Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

75 reviews

bookedupchick's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

aubrieanne's review against another edition

dark tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Torture, and Pregnancy

kittykels's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

I went into this book expecting to love it, even knowing that I might not enjoy some of the violence or other heavy content. But the dark content isn't what had me disliking this book. 

The plot in general was fine, but the writing was choppy, lifeless, one-dimensional, etc. There was no depth to story or the characters. It's possible this was an intensional style choice given the dark and gritty content; after all, you wouldn't expect flowery prose in a story like this. But if this was indeed a style choice, it was overdone and didn't work. 

I'm honestly surprised I finished this book. I wanted something spicy and I wanted something dark, but I also wanted something gripping and this wasn't it. I couldn't wait for it to end, honestly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Rape, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Kidnapping and Pregnancy

readwithbritt's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcohol

hereiskyra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Like everyone else who’s been late to the game, I heard a lot of mixed reviews on this book so I knew I’d either love it or hate it. Fortunately for me, I love it! I didn’t even know I had the ability to read a 600 page book in less than a week but I could not put it down.

It started off a little rough, I think a lot due to Matt being an absolute soggy biscuit of a person. But as soon as Ryat came into the picture. I was hooked. 

There was so much in this book and somehow I still wanted more. I genuinely think I might need some therapy… but I loved the twisted romance, the secret society and everything in between. There were just, I mean JUST, enough plot elements to balance out the spice to make this perfect for me. 

The spice in this book started early (like 16%, I think) and once it started it didn’t stop. I usually need a little more slow burn and some time to form an attachment but this one was different. I felt the chemistry right off the bat and just hoped it would get deeper. It was kinky and chaotic and I loved it. 

And as crazy as he is, Ryat is top tier. 🙌🏼

Tropes/Themes:
Enemies to Lovers (vibes)
Secret Society
Possessive MMC
V*rg*n FMC
Degradation/Praise
Kn*fe/Bondage/Breath Play

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

laileth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Heard this is the holy grail of dark spicy romance, was not disappointed! Expected this to be mainly smut, but surprised to find out the plot is so good and there's a lot of it! Love the story, love the spice, love the twists💚

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

morgydunn's review against another edition

Absolute brain rot. The writing felt like a horny highschool Wattpad submission. Nothing that should warrant a multiple book series…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Stalking, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

allymurphy's review against another edition

4.0

is this even close to a somewhat decent book? no. did I have a great time and fall in love with Ryat Archer? hell yeah I did
it lost a star due to

everything that happened with her mom at the end and that Matt didn’t have a painful enough death, it felt a little like throwing everything at the wall and seeing what stuck with not a ton of success. the rest of the book was fantastic

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Minor: Stalking

kdb_0620's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

chels984's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

oh my god hello i need to reconnect with nature

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol