Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

80 reviews

kittykatruin's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

the twists and turns were twisting and turning 
i kept thinking i knew what was going on and then something else would happen 

Felicity says “Mostly how depictions of mental illness are used to build suspense by introducing uncertainty and a sense of mistrust, especially with regard to the narrators perception of events, and the conflation of magic and madness in female characters.” and i think that was a very get description of how i was feeling while reading the book. i kept going back and forth on whether or not i thought there was actually magic involved or if ellis was just fucking with her for her book. and then it was so much darker than i thought and even then when i thought i knew what was going on and then it got darker 
wild

i had a good time reading it 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Transphobia, and Toxic friendship

hookerkitty's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I thought we were going to figure out Ellis was actually the secret lover of Alex (lol I just had to look up her name bc even though I just finished this yesterday, I already can’t remember shit about it), saw Felicity kill her, and was there for revenge. THAT would’ve been a better ending (even though Ellis is completely unlikable, but it would make so much more sense).

There is also a zero percent chance these bitches would’ve gotten away with what they did…..Well, unless the wealthy white families paid the cops off. So maybe it is realistic 🤷🏻‍♀️ still not a great book though

Also one stupid thing that really irked me - since when does snow patter on a roof? Or being able to hear it snowing at all? Not melting and falling off trees - just falling from the sky. I even googled it just now to see if it somehow is a thing (despite living in Michigan most of my life), and even after I told Google that yes I really mean patter, not pattern, it still was like 🤷🏻‍♀️ and showed pattern stuff. So I changed it to “hear snowing on roof” and it was all about copious amounts of snow sliding off roof, not it snowing onto the roof.

also I’m still convinced Ellis dosed them. It sure sounded like it without actually saying the words. I’ve never heard someone call a hangover “the comedown” before, only drugs

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

decie's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Stalking

seren's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

blackheart's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Classism

sylexlibris's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

gmat's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Grief

solarel's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

At some points in this book I thought I was able to predict what would come next but I was always proven wrong. It kept me in a state of shock at every step with plot twists and reveals. 

With the subject of high school girls, it makes sense that it read like a YA. At some points it felt like it was almost pretentiously trying to be adult, but that’s also on theme. The prose felt like it was trying too hard at times to be dark and edgy, but overall the vibes were very spooky academic. 

Definitely a page turner. I enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

klpage's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

Such a good read for autumn and spooky season! This is the kind of dark academia I like! Witchy, dark magic, a bit of a psychological twist thrown in with the characters too. 

Loved it! Definitely recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia