Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - Satan's Affair

⚠️ Check TWs please. This is a reverse harem romantic-thriller novella it has a lot of sexually graphic scenes juxtaposed with gore (sometimes sequentially right next to each other). There were a few scenes that made me cringe and think "wtf did I just read?" <b>It also represents mental health in a way that I, as a professional counselor, have concerns with. I would suggest being very, very cautions with this if you experience psychosis, as this could potentially be damaging.</b>

🎪 So I finished this a few days ago, but I was holding off on my review because I just really wasn't a huge fan even though I really wanted to like it. I've been thinking "Is it me? Our dark romance queen can't be wrong. It has to be me." I have read 3 of HD's other books (the Cat & Mouse duet and Does It Hurt?) and gave them hugely glowing reviews, and I'm still very excited for TEOI when it comes out. But even after stewing on it and rereading a few parts, there are just a few things about this that really rubbed me the wrong way.

👹 Issue 1: Copy-Paste. Like I said above, I read Haunting Adeline first, which isn't how the author recommends reading these, but I didn't know this existed when I read Haunting so it is what it is. This novella overlaps with Haunting directly, to the degree that we get some Haunting scenes in the novella from Sibby's POV. On one hand this is great (we get to hang out with a character we LOVE, and he's so f*cking fun), but on the other, a large chunk of this novella is just a copy-paste of something I already read. I don't feel like I got any new insight into Sibby's character from revisiting those scenes from her POV. If anything, I'd go with the author's advice and treat this as almost a teaser to Haunting, but I didn't feel like I missed anything by skipping this before reading Cat & Mouse.

🎡 Issue 2: Tonality & Characterization. Honestly, this just was not as well-written as the others I've read by this author. The tone was odd; it oscillates between sounding like it's written by a stabby, overly-sexualized child and a femme philosopher. It doesn't have the flow and consistency of HD's other prose. I know this was technically published before Haunting (not sure if written at the same time), so that could play into it? Early in the book, there are odd repetitions of phases, not for emphasis, but kind of like the author forgot she wrote them just a page or two before. This is something The editor or beta readers should have caught so I don't blame the author for that at all. The writing does generally get better in this regard around Ch 4, but there's still the weird inconsistency in tone/characterization. I don't notice this as much with Sibby in later books that aren't from her POV so I also just wonder if this doesn't have something to do with the author not knowing her voice yet at the time of writing this? Either way, I suspect TEOI will be more polished.

This is also a novella so I don't think it's as big of a deal, but I do want to note that this felt less atmospheric than other HD books, which is also sad (the atmosphere she creates is one of my favorite parts of her books) I LOVE haunts, but I just don't feel like the environment was as gripping here. This is more a personal gripe, but why where there clowns and devils and the grim reaper in a world-class dollhouse haunt? But anyway, I think that's just more me being a haunted house fiend lol.

🧟‍♀️ Issue 3: Mental Health Representation. This is probably my biggest issue with this book. I'm not going to go too into it in because it's long but the summary is that this book severely misrepresents the experience of psychosis and adds to the stigma of psychotic disorders. This isn't just an issue isolated to HD; I think what's contained herein is just a "pop culture psychology" representation of what people think when they hear about these disorders. I like the sentiment that people with these disorders can be creative, and I also like the sentiment that there are so many things about the world that we don't understand and that mental wellness is a societally constrained state of being, when it really should be more individualized. But I think there's a line here that's very tricky to walk. I have 8 years of training in this field, and even for professionals, it's an incredibly nuanced issue that is tricky to handle correctly. Feel free to pop down to the "other information about the content of this book" section for more info.

🤡 Good Stuff: I do like the relative novelty of the narrator being morally grey, especially the FMC. Very often, I think the MC/narrator is framed as someone we should be empathic towards, especially if they're female, but I think it's hard to justify being a serial killer even for the "right" reasons. I know Sibby justifies it for herself, but I'm not sure that the author really justifies per say--more that the door is just left open to ponder the ambiguity. There's a scene in Ch 5 that does this really well; something bad happens to an objectively bad guy, but I can't help but also feel like it went too far, even though there's a sense of justice there. It just makes you think about your own mortality. This is just something that HD does well across the board; she doesn't try to make bad people/things "good" but rather presents all the messy parts of the situation for us to decide.

The spicy scenes are 🔥🥵 as always. I personally am not a fan of the juxtaposition of gore & smut (my empathy sensors don't like the whiplash, I'm more of a fear/excitement/anticipation gal because they're emotionally playing on the same processes). But even then, I still had to acknowledge that those scenes were fun and well-written. HD is the queen of dark romance for a reason.

Even though I still feel like there's a lot of mystery in Sibby's back story, the bits we got about her past have me VERY excited for TEOI. I think there are so many cool directions the story can go.

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Spoilers regarding my issues with mental health rep in this book below:

As a mental health counselor who teaches the diagnosis class to master's students and has experience working with all sorts of clients, I think Sibby's diagnosis of "paranoid schizophrenic with psychopathic tendencies" incorrect and should be "antisocial personality disorder with psychotic features." Folks with schizophrenia are not often violent or dangerous, and even those who are generally only become so in response to intense fear from their delusions and hallucinations. A personality disorder (PD) makes more sense given Sibby's significant history of trauma, which is often a major precepting factor in the development of a PD. Antisocial PD also makes sense because Sibby lacks empathy for others, lives outside of society's norms, and is a literal serial killer. I'm not going into the differential diagnosis here due to space constraints haha.

The reason this matters is because people who experience

schizophrenia

a) already face fear and stigma disproportionate to the symptoms of their mental illness and b) can have excellent treatment outcomes that substantially make their lives better TO THEM with medication and treatment. Any time there's a character who is presented as severely mentally ill, and that character is harming others, it adds to the stigma severely mentally ill people face from the general public. For the 'average" person, interacting with people with severe mental health concerns can already be scary because there's a sense of unpredictability due to a lack of understanding. But in most cases, there are minimal safety concerns once you understand what's going on in someone's mind. However, the "'experienced" data we have skews falsely towards a negative perception the more we see media incorrectly depicting a mental illness. At the end of the book, there's also a point made that Sibby shouldn't have to take her meds because

she would be losing "people" she cares about; generally schizophrenic people do not enjoy their hallucinations or delusions (it's actually part of the criteria that their symptoms cause some degree of distress) so this isn't a realistic depiction for most people experience of their hallucinations. Do think schizophrenia is largely misunderstood and that we should be more accepting of their different experience of reality? Definitely, and don't even necessarily think that anything "needs" to be done if people aren't bothered by their hallucinations or delusions (though if we're being honest, they usually do create negative effects that people don't like). The trouble here lies in the narrative that "oh, being schizophrenic makes you unique so you don't need your meds."

Which isn't only untrue (you are still unique and very much YOU on your meds), but it can be very harmful, as the symptoms already make it such that these folks struggle with med compliance. Being told by someone, even an unreliable narrator who is experiencing the disorder herself, that they don't need their meds because they should be appreciated the way that they are can really mess with a clients' perceptions and make them getting the help that they need even harder. This is such a nuanced issue that could write a whole thesis on it but stop here for now.

thedarklibraryofleah's review

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

5.0

Where do I start with this book??

Warning: Spoilers below

Let's start with the main character, Sibel or Sibby as her friends call her, to me she is a very complex character with an extremely dark past which we learn about as we read through her story. You can definitely see why Sibby is the way she is from learning about how she was born and raised, as well as the horrors she faced growing up.

Her relationship with her Henchmen is a complex one, which features a lot of twists and turns throughout the story especially at the end. I will say that I did see those twists coming but I don't think that hindered the way I was reading the story if anything, it actually added to the story as I was then reading the interactions with different perspectives which added a lot of depth and range to them from spicy scenes to actual heartbreaking ones. I also found that when reading those scenes there was an extra element of mystery as I was trying to work out what was true and what was false.

I also really loved the interactions with Zade in this too, the way his brain worked out fairly quickly what was going on with Sibby and it was actually really sweet seeing them work together to try and stop the "demons" as Sibby calls them (which are actually just evil people to be honest involved in Dark web stuff if you catch my meaning). Seeing them work together and seeing him respect her which an extra layer of interaction that I really loved and I hope that they get to interaction more in future books.

I will say for people wondering about the gory/ murder scenes that they were very explicit and gruesome which from someone who loves horror the scenes did not bother me too much as my brain knows is fictional and as i said i love horror and i have watched a lot of thrillers/murder mysteries growing up but to people who are sensitive to that I would say that it might be too gruesome for some. There is a lot of stabbings so if you can watch Halloween/Scream you should be okay with that part.

Warnings/triggers/spoilers:
I will say there was one scene in particular involving a spiked bat which did make me cringe a little bit and that might be too much for some people. If you have ever watched the movie Seven you might understand where I am coming from and whether or not you can stomach that.

I also want to say I really loved the playlist that was made for this book. It really helped to get me into the Circus themed vibe for this book, which can I just say I loved Satan's Affair the circus I thought that was really cool and really helped to add to the creepy aesthetic going throughout the book.

My only issue with this story was that it was way too short. I would have loved to have read more especially with that ending, i wanted to see what happens next! I definitely feel that Sibby needs her own duet which to my knowledge is coming soon so I cannot wait for that especially as i have an idea of where the duet will be based from the ending of this one.

Warnings and Triggers:
To try not to give too much away but to also help people to see if they can handle Sibby story I will state the triggers that is involved in her past being insane cult where rape and child abuse was a part of that, also she was physically abused from her father and she watched her mother commit suicide.

Content Warnings

gracehannahh's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

ginnypie's review

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dark tense fast-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

4.0

girl what the FUCK???

top tier twisted evil fiction

triggers

Content Warnings

amberbjorge's review

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dark fast-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

zc2's review

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dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Very VERY spicy. I read the cat and mouse duet before this but I’m finally happy to see into Sibbys life and past. Cant wait to read what happens to her after the end of hunting Adeline

Content Warnings

auburn_phoenix_15's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.75

Bloody hell (literally)!!! That was very dark and tense. That plot twist at the end was unexpected, but the characters and the back story was troubling. However, I understood their situation due to their trauma.

Highly, recommend this to people with a strong stomach, tolerance for RH, strange kinks, and psychotic traumatic-riddled people.

You have been warned!!!!!

Content Warnings

katrinaarnika's review

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dark mysterious sad fast-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? Yes

3.25

Content Warnings

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