Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - The Favorites

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Favorites by Layne Fargo

12 reviews

readwithkb's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.5

that was the craziest thing I’ve read in a long time. Literally so much happened I think I’m gonna have to stew for a bit in that before piecing together my thoughts

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kansasbooknerd's review against another edition

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This one just isn’t for me. I don’t love stories where all the characters are terrible and do terrible things to each other. Love triangles are also one of my least favorite tropes.

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kate_melanson's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

A lot of the book was really engaging, but I kept getting frustrated by the characters’ choices and the lack of explanation except winning. By the end I hated everyone so much that I just wanted it to be over.

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kds247's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring 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? Yes

4.25

This is a JUICY book. So many twists and turns and absolutely every character is flawed. Think Daisy Jones and the Six with a touch of the Tonya Harding scandal. Definitely the perfect book to get you out of a slump.

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sjanke2's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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risapage's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

I was really excited for this book and unfortunately I absolutely hated it. This is not a romance. The drama is nonstop: sabotage, cheating, accidental pregnancy, abuse, lies, gaslighting, miscommunication — you get it all and the ending doesn’t make any of it worth it. Not to mention I HATE cheating and love triangles. When one of the main couple cheats, it ruins the romance for me. Not one single character other than Garrett is likeable — they’re all toxic and by the end I didn’t care about any of them.

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kimberlyyyreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Get everyone in this book therapy.

I just cannot. Everyone in this book was extremely toxic for one another. It's impossible to even cheer for a singular character, which feeds into the point of the book but I was just turned off by it.

You're telling me, NO ONE in this book ever thought to effectively communicate and idk have some fucking empathy???

The author definitely wanted the Kat to be complex and while I do so that, she was also just so unnecessarily petty and mean. I truly struggled to care for her because she didn't find herself caring for others. Especially for Heath. I don't know why the hell she would claim to love him when she clearly treated him like a puppet or even worse a dog.

She also has this scene in which she literally outs one of the characters, and she tries to make herself feel better by basically saying he didn't care about her outing him... HELLO????

She also calls another character, a twink and that felt really strange to hear from her.

THIS IS NOT A LOVE STORY.

Love isn't even a theme in this book, it's just two fucked up people clinging to one another because it's all they've ever known. It's truly toxic, like so toxic that it triggered my anxiety to the point in which I needed to take a break from the book.

Heath is no victim either, his clinginess is toxic and such a burning red flag. I felt bad for him at times but he truly just wouldn't wake up from his behavior. Like not even in the years that they were apart did he emotionally grow up.

I hated how he would commit to things and say he was doing it for Kat, like did he really have no identity outside of Kat??? also why did no one in this book find it alarming that everything he did was for her. I understand that he grew up in an abusive environment and that distorted his views on what a healthy relationship would look like which is why I'm saying, WHY DID NO ONE GET HIM HELP????

Also the situation with Kat's friend pissed me tf off.

Not even in the epilogue were they seeing any therapists which truly I found baffling.

Can I get therapy for even reading this???

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dblue236's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

There was definitely much more focus on character development than on major plot twists in this book, and sometimes that's a problem for me. Here, it wasn't. I was so invested in the dynamics between all the characters right from the beginning. Throughout the first half or so of the book I kept expecting some huge, earth-shattering twist and I was almost a little let down when that didn't so much happen, but by the time it ended I had forgotten I was ever let down by it. This is the second book I've read by this author recently and while they're very different from each other, they were equally as good and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

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juanat77's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

To be honest I picked this one up because of the cover. I knew nothing about ice skating. I wasn’t even interested in the subject. After I started it I couldn’t put it down. I switched between the audio and the physical book. The audio was done really well. It has a cast of characters and goes back and forth between interview transcripts to a first person POV. The author was able to incorporate information on the sport, competition, politics, costumes and the Olympics while producing an entertaining story. It had toxic relationships. Toxic friendships. Drama. Heartbreak. Betrayal. Very very messy. Layne Fargo showcased the behind the scenes “ugly” of competition. The pressure. The lengths people will go to win. The obsession. But also the “beauty.” Ambition. Passion. Love. Success.

I hated every character in the book (except one) but I think that was the point. It would be such a good film adaptation!

4.5 stars!!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

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melissa_b_67's review against another edition

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emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this book. It brought me back to the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding days. I liked the mixed media aspect, and enjoyed Kat Shaw's character. In my opinion, this book was about 100 pages too long, but overall I did like it!

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