kawaii_rose's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.0
I enjoyed reading this book, but I feel that Maureen Johnson is introducing too much conflict in Stevie and David's relationship. It would be refreshing if the author could shift her focus to the other relationship in the story, which is between Vi and Janelle, instead of always focusing on the main character and their love interest. She also didn't express what "kind" of asexual person Nate was, as if he was aroace, or just ace.
Graphic: Death of parent and Murder
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Infidelity
Minor: Vomit
I enjoyed reading this book, but I feel that Maureen Johnson is introducing too much conflict in Stevie and David's relationship. It would be refreshing if the author could shift her focus to the other relationship in the story, which is between Vi and Janelle, instead of always focusing on the main character and their love interest.marioosa517's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.0
I really enjoyed this. It was going to be 4.5 stars, and then the ending.
Graphic: Murder, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Alcohol
Moderate: Vomit, Infidelity, Blood, Gore, and Cursing
Minor: Torture, Addiction, Excrement, Medical content, Death of parent, Suicide, and Homophobia
toffishay's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This was a weaker mystery than the others in the Truly, Devious series. A little harder to follow and more of a guess at the end. The travel through London dragged the story to me, but others might find that part interesting. The more social drama between Stevie and her friend group was interesting though; I would have liked to see more of them to offset how annoying Stevie is in this one! The book leaves off on a cliffhanger that I think will have me coming back.
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Death
Moderate: Violence, Grief, Infidelity, and Murder
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Suicide, Medical content, and Death of parent
purrpurr's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
they came back and suddenly they are out of reach again. with that ending though, i am certain there will be another book. i just ........ need another one.
another spoiler warning for everything that follows.
i loved the set up but if i may quote my notes: .... peter helped with the whiskey thats all im saying. and although i had many other hunches, this was kind of obvious from the first time it was stated. the fact peter yelled “i’m fine” after throwing up was also so suspicious. and although i loved the time jumps, it just made the whole story slower because stevie had to find everything out after the reader did. just like we could already figure that there was an important hint on one of the analogue pictures – it just took the characters so long to get to that.
so yeah, you could quickly cross out many suspects. for some reason i was instantly sure all the women were innocent. i LOVED sebastian, so i was simply praying he was innocent (and there was loads speaking for that so). oh, and julien was also a given. everyone dissed and disliked him, it would have been too obvious. which leaves yash and peter. the trauma poor yash probably has from this week. horrible. (thinking back to when my notes said: peter and yash <3 married haha guess not)
one more thing: did we find out what the button was? /gen
am i tripping right now or did stevie never tell us. i thought the button was code for the clothes peter had been wearing but i guess not. what was the button? if anyone paid enough attention, please enlighten me.
now we’ll get into the recurring characters. my darlings. although, maybe not in this book – looking at you stevie. i mean yes, lesson learned, but she was so mean and heartless to her friends a few times throughout the book. everything is david, david, david and where did that get you, huh, stevie? (they were NOT on a break, he is in the wrong).
while we have another david L, we have only nate Ws, obviously. except he spent 5K on collage applications, i guess. (i’m baffled this is a thing in the states). apropos being baffled about culture: stevie could have been a little less startled about british and european culture, i know she is smarter than this. shoutout to david though, who answered all her questions about behaviour patterns with “well, they’re british”.
HAPPY COMING OUT NATE ILU AND U DESERVE THE WORLD!
another spoiler warning for everything that follows.
Spoiler
every truly devious book can be split into the mystery part and the personal part. the personal part was fine, great even but unfortunately this was the weakest book mystery-wise.i loved the set up but if i may quote my notes: .... peter helped with the whiskey thats all im saying. and although i had many other hunches, this was kind of obvious from the first time it was stated. the fact peter yelled “i’m fine” after throwing up was also so suspicious. and although i loved the time jumps, it just made the whole story slower because stevie had to find everything out after the reader did. just like we could already figure that there was an important hint on one of the analogue pictures – it just took the characters so long to get to that.
so yeah, you could quickly cross out many suspects. for some reason i was instantly sure all the women were innocent. i LOVED sebastian, so i was simply praying he was innocent (and there was loads speaking for that so). oh, and julien was also a given. everyone dissed and disliked him, it would have been too obvious. which leaves yash and peter. the trauma poor yash probably has from this week. horrible. (thinking back to when my notes said: peter and yash <3 married haha guess not)
one more thing: did we find out what the button was? /gen
am i tripping right now or did stevie never tell us. i thought the button was code for the clothes peter had been wearing but i guess not. what was the button? if anyone paid enough attention, please enlighten me.
now we’ll get into the recurring characters. my darlings. although, maybe not in this book – looking at you stevie. i mean yes, lesson learned, but she was so mean and heartless to her friends a few times throughout the book. everything is david, david, david and where did that get you, huh, stevie? (they were NOT on a break, he is in the wrong).
while we have another david L, we have only nate Ws, obviously. except he spent 5K on collage applications, i guess. (i’m baffled this is a thing in the states). apropos being baffled about culture: stevie could have been a little less startled about british and european culture, i know she is smarter than this. shoutout to david though, who answered all her questions about behaviour patterns with “well, they’re british”.
HAPPY COMING OUT NATE ILU AND U DESERVE THE WORLD!
Graphic: Murder and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Death of parent, Outing, and Toxic friendship
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