Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Sugar and Skulls by L.M. Terry

6 reviews

goldguardie's review

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dark emotional hopeful sad 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

3.0

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roksyreads's review

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dark sad 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

1.5

 I’ll preface this by saying I’m a fan of dark romance and have read some very dark novels and enjoyed them. Whilst there are some aspects that are intriguing and hit hard emotionally, enough to keep me hopeful of a solid finish, I unfortunately have very little to say that’s positive about this novel. The story is repetitive, haphazard, and at times forced. There are too many POVs, most of which sound exactly the same, and with minimal character development outside of the FMC. Note also that the FMC is a teenager: she’s 17 for 70% of the novel. Despite all attempts to age her up—mostly by putting her through numerous traumatic events*—she’s childish and petulant. And no, not in a cute, playful way. Add in numerous “when she’s 18” lines from not one, but two, significantly older MMCs, and it kills the “romance”. I won’t be continuing with the series, nor will I be reading any other work from the author. 

 
* be aware of regular, detailed descriptions on-page with no CWs in the book.
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paigegraf's review

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dark hopeful 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

4.5

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ju_ju's review

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dark emotional

3.5

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r0si3_'s review

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challenging dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
TW: grooming of a minor, forced birth (not mc)

This is one of the worst books I've ever. The trigger warnings were not adequate. I wish I DNRd it but I forced myself to read it out of spite and honestly hope. 

This book was my Roko's Basilisk. I was on a romance novel binge to just read fun stuff. And I've read "dark" romances before and do enjoy them. The writing style felt a tad repetitive and surface level and at the end. There were a few lines where I could feel the author digging for some good quotes to encompass what the characters were feeling, but idk. Everyone felt the same. 

Dirk meets Jesse at TEN which is bad enough, but then you later find out that HE KIDNAPPED HER MOTHER TO PREVENT AN ABORTION AND THEN NAMED HER!!!! He also insists that therapy takes so long because counselors get paid by the session and therefore have no stake in healing so HE KIDNAPS HER AND FORCED HER TO TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING AND THATS SUPPOSED TO FIX HER????


I Really didn't want to leave a review. But I don't understand how this book has so many raving reviews. If you have any doubts at all, just put the book down. I'm still shell-shocked I read this. The high ratings have left me with little faith in trusting reviews to find good romance novels. 
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bookish_robin's review

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

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