Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

15 reviews

melaschnie'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Misogyny, Drug use, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Gaslighting, Grief, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, and Medical content

Minor: Dementia, Addiction, and Confinement

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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? Yes

4.25

Took a while to get good, but when it did, it was really good. Hate books like this, but we need books like this. Need to keep exposing the light on toxic masculinity and toxic male privilege. Need to stop protecting boys behaving badly and start protecting our girls more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Confinement, Misogyny, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual harassment, Death, Murder, Child abuse, Stalking, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

aliciaxingram's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Blood, Bullying, Sexual assault, Addiction, Murder, Rape, Suicide, and Child abuse

ghostlyprince's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Death, Bullying, Gaslighting, Grief, and Rape

Moderate: Addiction, Sexism, Stalking, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Confinement, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Classism, Drug use, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, Animal death, and Physical abuse

There's a scene where a pet hamster needs to go the hospital but it ends up fine

lausiusplau's review

dark hopeful inspiring mysterious 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: Murder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Addiction, Bullying, Suicide, Death, Dementia, Gaslighting, Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

cleot's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, and Death of parent

revenge porn, drugging, nonconsensual sharing of sexual media of teens

emzhay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.75

Its book is very well written and compelling but the pacing is so slow that it feels like nothing actually happens until you’re halfway through. Then the last 20% is breakneck speed where everything is happening. I was really absorbed into to the story, but the way it wrapped up left me disappointed, not in the way that everything resolved but rather the delivery. I definitely enjoyed this book overall and thought that while the subject matter was dark, it was an important story to tell. I like dark academia that actually addresses the ways in which educational institutions fail their students. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Sexism, Rape, Sexual assault, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Drug use and Suicide

Minor: Racism and Child abuse

a_libra_library's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Dear Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé 

You have just become one of my new auto buy authors.

This book is full of suspense, mystery and a true look at what dark academia means in young adult fiction. To critique and comment on educational institutions and the system and structure. 
The audiobook was amazing as well, I love when extra production is put into an audiobook to make them more engaging. 

If you love a story that keeps you guessing, full of puzzles and anagrams and unreliable narrators then this is the perfect book to recommend. This is so much more than a YA mystery thriller and I hope that anyone picking this title up can see that once they're done. 

Also there is a cute animal sidekick so, bonus points. 


 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

TW: Drowning

mariecaat02's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Animal death, Drug abuse, Murder, Rape, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Rape, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Bullying, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Minor: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual harassment

warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

Where Sleeping Girls Lie had been an anticipated read for me but I was ultimately disappointed. I didn’t hate it, there were a few elements that I liked but I had enough issues with it that I couldn’t rate it any higher. I think the author was trying to tell an important story about rape culture and misogyny but it just wasn’t executed that well for me. There are various reasons for that but I’ll start with the pacing. It was interesting for about the first 25% or so but the middle of the book was soooo slow. I think the author was trying to give more time with the characters and to build up tension but there were so much random and mundane stuff happening that I couldn’t even tell where the book was going for a while it was just so drawn out and overwritten. It did pick up in the last section of the book and I was compelled to actually finish it but the ending was so messy. There were so many things going on that all had to be tied up at the end and a few of the big reveals felt so contrived to me that I wish the author spent more time with those things instead of all the filler in the middle of the book. This book also did the thing I hate in mysteries and thrillers where very vital information about the protagonist’s backstory and motivations is kept a secret from the audience until it’s convenient to reveal and it almost never works for me and unfortunately that happened with Sade’s character. I won’t say what it was but it felt really cheap to me to hide Sade’s motivation for everything because it’s such a tonal shift for her character and the story and it doesn’t make sense why the audience wouldn’t get to know that earlier in the story. I can appreciate the message the author was trying to get across but it didn’t work for me. Honestly the only thing that I consistently enjoyed what Baz’s character he was a delight. Aside from that, this book was kind of a flop for me between the messy plot and craft issues. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Animal death, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Addiction, Mental illness, and Murder

Minor: Suicide, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, and Child abuse