Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

30 reviews

poupi's review

dark tense fast-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is a solid dark smut romance.
Really.
It is rough, spicy, kinky, with lot of plots.

But I really prefer My Riat Ritual without the pregnancy trope and a too naive FMC.

Spoiler

I loath it and it ruined my reading each time. Writting a really good dark kinky college romance doesn’t feet with twentyish young adult craving for a pregnancy. 

The second issue for me was for half of the book, the naivety of the FMC was too much. I was this closed to think that she was stupid… And out of nowhere she was able to stand up for herself.
It was about damn time, because she had everything in her hand to put their heads in their own asses.
And even after that, I still think the characters could have been so much more…

The pregnancy trope related to this naive character kills it for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Blood, Misogyny, and Murder

amanda_reads13's review

dark tense fast-paced

• 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

2.0

Brighton University is home of the LORDS. A secret society that runs on  violence and includes the most powerful men in the world. Trying to escape her expectations of her parents, Blakely is thrown into this chaotic world when she agrees to be Ryot's "chosen". 

You need to check the TW before reading this one and check your feminism at the door, because this was dark. 

The LORDS, a glorified frat, have high expectations for their members. Their initiation process includes forced celibacy and murder. After three years of celibacy, each man gets to chose a "chosen" (essentially a sex-slave). Of course Ryat, psychopath that he is, is a member. 

Blakely's boyfriend of 3 years (another psychopath) is also a member of the LORDS, but she has no knowledge of it. She is also in a forced arranged marriage with this douche, no biggie. How has she been in the dark this long, considering both her boyfriend and father are members? 

Anyways, Ryot choses Blakely as his "chosen" after being told to do so from her FATHER. WTF! and it spirals out for control from there. 

Ryot is your typical controlling, possessive, jealous asshole. Blakely is the innocent virgin who is magically into all these intense acts .. ya ok... She is honestly the most idiotic and naive character. 

Their connection was very forced, shallow, and based on a physical connection. He protects her, she gives herself to him, that pretty much sums it up. This is basically Stockholm Syndrome at its worst. 

Tropes: dark, secret society, touch her/you die

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Sexual content, Stalking, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Blood, Murder, and Sexual violence

bergha1998's review

challenging dark emotional funny sad 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

3.75

Woah this is a dark romance, check those TWs. The plot was great, I’m not usually into college romances, but it being so secret society focused kept it very interesting. The spice is crazy: drugs, primal, dubcon, breath play, and a lot of BDSM. I loved how possessive Ryat was from the start. 

Dark Romance, Arranged Relationship, Secret Society, 4 1/2 🔥

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Gore, Murder, Alcohol, Body horror, Drug use, Confinement, Bullying, Cursing, Sexual content, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

dscholl's review

dark emotional fast-paced

• 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: Sexual content, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Violence, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Torture, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Rape, and Murder

Minor: Pregnancy

dovahkiin_freyja's review

Blakely/Ryat-  He belongs to a secret society where he can take (and control) a woman of his choosing. After being told to choose *her* he stalks her, she breaks up with her bf after finding out

Spoiler

he's cheating, then starts sleeping with Ryat after her ritual "choosing him/vowing" eventually they get married and then she finds out that it was really just "a game to him".
She runs away for a few weeks until he finds her and drags her back. Then he tells her that she has to undergo some kind of test for the Lords /Ladies.

 
(I'm at 62%, and I'm going to DNF this book. The author uses too many exclamation points and the writing comes off. as annoying & childish. The story isn't interesting enough to keep my attention, and I feel like I wasted my time) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Stalking, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

cait's review

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Confinement, Infertility, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Grief, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Body horror, Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Murder, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

crj96's review

I typically prefer clear consent in my spicy book reads, so this is not exactly a trope I'd read. However, I could have finished it if it were written well. The spice didn't carry you along with chemistry of any sort. The characters were too one dimensional. Just decided it wasn't worth finishing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Rape, Torture, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Misogyny

kaadee's review

dark 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? No

2.0

Ryat’s name is the only cool part of this book. Was I hooked? Yes. Was it good from an actual writing perspective? No. The world building is so ass, it’s laughable. That’s not why i read it though. 2 stars for okay-ish smut.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

allycatyo's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

I’ve heard many things, positive and negative, about this book and I finally decided to give it a shot. Much to my surprise I couldn’t put the book down. The triggers are not my usual cup of tea, but I remained intrigued and loved the secret society aspect more than I thought I would! This is my first dark Romance and I think it was a great choice. Would I recommend this book? That’s complicated. But if you do read this book, don’t say we didn’t warn ya.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Medical content, Vomit, and Pregnancy

Please read the author’s content warnings and take care of your mental health first. This is not a book for everyone.

atranscryptid's review

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Domestic abuse