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bruiserwitch's review against another edition
I returned a free book with Kindle Unlimited. That's how much I disliked this book.
I sat with my feelings about this book for several days after I didn't finish it. I wanted to really think about why I didn't like it. This made my DNF list at 41%, and I just could not bring myself to keep going. This book is just chockfull of red flags, bad behavior (even for a dark romance), and good old fashioned YIKES. The yikes are even doubled down on by the author on social media and that contributed to me not finishing this book.
First of all, this is a deeply poor example of CNC in fiction. CNC is negotiated between sound of mind adults BEFORE these encounters take place. From where I stopped, there is never any sort of conversation that takes place in which any of these characters discuss what's going to happen, how things will happen, and how to stay safe and sane during these encounters. Dark romance is one thing, I understand that it can push the envelope of boundaries, but there is a way to still sit within that genre and follow the safe, sane, and consensual guidelines of kink. This does NONE of that.
Romina is in no way, and is never portrayed as, an emotionally mature adult. She spent the whole of her 18 years of life abused and neglected, has little to no social or interpersonal skills and suddenly falls into these "relationships" with three guys who are hardly as "satanic" as they are 2001 Hot Topic edgelords. She genuinely CANNOT consent to what they're doing to her, she is not of a mature or sound enough mind to do so based on the way she was raised. The guys immediately take advantage of her naivety and lack of social skills. One is straight up try-hard crazy, the other nearly immediately love bombs her, and the third almost killed her during a medical episode. These are not relationships, this is three men taking advantage of a sheltered, terrified girl who legitimately does not know any better of the world.
Romina's lack of knowledge of the world is exploited and played out for jollies and its gross. She's really hardly more than a child and acts like one, and yet these three guys are just fine with dragging her around like a dog (one even calls her pet almost exclusively) and essentially repeatedly assaulting her.
One of the guys even tells her to "never tell me no." If that's not a massive red flag, I don't know what is. She doesn't know what she's doing, or what's being done to her, and he takes away the autonomy she doesn't know she has. None of this is empowering for her, the guys are keeping her sheltered and now grooming her to their likings. It's terrible.
All of the interesting bits of this story fell to second place to how poorly the main female character is treated. I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't get past how much they were glorifying treating this poor girl lower than dirt.
I rarely DNF books, but this one just didn't have enough to make me look past how gross the interaction between the main characters is. I read a few things about what happens past the point where I stopped, and I'm still glad I stopped when I did. I didn't find much redeemable about this book, and likely won't pick up any of the author's other works.
Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
kayla_kamldecker's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Abortion, Death of parent, and Alcohol
anianika's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
The last hundred pages were literally just smut and graphic sex scenes. I get it sometimes you just want smit without plot but damn does the sorry excuse for a plot really have to be so...terrible?
Went in expecting a dark villain-y romance and was met with SA, graphic sexual violence and just terrible writing.
Stars subtracted for every time LotR was mentioned or referenced but unfortunately there aren't even stars. Shame.... Just a shame.
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
tevass's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Pandemic/Epidemic
amaranth_wytch's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
2.75
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Gun violence, Incest, Excrement, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
dusti85's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Abortion, and Pregnancy