Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Sacrifice by Shantel Tessier

10 reviews

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

sadamari's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.25

I loved getting a glimpse into Tyson’s life with how big of a support character he was in the first two books. Very much enemies to lovers feel. Liked having both couples from the past books in this one as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

ahbee_p_'s review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

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

booknerdcoco's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Tyson Crawford. What can I say other than absolute perfection 👌 

Though on the surface (like all LORDS men), he is a sociopath...he's a sociopath with a moral(ly grey) compass. And they way he takes control 🥵🥵

This is probably my favourite of all of the series so far.

However, upon re-reading it, I have so many questions that I think just didn't pick up on the first time around, and I feel like these will be answered later in the series 👀 which I am here for!!

Though they are standalone in the strictest sense. For the truest sense of world building and storytelling (closure), the questions can only truly he answered by reading the other stories.

Spice: 5/5
Book boyfriend: 10/5
Plot: 5/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

goldensisyphus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

misswirum's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Raise your hand if you're a victim of Shantel's misogyny and plot-writing-skills 🙋🏼‍♀️

First of all; this is not a romance. This is a (bad) thriller/erotica. Authors need to stick to the genre or be held responsible when they're not!!

The Ritual with Ryat&Blake is one of my favourite books of all time!! But after "Sabotage" I'm pretty sure the author just writes for shock value. She knows what her fans want, and what she'll "get away with". Which is OK, but I really liked her early writing style, so I'm sad 😞

I'm not bying the whole "universe" either. It's to far fetched and all the Lords do is kill each other?

The FMC is weak af, but that's not her fault. She's been groomed from a really young age. And her character description made me think of DeBrie from Arrested Development s4.... that's NOT the vibe you want 🥲🥲
The MMC is mean mean and doesn't have a redeeming bone in his body. 

I used over a month reading this book, because I wanted to DNF it every other page. The only thing that kept me going was the tiny bit of mystery; who killed Whitney and what/who is Tyson saving Lake from?
The plot's not really going forward intil you hit the 60% mark. But even tho it's a stand-alone, you're left with LOTS of questions after finishing the book. 

2.5/5⭐️
2/5📝
3,75/5🌶

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

ten_telegrams's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Death, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

kdelong's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

Dark romance but the plots elements had potential. unfortunately the majority of the scenes between the mmc and fmc are dubious consent at best and the text seems to try to normalize the dom/sub dynamic in a highly unlikely fashion. Not for the easily  affected by any kind of sexual violence or dubious consent dominance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, and Pregnancy