Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Sweetpea by C.J. Skuse

8 reviews

charlillama's review against another edition

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0.25

This book is somehow homophobic, transphobic, fatphobic and just generally awful all rolled into one.
I started reading it because I thought the premise sounded good (and it was free on the Kindle store) but it’s trying too hard to be ‘funny’ and just becomes dreadful. There’s slut-shaming, ableism and ‘crying wolf’ about being a victim of sexual assault.
I spent most of the book trying to work out what exactly was happening, the author has clearly tried to be mysterious but just comes off as incompetent most of the time.
The protagonist is a ‘woe is me’, emotionally distant woman who clearly hates herself, and the author did not make me sympathise or empathise with her at all.
The fact all her behaviour is seemly based upon her having experienced trauma as a child (including a head injury) just frustrated me no end, and she comes off as a whiny selfish prat who murders people when things don’t go her way.
Finding out the father was part of an anti-paedophile vigilante gang was probably the only interesting twist, but it doesn’t excuse the rest of the garbage I read.
I could have told you she was going to kill the 19 year old when she asked him to pretend to be dead while they were having sex, and there’s so many red flags and unanswered questions that frankly
it was a chore to read, but I read it solely to be able to write a review to prevent other people having to lose brain cells over reading it.
If I could give it 0/5 I would, but alas I cannot.
Pass me the brain bleach, or put me out of my misery.
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whackettreading's review

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dark fast-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

1.0

Poorly researched, only sticks to diary format part of the time, humour is crass and cruel with a character who is meant to be an unreliable narrator but who reliable tells you what she's lying about all the time.
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_nellie_'s review against another edition

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I stumbled upon a spoiler
(Rhiannon having an affair with 18-year-old AJ and getting pregnant by him)
and I hate reading about that, so I decided it's not worth finishing the book + the sequels.
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madelinequinnee's review against another edition

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

4.5

This was a fun read. A good mixture of disturbing scenes and comedic passages, definitely in the same vein as How To Kill Your Family. 
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bees_knees735's review

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

4.5

This was such a weird, fun read. Rhiannon is bad but in a way you can’t help but find kinda great and the voice of the whole thing is so engaging I read it in a couple of days. 
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singalana's review against another edition

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dark funny tense slow-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

3.5

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librariangeorgia's review

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

3.5

I actually got recommended this book by a staff member at Waterstones as I’d enjoyed HOW TO KILL YOUR FAMILY by Bella Mackie. 
 
This is book 1 in the Sweet Pea series. 
 
I really enjoyed this book. I can see the similarities to HOW TO KILL YOUR FAMILY. 
 
This follows the perspective of a serial killer, as opposed to the victim or detective. Even though it’s fiction, I actually found it so interesting seeing their view of events - which actually turned out not to be overly exciting. 
 
The first chapter was so graphic and disturbing that it actually made me more intrigued. This does actually continue throughout the book… 
 
My favourite bit was the kill list at the start of each day - most of them being minor reasons like the fact that she hates people. The fact that I would agree with a lot of the points she made actually disturbed me - am I a psychopath?? 
 
Though the ending was left on a cliffhanger and did make me curious as to what happens next, I’m not sure that I’ll be in a rush to pick up the next book. 
 
If you liked HOW TO KILL YOUR FAMILY, I recommend giving this one a go! 
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jbistheinitial's review

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

4.0

I’ve just done the CN notes and honestly it would be quicker to list what Sweetpea doesn’t include. But for all that it’s a brutally funny and page-turning take on Bridget Jones-meets-American Psycho. 
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