Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling

9 reviews

keelirae113's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Transphobia and Vomit

annorabrady's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

This book went in many different directions. I almost DNF'd at the beginning then the story started to pick up. And I got into it until I got blindsided by

the parental death. As someone who unexpectedly lost their mom in the last year, that definitely threw me back into the trauma

. 

Overall, I'm not sure how I feel about the story. I gave it a 3 because it was entertaining enough. But this isn't one I am going to revisit. 

If you have emotional triggers, be aware and proceed with caution. This hits on a lot of things that could get people. I've done my best to list the ones I can remember. 

As an aside, this book is not diverse. Beyond the romance and the ex, there's one closeted character who gets little page time and one gay character who gets an even smaller part. Then there's nothing. Everyone is white. If there aren't white characters, they're not described. In real life, Salem has close to 18% of their population identifying as latine and nearly 4% as black. Surely there could have been a friend, family member, or other recurring character who wasn't white. 

After giving myself time to think about it, I genuinely don't understand the purpose of killing off her father beyond shock value. It didn't add anything to the story. She learned nothing new – he died while trying to give her a clue but didn't actually say anything – and her actions didn't change.

It also would have made more sense narratively if he hasn't died, especially in terms of Victoria being left alone after getting her magic back. 

Hannah would have saved Victoria regardless of her father's death. She was just as invested in the identity of the witch hunter before and after his death. And his death didn't add to any of her struggles or character development. He just died. And then he had a funeral. And she said she was upset about it.

Losing a parent changes you. Especially if it's a parent you have a good relationship with. It fundamentally changes so much of your life, your beliefs, and your priorities. And I saw none of that reflected in what Hannah did at the end of the book. Hannah was still the same character, she was just down a parent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

koraisreadingnow's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.75

If not for Veronica's character bugging the complete shit out of me, i would have given this book a 5 out of 5. I normally don't cry at books (especially when my suspicions were confirmed) so this one really surprised me. I already got the second book, beside me so i'm excited to read more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Genocide, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Outing

katattack345's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

It was fine. I thought it was an easy but fun read. Just a tad predictable for my taste. It is YA and I am no longer that so it could be why. 

 I probably won’t continue the series but it was a nice read. I would recommend it to the youths though

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol

_toni_'s review against another edition

fast-paced

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

2.0

This book reads much more like middle grade than YA. There was a lot “considering” going on in this novel. ‘He considers me…she considers me…’ It got very repetitive. None of the characters besides Gemma were likable. Though it is addressed by the MC, the relationship between her and Veronica is beyond toxic and I despised reading about it. It was probably my least favorite part of the story BESIDES one thing. 
The twist villain is not a twist villain. It’s obvious right off the bat who the villain is and it was frustrating that Hannah couldn’t figure it out.
HOWEVER, I am very happy that lesbians and bisexual people got some good representation in this novel. That’s the one silver lining for me.
Overall though, this book was a miss for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death

jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

Loved this reading.  Magic and covens with sapphic riddled through out - including not only the MC’s first ex gf but also another budding potential love interest.  

Unexpected villians and betrayals left me shocked and I’m so glad I own the second as ill be reading it asap. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

solarel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

3.0

I’ll give this one a flat 3 out of five enjoyment from me. Honestly the first half felt gimmicky and flat. It was a lot, and I mean a lot, of telling not showing. Often times repeatedly. 

But! The second half really picked up and once the pieces all fell into place the story actually took hold. The stakes increased with every mistake and Hannah’s reactions felt very real. I don’t cry for books often and twice I was tearing up. 

For a YA some of the silly teen-isms are to be expected. I’m glad I pushed through to read the second half. It was fun. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Biphobia, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Alcohol

sofpopi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Hate crime, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

caitlink's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship