Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

24 reviews

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? No

5.0

this was a really fun time! this book sat in a tbr pile beside my bed for a while bc i thought the premise was interesting but ultimately not new; happy to say i ate my words on that front!

Addie’s story is much more interesting than the usual “I’m immortal and suffering” thing you see with vampires and the like; she was much scrappier and didn’t come into handwavy wealth like a lot of authors lean on. she starved, stole, fought, spied, and plotted to survive, and it was so refreshing to watch. 

ultimately my favorite part of this whole thing was how badly she gagged Luc; she was so wonderfully self-aware about not being in love, just liking the idea of someone who knew her. She flat out does not love him, and doesn’t think him capable of love either and tells him so. even with Henry she is really honest with herself; she cannot possible stay with him, but she loves and cherishes him in the moment. 

What a refreshing, cool heroine. a slippery but fallible antagonist, and a really sweet (if temporary) love interest. jolly good show

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and War

arabellafleetwood's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

Cute story. More romance than I expected. Interesting twists. A bit too predictable for me though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship

emmagreenwood's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Minor: Child death and Pregnancy

moond4ncer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

"They teach you growing up that you are only one thing at a time - angry,  lonely, content- but he's never found that to be true. He is a dozen things at once. "

This book made me feel many things. Intrigue, curiosity, adoration, suspense, wonder,  reckless abandon, frustration that Addie was never more into travel beyond parts of Europe and the US. Every step of the way the times being featured reflected  the social structures, values and expectations. Overall this was a fantastic reading experience and I loved the runaway thoughts popping up  throughout my days about Luc's potential influence in our real world (who else has gone out like Beethoven?!). Time to dive deep into this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

ronan_lesh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

kathrynok's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

readingduckling's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

It's written so beautifully an absolutely amazing book. Definitely recommend. 💗

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

helfire124's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kaziaroo's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

I liked the beginning, and the very end, but the middle not so much. While it's not my usual kind of book, and I have no patience for this kind of "lyrical prose" and over-romanticisation of everything, I was intrigued by Addie's situation and the bitter sadness of her not being remembered by everything. I struggled with some of the plausibility of it; that she would really be so desperate to avoid a quiet, comfortable marriage that she would make a deal with a strange eldritch being, and that she would never stray beyond Western Europe and the USA in her 300 years. Her relationship with the demon that cursed her was interesting, and so were the ways in which she learned to cope with and manoeuvre within her curse. I did find it tedious reading about her endless one-sided one-night stands, but I was willing to push through that. 

But then Henry appeared. I honestly think I would have enjoyed the book more if I'd just skipped Henry's chapters. The story would have mostly made sense without them and I would have those hours of my life back. Although I related to some of his struggles with choosing his career path and specialism, and his situation is also sad, Henry's chapters were just boring. He mopes around all day and whenever he feels a little worse he just downs a mixture of drugs with gay abandon and no consequences the next day. His and Addie's "love" was totally unconvincing; compared to the other lovers we see her meet, Henry is by far the most dull and she only likes him so much because he remembers her. She becomes the only interesting thing about him.

I wish the book had either explored the world and history a bit more or been a couple of hundred pages shorter. I had no interest in watching Addie and Henry having nice days out and going to endless bars and clubs, or sleeping with everyone they meet. The flowery writing desperately tried to make me fall in love with the characters and settings, but it was all style over substance. My overall feeling about this book is disappointment after the hype.

I would recommend this to fans of Matt Haig's "How to Stop Time" and who want nice, deep-sounding quotes to put in their Instagram captions.

TL;DR: it was well executed for what it was but the writing was flowery, the male lead boring, the female lead unadventurous, and there was too much sex, drugs and rock & roll for my tastes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

irinalast's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Toxic friendship