Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Falling Away by Penelope Douglas

5 reviews

angelasimpson's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Jaxon and Juliet have both suffered at the hands of their parents. They're both lost and looking for themselves, but the one thing they know for sure, is they get under each other's skin. They're opposites in almost every way, yet they pull each other in. Volatile, needy and undeniably meant to be.
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samantha914's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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amanda_reads13's review

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

3.0

KC is headed back home after an embarrassing breakup with her ex. She ended up moving into Tate's house while serving her community service. Jax, the boy who used to flirt with her, is now her very grown up neighbour. 

There is a lot of trauma in this book. These characters have severe PTSD and need therapy. Jax was abused by his father and friends as a child and KC
(Juliet) basically became her dead sister.
How do you become a functioning adult without proper support and therapy? 

I think that the beginning of this relationship is super toxic because they are both suffering and take it out on one another. Eventually it's becomes less toxic, but they never deal with their PTSD. 

Jax doesn't feel worthy of love, so he pushes KC away and keeps her at arm's length. He suffered severe abuse as a child and as an adult needs to be in constant control of his environment and life. Yes, I realize that he is traumatized, but he gave me whiplash with his mood swings and his poor treatment of KC. She tried so hard to be patient and help him, but she was his punching bag. 

KC has severe trust issues. Her boyfriend cheated on her twice and she suffered from constant emotional abuse, manipulation and gaslighting as a child.
Before she was born, her father killed her sister thinking she was an intruder in the house. He suffered severe mental health issues after. To help him cope Juliet took on the "role and personality" of her dead sister KC. Along the way her true self, Juliet, died and she just became KC. So traumatic.


The storyline with his dad kind of took a back seat. When he finally showed up to follow through with his threats, it was over pretty quick. It was barely a blip in the story. 

Tropes: boy next door, opposites attract
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shelbeavs's review against another edition

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

4.75

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jhaneveauguste's review

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

2.5

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