Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

110 reviews

nat_foerster's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5


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yaboigrass's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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lizwarnerr's review against another edition

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slow-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

3.0

This book was quite confusing and I’m honestly still not 100% what happened. The MC is in a coma, and you go between different POVs - her childhood, her in the coma, and a diary. 


She has a sister Claire. Her diary talks about a friend Taylor. You then find out really late in the book that the diaries are her “sisters” diaries. They became sisters because Claire burned down the house. The MC (Amber Taylor) is in the coma because Claire crashed her car because she thought Amber’s husband found out she started the fire. 

There’s some random other side plots too - that Amber has OCD, that Amber hates her boss and wants to get her fired, that this random man rapes and is obsessed with Amber. 

It turns out Amber’s boss is Claire’s godmother and took the house from her after the fire so they were getting revenge on her. 

In the end, you find out that apparently Amber had told Claire to start the fire. When Amber gets out of the hospital, she poisons Claire and her husband, starts the house on fire, pins it on the boss, and takes their kids. 

I literally have no idea what to think? It seemed so disorganized and maybe the goal was that you shouldn’t really trust anyone? It was way too confusing — I love a good plot twist, but this just didn’t make sense

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loscamp4lyf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

what the FUCK was this book. i thought i knew what was going on and then it just kept turning and twisting. the reveals had me in shock every time, though the ending was ugggh.
there is a graphic rape scene 80% of the way through the book as a warning.

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marieqc's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

content warnings: rape, abuse, murder, etc. there's a lot
it was entertaining until it got too graphic for me

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sarahboucher's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75


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lulureading's review against another edition

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

3.0

This book broke me lol. I've been reading fantasy romances since because this book was such a bummer. It's just a real feel-bad story. It doesn't have a happy ending as far as I'm concerned. So many terrible things happen from start to finish. I hated all of the characters. 

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amplawrence's review against another edition

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

1.0


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elle_laine's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.25

This book was one heck of a ride…

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megansreading's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I only read a handful of thrillers a year, so I’m glad a friend recommended this one to me.

I read it in about two days. By the time I was on page 20, I was invested in finding out what had happened right alongside our protagonist, Amber. The actual reading experience was perfect for me. The author’s language was rich and thoughtful, and I loved the character voice in all three “timelines.” The diary entries were especially engaging.

The plot twists kept me guessing. I can understand some people not liking just how many there were
—I personally could have gone without the Taylor told me to do it line and I didn’t love the open ending—
but they kept me entertained. I knew we were going to have an unreliable narrator, but I hadn’t realized how unreliable. It makes me want to reread this book to look for the clues I missed and how I might interpret things differently knowing the ending. I will also say that I recommend reading the physical book if possible because I think the audiobook would have been too confusing for me.

Overall, this is a thriller that will stick with me. I would recommend it to people who are looking for a twisty thriller hosted by an unreliable narrator. I could see this making a great book club book since there’s so much to discuss!

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