Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Triple-Duty Bodyguards by Lily Gold

33 reviews

shaipanda's review

dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This was really well done. A lottt darker than I expected and darker than her other books I’ve read I believe (though those definitely have dark parts as well) but really liked the character development and dynamics between the 4 main characters as well as how that evolved 
Definitely a good (if hard at times) read :) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Torture, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

linnea_tornblom's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

sarahyjackson's review

emotional fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Stalking

frantically's review

emotional funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

4.0

So fun! I loved Briar's relationship to all the guys and, as in "Faking With Benefits", the separate relationships were all developed really well. I'm loving this trend of romance FMC's becoming more extroverted and being able to stand up for themselves and Briar definitely fits into that category. The mystery aspect was well done and didn't feel out of place. Looking forward to continuing with "Nanny For The Neighbors"!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Moderate: Bullying and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Torture, Medical content, and Abandonment

jayden_130607's review

dark emotional funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Violence, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Moderate: Sexism, Torture, Blood, Vomit, War, and Injury/Injury detail

jackieyvette's review

tense slow-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

2.75

Yeah I didn’t love this one for Matt alone. He was annoying and overbearing in the worst way. He had a sad backstory I guess, but the way he spoke to the main character, Briar, was a no for me. He just gave the ick so quick with the way he thinks and speaks which sucks cause I did enjoy the other two guys, Kenta and Glen. 
I mean the scenes were written fine I just couldn’t get over my dislike for Matt. 

Crying score: I would cry if a men ever spoke to me the way Matt did out of pure anger. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

dabow's review

dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

3.5

 Briar is an A-lister with a stalker that can only be handled by three ex-SAS agrents with thematic trauma.

This is the second Lily Gold RH I've read, and like with my previous read, I feel that she's done an amazing job with characterizing each of the 4 leads as distinct people with distinct interpersonal interactions. Also, Gold continues to nail the choreography of sex scenes with more than two people (in addition to the solo and two people scenes!). The external plot was a gripping thriller and enabled Gold to spend a lot of time on Briar's internal struggles, which I thought were great.

What I thought was weaker was the work on the three male leads' internal arcs. Matt's was the strongest, but still felt a little stretched due to some repetitive beats. Glen's was next strongest, but left to be superficial until (I think?) his final POV scene. Kenta really doesn't have much of an internal arc at all and has a quick internal struggle at the very end, after the plot has been resolved. In addition to this problem, I felt like I could have used more screen time for each of the male leads falling in love with Briar. We get some from her POV, why she likes them each for their own qualities, but a lot is left implicit in the other direction.

In all, I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a thriller reverse harem romance, particularly if in the market for humor and not in the market for alpha male leads. Do check out the content warnings before beginning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence and Sexism

Briar is a former child actor who alludes to bad things in the industry for a young girl. In addition, as a famous women, she is subject to a lot of upsetting online behavior. The main external plot follows a stalking case.

tragicgloom's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence and Sexism

Minor: Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, and War

stacy_gets_lit's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Moderate: Torture

christinaj1021's review

dark emotional 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

4.0

This "why choose" romance centers on Briar, a seemingly bitchy actress with an intense stalker, which causes her to up her security and hire three deadly attractive bodyguards.

All in all, this was a "why choose" romance I'll remember, mostly because Kenta is my TYPPPPPE and Matt is written to mirror Henry Cavill's physical description. Still, I found that Gold has written better "why choose", and out of her current four, I would rank this 3rd.

Gold often tackles big, real- world issues in her books, which I love! She handles them well and shows growth, ranking her (in my opinion) as a top writer of why choose. It's easy to get lost in the sex (which like, we still get loooots of sex), but Gold pulls out serious discussions and self-reflection between her characters in a unique way for this genre. This particular book focused a lot on PTSD, which I personally don't connect with so (though it was very interesting and emotional to read about), I found I was less invested in the journeys of self-fiacovery than in some other books of hers.

Another point of contention i had was that only one of the MLI's bedroom antics seemed to live up with his personality. The other two were kind of randomly thrown together in a mishmash of interests and didn't have distinct bedroom personalities. Still hot, still enjoyed it, but I felt like it veered from how Gold usually writes her men.

Overall, though, this book was a fine example of hetero why choose. There was a dramatic plot, single and group scenes, and character growth. Would recommend to fans of the genre!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death and Alcohol