Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Empire of Hate by Rina Kent

3 reviews

mommagracereads's review

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slow-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

I don’t remember ever disliking a main character as much as I dislike Daniel.
He’s such a dick to Nicole. 
Treats her like garbage. 
Tells her kid brother that him calling her a nickname is juvenile and he needs to stop (who gave you the right to dictate that?)
Is constantly pushing her to her very limits so she’ll quit. He didn’t even let up on that much when he found out the reason why she desperately needs the job.
AND it’s borderline non-con! She was very obviously brutally raped in the past. She has some trauma to that and flipped out when he tried to get intimate with her. She would get all stiff and scared for a moment beforehand. Which btw, he said fuck no to when she tried to tell him to stop and she had tears down her face and everything, and he just continued. WTF?!

This entire book is based off of miscommunication and the fact 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻‘𝘁 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞 to each other. 

So I’m also not believing how this is a second chance romance because they were never actually together…. Just slept together one night while hating or avoiding each other the rest of the time. Unrequited love, maybe, but not second chance.

I was done with this book at around 2/3 through when Jays parentage was revealed. Done with it and especially done with Daniel. Nicole was thrown in to a PTSD flashback, and what did Daniel do? 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗘𝗗 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 to get answers from her for why she panics sometimes before they’re together. I only continued reading the book to see if there was going to be even a shred of redemption by the end. 
That was a no, in case you’re wondering. 
This whole book was annoyingly stupid, made even more so because they spent the entire book not actually talking to each other. In the end, he said he had always loved her, proposed to her while on a hospital bed and of course she accepted. Because of course, book characters can immediately forget how hurtful and toxic someone they love had been to them. 

I will willingly say I regret this book. No redeeming qualities. Don’t say the love of your life is the queen of your life yet treat her like trash for most of your lives together. I’m so mad I read this. 
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sssar_'s review

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challenging emotional sad 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

4.5

Well.. now this was a rollercoaster 🎢.
I quite liked the book and I start to understand why Dan is hated though from one side I do see his point of view, personally I'm not against him, I just slightly dislike or maybe I'm kind of disappointed in certain actions. I was fine with the way he was till their relationship became serious and he was aware of what he actually felt. But I don't blame him either.
Let's talk about Nicole.
Her character was so different from Cruel King and her past was really sad maybe between the saddest in the universe.. She's really strong and the fact that she raised Jayden all by herself in a whole other country all alone without support>>>
As for Daniel, well I feel like we could've explored his character more than that but whatever.. I liked him and disliked him + most of the time I had a blank face on it not sure about how to react. Overall we had fun.
When it comes to their relationship, I have mixed feelings about it. It's not about them being together.. I mean..after all that happened just let them be finally together. I don't know honestly, just..something felt amiss.
I'm kind of disappointed we didn't see more of him and Knox, he literally appeared twice for 2 seconds but I was happy we saw Astrid once again with Levi and "met" Lan,Bran and Glyn.
BTW THE WHOLE UNCLE HENRY THING MADE ME TEAR UP I'M SO HAPPY FOR ALL OF THEM.
As for Christopher, trash I remember him, trash he remained.
Oh and I was so happy when Kyle made an appearance!! Ana too!
This book may as well be a 5 star but I'm gonna give it a 4/4.5 because of personal disappointments but nothing much.
(just in case of misunderstandings the content warnings aren't about mmc)
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golden_like_dior's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.5

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