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Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild

12 reviews

menastarr's review against another edition

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

5.0

⇢ 5 ★

i am trusting my favorite booktuber, hailey hughes, with book recs for the foreseeable future. my goodness, this book was SO riveting!! what i loved about this thriller is that, while we do have an exciting plot, i'd say that it was more character driven. this is the first thriller that i actually cared for the characters more than the plot. in my opinion, if there ever was a film adaptation, i think yorgos lanthimos, A24, or david fincher would nail it.

ruby simon is thrown into an interrogation room and is informed that she is being accused of four murders, one including her husband, but the truth is... she's only guilty of three, and she KNOWS she did not kill her husband. i had a roller coaster of emotions for the main character, ruby. she is far from perfect, but that somehow makes her ten times more likable. at times you will question her decisions, and others, you will truly feel for her.

the only thing that i wasn't a huge fan of (but i understand why it was a part of the plot) was the unexpected and abrupt animal death. i was under the guise that this would be a fun and mysterious pool read, and there was a set of particular chapters i landed on while at the pool on vacation that really dampened my mood. if animal death, specifically PET death, is something that you are sensitive to, this book is absolutely still worth the read, but please be aware of this before diving into "blood sugar". in fact, it would be wise to check trigger warnings in general for this book, because there is a handful of them. the ones i listed aren't even the exhaustive list.

as someone who is planning to go into a career of psychotherapy, i LOVED the mental health representation and rothchild's portrayal of psychologists. it felt very authentic, which was a breath of fresh air compared to some other thriller books i have read.

if you want an unputdownable, unforgettable thriller that you will devour in no time, get your hands on "blood sugar" asap!!

౨ৎ TRIGGER WARNINGS
✧ murder
✧ drug use
✧ animal death
✧ death of a loved one
✧ grief
✧ sexual assault
✧ chronic illness
✧ child death
✧ racism

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amaranth_wytch's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

4.0


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krystims's review against another edition

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4.0

really liked the way this was written

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thequeendavina's review against another edition

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

5.0

This was my #1 read of 2023. I loved this book, I could’ve finished in under 2 hours but I wanted to savor the ending. I loved the gray area plot and honestly was rooting for her! 

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sega_genesis31's review against another edition

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

3.75


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bookswithlauren's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I have never read anything like this nor do I think I will ever read anything like this again. The writing, the plot, the characters and their development, are all incredibly planned out and impeccably portrayed. Sascha Rothchild has written a book so clever, so intriguing and intellectual but also so precarious and multi dimensional, it is unparalleled. 

"Blood Sugar" is nothing short of profound and extraordinary.

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katyannreads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5


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anewton's review against another edition

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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

3.0

I honestly didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would. I loved the idea of what this book might be but it’s surface-level plot was predictable and not believable. The chapters were short and choppy, feeling disconnected and clumsy. 

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meowkira's review against another edition

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I rarely give up on books but this one started okay and quickly became over the top and gross. The writing was not good enough to justify the weird sexualization of kids and very poorly conceived characters.

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thebookishlass's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A really enjoyable read.  I loved the premise, which makes it different from many others in the genre. Rothchild does a great job of threading the needle of making Ruby a villain, without falling into the "therapists behaving badly" trope. Despite being a murderer, I couldn't help but to root for Ruby to clear her name of the one murder she didn't actually commit.  This is a perfect summertime read!   

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