Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

150 reviews

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

After reading The Cousins recently, I was inspired to go through the authors backlist of books. 

This was such a great story that had so many layers! I will admit, I was a little nervous getting around to this very hyped book, but it was definitely worth it.

I never expected who would be the culprit in the 'whodunit' plot and I think it was executed really well.

The characters were fully dimensional and I was invested in all of their stories. 

Nate really irked me in the last few chapters! I felt so disappointed by his decisions, it was just mean.

I think my favourite character was Bronwyn. They all had some really problems in there life but for some reason the internal and external pressures of being the perfect everything really hit me. 

This was exciting, immersive, thrilling and had  lot of depth to reflect on the consequences of spiteful rumours and extremism and radicalisation within education.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Self harm, Homophobia, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Bullying, Child death, Outing, and Violence

mirjv's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Car accident, Death, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Self harm, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

siennaflynn's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Hate crime, and Outing

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Cursing, Grief, Mental illness, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Death, Gun violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Transphobia, Car accident, Sexism, and Death of parent

mmadill227's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Drug abuse and Homophobia

mziggyloves2read's review

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Addiction, Outing, Cursing, and Suicidal thoughts

3ch4na's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is really good, I recommend this for people who like Y/A mystery or liked the Agggtm series. Karen M. McManus is a really talented author!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Suicide, Drug use, Infidelity, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Vomit, Addiction, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Violence

megnut's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicide and Violence

Minor: Drug abuse and Suicide attempt

shinaa's review

hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

I would have given it a 5 star rating if not not for the gay part.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Genocide, Alcoholism, Murder, Alcohol, and Drug use

Moderate: Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Car accident, and Abandonment

Minor: Self harm and Suicide

I was really happy that

he was the one who killed himself because 1. It fits his character so well to be the one to kill himself and frame people out of spite of everybody and to "be creative" and 2. I liked all four of them and didn't want any of them to be murderers

bookshroom247's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious relaxing 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Outing, Drug use, Violence, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Minor: Emotional abuse

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

4.0

This was an entertaining read, it was fairly fast paced and it held my attention. I enjoyed getting to know the characters through their own perspectives! I didn’t like Cooper’s POV as much for awhile because it was a lot of baseball talk which I just don’t care for 😅 but he grew on me eventually! The first half of the book was really good but I didn’t love the second half.

I didn’t guess any of the twists which is always a plus for me! However the reveal was kind of disappointing (and a bit of a cop out in my opinion). It just didn’t excite me and I wasn’t racing to find out the answers with this like I normally do with thrillers. The ending was also underwhelming-it’s the ending of book 1 in a thriller series, where is the cliffhanger? This could even be read as a stand alone I think 😅 I will however be picking up book 2 this weekend because it fits a prompt for a readathon I’m doing, otherwise I’d be in no rush to continue.

Overall it’s entertaining and a quick read but left me feeling underwhelmed in the end. I’d still recommend if you’re looking for an easy thriller with well developed characters!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Outing

Moderate: Homophobia, Cancer, Addiction, Mental illness, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Mass/school shootings, and Suicide

Minor: Car accident, Vomit, Self harm, and Suicide attempt