Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Sinner by Shantel Tessier

186 reviews

book_lover_irl's review against another edition

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I just can't do it. I cannot finish The Sinner by Shantel Tessier. I knew it was a dark romance but this is something else. I've read plenty of dark romances and enjoyed most of them. I read Still Beating by Jennifer Hartman, Pretty Little Savage by Lucy Smoke, Riches to Riches by Ames Mills and Mindf*ck Series by S.T. Abby. Those had dark themes and tropes. The Sinner feels like it is ENCOURAGING violence against women, pleasure of a man above the humanity of a woman, and straight up awful misogyny - expecting women to quietly slip back into the 1950s. with zero rights over their own bodies. 

I guess I have discovered a trope I cannot condone -- dub con and consensual non-consensual. I might also have an intolerance for bully romances. Previously I didn't think I had many TWs, now I know better.

I cannot get on board with the violence that continues to happen to poor Ellington. Every time I think perhaps Sin / Easton is mellowing a teensy bit to be a less despicable human being (not even good -- just less horrific), he proves that violence in the name of his s3xual pleasure is king and he has zero regard for Elli. I get that, in theory, someone who has been abused so severely for years may have a skewed idea of what intimacy and pleasure should be. However, I cannot understand why Sin wouldn't at least attempt to give Elli pleasure in a way that isn't straight up considered sexual assault and abuse. Try BDSM and drop the need to make her bleed and cry. If Elli is never shown a different way to experience pleasure, how will she know if she does or does not like it?


I know my opinions will be unpopular and I totally get it if you love this book and these tropes. I'm not here to yuck your yum. I'm simply unable to hop on that train and enjoy the ride. I really wanna know how The Sinner ends, but not enough to keep reading the book. 2025 is supposed to be the year that I embrace DNF if a book isn't for me, so here I am. Cheers to The Sinner being my first DNF for 2025.

Stars: 0 -- DNF for me
Spice: ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ -- according to BookTok. I couldn't get past the violence.
POV: Dual
HEA: No clue. DNF
Cliffhanger: No clue. DNF
Tropes: Bully romance, touch her and d!e, friends to lovers

INSTAGRAM: @Book.Lover.IRL 
STORYGRAPH: Book.Lover.IRL
GOODREADS: Book_Lover_IRL

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ I loved this book
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ I really liked this book
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ I liked this book
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ Mehโ€ฆ  bored or annoyed
โญ๏ธ Seriously? Not worth it

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ INFERNO. P@nty melting
๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ Blazing hot
๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ Now weโ€™re talking
๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ Mehโ€ฆ uninspired missionary
๐ŸŒถ๏ธ Does weak foreplay count?


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misspearljones's review

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

1.5


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feminist_icon_888's review

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

4.0

The Sinner is a wild erotic ride that isnโ€™t for the faint of heart.

Letโ€™s be honest, plot flow & writing quality arenโ€™t Shantelโ€™s best traits, donโ€™t expect it coming into this or ANY LORDs book.

Heavy on the abuse and trauma Elli has suffered, there is a lot of pain in this book and a lot of moments where you want to hate the MMC (Sin), but you find reasons just like Elli that you canโ€™t let him go (namely his pierced hoo-ha).

The trigger warnings on this read shouldnโ€™t be taken lightly. The sinner is (as per the LORDs series) a twisted journey further into the world of the LORDs and the ending (as per Shantelโ€™s style) continued to throw you right up to the epilogue. 

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the_pudster's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5


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kimreads2022's review

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

5.0

๐•€ ๐•จ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐•ฅ ๐•ฅ๐• ๐•ฉ๐•š๐•”. ๐•€ ๐•จ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐•ฅ ๐•ž๐•’๐••๐•Ÿ๐•–๐•ค๐•ค. ๐•€ ๐•จ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐•ฅ ๐•ค๐• ๐•ž๐•–๐• ๐•Ÿ๐•– ๐•จ๐•™๐•  ๐•ž๐•’๐•œ๐•–๐•ค ๐•ž๐•– ๐•ข๐•ฆ๐•–๐•ค๐•ฅ๐•š๐• ๐•Ÿ ๐•ž๐•ช ๐•ค๐•’๐•Ÿ๐•š๐•ฅ๐•ช

Genre-Dark Romance 
Series- The L.O.R.D.S. Series Book 2 

๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ–ค

You will like this one if you love the tropes 
๐Ÿ–คAnti hero male lead 
๐Ÿ–คEnemies to lovers 
๐Ÿ–คMafia/organized crime 
๐Ÿ–คSecrets and betrayals 
๐Ÿ–คForbidden romance 
๐Ÿ–คDark/gritty atmosphere 

๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ–ค

My Review 
This book was so dark. If you made it through the first book you know how dark they are but I felt this one was darker. I couldnโ€™t help but love Sin even though he did some crazy stuff and I shouldnโ€™t lol This series reminds me a lot of the movie The Skulls. Theyโ€™re in college and a secret society that theyโ€™re initiated into gets away with crimes including murder. The only difference is the amount of smut.  This is along the same darkness as haunting Adeline so if you couldnโ€™t read that duet I donโ€™t recommend this one. However the twists were pretty good. I wasnโ€™t expecting the betrayals when they happened at all so my jaw dropped. Shantel definitely kept me on my toes with this one. 

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paoitz's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-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


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sweetpinkambi's review

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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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morgiebee303's review

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

3.5

This book was thrilling to say the least. More triggering than the ritual but also filled with more plot twists. I thoroughly enjoyed this dark read.

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nikkia_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

My number 1 ๐Ÿฉท

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lbarnobirobinson's review

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

1.75

This book removed all the feminism from my body. Yes, I'm still gonna finish the series tho

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