Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

She's Too Pretty to Burn by Wendy Heard

9 reviews

gellyreads's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

4.0

I kept thinking “how is this a thriller?” And then it happened. Oooof. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, Death, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Blood

matheo's review

dark emotional mysterious tense

• 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: Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Body horror, Stalking, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Addiction, and Cursing

maddie____'s review

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Cursing, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Animal death

abby_shupe's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

50/50. I hated half of the parts and liked the other half but the entire time my head was spinning asking myself what the f*ck was going on. The book took so long to get started for being a fast paced book and the plot finally unfolds around the 52% mark. After that it’s a total whirlwind-and I decided I’m not a fan of thriller books. The book had me gasping and wanting more, especially when there was literally 30 pages left and a whole series of events went unexplained and left me with no details. I guess that’s the point of a thriller-an ending up for interpretation ? And please check TWs before reading this, so much went down! Also, I found the relationship between Mick and Veronica to be so extremely toxic I put the book down so often because of it. The only character I really liked was probably Claudia, the only person who overall acted rationally. Everyone in this book I would describe as morally grey, and not likable but i feel like this was purposeful, and the author wants the reader to acknowledge this. I would give this book 1.5/1 star if it wasn’t so exciting to read, but because it took me on a rollercoaster of emotions I think the 2.5 stars is deserved. I also gave it an extra .5 star because the author used the book title in the book, and I love when authors do that, it fit well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Cursing

Minor: Homophobia

emilyellen07's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Child death, and Blood

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Gun violence, Grief, Fatphobia, and Death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, and Drug use

This was such an interesting book that made you think, “what the HECK is happening?” and “that’s very messed up.” It was like a romance novel and a murder mystery had a child named “sapphic love, photography, arson, & murder.” Overall this was a very horrifying novel with just the right amount of romance. Would definitely recommend.

lycanhood's review

dark tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Murder, and Sexual content

leahlovesloslibros's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I read this book because of some friends on bookstagram raving about it and honestly I didn't love it. It wasn't bad, per se, but it just really didn't do much for me. It's compared to <i> The Picture of Dorian Gray, </i> but sapphic; I haven't read <i> Dorian Gray </i> so I can't say whether or not I agree, but I can say that this book doesn't make me want to read the book by which it is inspired. 

Veronica is a teenage photographer hoping to be discovered. Nico is a performance artist who strives to make his points with controversial art installations. When the two best friends meet the enigmatic Mick, whom Veronica promptly starts dating, things quickly go awry, and Mick has to figure out how she fits into the friendship without stirring up too much trouble. 

Honestly, the relationship between Mick and Veronica seemed pretty toxic to me. It immediately started with Veronica constantly trying to push Mick to do things which she expressed that she was uncomfortable with, and it didn't stop. It also didn't seem very realistic how quickly everything escalated with them. Even high school "love" doesn't usually move that quickly, at least in my experiences. 

Nico seemed like a weird dude from the start. He always gave off a bit of a creeper vibe. His actions in the second half of the book kind of seemed like they came out of left field, though. While I know the author probably didn't want to give away too much too soon, it seemed like he went from quirky to unhinged practically overnight, and without much explanation. 

I didn't see much character growth throughout the story, either.

The one major change was that Mick all of a sudden became comfortable being photographed, but that was kind of thrown in at the end, and again, seemed like it came out of nowhere.

The first half of the book seemed like it was just a lot of unnecessary "filler" information leading up to the second half of the book. Once we got to the second half, it was a very quick read, but it almost seemed like everything happened way too quickly. I also figured out most of what seemed like it was supposed to be the big twist 75% of the way through, before they revealed much. Sometimes that doesn't bother me, but in this case it kind of left me feeling blah as they threw the last few things at us in the last quarter of the book. 

This was a quick read, and it did make me want to keep reading, which is why I'll leave it at 3 stars. I didn't hate it but I would only recommend it in certain situations. 

Rep: lesbian MC, Latina lesbian LI, AAPI SC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Cursing, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Additional TW/CW: underage drinking, toxic parent, parent kicking child out of home, bombs/explosions

rexreads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

What I really liked about this book is overshadowed by the toxicity of the relationships in this book and the failure to address a lot of them. I loved the art installations, I loved the beginning of the main relationship, and at the start I really liked the two main characters. When all the twists started I found the story less and less believable, but I still did want to know what happened.

There are a lot of things that I didn't like about this book. Though it was heartbreaking, I thought the inclusion of the child dying was really interesting. I didn't particularly like how that story progressed. I didn't think it was believable that Mick suddenly started taking risks and lighting things on fire. I hated the sudden switch from Nico being a friend to stalking Mick and kidnapping her. I thought the art installations and the associated deaths were really interesting but extremely unrealistic to be happening with characters so young. This whole plot would have made a lot more sense for characters in their twenties. Veronica repeatedly violates Mick's boundaries by photographing her then using those photos for her own gain, and then they still end up together despite how toxic the relationship was. While it was a really enjoyable read because it was eventful and really unique/interesting, I didn't like the characters, didn't believe a lot of it, and didn't like that the toxic relationship wasn't addressed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Blood and Cursing

sunsetcity's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Murder, Stalking, Torture, and Kidnapping