You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Sweetpea by C.J. Skuse

18 reviews

bees_knees735's review

Go to review page

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. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sumo98's review

Go to review page

dark 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

3.75

A quick read, and the author does a great job at getting inside the brain of a serial killer. Very heavy subjects, and quite fucked up at times (even for a serial killer). 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

frannydo's review

Go to review page

Just got tired of the story and wasn’t picking it up enough. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

clotalksbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.75

Well that was dark! Similar in style to a couple of more recent books I have read (How to Kill your family/how to kill men and get away with it), and initially I wasn't as big a fan of the writing in this one. I feel some things went a little far for my taste, and there is A LOT of sex - not necessarily a bad thing, just unexpected. 

It is darkly funny, you feel terrible for laughing. I think it depends what order you read the similar books in to be honest, as you can't help but compare. 

There are some very unexpected twists and turns which I loved, my mouth hit the floor on occasion. By the end I was hooked and will read the rest of the series.

The narrator is perfect, so I will stick to audio for the rest of the series too. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

singalana's review against another edition

Go to review page

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


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

librariangeorgia's review

Go to review page

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! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

amberinbookland's review

Go to review page

funny fast-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jbistheinitial's review

Go to review page

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. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings