Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Mercy by Ian Haramaki

11 reviews

amy_salieri's review

dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Blood

Minor: Cancer, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

fromthefoxhole's review

hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.5

I think that when it comes to this book, you might need to throw the setting out of the window. 
It being set in Russia in the 20s is basically entirely unrelated to the content of the book - the language is *very* modern and anachronistic and other than the fact that the winter is very bitterly cold, I don’t think the Russia placement has anything to do with anything.

The plot meanders a lot, most of the story is based around snippets of domesticity and fluff between Ilya and Danya. The background is that a vague something bad happened to Danya before they met and Ilya couldn’t heal his father so the town hates him. There is very little context given to the religion or the magic system. 

All that said, I still enjoyed reading this immensely. Ilya and Danya are adorable - I especially appreciated Danya’s ham fisted flirting and Ilya’s exasperation with it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

cryscries's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

I really like the authors writing style from devout an anthology and took a crack of reading Mercy. For a moment I thought the story was connected to the short story in devout but it is not- however I am very excited if there is going to be a sequel to this book as I feel like there was still unanswered questions. 

It definitely feels like a slow burn and everything happens near the very end. The book did a really good job with character building. There were times where I felt a bit confused about the time period and setting of the characters because I imagine it to be both very old timey but it also is very modern but I don’t by how much so I would just like more world building.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Religious bigotry

There is graphic or moderate descriptions of sex - I personally don’t feel any way about it but if it makes you uncomfortable to read it’s definitely okay to skip them not all of it really is needed for the plot - the last page does end with the characters having a sort of marriage night but the very last page describes mostly the open ended possibility of another book.

rayneelee's review

dark lighthearted medium-paced

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

1.5

Interesting concept- poor execution. The characterizations of the two main lead felt inconsistent and all over the place. The dialogue felt too modern and conflicted with the setting, which was underdeveloped and confusing. The main plot doesn’t really start until around 70% of the way through the book. Way too much telling instead of showing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

grownmoss's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

i just can’t stop thinking about those sad little gay men 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia and Death of parent

laraloops's review

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.75

The cover is beautiful. To keep this review kind (as this is a smaller, queer production) I will just say the book was not quite my cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual content

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

dark emotional 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

reila's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

The concept and cover art piqued my interest to pick up this book! Ah, but perhaps I put too much in the action/fantasy element, what with the premise of a priest staving off creatures of the Night and all. No, the monsters our pairing fights off are the people and the environment. The denizens of whom our priest Ilya is in service are very ungrateful and hateful to him---especially his mother. These grown adults have been beefing with Ilya since he was 7 years old over something he had no control over. The self-deprecation and angst run strong. My man is 30 and doing his best.

Said townsfolk and alcoholic/abusive mother do not get better. RIP. When Ilya comes out to his surrogate grandmother/guardian, it's painful that she isn't immediately accepting. It sucks being in that situation. Berta is our one supporter, thanks to her positive relationship with Danya. But when the time comes to show solidarity, it's at a strained time where, even if she said something sooner, it wouldn't do anything for the unfolding events.

Our former beast/angel Danya isn't what you'd expect. 'Angel' wouldn't be the first thing you think of with the sailor mouth he has, but the contradictory nature is the allure of the pairing

(bad-mouthing angel himbo and his repressed slutty priest---is it really a spoiler? You know why you picked up this book :) LOL)

. His past and potential unfold as he realizes his raison d'etre: to protect, love, and support his Beloved. A very sweet 'we complete one another' sentiment. Their confession is quite the scene.

Because of the baggage our poor priest has, processing the immensity of his hurts made it a slow read to savor. Consent and aftercare are important and very sexy, by the way. I admit the liberal use of curse words and contemporary-isms consistently threw me from the world, but it also had the secondary effect of snapping me out of Ilya's ruminations---*raises glass* <i>heed this lesson, fellow overthinkers</i>---apart from being relatable, I thought it was funny (which is very much a 'me' thing). So, if you're in the mood for a comfort/hurt romantic fantasy, come get your food!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Grief

haileeraye's review

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia and Death of parent

elliottjunkyard's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment