Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Sinner by Shantel Tessier

12 reviews

imskylow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

This book is actually psychotic. Like I’ve read/listened to a lot of crazy books but this takes the cake by far. What on earth did I just spend 15 hours listening to? I can’t even recommend this to anyone like I could the first book. The first book was dark BDSM but this? This is that x100. It’s some of the most twisted, toxic, violent situations I have ever heard. I mean, I’m not going to sit here and lie and say that my imagination hasn’t wandered in this sort of twisted direction a time or two but I have never put it to paper or tried to make a believable story out of it. Realistically, a life like this would give someone so much mental damage and trauma!

Ellington is not only groomed and preyed upon by her step father growing up but also his friends. And then when Sin swoops in and kills get step father, “saving her”, he then proceeds to force sex on her while masked. His identity is hidden but this is the extent of their relationship initially. Somehow he’s able to call what her step father did “rape” but not  what he does. He thinks tying her down gagging her and giving her no way to say no is perfectly okay because she was made to belong to him? Psycho. This book still could have been dark, toxic and erotic if a safeword was included as well as aftercare. But no. Sin really just discards her after he’s rung everything out of her and she’s passing out. There’s almost 0% tenderness at any given point. There’s no halfway believable love between them. Ellie is just too abused to know any different and all the characters acknowledge that several times. Ellie honestly just needs to ditch everyone, move across the country and get extensive therapy and possibly go to rehab. You cannot honestly get me to believe Ellington would be a good sex therapist after her abusive mother (also a sex therapist???) knowingly allowing her daughter to experience CSA. ALSO, on that note, it’s was so effing unnecessary to have some of those CSA scenes on page. That gave me a massive ick. Shantel, babe, backpedal please. Goddamn, like what happened between the Ritual and this one?? Granted there were dubious things about the Ritual but it wasn’t ALL dubious like this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pregnancy

bookedupchick's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

alis143's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

drjenn's review

challenging dark

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

avarlow's review

challenging mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.0

I feel like the series has the potential to balance smut and plot but this book did not do that very well. I fount the smut to be overly distracting in a lot of scenes as if it didn’t really belong but was just put in anyway. I did think the plot was pretty interesting and is what ultimately lead me to finishing the book. I feel with the first book kept me guessing a bit more where as this one was a bit more predictable.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

amanda_reads13's review

dark medium-paced

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

1.0

Sin has been obsessed with Ellie for 
years and already claims her as his.  But she is promised to another.

This book is very dark and incredibly unhinged, so check the TW before starting (it's a long list).

Ellie has been through hell and back. She is convinced that she deserves all the bad things that happen to her and eventually just accepts that this is her lot in life. I really wanted to see her get her revenge and in a round about what she does, but I wanted her to be the one to light the match. She has been groomed by most of the men in her life and is SA a lot... Even by Sin who apparently "loves" her. (It's not CNC, it's R@pe). It honestly feels like Sin is just continuing her grooming- he never using a safe word, ignores her pain, tries to control her, r@pes, and just keeps damaging this poor girl. 

Sin believes Ellie is his, yet he can never quite keep her safe. With all the cameras and stalking, you think he would be able to protect her better. He is the typical sadistic, obsessive, possessive, and unhinged MC with the personality of a wet blanket. Frankly, he is not likable or redeeming at all. 

Tropes: stalker, dark, college, forbidden, secret society

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

clairelisebella's review

dark sad tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Abandonment

sdaley08's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Read TW's first!! Very dark but such a great book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

tamiesue's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

First, let me say this book is DARK romance. Very dark. Darker than The Ritual. PLEASE CHECK TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE DECIDING TO READ. Your mental health matters. Never be afraid to DNF if what you are reading doesn't sit well with you. Trigger warnings that I think are especially worth noting, child SA, grooming, r@pe,  pain, drugs, blood. There is not bdsm as stated in authors trigger warnings as there are no safe words or anything safe for theat matter.

In the first half of this book, I was really on the fence. I hated Sin. I hated Elli. I hated everyone. I hated the relationship between Elli and Sin. They didn't seem like junior and senior in college. They seemed more like high-schoolers. There was literally no real communication between them. The spice was painful for the fmc, and although her body responded and her mind needed the escape, I don't know that she actually enjoyed it. Sin didn't really have many redeeming qualities, and his treatment of her was basically r@pe. The first half of the book was mostly devoid of any real plot. I almost DNF'd it, but I wanted to know what the point of the books was, so I stuck with it. 

Then, about halfway through, the plot actually picked up, and I couldn't put the dang book down. I needed to know how all the plot twists played out. I think if you liked the Ritual and plan on reading all of the LORDS books, you should read this one. There is definitely some interconnectedness and some over lap of stories even though they are marketed as stand-alone novels.

The three stars is because I thought the twists and plot were worth the read even though the romance wasn't. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mcfoody's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Confinement, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Grief