Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Broken Bonds by J. Bree

33 reviews

iben_flor's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Body shaming, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Violence, Car accident, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, and Stalking

amberandthings's review

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Car accident, and Death of parent

taylormaria's review

challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

i honestly loved this. the plot , the characters , the conflict : chefs kiss. i def recommend you read this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

bangiebangs's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

Oh this was a tricky one.

Things I liked:
- the writing (notwithstanding occasional typos)
- the mysterious setup... this feels like a pretty new take (maybe I just havent read the book series similar to this one?)
- Gryphon. Also Atlas. They seem like rounded people who think before they act. (The rest of the bonds are just insufferably childish, self-centered dudes)

Things I disliked
- he world-building. There is some info about what these bonds are and how they work, but why, when do you usually learn about your bonds, how do you find them (like, some people are "waiting to find" them? Also, seems like you can reject a bond, what happens then? How is power heightened or acquired when a bond is completed? So many questions, but not in a good "mystery we will uncover" way, but more a "causes confusion when reading" way. Also, what is the Resistance resisting against and why? No idea. But they seem to be the baddies for some reason?
- the FMC's naivité. Annoying as hell. I'm personally not a fan of mysteriously self-sacrificing characters, especially when it is then used to explain some shitty behavior without much context?
- description of FMC through the book. She seems to have a normal (or even hot) body in the beginning, enjoying her food, and as soon as she is forced to do more physical exercise the fact her clothes don't fit and are too big gets mentioned a lot. I find that annoying. 
- How old are the bonds? Like, all around same age, or some way older? Some are councilmen and uni professors, others students?

But overall... I read this quickly, and I was hooked. Spice is not happening here (0.5/5 for some drooling over hot bodies), but that's likely because this is setting up the series. Wished that I wasn't so confused half of the time when it comes to in-world politics, but hoping that things will clear up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Stalking

Moderate: Death of parent, Car accident, and War

Minor: Abortion and Gun violence

sexual assault neglect (FMC is left without food for days on end, not being taken care of later in the book) FMC is violently implanted with a tracker (against her will)

jillian_reads's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

Absolutely devoured this book. Constantly kept me hooked for what would come next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Bullying

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Rape

libraryofcacw's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

3.5 stars my thoughts may change tho. 

i would give the last 30% 5 stars. 

the start was slow and she was whiny and terms/sayings were being repeated ALOT. 

reads like a Wattpad book but you know what? im a slut for wattpad so i will be continuing the series and i cant wait to see more of the protectiveness and brooding from the 5 bonds

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, and Bullying

doubletherazzle's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Solid audiobook read if you can get over the constant use of f bombs and pseudo f bombs. The plot wasn’t too complicated to track while listening and crafting/multitasking. The writing isn’t great and I agree with other reviews that say there’s a lot of whining, but I don’t think it’s an issue. She’s 19 and got a lot crap going on. I find the story interesting and dramatic and will definitely keep going. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual assault, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, and Death of parent

Minor: Abortion, Torture, Vomit, Alcohol, and Car accident

toriwright's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

jackietanori's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Okay, wait I liked this. Like a lot more than I thought I would. Yes, the main character is a little childish, but she’s also 19 so I give her a pass. 
I really like a couple of characters; Oli, Sage, Sawyer, Felix, Gabe and Gryphon. Nox can go die in a hole for all I care. 


Crying score: no. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Car accident, Rape, Sexual content, Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit

booksalacarte's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

2.75⭐️ 2.5🌶️ (1 SA scene not included)

This was out of my comfort zone. Reverse Harem just isn’t for me. From this I’ve found that I am just not a fan of more than 1 love interest in a book.

It’s an entertaining read, bachelor-esk and surprisingly has quite a bit of plot outside of the main relationships. I appreciate the RH clarification in the synopsis from the author. There is also a LOT of cursing in this book.

Forced proximity

One bed

Instalove

Slow burn

Strong friendships

Life on the run

College life

Oil being 19, in college, and forced into living under house arrest isn’t my ideal set up. But the prologue was attention catching, for sure.

It reads as a little bit of a bully romance… but for the world building, kinda-almost-maybe justified? But I hate the name calling (effing B*tch) between main love interests. It feels super disrespectful and foul. Especially from someone, or many, who are supposed to be endgame love interests. I hate it. I don’t even like typing out the words. There was also a SA scene with a love interest. Be aware.

The romance was slow burn, which is good, considering the vitriol that is flying left and right. There is a lot to make up for and any actual romance would have been gross without warming up.

The world building was really minimal, which it being a contemporary romantic fantasy isn’t as important as a high fantasy. But I found a lot to be desired in that area. The magic system is interesting, but very vague. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Car accident, Gaslighting, Murder, Cursing, Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit