Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

16 reviews

bergha1998's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Gore, Murder, Alcohol, Body horror, Drug use, Confinement, Bullying, Cursing, Sexual content, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

geesusbeesus's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, and Body horror

leatherboundriot's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Stalking, Violence, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Murder, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Gun violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pregnancy and Kidnapping

alxisrae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional relaxing tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug use, Torture, Body horror, Grief, Violence, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Kidnapping, Rape, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence

_toristorytime's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Blood, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol

peeshy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Cursing, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Rape

cait's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Confinement, Infertility, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Grief, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Body horror, Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Murder, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

kaadee's review against another edition

dark 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

2.75

Ryat’s name is the only cool part of this book. Was I hooked? Yes. Was it good from an actual writing perspective? No. The world building is so ass, it’s laughable. That’s not why i read it though. 2 stars for okay-ish smut.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Violence

ren_reads_a_lot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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

5.0

If I could give this book infinity stars I would. I came into this book thinking I wasn’t going to like it and dark romance wasn’t for me. I was so wrong. I loved it (obsession level). And I am a dark romance girlie. I’m still sitting with my thoughts on how do review this but I will say, I will be reading this over and over and will be reading everything Shantel has to write! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Gun violence, Death, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Stalking, Violence, and Physical abuse

andeng's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Blood, Confinement, Medical content, Pregnancy, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail