Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Sometimes I Lie

Thrillers are not my thing, I'm sure good ones exist but I am not willing to dig through the slush pile to find them and this book belongs on that pile. The writing was fine, overusing short sentences not withstanding, although I felt the coma descriptions were too purple prose and could have been cut without much loss. The jumping between timelines was pretty annoying too. There was some graphic r*pe in here that felt thrown in for shock value and the fallout of which was never dealt with. This would not have happened to a man main character in the same position. This was misogyny in action and if you disagree you are incorrect because we cannot encounter a woman without being told whether or not the main character thinks she could stand to lose a few pounds. It doesn't make it not sexism just because a woman does it. We have a diary from a supposedly smart 11 year old who reads a lot but has never heard of a will or a bar tab. The attempt at OCD that started promisingly but sadly fell flat, I'm not an expert but the people I am aware of with OCD say it comes with intrusive thoughts we never see even though we are in Amber's head and is made worse in stressful situations which Amber's never really seems to be. At times I wanted to know what would happen next but the ending had no faith in itself so just threw everything at the wall to see which twist would stick and wound up being a hecking mess. Also the reading comprehension questions at the end were a choice. Don't worry you were heavy handed enough that I noticed your use of the colour red I do not need to complete an assignment on it ma'am.

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shaleen64's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The characters can’t be described as lovable but are certainly engaging. Some of the plot twits are predictable, but are still enjoyable and others are very unexpected.

I enjoyed following the trio of timelines and the short chapters. The plot is unlike anything I’ve read before and well worth the read.

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mysterymom40's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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bechlette47's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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leligavi's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.75

I think I read this book too far apart to really give a intelligent review. I will say that all of the characters sucked, but especially the main character and her sister. Definitely check out content warnings because this book had a lot of them...

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rjohns5's review against another edition

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3.75

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lexithelion's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book is such an enjoyable read! There are so many twists and turns throughout the book that constantly left me guessing, and I was never bored. I'm not giving it the full 5 stars because it does become a little confusing towards the end and opens the possibility for plot holes, and there are still a lot of questions I didn't feel were answered and should have been. Regardless, I would recommend this book to any mystery lover who enjoys a bit of thrill and isn't afraid of dark topics. This is my kind of book.

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