Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Sacrifice by Shantel Tessier

21 reviews

kpress15's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I liked this way better than the second! It provides more of a plot line while still keeping the spice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Trafficking

lunarjuniper's review against another edition

medium-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

Doormat FMC with abusive husband dark romance. Messy and confusing plot was only fully explained in final 2 pages, no real reason for the two main characters to fall in love. It’s giving Stockholm syndrome. Sex scenes were repetitive, phrases were overused and this book was a whole lot of bullshit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

hereiskyra's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

SPOILERS… 🖤

I don’t know what it is about these Lords but… no matter what they do or how irredeemable they seem to be, I still end up falling for them. 

I think Lake was a good FMC, she showed a little bit of backbone from time to time but mostly she was just as weak and submissive as I would expect. I think knowing so much about Tyson and already liking him from the first two books helped a lot here. I’m not sure I’d have liked him so much if I didn’t already know he was some sort of decent. Well, as decent as it gets for a morally grey character.

It did feel like we went from 0-60 on the emotional front, though. They didn’t admit their feelings verbally for a minute but all of a sudden everyone seemed really aware that what they had going on was something real. This and the ending felt like it snuck up on me. I’m okay with that and it didn’t take away from the story for me, if anything I was relieved. 

The twists were twisty and ithevplot kept me guessing. If I’ve learned one thing about Shantel in this series, it’s that her overall attitude towards every FMC’s parents is: f*ck you. And like, I’ve got trauma so same 😂

My only real complaint here - the fact that Luke assaulted Lake while she was unconscious. It would be the one thing I would take out of this. I’m not sure if it’s because I like MMC’s possessive and to be the first and only? Maybe. Could it also be because I hate the idea that a MMC would fail to protect the girl they love from things like that? Also probably. But some of my favorite dark romance books have a flawed MMC who definitely doesn’t always get it right. So I think it’s okay. 

I really need a short book or something about the three families and their kids and what law happens 18 years down the road. Like, yesterday. 

Tropes:

Enemies to Lovers

Sisters Ex

Arranged Marriage

V*rg*n FMC

Secret Society 

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

bialosqrska's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

lea_9_anjali's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

Es ist eine dark romance also ja

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Pregnancy

machteldv's review

dark

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Rape and Trafficking

xlaurareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

i kinda was expecting more of this book than what it delivered in the end. i loved ty in the previous books and think the author did him a bit dirty in his own book, making him kind of a villain to lake. while i came to understand his intentions and reasons and knew he'd fall in love with lake, i didn't like the way he was treating her in the beginning. i also feel like lake was such a weak fmc, she only argued with him and few some tantrums a few times but came to believing to like being treated as his slut, she never seemed to question anything and it made me so mad. the plot, albeit only coming pretty late in the book, was nice and exciting to read and some things really were crazy. i think some stuff was predictable while other plot points surprised me a lot and i liked that. but i, again, have to argue that

I HATE THE PREGNANCY TROPE LIKE GURL CAN YOU NOT EVEN GO FOR ONE BOOK WITHOUT GETTING THE FMC PREGNANT WITHIN 2 SECONDS AFTER BEING WITH THE MMC.

. thanks for coming to my ted talk. anyway, i liked the book, but i still liked the first one of the series best and am not as big a tyson fan as i was in the first two books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming and Drug abuse

casualk's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Torture

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Blood

Minor: Drug use, Grief, and Pregnancy

satanshomosexualagenda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I almost dnf this book. I’m so glad I didn’t it just took me a minute to love it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

Minor: Bullying, Rape, and Stalking

jlhunkins's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

After reading The Ritual I really didn’t think this one was going to do it for me, BUT I’VE NEVER BEEN SO WRONG. This book made me feel all the emotions and has left me shooketh to my core.

There was truly never a dull moment in this book and the plot was SO ENTERTAINING. I was quite literally on the edge of my seat the whole way through this book.

Would definitely check all the trigger warnings, since there are many, but definitely one of my favorite dark romances I’ve ever read. 🖤

Now don’t mind me while I just go read Shantel Tessier’s whole backlog 🙃

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Stalking