Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas

110 reviews

eedle_cacleberry's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Grief

Minor: Drug use and Pregnancy

itsmemiana's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

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

2.5

time to rant.....

okay so I wanna start by saying that if you liked this book, I totally respect your opinion and I honestly wish that was me because I wish I could like every book I read especially one that I've been wanting to read for so long. 🫶🏼

my face throughout the whole book was like this: 🤨😬😐

but anyways, I hated literally every single character in this book and SO MANY scenes gave me the ick.

these characters, both the main and the side characters had everything I absolutely hate about real life people... lying, faking and the worst thing of all.... bullying.... (and beyond).

I hated Ryen so much, I honestly didn't sympathise with her once over her constant explanations on why she was how she was..... I have zero sympathy for bullies and the dude she bullied is better than me because when she apologised, I would've given her the middle finger and told her to fuck off.

and Misha was annoying and a weirdo. obviously I sympathised with him over his sister, I can't imagine having to go through that but everything else... brother ewww... also, wtf is his problem with taking no's??? I feel like she constantly said "oh I don't wanna do this rn" and he would persuade her???? hello???? police????? and if I remember correctly there was even a moment where he threatened something (I just don't remember what LMAO).

I'm gonna admit that there is one thing Ryen pissed me off for but it's because I'm also guilty of that and I hate that about myself, which is choosing bad friends (HOWEVER as bad as I've chosen, I'd never let them bully other people in front of me, much less me joining them in the bullying).

and I think this is how I realise I do in fact have a limit on how much smut I mind in a book..... for me, it's the same if a book has smut or doesn't, I don't mind either way but now I know there's definitely something as too much smut. (or maybe it's because the rest of the book had a shitty plot, who knows). but I definitely thought this book had a bit too much.

also, can we talk about how this was set in high school?????? I know teenagers have sex (even tho I didn't LMAO) but come on....

this was my first ever Penelope Douglas book and I have Birthday Girl on my tbr but now idk if I should read it. but I guess I might give her another chance with that book, but we'll see.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, Violence, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Fatphobia, Pregnancy, and Outing

emptzuu's review against another edition

Penelope Douglas' books often feel like she has watched too many teen horror movies. I hated Corrupt and only picked up this book because it’s popular and was available at my library when I had nothing else to read. Despite having watched shows like Euphoria, Skins, and Shameless, which are known for their portrayal of teens doing "adult" stuff, I found this book's content disappointing. Many people seem to confuse horror for dark romance. This book is not romance. I didn’t make it past chapter three, and I’m glad I didn’t because the reviews indicate that it is extremely problematic and misogynistic.

The first chapter is all over the place, bouncing from writing lyrics to seeing his sister to watching a video, yet I feel like I learned more about Misha's sister than about him. The author employs heavy-handed telling instead of showing, keeping readers at arm’s length. When Misha saw the video of Ryen, it came out of nowhere and felt underwhelming instead of surprising. The author over-describes how people look and what they wear but doesn't add much emotion. A lot of the narrative is just “he did this, then did that, and then this happened.” Nothing feels connected.

Ryen feels like a whinier version of Misha. The characters are so poorly developed that I can't tell their voices apart. Nothing important seems to be happening, and I don’t understand how half of the events relate to the plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Toxic relationship

booksandgore's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

chelle22's review against another edition

challenging mysterious

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

sbordo's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Sexual content

Minor: Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

jasfieldx's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Punk 57… what can I say, this book has been on my TBR for at least 2 years and after mixed reviews and putting it off I finally bit the bullet and jumped in.

This book takes you on all sorts of twists and turns that really aren’t expected! There is a lot of suspense and tension built up within this book and a lot of wtaf moments that, tbh I’m not entirely sure were very relevant to the story line and the book may have flowed slightly better without so many paths that the characters went down 

The spice in this book was good, it wasn’t too cringe and didn’t happen on every single page so when if did happen, it was creating a moment between Ryen and Misha that made their relationship feel special and created depth between them. 

3 stars because it’s a good, fast paced book with a good storyline, likeable FMC but the book has some flaws like the MMC romanticises fairly toxic behaviours from the start that don’t really improve until the end of the book, the bullying across the board just isn’t really needed and the ending is just a bit flat but, I’d still recommend this book because I did enjoy reading it and will be reading more from Penelope Douglas soon

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

charliebites's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

lancy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The book was good loved the character development but most sense made me tense up a bit or were to uncomfortable scene that made me realize how much I hated men but overall it was a Good book donnot recommend for kids under the age of 13 -15  ...yeath the scenes are too graphic 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

maria_schnecki's review against another edition

2.5

why? Not gonna lie, it kept me entertained but I also kinda feel icky about that, so yeah.
I liked the premise - pen pals that are not sure their friendship would survive the switch from just communicating by letters to meeting in person. There was potential there. I also liked the idea of having a not super likeable mc that has a great personality development. However, that was just not it.
Why all the bullying? Why? I get it, insecurities are tough and lead to ugly behaviour in some people, but... that does not excuse what this story is portraying. Also, our male mc

going the psycho route when finding out that said penpal is not a "nerdy loser" but a popular mean girl? Sorry, but whilst I might get being angry about being deceived for years (kinda), there is just no going back from that. The way Misha is overly possesive, brutal, mean and aggresive? Not something you can just have a good talk and be back to normal. But the author knows at least that, so what is the next best thing? Crime and very awkward hate-sex. Idk man but thats just not it. Also, albeit the not-so-great smut scenes, I did not hate this book by this point (mind you I also didn't enjoy it), but the ending??? What is going on? It would have been fine if Misha and Ryen had their happy ending, I get that, romance genre and all. But to have the audacity to assume the victim of years of bullying through the hands of Ryen (yes, standing by is, at the age of 18, something that you have to accept responsibility for) just joins their friend group for some fun times? Yeah no, you did the poor guy so dirty. At least leave him out of there. Most people deserve their happy ending, but not at the cost of other peoples well-being. Yikes

so yeah, yikes. Do not read if you get upset by bullying, aggressive behaviour, fighting ( both physical and verbal), sexual harassment and yeah like lots of bullying

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment