Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - A Deal With a Demon 2: The Kraken's Sacrifice

While often don’t like when the main couple fuck after just meeting, Katee Robert crafted two emotionally constipated people who would believably have sex right away rather than talking to each other about their attraction. I mean that positively as the character growth from each of our main characters during this smutty adventure was wonderfully done. I also appreciate the casual queerness of Thane and some of side characters.

spoilers and trigger warning for abortion. I also very much appreciated that while Catalina does get pregnant towards the end of the book when she did not want to due to her trauma. Thane also completely supports her decision and it is treated as a necessary for her mental health and wellbeing. The epilogue also doesn’t show her as being a mother in the future which I appreciated with the lore where it would be beneficial for Thane and Catalina to have a child but he puts her needs in this matter first.

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stuffandwhatnot's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.0

This was a whole lot of book packed down into a novella-sized package. Human Catalina takes the demon's bargain and ends up committing to seven years with the tentacliest-tentacle man in tentacle town. She's been emotionally abused her whole life by her mother and has never had success with relationships before. She's a prickly cactus with a soft fragile center. Kraken Thane lost his husband years ago and has never truly worked through his grief, and he has no interest in starting anything with the human he's stuck with. He's cold and stern and insensitive until his protective streak is activated.

As with the previous book, I thought they jumped right to the boinking rather quickly, given their respective emotional states. I could have done with a full-length slower burn, myself.

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mariakureads's review against another edition

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challenging sad fast-paced

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

1.0

I wanted to like this one. I really did – I mean the premise sounded promising plus Kraken MC why not right? – but there was enough here that left a sour taste in my mouth.

Thane is cold and distant in a way that leaves him almost nonchalant and unfeeling towards others and slightly self absorbed in his own pain that he's blind to the rest around him which might not be a problem except he's just signed a deal to take a human bride for the next 7 years, which honestly he's not wanting.

Whereas our human MC, Catalina, signed the deal to get away from her world and all the bad with it, I'm thinking in hopes of something better. She has a lot of issues, one being that she's so used to being verbally, mentally and possibly physically abused that she can't tell when she is being hurt thus harmed and in violation of their contract because it's so "normal" to her.
I tried but honestly Thane doesn't recognize his maltreatment until more than 3/4ths of the way in and by then I really couldn't see or understand how aside from the contract keeping them together, why, and this is a short read, they would be together? She has so many different self issues aside from being a survivor of abuse to stay in a relationship with a man who neglected her time and time again and added on to the damage.

I loved The Dragon's Bride and am curious to see how the others play out, hoping that the other protagonists get better treatment than Catalina did.

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myinvinciblesummer's review against another edition

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3.75

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addanumlaut's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

i preferred sol and briar to this couple, but thane was super cute in his own way.

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fadeddpages's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

2.5

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bridiea's review against another edition

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1.0

Genuinely awful. The ‘love interest’ outright abuses and neglects her and is still openly deeply in love with his dead husband… what??? There is absolutely no reason these people would even be having sex never mind deciding they were in love with each other

Also - an entire chapter devoted to her having a magical abortion because he ‘didn’t think’ about contraception - HUH??????

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