Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Family of Liars by E. Lockhart

12 reviews

teamlauren11's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

mintedlemon's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

mikathereviewer's review against another edition

3.0

“It’s better, I think, to move on. To look forward.”
“But—”
“We can’t change what’s in the newspaper, so why obsess about it? And we can’t change the past, so why dwell on it?”

- Tipper



Penny is so aaaahhy. I hate her.
Why does the author always needs to do this to me 😭
I know it's done on purpose, but damn how much I hate them all. 
I'm quoting: ‘Don’t kiss your sister’s boyfriend, because if you do, you’re a goddamned asshole.’
And Bess is an asshole too for being on Penny's side and not on Caroline's. 

Once again lovely writing style. Used to have mixed feelings about it in the first book, but now that it's already my second one, so I got used to it. And the whole metaphors with the grief and other emotions is (just like I said in the first book) very cool. 



Am I the only one who noticed that Pfeff was 18 and our protagonist, Carrie was only 17. I'm not sure how to feel about this 😀
Also the dude is such a 'weenie' just like someone else said it in the book.
Their whole relationship is just eh. 
I thought this toxic relationship is a one-time thing, does this author always writes about such stuff?? 🥲

I forgot to check the content warning. First time since a while and guess what? I got triggered. Please everyone don't be like me, read the content warnings for this book. 

Since my rating is based on enjoyment I would give it 2 stars due to it triggering me, but the story was interesting nevertheless and I think it deserves at least 3. 

28. July 2024

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

stitchbooks22's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

This was garbage, but still not the worst thing I’ve ever read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kibberbl's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming, Homophobia, and Misogyny

Minor: Slavery, Suicide, and Antisemitism

guivx5's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

 When I reviewed
We Were Liars,
I said:
"I still have the sequel to read, and I hope it doesn't suck."
Well,
I'm glad to say it didn't!

Lockhart had a terribly doomed job here: to write a worthy new story based on the universe of a success she wrote almost ten years ago, a book that was so unique in it's style it would be hard to avenge. Thankfully, the task was accomplished, and now we have more lies to be shocked of.

I see Family of Liars as a great expansion of the first book's universe. The Sinclair family has a twisted charm to their tale that guaranteed my interest here, no matter what. You simply want to know more about them, it's undeniable. But then, what could she write? After the shocking story of Cadence and her friends, the broken family full of intrigue and ambition? We Were Liars was an ambitious story itself. I had to find out what's up with their past. Turns out, it wasn't pretty.

Now, let's talk about reading experience here. This book has less strength than it's older brother, simply because it doesn't benefit of the surprise factor. That was taken away by the first story, so it is an inevitable fragility. But I do think Lockhart handled well with this weakness, and soothed it as much as she could, which made the story still full of surprises. The characters, both old and new, were as intriguing as ever, and the plots involving the long-known family of liars were really good. I feel like the second third of the story could do with a bit more of clues and intrigue, but that's just me. Overall, the story is as well built as the first one in terms of consistency. But I do have a big caveat:

Rosemary

 

This could be just me playing with my frustrated expectations, but I do feel like Rosemary deserved a better plot. I mean, it's The Sinclair Family we are talking about, I don't believe she just died on an accident. Her presence could be more meaningful, specially revolving around her motives to visit Carrie. Even if she just died like that, even if this is really her only motive, to look out for her sister, I feel like this wasn't developed enough. It should be brought up more during the chapters. But sorry Lockhart, the only way to redeem yourself here is to write a third book, a prequel where we learn the origins of Harris and Tipper and how they were the real guilty ones behind Rosemary's death. You just have to do it, or I won't raise my rating on this book on my next reread.

Again, I think Lockhart gives us mystery and suspense done right. And this is a great expansion upon the first novel, maybe with a few hiccups towards the middle and in the need of a little more development here and there. It is, ultimately, worth reading if you liked the first book.

Now, how long do you guys think she'll take before deciding to write another prequel? I don't want to reread this too much before she releases it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

dalek_caan's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I loved this book almost as much as I loved We Were Liars. I was really impressed by the author's ability to tell a story just as captivating as the previous book, in a prequel no less. I would definitely recommend this book BUT I recommend reading the other book first because this book will spoil We Were Liars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Fatphobia

luananki's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

i had a lot more fun with family of liars than i expected to have. 
i was so wrapped up in the story and am glad i decided to give the sequel a chance

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, Gaslighting, and Classism

safety_pin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Outing

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.0

This was good. I really didn’t know what to expect when I went into this but I enjoyed it. The writing style is odd like we were  liars were, but after a while you just get used to how it’s written. I honestly really like the main character and she did nothing wrong I mean she did but I forgive her. This also made me tear up at the end. I think if you enjoyed we were liars you should pick this up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism