Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

The Sinner by Shantel Tessier

34 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: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ -- 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

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book
⭐️⭐️ Meh…  bored or annoyed
⭐️ Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing hot
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired missionary
🌶️ Does weak foreplay count?


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ashleynp24's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

1.5

This was a rough read for me. The entire book was essentially Eli getting abused sexually or drugged. I think she spent half the book unconscious. And every man in the entire book abused her. Also the twin? Come ON. At least Sin’s dad was an actual plot twist. Like Sin and Eli were toxic as hell. He’s like “yeah I know you were abused by everyone and I’ll continue to abuse you but it’s ok bc I’m not sharing you it’s just me abusing you.”

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jaycait's review against another edition

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

2.5

This book had me pissed off literally the entire time. Struggled to finish. Probably a world record for the number of times the word cunt was used. Please tell me that the Sacrifice is better so I don't have to DNF the rest of the series. 🫠

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g3mm4's review

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challenging dark slow-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? It's complicated

2.0


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meowrie's review against another edition

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

4.0

Yikes

Sometimes I think a book can be trying to add too much darkness just to see how much we can take. Elli was sexually assaulted by every man in this book. Seriously. And she blames her high sex drive, which was only there because she was groomed by her stepfather and then raped her whole life. But anyway. 

I couldn't really enjoy the spice because it was mostly rape. 
The story was interesting though. There was a ton of stuff happening and the LORDS world is interesting enough. But Elli suffered so much that it was hard to get any enjoyment out of the book. I know this is a dark romance, and the majority of books I've listened to this year were labeled dark. My favorite was Under Your Scars. So I can deal with dark romance. But there has to be something redeeming going on. And Sin just wasn't a good guy anywhere. Not good enough, I guess. He was all "I'm a savior" but came in too late. He has cameras but only saw things after they happened. He didn't let her get revenge, he killed everyone. And then he tried to martyr himself like that makes it all better. But overall, it was a pretty good book. 

The audio was barely tolerable though. Laurie West is great as always. She puts a lot of emotion into her work and it's needed in this role. But Peter Alden was not the voice I would have chosen for Sin. Like, at all. I won't be mean about it but this is not the voice of a hot, 20 year old killer. It's the voice of his accountant uncle. 

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spatterson7's review

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

4.0


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jessblibrarys's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

2.75

This book was too much for me.
There was too much miscommunication between Sin and Elli which made the book 2x longer than it shouod have been.
This book would've been wonderful if it was 300 pages but there was about 150 pages that I had to skim read in order to keep my sanity, which I don't like doing.

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chaynesb's review

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Way too intense. Couldn't get past it. Elli is so fucked up and traumatized and Sin is not helping.  

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bookedupchick's review

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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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iida_a'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? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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