Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

There Is No Devil by Sophie Lark

47 reviews

hapalyn's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed a lot more of the backstory than I did the actual current plot. And the plot itself felt a little bit undersold. I think that there was so much more that could've been explored, and I found the swap of the two serial killers' control was really interesting and a good tie-back to the beginning of the first book. I would've loved to see a bit more unraveling of the MMC. The FMC got over a lot of things faster than I expected her to, and she was surprisingly chill with a lot of the unhinged, illegal things going on. 

I would've enjoyed more of an exploration of her dark side, seeing her become more twisted as we see the "twisted" MMC become more humanized. Overall, I think this duet is moreso for the people who want a sexual story than one with equal amounts of plot. It wasn't really for me, but it helped me shape my taste and know what I want in darker fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent

olivia_k_wood's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Stalking, Death of parent, and Abandonment

kejendjsa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

krhart's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-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

The second book in this duo. This book picks up pretty much exactly where the first book left off. I really really feel like I shouldn't like Cole but he is that absolute red flag book boyfriend that you have to love because you're just naturally drawn to him. This book holds so much anticipation and excitement and hope for the main characters, both Cole and Mara.

The story takes you along as Cole and Mara's relationship grows and Cole starts to realize that he may actually have a soft spot for Mara. Mara continues to grow within herself with the help of Cole. She becomes more confident in her art, herself, and Cole. She continues to grieve the loss of her friend and she and Cole plan their revenge on Shaw.

The book has some really great redemption and revenge moments, and a fun little cameo from a certain police officer.

There are definitely some pretty spicy scenes and Cole and Mara just fire up the pages. I absolutely love the ending and I'm kind of sad to see this duo end. I would recommend both of these books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Stalking

shasta2292's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

The additional of songs to listen along to scenes is brilliant. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

beckyremillard's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death

meeeeegggggg's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A

4.0

Entertaining read. Easily digestible. Nice fun read that holds your attention the whole time 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse

amyrae64's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

mlouise2974's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

lillyrb's review against another edition

dark fast-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? It's complicated

I need to give this the same disclaimer as I did the first one - this book was not written for me. I’m not the target audience, I read the first one without preparation and finished it because I was curious. I ended up enjoying this one more than the first (probably because the start of book 1 made me so unbelievably uncomfortable). The relationship between Cole and Mara is undeniably fascinating in its codependency and brutality. The plot was quite good too. It is a very twisted boom with heaps of trigger warnings but it is well written and in this case the acts of violence that are described in detail are kind of less awful because while reading the book, Cole manages to also manipulate the reader to some extent believe the acts are justified (even though they are obviously not). The book does a very good job at manipulating the reader even though you know you are being manipulated. You have to like this kind of stuff but if you do, it’s definitely worth the read and the second book is in my opinion less horrifying to read (specifically as a woman who really does not enjoy reading about any kind of violence by men against women).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Murder