Reviews tagging 'Grief'

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

90 reviews

ashleysager's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Child death, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Alcoholism, Addiction, Self harm, Grief, Death, Terminal illness, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicide

pink_princess_24's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

I loved this book it took me 2 months to read even with being busy. The book seems really long but it's not. I liked how the book would change in different perspectives.  The book kind of gives it away on how Simon died in the middle of the book and then you end up just reading the rest of the book for the romance. It also leaves you on a cliff hanger. I liked the book so much I got the second one so i'm not left wondering what else happens.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Suicide, Drug use, Grief, and Suicide attempt

prairieraven's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Outing, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Grief, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Drug use, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

confessionsofabibliophile's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

🔴Might contain spoilers.🔴

Upon reading the first few chapters of this book, I was sucked in. It gave me Pretty Little Liars vibes with a splash of The Breakfast Club thrown in. Unsure if in the future when the "Bayview Four" are named the Murder Club if this was McManus paying homage to the 80s classic, even if it wasn't a little Easter Egg it made me laugh. 

The book takes place in an area of California, I know all too well. Which gave me the ability to immerse myself more into the read. We follow in the first few chapters 5 students: Bronwyn Rojas; very girl next door, top of the class and squeaky clean or so we think, she reminded me of Molly Ringwalds character in The Breakfast Club. Adelaide "Addy" Prentiss; miss popularity dating star athlete the perfect pair, everyone knows who she is by name and by who she is dating but not who ADDY is which let me tell you at the start I really didn't care too much for her she seemed like filler until her story and personal development begins to unfold. She gave me a mix of Hannah from PLL. Cooper Clay; all American golden boy, with the perfect life, grades, MLB scouts pick and the perfect girl, but Coop is hiding a secret that he is worried might end his perfect facade. He is the male counterpart to Emily from PLL. Next, we have Nathaniel "Nate"' Macauley; is the bad boy, down on his luck, guy from the other side of the tracks the only one without a squeaky clean past. He screams a hybrid of Caleb Rivers (PLL) and John Bender (TBC)! Lastly we have Simon Kelleher, he is the school gossip app specialist, secret digger and lie detector. The homecoming court prince that no one seems to think much of. Simon screams A from PLL!!! We start with 5 then someone dies and then the Bayview Four is born and our Murder Club strangers become the unlikely friends that solve the mystery behind the murder.

The characters were well written and I felt connected to them. I think Addy was one of the best character development progressions I have seen for a character set up like Addy. The plot flowed well with no holes that I could find. The story had a good pace, it felt smooth and effortless as it progressed and you begin to unravel the truth about the murder and the Bayview Four. With that being said the ending that was supposed to be a twist and shock, it was to an extent but I had thought about the possibility earlier on in the story, though it didn't change my Oh My God moment. 

All in all it was a great quick read that took about a day. Definitely going to read her other books in the series and absolutely will watch the tv show! I totally recommend this YA murder mystery/thriller with a slice of life setting!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Murder, Death, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Physical abuse

Minor: Cancer, Mass/school shootings, Homophobia, Abandonment, Addiction, Classism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

kkuecker218's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Outing, Bullying, Suicide, Death, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Mass/school shootings

2j4d3's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Death of parent, Grief, Addiction, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cancer

jessicayaun's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Homophobia, and Child death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Stalking, Medical content, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Outing, and Grief

creativeworld's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

An easy read and a fun mystery. The ending was satisfying, although I hate Nate the rest of the characters are good. Exactly the kind of book I was looking for. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, and Car accident

Minor: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Self harm, Mass/school shootings, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

bookish_bae'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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Very good romance, page turner, hard to guess ending 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Outing, Grief, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Car accident, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Self harm, and Alcoholism

Spoiler

suicide and school shootings

conspystery's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book was extremely popular when I started high school-- I tried to read it a number of times, but I just couldn’t get into it and would always abandon it before finishing the first chapter. Recently, I came across the audiobook ready to borrow at my library, so I thought I’d give it one last try before I gave up on it. I’m glad I did, but even still, One of Us is Lying wasn’t as exceptional as I’d expected from all the hype.

I thought the plot was decently interesting, but I struggled to suspend my disbelief throughout the book. The actual premise of the murder mystery feels, to me, almost cartoonish. Peanut oil? Really? It just feels a little off, like the book wasn’t totally committed to the dark themes it later explores. Another place I found this was in Cooper’s character, unfortunately. I really liked him and his plotline, and I thought it was reasonably well done (if a little bit predictable)-- my issue was minor, but it was still there. In particular, I felt a little bit weird about

Spoiler

the subtext behind the emphasis on his Southern accent. To me, it felt like the Southern accent was being used as a subconscious red herring for his character arc, since a lot of the time the American South is associated with conservatism and, thus, homophobia. I think he comments on it after everything is revealed, how difficult it is to be gay in a Southern family. This is an interesting thing to explore, but I don’t know how I feel about the subtextual equation of Southernness and homophobia, even if it’s only used as a “gotcha” moment later on. If that wasn’t what his accent was included for… then why would it have been emphasized at all? It felt a little bit insincere and cheap to me, no matter how well the audiobook narrator sold it-- more on that later.

This was a recurring theme in the novel: tonal dissonance, between the plot and its themes or its characters and its details or anything at all, really. And not usually in a good or intentional way. 

Further on that point, there was a massive disparity between the stakes involved for each character. Bronwyn’s entire situation isn’t even remotely comparable to Cooper’s, or Addy’s to Nate’s-- I think probably this was to make some point about how our struggles are deeply subjective and influenced by our perceptions of life, and I do think Bronwyn, as the de facto protagonist, explores that at least a little bit in her character development. Even so, it was a bit jarring, and sometimes almost felt preachy, or too clean cut. The wide breadth of subject matter McManus takes on is serious in all of its facets, but to me most of its presentation feels filed down, made more easily consumable in this narrative. I understand this is YA, so some level of narrowing and predictability is to be expected, but I just wish there was more of a commitment to really going in depth here. All of that makes the ultimate resolution of the mystery somewhat contrived, anticlimactic, and even a little bit hokey, which takes away from the serious message it’s trying to convey.

This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy One of Us is Lying. I did. I thought the audiobook performance was genuinely phenomenal; I was about to write “especially Nate’s and Bronwyn’s sections” since Robbie Daymond and Kim Mai Guest were a huge reason I picked up the audiobook at all, but then I thought to add Cooper’s as standout, and also Addy’s, and then I found myself looking up the whole cast. So, an absolute round of applause to Robbie Daymond as Nate, Kim Mai Guest as Bronwyn, MacLeod Andrews as Cooper, and Sharon McManus as Addy-- they were awesome. No matter how contrived or simplified I felt the message of the book was, it was still a lot of fun. For a YA book, this does what it needs to do, and pretty well. It’s accessible to teens and relevant to them, probably, and I like the genuine care the narrative and author seem to have for their audience. My criticisms probably hail from the fact that I think I’ve somewhat aged out of YA, so I’m not the target audience for a book like this. If I’d read it five years ago as a freshman in high school, I think it would have been perfect for me, and maybe that’s all I can expect from it. 

My thoughts on the sequel are another story. But One of Us is Lying was overall a solid YA thriller, no matter how picky I am about it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Death of parent

The conclusion to the main mystery is both a massive spoiler and possibly intensely triggering, so I'll leave it under a spoiler tag:

Spoiler

be aware that this book contains a pretty detailed exploration of suicide.

Further (another spoiler), one of the plotlines contains

Spoiler

outing and homophobia as important character arc details.

This might not be the best book for you if you're sensitive to serious content matter, but don't want to be spoiled about the mystery first.