Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

22 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

crusoe's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Sexual content

Minor: Racism and Alcohol

ahntologies's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism

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

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

camieh's review against another edition

dark slow-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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Addiction and Abandonment

squinnittowinit's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Personally I'm not a fan of psychological thrillers, as I find the theme of obsession to be boring. As much as I still did not enjoy what this book was about or any of the characters, I have to admit that it is very well-written. The pacing feels both laid-back and dream-like, yet suspenseful at the same time, as

the narrator slowly reveals herself to be more and more unreliable as she deals with both past trauma and current manipulation.

This is one of those books where all the pieces come together in the end to finally reveal the entire picture, creating a satisfying wrap-up, if nothing else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Gun violence and Blood

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

Fine. It's a fairly engaging and enjoyable experience to listen to this. I didn't find it to spectacular, just a pretty solid YA novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content

mfrisk's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It’s hard to fully wrap my head around my thoughts on this book. I enjoyed the characters and world building of the school throughout and thought that was well done. However towards the end I felt the book lost steam. I had hoped for a darker ending or for the book to have another twist I didn’t expect but I guessed part of the twist earlier on so it didn’t feel like there was enough after that point that amped up the intensity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use and Mental illness

crackedspines_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Drug use and Racism

ableism: against someone with psychotic depression medical content: mentions of hospitalization, medication