times rather terrifying, emotions come through well on the page, and Julia Fine is obviously an accomplished writer. 

However, somehow the book just didn’t quite do it for me. It just fell flat for me. Maybe it’s a lack of detail surrounding some of the more important aspects, a convenient ability for the characters to do what they like to make the story work, when it would not really work that way. Maybe it’s a lack of depth that would have added too many pages to this novel. I’m not sure. 

Overall, this is a good book and well written and I do recommend it. I just can’t say it’s a great book. And that’s fine! 

Themes: forbidden love, ‘If I can’t have you, nobody will’, LGBTQ+, oblivious to love, orphan, peril, unrequited love 

Spice: 0.5/5 

Trigger warnings: Death, Misogyny, Physical or mental abuse, Sexism 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny and Toxic friendship

Minor: Emotional abuse and Sexism

behindpaperbacks's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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