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

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

110 reviews

ekmook's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

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geraldinerowe's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.25

A cleverly-woven thriller where you're told from the beginning that you're dealing with an unreliable narrator. As with most stories of this type there's an element of having to suspend your disbelief over convenient coincidences and relying on characters to behave in a particular way, but nevertheless you'll be trying to guess what's really going on from the very first page. I'm not sure it entirely holds together if you analyse it closely, but you'll have to decide yourself if that really matters.

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cherrypiejay's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

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marijuanerareads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.0

The amount of fat phobia was unbearable

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booksbytheglass's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-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? Yes

4.0

wow!! what another wild ride by my queen, lord and savior, alice feeney!!

while this is my least favorite of hers so far, that’s not saying much as I gave all of her others 4.5-5 stars 🫡 definitely an auto buy author and twist QUEEN!

and when I saw twist queen, I mean it!! I did guess the initial one around halfway, but they kept swinging until the very end! I think this is one of my most tabbed thriller books 😅

the MC, amber, is your typical unreliable narrator … or is that what she wants you to think? bouncing between past diary entries, 2 weeks prior, and present day, I absolutely loved the way you didn’t know what action amber was going to take next!

and the part that had me cackling the most is that from the very first page, amber tells the reader that she sometimes lies, and yet, here I am every time she lies: 😨🫣🤡

there were a LOT of red herrings in the side characters that basically went nowhere, and there are a TON of trigger warnings that I will post at the end of this review - so I had a hard time reading and digesting some parts

BUT I am simply unable to put down anything alice feeney writes - this is now an alice feeney stan account 🫡

make sure to follow me on instagram for my eventual alice feeney book rankings!! one more to go!!

rating: 4 stars
wine pairing: napa valley zinfandel

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oliverreeds's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.25

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savvyrosereads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

Rating: 3/5 stars

Amber Reynolds is in a coma, but she can hear everything going on around her—she just can’t remember how she got there, or figure out how to wake up.

This one was…not for me. In fairness, a plot where the main character is in a coma for 30% of the chapters is naturally going to feel a bit slow, but none of the timelines were particularly entertaining to me. I also had a lot of issues with the plot itself, which I won’t discuss here because spoilers.

As for what I did like—there are some beautiful quotes and the writing is really sophisticated. I also really like a twisty psychological plot, so even though the details of this one weren’t for me, the idea behind it all was fun. And, as always, it was so fun to buddy read with some of my faves!

Recommended if you like: cerebral psychological thrillers; multiple timelines; domestic-ish thrillers

CW (mild spoilers!!!): Sexual assault/rape; infertility/miscarriage/pregnancy loss; cancer/grief/death of loved one/death of parents; OCD/mental illness.

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