Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

10 reviews

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.25

The romance angle continued to be very cringe in this one, and the plot was predictable.  It was odd that towards the end it was laid out as a kind of twist when it felt so obvious that I was questioning if maybe it was circling into red herring territory but nope.

Serves it's purpose for being a book I don't care about in between other books I do.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lottie_j'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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

rinku's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Alcohol

mikathereviewer'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? Yes

3.0

This time we get a greater spotlight of Dean and his past. We also get betrayal, fights and many other tense and emotional things. And if you like school settings; This one is for you! This book is definitely more tense than the first one. And I would also say that this book is more character focused (and its relationships) than plot focused like we used to have in the first book. 

I really liked how the trauma was depictured in this book and that not everyone deals with it the same.

We have a character who hides its emotions and acts as if everything is fine (suppressing behaviour), one who has flashbacks and bottling its emotions, one that feels left out on everything and like the odd one out, guilt and remorse for something that wasn't in its control, one who can't control its jealousy and feeling abandoned and finally one who feels like a survivor even though it was a victim.

In this book we get lots more character insights and also backstory from those who we missed in the first book. If you couldn't decide yet whether or not you like a character or who your favourite might be, here is your perfect chance to get to know them all and get a picture of them. 

Fortunately we get less romance for this one, which is a relief for me, considering how annoying and just out of the theme/genre it was. Like we were in a crime scene but also had a romantic midlife crisis?? And their fighting also got less, at least in my opinion. The only romance aspect is near the end of this book. 

I wish I could say something good this time about Lia as I already mentioned in my other review that I had mixed feelings about her and that her natural lie detector isn't that much of any use (reasonsed in my other review). But this time she really went too far. Not only did she put words into another character's mouth, but she also didn't accept any apology and never saw herself as the one who acted up. She is so childish to not admit her own wrongdoings but poking at other's. 
(Also the reason I gave why her 'power' is useless turned out to be just as I thought to be a logic hole as she apparently can detect a lie even if the person was a psychopath who couldn't care less to lie)

The part with the whole apprentice thing was SO OBVIOUS. Also that there were more than one in the end, I even joked about this! I also joked that there might as well can be a third one! What is thisssss and why does the author out of now has the same thought pattern as me??? She didn't have that in the first book. But I think the part how Dean had his first own victim was a bit surprising. I mean when Dean said he watched I was already thinking that he was probably forced to also act, but I wasn't that sure and I wasn't sure on whom. It was also obvious with the letters Reading got as he already mentioned this before and the focus was on it anyway before we got our answer. Also what the... it was Webber? I even highlighted that name but was like: He barely got screen time he won't be it. Funny how he is the only surprising plot twist.

Cassie gets treated so unfair that it made me kinda pissed off. She takes the blame for everything, covers for the rest of the group and gets almost only a real punishment than just words and Lia didn't even say thanks and just got mad at her even, like what? Imagine taking all the blame even though none of it was your idea getting punishment and all you get is; It’s embarrassing. Really. If you stay here, you’ll get us all caught.'. She got caught not for the reason Lia even said and for a total different one and no one seemed to care.

The ending was shocking. And then the very very end was so exciting. Aaah finally!! They deserved it so much! 
Also the word 'All In' was already used for this book, so I'm curious to know what the title actually means for the next book in this series.

In case anyone needs this — Here are ALL in real life serial killers mentioned in this book:
1. Charles Manson
2. John Wayne Gacy
3. Ted Bundy
4. Jeffrey Dahmer


This book mentions adult/minor relationship in a sexual way. It is only briefly mentioned (very briefly!) but here is anyway the following chapters that mention it: Chapter 16 (the ending only), chapter 17, chapter 20 (only the ending), chapter 21 page 5-8
There is also other content than this in these chapters so try to just skip the crucial part in these and not the full chapter. 
Also; Each chapter after chapter 16 just repeats the same thing so there is no new info about it. The mention of it is only a few sentences and also quite vaguely. 


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By the way shout-out to my country's famous philospher Nietzsche who was mentioned in this book 😂

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Suicide, Stalking, and Abandonment

vibingandy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

jennifer lynn barnes has once again set up a love triangle and has me rooting for someone only for

that person to not be the one who gets the girl. this is the second time i’ve been bamboozled by her.

i appreciated the friendship growth but we didn’t get to explore it very much. the story was fun and easy to get addicted to. this book did make me pace my house because i have so many thoughts and feelings about these characters and this story, so i know it is definitely making an impact.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Stalking, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore and Suicide

they are actively investigating a new series of murders that are tied to a previous serial killer, so know that death will continue to happen during the book as will discussion of the victims sometimes with in-depth detail.

rylin_marie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

asipofcozy's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

That was definitely a wild ride. Within one day I finished around 95% of the book, but unfortunately my body needed the necessity of sleep! 

There were a few things that I was able to guess early on and yet still a lot of mystery towards the end that kept me enraptured.

My biggest complaint, and one I have with any book with this trop is the love triangle. Honestly not for it and this series would be okay without any romance. However, it's YA so can't expect it to be romance free. However, my most hated trope is the love triangle and I just was "nope" the entire time. So, please be no more in the next two books.

This isn't by any means the top of the line thriller out there. There definitely could be more action in some places, more character development, more mystery. However, it was just as addictive as the first book and that's what was important to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

lucyford's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Like the first book, I really enjoyed this one. I loved how the Naturals all developed in their own ways and how we found so much out about all of them. The new characters were very interesting, and there were quite a few fun scenes in this book. The only thing that bothered me a bit was how it was sort of dragged out more than it needed to be, and all the twists were kind of clustered close to the end that

changed the whole case so that there were multiple killers, which kind of ruined the fun of trying to find out which of the suspects it actually was

.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Abandonment

nirellis's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This. Was. So. Good. Oh my god. I think I’ve found a new favourite series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

fremzz's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book slayed the house boots down Huston I’m deceased.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Medical trauma

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, and Suicide