Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Silent Vows by Jill Ramsower

4 reviews

vidalovesspice's review

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dark emotional 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

2.0

  • Spice Lvl - 2 or 3, I dunno. Shit was so fucking boring and not memorable.
  • FMC - Noemi
    • 1/5 - soft bland tofu. No soy sauce, just water.
  • MMC/LI - Connor
    • 1/5 - a walking eggplant. Sometimes fried sometimes frozen.
    • Red Flag Rating - 4/5
  • Stupid Scale
    • So Stupid
  • Tropes - organized crime, arranged marriage
  • Trigger Warning - crime, abuse (not between the main characters, unless you count stupidity and toxic ass behavior), violence, selective mutism due to trauma 
  • Kinks - virgin bride, giant eggplant (one of those "oh, my hand couldn't wrap around the eggplant fully), fingerbang gang, I can't remember the rest cause I was so bored with all the sex scenes

Another SpicyTok recommendation. I loved the premise: traumatized FMC who pretends to be mute to protect herself and her idiot brother from her POS abusive father, while a rival gang member, Conner, needs to find a bride to strengthen the gang alliances. Conner is interested in Noemi because of her beauty and the fact that she is silent. I thought to myself "oh yah, that sounds good. Thanks, SpicyTok!"...

The Good
  • Nothing. I liked nothing about this book. I hate read the shit out of this book. On the bright side...there was no Third Act Break Up...? I think, I dunno.

The Bad
  • Noemi - Noemi has the personality of soft tofu. Flavorless, 0 personality, 0 ambition, and generic goals. I don't care that the author wrote "oh she's not meek". No, she's dull, boring, and has 0 character development let alone brain cells. I feel like I'm victim blaming Noemi as she is definitely an abuse victim and is traumatized after the death of her mother. I feel for her, but holy shit she is so dumb. Noemi does absolutely nothing to help herself. She wants to protect her brother, but has no plans. She relies so heavily on toxic ass Connor who is so hot and cold, she develops absolutely no agency for herself and instead molds herself into what she thinks Connor wants. Noemi is mentioned to have ambitions, but what they are I have no idea except to save her brother and ride Connor's eggplant of glory. I was so fucking over her.
  • Connor - Connor is your typical alpha male macho macho gangster. Loves violence, revenge, and getting his way. I liked him at first as I thought his tete-a-tete with Noemi in the first act was intriguing. He seemed to respect boundaries and seemed cool at first. But that quickly goes out the window as the chapters progress and he thinks with his GIANT EGGPLANT instead of his other head (we will get to this in a minute). Connor is so hot and cold with Noemi. He throws fits when Noemi is unable to communicate with him her feelings, and I feel like he corners her or guilts her into telling him her feelings. Then he makes her problems about him and then doesn't properly communicate with Noemi, which leads her to do even dumber shit. Connor is also super possessive to the point it just got annoying.
    SpoilerHe even goes as far to be jealous with his own family over Noemi
    . Like, chill the fuck out dude. That shit is cute in small doses. Not every fucking chapter.
  • The Giant Eggplant - Then there's that whole "giant eggplant trope" going around with the whole "I couldn't wrap my hand completely around his eggplant." Sis, are you okay? Do you have tiny hands? I hope you have tiny hands. Even the aftercare scenes were "hey, we'll only do it once. Take this aspirin and clean up. Deuces." Romantic. I gave this a 2/5 spice level because, TBH, the sex scenes were so bland and not memorable, I couldn't remember any of them.
  • The other characters - moving on to the other characters...holy shit are they super secondary or just dumb. Noemi's brother, I can't be bothered to look up his name because I don't care, is so dumb and naiive. Like, bruh, you're 17 years old and you
    Spoiler WITNESSED your father hitting your older sister. And you have the audacity to say "Oh, dad's just trying to protect us." Then you snitch to your dad about Noemi sneaking around with Connor and then feel justified in your actions even when your sister desperately tries to tell you not to. You don't see how terrified your sister is?
    There's naivety and then willful ignorance and stupidity. Her brother is 100% the latter. I did not give a shit about him.
  • Inconsistent storyline  - There are so many inconsistencies in this book. The one I can remember is
    Spoiler at the climax when Connor's gang comes to a standoff with Noemi's father, Noemi's father says that Connor is manipulating Noemi's brother and is telling lies. Um, but sir, didn't you JUST fucking say the chapter before that you never needed your children AS YOU HELD YOUR SON AT GUNPOINT?!
    MAKE IT MAKE SENSE! 
  • The weird ass sex scenes & how they deal with intimacy
    • OMG, listen, I came for the smut but like...don't insert that shit everywhere. There are so many instances where Noemi is trying to tell Connor something serious.
      Spoiler There is one scene where Noemi finally opens up to Connor about her mother being murdered by her father, and you know what Connor Giant Eggplant does? He decides to fuck her brains out. Because murder's so HOT, AMIRITE?! This happens a few times in the book where Noemi confesses something big and important on what traumatized her, and Connor's response is to fuck her brains out...My brain cells hurt.
    • Spoiler There's another scene where Noemi and Conner finish having sex and Noemi asks if he's clean. That's fine and dandy, safety first...BUT DIDN'T YOU JUST SUCK HIS EGGPLANT AND SWALLOWED IN THE LAST CHAPTER?! Kinda late asking about if he's clean.
  • Does not pass the Bechdel test

Am I going to read the rest of the series? Maybe. Just call me a trash panda because I do enjoy dumpster diving. Definitely a hate read for me.
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sienasummerrreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This follows Noemi and Connor. Noemi has been promised to the Irish Mafia family. Her father killed her mother and if she refuses the hand of the Irish she fears her father will do the same. Connor is intrigued by the mysterious woman who is labelled an unsuitable bride due to being mute. Which is perfect because that makes her silent. But something is just not right. 

This was a great read and audiobook. I really enjoyed the plot and characters. With Noemi, she was very mysterious and I loved how strong to an extent she was, as a lot has happened in her life recently. Connor is very protective of what is his. He stands by his family and will do anything to make sure they are okay. Connor can be sweet and caring but boy can he make you get hot and bothered as well. 

Just a couple of things. I wanted a little more spice as I was obsessed with Noemi and Conner. I also thought Noemi would try more often to convince and warn her brothers with him pushing back to cause more tension. The final scene where everything went sideways felt quick to me. The narration was great just I struggled a little with the male narrator on this audiobook but that is a personal preference. 

If you love: 

🔹Mafia Romance 
🔹Rival Families 
🔹Mysterious Mute Character 
🔹Family Issues & Secrets 
🔹Possesive & Loyalty 
🔹Great Spice 

Genre/Type: Mafia Romance 18+
APK: Kindle & Audiobook
Pages: 350 
Audio Length: 9hrs 8mins 
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Spice: 🌶️.5
Series or Stand Alone: 1st Book In The Byrne Brothers Series 
Tropes or Themes: Mafia, Arranged Marriage, Age Gap (8 Years), Protective MMC, Virgin, He Falls First, Adopted Character, Sexual Content, After Care, Cursing, Verbal & Physical Abuse, Jealousy, Abandonment, Family Drama, Rival Families, Violence, Blood, Guns, Alcohol, Car Accident, Intimate Tattoos, Mute Character, Murder & Death
Check Triggers ⚠️

All Round Romance Reader 
Sienasummerrreads 💕📚
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janenoriejane's review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A

3.75

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r1vana's review

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dark emotional 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? Yes

3.0

“Intimacy came with vulnerability and trust— things that would bring emotion into the mix.”
•mafia dark romance
•Arranged marriage
•Age gap(fc 20; mc early thirties-ish)
•trauma/mute FMC
•A-hole MMC

Three star may be to generous…
Noemi and Connor are set into an arranged marriage they were were obliged and forced into which allies both the Italians and the Irish. All about business and power.
Six months ago, Noemi got into a car accident with her mom and has guilt survival trauma. She has stopped talking due to the guilt and knowing that the killer is her own father and she can’t do nothing about it.
Connor on the other hand, has chosen Noemi as his wife(he had many options but he decides to choose her). Creepily, he was really curious on why N was mute and he wanted to break through it. 

Opinion:
-Connor and Noemi’s relationship lack growth and chemistry(just bcz there is smut doesn’t mean there is actual romance)
-Connor is an a-hole for particularly forcing Noemi to tell him about her trauma and I dislike how N kinda romanticiz his caveman actions.
-and Connor gaslight Noemi quite a few times.
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