Reviews with content warning for Stalking - The Ritual

Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

45 reviews

katco90's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was amazing. It's my first dark romance but, man, the story brings you in..I am already almost done with the second book now! I loved this book! 10 out of 10. Shantel Tessier is a wonderful writer.

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kelliruss's review

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

the smut is so messed up and so good. the story is so silly though.

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amanda_reads13's review

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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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bergha1998's review

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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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teebearrr's review

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adventurous challenging 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? Yes

4.5

At first I thought I was going to be overwhelmed with how much smut there was and little to no plot but I knew with 600 pages, there had to be more; I just had to be patient! The plot got reallly interesting and when it finally picked up on it, the smut added to it made it very enjoyable. I wanted to hate Ryat with how harsh he was & it was all just a game to him but as the story went on, his character development was beautiful. While the fmc was great, at times I found her a bit annoying. I felt she was very naive / oblivious, like girl the puzzle pieces are in front of you - put two & two together! But I do feel like Ryat & Blake were made for each other. He loved her & accepted her for who she was as she did for him too. The epilogue was 🥹. Matt & Valerie can go to h*ll where they belong &

Spoiler

I’m surprise there was no growing relationship with her biological mother (I guess she disliked her that much)

. Other then that, the read was very addicting and I couldn’t put it down! Although I heard the second standalone in this series gets even more smuttier, I hope the plot will balance it out like book one! I cant wait to finish the rest of the series.

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leatherboundriot's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

DNF at 26%
I wanted to like this one so badly. There were some aspects that really intrigued me but the writing style, characterizations, and pacing just weren’t it for me.

Second Read Review: Update 08.24.2023

So I went back and finished the book. I have to admit that it surprised me. The first time I made it about a quarter of the way through and didn't really connect with the characters or plot. Diving back in at that point, I did continue to struggle with it for a while, but around 50-60% it got better. I struggled with the pacing of the book because it felt like it was moving very fast-- and it was, but in the second half of the book, we started to get more substance to the story that drew me in.

The spice was 10/10, that was never the issue for me.

All in all, I think I'm on board to read more in this series. Maybe not the entire thing, or even in order, but there are some other characters that I would like to know more about. I've got my eyes on you, Ty 👀

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dovahkiin_freyja's review

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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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sshayyylaa's review

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challenging dark 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

3.0

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krimor's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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_toristorytime's review

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dark tense slow-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

1.5

This book challenged me a lot. The line between kink and fantasy versus SA and rape seemed intentionally very blurred if there at all. This book had moments of steam that I enjoyed but it took a lot of digging to find it. I considered DNFing this book multiple times.

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