Reviews with content warning for Death - How does it feel?

Super hard to rate. I enjoyed the first 20%, appreciated the slow burn, the characters and the writing and when there was a shift in setting and characters, I was intrigued by the plot but started to not like the book anymore. The writing got super repetitive and the plot became inconsistent. There were so many points where I was so confused by some line drops, that I assume were supposed to be foreshadowing for the grand reveal but I would forget them as they were one liners and when the grand reveal/ plot twist happened, I was SO confused. But I also liked the plot twist?? Idk i’m very confused and don’t know how to feel. 2.5-3.

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leahpote's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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booksalacarte's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

3⭐️2.75🌶️

Contemporary Fantasy
Dark Romantasy
Magical realism
1st Person
Dual POV
Fae
Enemies to lovers
Stockholm syndrome
Trials
Twist

Tw: sexual assault, confinement, murder

This is a fun time, more than a good time.

For how short this fantasy book was, there was a lot going on… It was trying to be a lot of things in 320 pages. Cliche dialogue, typical plot… but the ending had a decent twist that only had the tiniest foreshadowing. So it was a decent surprise.

The POV overlap was really not great. I was annoyed at reading the same moments but from a different POV. It slowed the pacing down a lot. The fantasy aspect didn’t start until almost 1/2 way through the book…it felt like a lot of build up in a world where none of the action took place.

The FMC was portrayed as biology Barbie. Not really someone I wanted to root for. I was very confused by her as the FMC in a fantasy. It didn’t track. She starts out not cursing… and replacing words in a ‘The Good Place’ way, then curses in the second half of the book. She‘s inconsistent and not not a trustworthy narrator.

The MMC is a prince who is numb except when he kills. That’s it. That’s his personality. Got it. And unoriginal with his shadow powers. It is what it is at this point.

I’m hoping that the next book gets better. It was indie published and picked up before the second book was done, so maybe things get better with a good editor? It’s the same length… So jury is out. I’m reading book 2 because I got it from the library with the first one and I’m a little curious with the ending. If book 2 is the same, I’ll be done.

The longer I think about it, the lower i want to rate the book… but I was fine while reading it…

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noellelovesbooks's review

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4.5

Content warnings: [Pulled straight from the book cause I'm running on very little sleep 😅:

"Please be aware this story contains content that might be troubling to some readers, including but not limited to violence, abuse (physical, mental, emotional, verbal), kidnapping, death and dying, gore, mental illness, bones, hospitalization, profanity, snakes, sex, poison- ing."

Even though I'm moved away from my reading group 🥹 I'm trying to keep up with what they're reading so I know what's going on lol so since their meet up is tomorrow...and I couldn't sleep last night...I stayed up and read the whole book.

All I knew about this book, before reading, was that it had some people yelling at their cameras on Tiktok and that the fey were somehow involved...and I was not disappointed.

Don't get me wrong our alphahole had me rolling my eyes with his threats more than anything but at the same time I loved seeing our ladies inner confidence grow and don't even get me started on that curveball ending.

I need sleep...and then I'll be needing to dive into book 2.

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saranwrap18's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious 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? No

3.75

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ashley_a_reads's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

3.75

This was fun. I think that’s the right word. I felt like the pace was a little off, and the only thing that keeps me from rating it 4 stars is that I felt there was some unnecessary stuff and a couple of weird editing choices that just really pulled me out of the story at times.

The characters were interesting the MMC was a little two dimensional and the fact that either of them “fell in love” felt rushed and not believable. I’ll read on in the series, but it definitely could have used a bit more developmental editing.

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haleydeppert's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Very much a slow burn type of dark romance and I LOVED it! I literally read this book in a day. I appreciate that their feelings did not just change overnight and it took time—almost the whole book—for them to finally start accepting and showing their feelings towards each other. I did not see the plot twist coming at the end either. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to get my hands on the second book the moment it comes out! 🖤

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reading_kim_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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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