Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

63 reviews

thirdeyeangel23's review against another edition

dark 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

This book is a lesson in overcompensating. It felt as though this was trying to prove how dark it was without actually doing much of anything.

First off, I like Ryat and Blakely for what they are but there was so much lacking in their dynamic. For this to be a dark romance with an almost enemies to lovers dynamic, there was no tension or true chemistry until about 50% in. The fact that the FMC is drugged for a good portion of the book probably contributes to that. That just segues right into the fact that this did not need to be 600+ pages. If you took away most of the points when our FMC is knocked tf out and the repetitive (and pretty boring) sex, this could’ve been wrapped up in 300 tops. That being said the latter half of the book served far more of what I expected than the former. Tessier definitely has some storytelling chops, but the execution took so much away from this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual harassment

This story heavily features dubious consent and consensual non-consent situations.

stef_hent_'s review against another edition

dark tense medium-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? Yes

2.5

If all of the spicy scenes were removed, it'd be a novella. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child death

Super heavy read.

One of the main characters has a forced-sex fantasy

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

whimsicalbook's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment

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

cinderellaeyes's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Check your TWs!

The book was great; it was engaging, the world building was pretty interesting BUT I had some issues with it as a whole.

The way the names of songs appeared throughout the book was pretty annoying. I didn’t enjoy that at all. Seemed forced and the writing became awkward. 

I wish we could find out more about Ryat’s background and why he decided to serve in the society. I wanted a bit more backstory, wanted to know more about the society itself and while we learnt a little about the society at the end, we didn’t really learn too much about why it is what it is and what’s the purpose of this. I wanted to see and understand more about the Lord and Lady concept which was honestly very interesting. I know it’s a whole series but if I were to just read this one book I suppose I won’t get the full picture of the world built.

I felt that the ending

for Matt, didn’t really do much justice. I felt like he was such a bad guy that he deserved to die a little bit more tortured than this.

My last bit is that it’s marked as a dark college romance and while they all met at school, nothing actually happens IN school. In fact they stop going to school after meeting each other so there’s that.

Blakely’s best friend Sarah also eventually disappeared

in writing, only appearing as a tool to progress the story arcs. 

I hope we get to see a book that features the kids. That would be really interesting for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Sexual harassment

thereadaholic's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

I ate this book up. It's a dark book and I would not recommend this for beginners because ryat is dark really dark. I absolutely loved every part of this book I thought the way the plot builds up was perfect , loved the way the characters were I just wished authors would stop making FMC'S so naive and make them strong willed , and just maybe once up the MMC'S
 
Other than that the book is just wow , I loved the way ryat's character development progressed through the book I also wished we could have gotten a bit more of how they started loving each other but again other than that the book is great.

I devoured the book , ate it up so quick and I just really enjoyed it. 

If your not a begginer looking for a dark romance book this is ur book bestie 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

Minor: Pregnancy

booksandgore's review against another edition

dark 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, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

clairelisebella's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.5

Fun book but could’ve used a good editor to tighten it up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Confinement, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity and Alcohol