Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Corrupt

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Corrupt by Penelope Douglas

170 reviews

one_more_chapter96's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

3.75

Fairly well written and an interesting plot with a lot of dark elements emotionally/psychologically. I liked the points where Rika and the Horsemen worked together and were bonding, and I loved the elements of Kai & Michael. The push and pull with Michael was hot but a bit frustrating at times with him being so emotionally constipated. Overall an easy read with a suspenseful and spicy plot.

Content Warnings

kimmytanzone's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

2.0

Erika pissed me off so bad. Where is the self respect lol. The plot was good which was why I finished it, I was really curious why this was all happening, but it also took SO long to get to the point/reason. The spice itself was good and not constant, but Erika realllllly gave me secondhand embarrassment. Her choices and reasonings - and everyone else’s - solidifies they all need help lmao.

Content Warnings

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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

2.5

Three years ago, 3/4 horsemen were arrested and thrown in jail. Now they are out to get revenge on Erika (Rika), the woman they blame.

We flipflop between the present and 3 years ago. It is within those snippets of the past that we learn about the men's motivation. They believe that Rika is responsible for 3/4 of them ending up in jail.

For some stupid reason, they film their "pranks" and two videos get released.

I felt as though the characters were lacking depth. We don't really get much background information on the men and an idea of what is motivating their behaviour. These men are cruel and horrible to everyone, especially women. There was so much potential to demonstrate the depth of these characters, it comes out in the very end when we get a flashback in the epilogue of

Michael taking care of Rika when she was 13

. We needed more of this depth to really connect to and want to understand these me. Unfortunately, what we get is a bunch of impulsive and misogynistic men who try to justify horrible and abusive behaviour.

We get a snippet of why Damon is the way he is within the last chapters of the book. We learn why he is so angry that Rika has "invaded" the group of men, and his fear of his brotherhood being ripped from him. But his character does not have any growth at all and these limited glimpses into his past do not redeem him.

his mother was abusing and raping him as a child.

Rika was incredibly naive and annoying. She is not the strong woman that she thinks she is. She is impulsive and seems to have no survival instincts. She is incredibly immature and throws tantrums when she can't get her way (ie. Running into the gentleman's club when she wasn't allowed in). She is determined to live her life on her own and by her own rules, but panics the second her money is gone, because she is actually completely incapable of providing for herself. Plus, she forgave these men WAY too quickly.

I did really like Alex. She was unapologetically herself and had no shame about what she had to do to pay her bills.

(escorting)

. She owns her life/decisions and was a complete badass. I think her character really highlighted all of the weaknesses in Rika.

Overall, the plot was interesting and there was a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the characters were lacking depth and I just couldn't get past the their lack of growth. The sauna scene (iykyk), was very spicy, but otherwise the romance fell flat and was not really believable.

Tropes: found family, revenge, brotherhood

Content Warnings

jazzysreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

My first dark romance book. I found the plot interesting more so than the characters. I didn't feel much chemistry between them. I felt more chemistry
between Rika and Kai than between her and Michael.
The book definitely has disturbing scenes. The
locker room shower scene was definitely fun!!
.

Content Warnings

alybookishqueendom's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense

4.75

reread; january 2024 | 4,75 stars

upon rereading, i would rate it a 4,75 stars. i absolutely love it but it was missing something for it to fully be a five stars. i think i found one part a bit too long and it got to me a little but it's an absolute guilty pleasure to read.

are the characters all fucked in the head? yes. is the plot chaotic? of course! BUT THAT'S WHAT IT'S MEANT TO BE! chaotic, dark, fun and sexy as fuck.

double point of views, past and present timelines and good spice. honestly, if you love dark romances and need a distraction from your life this is it. you just want to know what will happen next and let's just say that penelope douglas knows how to write smut scenes 🥵.

rika is a little annoying sometimes with how naive she is but gosh honestly the rest of her personality just makes you love her anyways and michael is just trying so hard to be hard and strong and big meany alpha but he is so soft for her. he's just not big in showing any kind of emotions except for lust and challenge and mean 😂 honestly, i still love him. if i am being honest it would annoy the fuck out of me going out with this type of man but damn does this man knows how to dirty talk 🫣. i know they wont be my favorite couple out of the series but it's a good ass first book to get to know everyone and to just escape into rich people drama ahaha.

first read; may 2021 | 5 stars

THIS IS EVERYTHING

Content Warnings

starspacecorn's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny sad 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

I honestly don't think I can describe just how much I despise this book. Aside from the romanticizing of sexual abuse, the amount of absolutely unnecessary sex these characters have is bonkers. ALSO! The story switches between the main girl and her love interest's points of view- both 3 years ago and in the present. And uh, 3 years ago Ms Girl was 16. A minor. And this man even admits that "yeah she's 16 but that won't stop me." I really tried to like Michael. I really did. But he did TOO many things that are absolute no-nos. The amount of times Rika said 'no' to him but he messed with her anyway was absolutely ridiculous. Also I hate all of his friends. Kai was okay until the absolutely unnecessary threesome he has with M and R at the gentlemens club. I think why I'm mostly angry is because this story could have been so good, but no of course not. The plot was so messy, there was too much smut and not enough world building, and there was SO MUCH SEXUAL HARASSMENT/ABUSE. Red flags all around. Literally the main group of guys Rika is so desperate to be a part of went to prison for beating up a police officer, arson, and R**ING AN UNDERAGE GIRL. And the story's like, "yeah but they have abs." And then they hold so much resentment towards Rika for ratting them out that they (Michael included) burn down her house, steal all of her money, send her mom to a mental hospital so Rika can't talk to her anymore and are seconds away from r**ing her and killing her when then suddenly "oh she didn't do it? All is forgiven 🤪🙏" I am also upset at how obsessed she was with M bc he is literally such a horrible person and keeps playing games on R and only sees her as a piece of meat. Everytime he sees her he decides to mention that he got hard just seeing her and he wishes he could take off her clothes. Rika isn't that great either, tho. She's obsessive, dumb, and doesn't answer her phone toward the end when she KNOWS she's in danger, just because she's cocky and it's convenient for the plot. Also there is SO much sexual tension between her and the only other woman in this story, Alex, and when they actually do it, the scene is told through the POV of Michael watching them. Rika only did it to make M jealous and then he basically throws poor Alex out and Rika doesn't even give her a second glance. This makes me so angry because the only slightly gay scene in this entire thing was for a man's pleasure and I wish they wouldn't have even put that in there because it furthers an idea that lesbians only exist for the pleasure of men and I must say shame on Penelope Douglas. Anyway there's this completely unnecessary chapter after the epilogue of when M was 16 and R was 13 and he picked her up from practice and she was crying and she watched him kill a dog (poor thing was already dying, he just made it go faster) and she was angry and visited her dad in the cemetery and he took her home, and anyway the whole point of the chapter was to show that Rika was the one who inspired M to make his group of assholes and it was just so unnecessary. I could have lived the 20 minutes that chapter wasted from my life, but no I had to get unnecessary background at the very end. Also, I don't understand how these characters always notice the nipples getting hard? Like, as a woman I barely ever notice unless I'm freezing cold, so that's unrealistic. Also R casually mentions she likes fencing and then doesn't bring it up until the end of the book. And when she puts on the fencing uniform she mentions that "it rubs against [her] clit." LIKE GIRL GET BETTER PRIORITIES ON WHAT TO THINK ABOUT. Because THEN she gets turned on by the uniform rubbing against her that she goes and has a threesome in the bathroom. I can't make this shit up. I can't. Anyway I hate this book and I will never read it again.

Content Warnings

ameliabiblio's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

2.5

This just isn’t my cup of tea, but I think it’s generally well-written. I hope it continues to find the right audience (which isn’t me😂).

When I say it isn’t my cup of tea, I mean Damon isn’t my cup of tea. I don’t really know how he’s going to be redeemed. I know he is because he has a book, but I don’t see any world where I believe that Rika would be okay with having him in her life again, let alone being close to him. Also, Michael says he loves her and all is well? I just feel like he and the other Horsemen got let off real easy for doing all that stuff to her when she didn’t even do anything. I like kinky, but I don’t like bullies.

Content Warnings