Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Hooked by Emily McIntire

26 reviews

megsbookishworld's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

I read this book in a 24 hour period (2 sittings).
The author wants you to go in blind but there is some dark stuff in this book so be warned.

The biggest thing I struggled with is how tf are you gonna fall in love with someone who kidnapped you and held you prisoner for days?!?  Stockholm syndrome is joked about in the book but seriously….. 

Then the murdering…. Every chapter, another body in explicit detail. 

If you don’t like blood, maybe don’t read this.

Also if you don’t like dom/sub dynamics this is absolutely not for you.

I went in blind, was it for me? No.
But it is really well written and I never saw the end coming.
The author definitely had me Hooked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

mistyhearts's review against another edition

This was my first true dark romance book and turns out, it isn’t for me. I didn’t expect the gore to be quite as detailed as it is and the lowkey necrophilia was flat out disgusting to me. It made me nauseous. I likely will not pick up another dark romance book again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

mysafe_place's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

1.0

"Hooked" had so much potential to be honest, yet it gravely disappointed me. The whole idea behind it is nothing new, but it is something that could have been told in a better way. The writting was off, sometimes made me slam the book against my own head because it was so damn awful. Oftentimes it felt like I was reading a fanfiction. Besides that, Wendy's character was the one I liked the least since she was so shallow. I do not expect every strong female character to be a genius and be an excellent fighter,  but her whole demeanour vexed me a lot. The author clearly attempted to add some character development to her but I would consider this attempt as clearly failed. Her "development " only showed in the last few pages and there was no in-between,  no way she went to become the person she'd be by the end of the book. Subsequently, I found it really questionable how the relationship between James and Wendy was portrayed. Calling her a pet and she being fine with that? I almost stopped reading by then. Besides, their whole relationship was almost completely based on sex and if they had any meaningful conversations it was only while they were having sex. I do have to admit that I am not a fan of smut but this book took it way too far. 
All in all, a terrible book to start my reading year 2024.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

bryce_barrett's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

melaniegrace91's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

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

2.5

I had heard a lot about this book, so was really excited to read it. I don’t know if it was just that the audio book narrators were horrible actors, or what, but I really didn’t enjoy this book. It had very little plot and so much violent sexual content it just made me uncomfortable. Perhaps it’s my fault for not reading the content warnings, but I was thoroughly disappointed in how many red flags there were in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

fadeddpages's review against another edition

dark

• 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Vomit

kerrythefire's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

3.25

I read this one after Scarred and Wretched (book 2 & 3 in the series) and so that probably meant this book lost out on a few novelty points it would have gotten otherwise. 

It was solid, but I had a hard time with Wendy. I couldn't really understand why she loved her dad so much because we were just kinda asked to believe it while having no evidence for why. I also just found myself feeling annoyed at her throughout... maybe in part because of her loyalty to her father but also I don't think I do well with meeker, naïve, more damsel-y heroines in general.

I also don't love when the balance is full dom on the MMC side and full submissive on the FMC side so the dynamic wasn't the right one for me to love this book no matter how much else I liked about it. That's really just a personal preference that may not detract for anyone else.

Plot was compelling and kept moving forward (I do think Emily McIntire writes better supporting plot than some people. Her books are a pretty equal balance of adventure and suspense plot and romance smut.) 

That said, one of the twists/reveals at the end felt like a pretty big hole that left me with a lot of questions.

I still don't understand why James' uncle told his son he didn't have time/space for him... Like, why Smee thought he just needed to hold out till James turned 18 and then his dad would be able to focus on him...? All his uncle did was abuse and hate him... Did that take up all his time so he couldn't have a relationship with his son? But somehow he still knew his son enough to tell him to wait...? Truly, I have no idea... I'm so confused.

But it was at the very end of the book and I guess I didn't care enough so sorta shrugged it off. It was kind of a black box tho which was disappointing for the story. Especially when Emily McIntire seems to do a good job about closing all the loops she opens earlier on in the story. This was just a loop she punched open right at the end and asked us to just go with... Which was unsatisfying.

All in all it was fine. It was fun how she wove in the Peter Pan elements, especially the clock ticks. I thought Scarred and Wretched were both better though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Child abuse and Drug use

clairew97's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

elledanie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail