Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

51 reviews

jillie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

I don’t know what Simone St. James puts in her books but i’m officially obsessed. I doubted how she would tie together the timelines but I shouldn’t have. 

This one took me a little longer to get into than The Book of Cold Cases and The Sun Down Motel, but I was engrossed once I got into it. I really enjoyed the ensemble cast. The romance in this one wasn’t my favorite but it’s such a small plot point that it doesn’t really affect anything. 

November 2023

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Antisemitism, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, and Police brutality

exlibrissum's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

moonylovesstars's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Honestly had me on edge the whole time. And for the first time I actually felt nervous when turning off the light at night. It captured me and I think it represented trauma pretty well. But some parts just didn’t peak my interest as much. But it was a good read over all.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Gore and Injury/Injury detail

pauinha6's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

It’s entirely horrible and sad and I absolutely loved it.

My chest was heavy with grief and and sympathy and horror throughout the entire book and yet Broken Girls got it’s claws around my heart and dove in, leaving a mark that will never disappear entirely.

The ugly, the tears, the rage… it’s all part of an amazing story, told in dual times but including more than that. From the 1940’s till 2014. The generational grief in this book is something i hope we never forget.

Historical fiction with very real events, mystery, murder, thriller, supernatural, psychological horror, romance, evil women and bad ass smart girls, it has it all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Gaslighting

dalek_caan's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

I found the plot of this book to be really well executed. I did not expect that it would have quite so many layers as it did, I really enjoyed this author's method of storytelling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Antisemitism, and Abandonment

Minor: Violence and War

pibblemama97's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and War

alsndra's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

- Starts off slow, but the pace picks up almost half way through.
- I found the chapters set in the 1950s to be more interesting than the chapters set in 2014. This was because I wanted to know more about the girls than Fiona and her life. 
- I liked the elements of the paranormal, it definitely added some eeriness and mystery to the school setting.
- Wasn’t a fan of all the leads and names I had to keep up with and remember. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Suicide, Police brutality, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, and Antisemitism

haleybre's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

b_lownds127's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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

3.0

I really enjoyed parts of this story, the ghost story for one, the 1950 storyline for another. The 2014 storyline felt forced and unrealistic to me, I did not feel the "romance" of the characters to be convincing and the Big Bad felt incredibly over the top. 

<<<<<Spoiler: 

I felt the resolution of the ghost story was too vague, I really enjoyed the resolution of the 1950 murder, and was irritated beyond tolerance by the end of the 2014 mystery. I felt the author was making a great point about the "good ole boy" cops and small town quid pro quo system with victim silencing accompanied by shoddy police work and then she completely went off the rails and gave us a cop willing to literally hide bodies, cover up murders, kill a journalist, and then shoot at his own son. All the believability ebbed away at that point and I feel the MC's conversation with the irritated chief of police at the end of the book made a better point than the rest of the "corrupt cop" storyline. >>>>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, Murder, and War

savvyrosereads's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Rating: 4/5 stars

Told in dual timelines, The Broken Girls is the story of four best friends at a remote boarding school for troubled teens, and a journalist trying to learn buried details of her sister’s murder.

I love a good ghost story, and Simone St. James writes some of the best. The Sun Down Motel remains one of my all time favorites thrillers, and I really enjoyed The Book of Cold Cases earlier this year, so I was super excited to get my hands on The Broken Girls this spooky season. Overall I really enjoyed it—the themes of female friendship and empowerment were really meaningful to me, and I particularly loved the underlying message about the importance of telling stories and not erasing women’s trauma.

I will say that I ultimately wanted a little more from the plot, which sometimes felt a bit disconnected to me, and I wish there had been a bigger twist or two. Still, the creepy boarding school vibes and hauntingly (pun very intended) beautiful writing definitely make this a top notch recommendation for this time of year!

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: ghost stories; stories about uncovering and healing from trauma; dual timeline thrillers

CW: Death/murder/attempted murder (including of a child); grief; sexual assault/rape; traumatic brain injury; mentions of anti-semitism/Nazism/concentration camps; mentions of PTSD/suicide/suicide attempt; miscarriage/stillbirth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use