Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Say You Swear by Meagan Brandy

12 reviews

abidavisf's review against another edition

funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Books about college are also so wild to me because what do you mean these 18-year-olds know how to function as fully-fledged adults? I guess that’s why they call it fiction.

Say You Swear was a rollercoaster. I almost DNF’d it at the beginning, confused by the abundance of characters and how they relate to each other, as well as the chaotic storylines. A LOT happened at the beginning, and not a lot of it, looking back, was necessary. It felt slightly like an idea dump that was intended to be edited and removed from later but was forgotten, or that all of the ideas are there as Easter eggs for later books which was just too much. It also felt like I’d stepped into the middle of a series and was supposed to instantly know who each character is, how they know one another and all of their past traumas. It was a lot. Much of the plot was predictable too.

That being said, as the story progressed, particularly as Arianna and Noah grew closer and the story revolved more around them than everybody else, the book really improved. It was easier to focus, and I was consequently more invested in the story, mostly Noah’s storyline in all honesty. Though I love Ari, there is only so much Chase I can read about.

I love Cameron and wish she’d had more of her own plot as the book progressed. What happened with Trey? How does she feel about Mason etc? I’m assuming Mason and Brady will get their own books but I would have also liked to have seen more of them. Mason had a lot of page time but as Ari’s brother, so it would be interesting to see him as an individual. Clearly, he is a bit of a womaniser and also in love with Payton so that could be intriguing to observe.

Noah’s storyline was tragic and beautiful. That was very well-thought out. I still have a lot of questions about him, but I think it was evident as we got through the book that we knew what we needed too I understand him fully, and I hope that anybody with even an ounce of Noah’s heart in this world gets their happy ending.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

sinnybuns's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

If I could give this book more than five stars I genuinely would. This book BROKE me. Like absolutely SHATTERED my heart, and then it pieced it back together in the most delicious way. I legit cried while reading it, and I very, very rarely cry over books. I highly recommend reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Moderate: Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

dmchesher's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

escapeoffreality's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was soooo sweet, cute, funny, emotional and I loved it soooo much!!! Like it has everything you are looking for in a romance book, I mean there are some characters you might don’t like buttt the main couple is just it. They show how a real, honest and healthy relationship is supposed to be. All in all I love this book and I can definitely say it’s one of my favourites, especially the main characters Noah (who is basically a perfect boyfriend and person) and Ari (who is just amazing and so relatable) and also Cam (who is the perfect bestie and such a girls girl), I mean the other characters are also amazing but these three were my favourites!! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

andycob's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

bmitch21's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? Yes

5.0

First off, let me start off by saying this book is a 5 ⭐️ read! and what a journey this book was! This was my first book by Megan Brandy, and it didn’t disappoint not one bit. The book starts off so innocent and fun, a group of friends, more like family really, heading off to college together to start their adult lives. They’re all thick as thieves. The story focuses around Arianna, Ari for short, our FMC, and her journey of love and healing. This is told in such a beautifully tragic way. The author rips our hearts out. I stayed up till 2am silent sobbing next to my husband to finish this. I couldn’t put it down and needed to know how this story ended. I cannot emphasize this enough, it is SO BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN.
Also, there is spice and I give this one 3 🌶️
If you’re on the fence abt this one, just read it. It’s amazing. It’ll be one I’m left thinking abt for a long time and telling all my book besties abt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

culzean's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bookswithbethx's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

margeemay's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

2.5

This book at several points had me literally saying “what in the Wattpad?” 
At one point she gets nervous and mentions that it’s just like the time she got pulled on stage at a one direction concert and puked on zayns shoes. Literally. That’s almost a direct quote 
At another point

after a huge blow out fight she goes to tell her love that she loves him and literally gets hit by a car only to wake up with no memory.

 

This book was good, I liked the characters mostly. I loved Noah, I loved her brother and I loved Brady. 
The writing had its moments of cringe dialogue, the twins call each other brother and sister constantly which felt weird. I’ve called my sister versions of sister but never just fully “sister” 
I would have given this a higher rating but the the last third of the book is a hot mess express. The writing is fine and the story would have been fine if it was almost the whole plot, but being this final third, i just wanted it to be over. 

after finally choosing which boy she wanted (which should not have even been a conversation bc Chase was a walking red flag.) there is a huge fight between Ari (main girl) chase (childhood crush) and her twin brother. All screaming and yelling, the boys get in a physical fight. WHICH WAS FINE I LOVED. but then Noah shows up and just as she’s about to tell him she loves him she gets hit by a car. 
She’s put in a medically induced coma and wakes up like 5 days later 
WITH NO MEMORY OF THE LAST THREE MONTHS. 
On top of that the dr is like “we couldn’t save the baby” 
So chase swoops in and is like trying to get her to fall in love with him Noah is taking a step back so she can figure  things for herself 
AND THIS HIS MOM DIES 
Like 4 major traumas happen in less than a hundred pages, and like three weeks book time. 
It was too much. 
It was way too much. 

 

Also on record. Chase was a creep. He couldn’t take no for an answer and got physically aggressive towards her. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Miscarriage, Violence, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

*brothers best friend *brothers football captain *miscommunication *accidental pregnancy / miscarriage *memory loss *death of a parent

hq_reads's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

3.5

I really enjoyed this book. It was an angst, coming of age romance and it certainly delivered the angst! I found the book hard to put down because of this and it takes an emotional turn that I was not expecting. 

I really love Noah, he is a great book boyfriend and was the reason I kept reading this book. Arianna was also a good character, I thought her character development was written really well. Mason I found unnecessarily toxic with no real explanation as to why he is so controlling over Ari and Cam. Cameron and Brady were also a bit surface level with Cameron being the token best friend who doesn't really affect the story/character in any way and Brady was the flirty/banterful one. Chase while frustrating as a character, was written really well and the affect he had on Ari/Noah brought the angst that made this book so great. 

I felt the author wasn't good at describing the characters or setting the scene in certain moments with the characters. It was too dialogue heavy at times, especially the beginning where I would expect it to be more scene setting/character building. I felt this improved as the book went on, but I found it really hard to follow the first 25% or so. I realised once I finished the book that there is another book about Nate/Lolli etc but while I was reading this I didn't know, so the complex backstory of these random 3-4 characters was confusing for me. This should have been explained better if this was meant to be read as a standalone. But overall, I did like it and from about 35% the book was a lot better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Alcohol