Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Darkest Temptation: Special Edition by Danielle Lori

47 reviews

haleydeppert's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.5

This is one of those books where you read it because you’re in the mood for smut. Extremely spicy, goofy back and forth banter, mobsters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Stalking

kkmbrlyy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

2.5

I would give it a 3 but mentioning Hitler definitely is like ice cold water being dumped on you in a book that's supposed to be hot and heavy. If you like dark romance this could be a little bit of you. I could not stop cringing at the mentions of how she was a fresh 20 year old virgin...the age gap was not for me. He doesn't even get better until maybe chapter 40? It's so weird how the author mentions races like why did she have to mention the lady that owned the store in Paris was Indian? It did nothing for the book. Also I hated the stereotypical way she made anyone Russian speak "vant" "vill" "goodvye" like why? The writing wasn't horrible but the plot was mostly a game of cat and mouse and the mouse is highly aware she has Stockholm Syndrome. There wasn't even an epilogue to add onto the story. Like did she ever become pregnant or was that a fake fortune telling? If it was why bother adding that in

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

ladybeez's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

0.25

I know that dark romances are polarizing, but I got through the first two in this series just fine. This one was a CHALLENGE. We never really got to a point where I was rooting for them. Also, she’s such a white woman. Vegan and cruelty free products while marrying a monster. Like? Care for actual people.

I don’t usually mind a little captor/captive romance. I loved beauty and the beast. This shit was… a lot. The last “hero” was a sociopath and Ronan made him look like a kitten. Like, Christian actually likes his wife.

I just never connected with this story. I think that things were held back from the SUPER YOUNG protagonist too long. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

amberpatel's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Gun violence, Stalking, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Blood, Trafficking, and Injury/Injury detail

poupimali's review against another edition

funny lighthearted tense slow-paced

4.5

I absolutely loved Rowan and Mila’s story.

- mafia
- age gap
- kind of enemies to lovers with a bit of Stockholm syndrome
- Hilarious and sunchine FMC
- grumpy tense MMC
- Slow burn

I really laugh out loud many times because of the banter between them.
And I am really a sucker for mobster who are speaking a foreign language that the FMC doesn’t understand. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse and Death of parent

ecravens's review against another edition

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

booklifeisthelife's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Death of parent

anglerfishinariver's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

1.5

I'm not sure if any of you read mafia x reader stories when you were a child, but it's pretty much that, including the "I'm so different" pampered rich girl as a main character and the "I'm going to punish you but I can never bring myself to cause I have a soft spot for you" male lead. Only now also featuring veganism, because you can't hurt animals, but dating a guy who abuses you and forbids you from saying no to his sexual advances and murdered people is completely fine. Also the main character was the dumbest main character I have ever seen in my life. 
I'm rating this 2 stars because the spice was okay and because it was sometimes funny. 
Now, so you know what you're getting into, here are some of the worst parts in the book: 

"He smiled. "Three thousand six hundred and fifty-two is a sum I could only aspire to meet-that is, if we're taking leap days into account. If not, minus two, and I may have a better shot." 
Did he just do the math in his head? God, that was... hot." 
- Yes, because being able to calculate 365×10+2 is truly a hard calculation. 

"She was giving Ronan those big dark eyes that would be impossible for even Hitler to resist." 
- Do I have to add anything? 

"I can take your IUD out in this alley, and we can get started right now." 
- No. 

"I could fight him, but now his masculine scent surrounded me and confused my senses. His warmth soaked into my skin, forcing the resistance to melt within." 
- Having sex with someone you don't want to have sex with because he smells good and is warm. 

A last note: This book needs trigger warnings for the shit it light-heartedly drops on you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Slavery, and Trafficking

Minor: Domestic abuse and Incest

danyclarice's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Where do I even start with this one?

I personally found it too difficult to suspend my disbelief when it came to Mila and Ronan's relationship. Up until about 75% into this book, the plot revolved around Ronan's sick sexual fantasies and Mila's daddy issues. I mean, cool, great- very twisted and dark- but fine I can get round that. Just please, please add something else to the plot! Everything was rushed and wrapped up at the end leaving the middle incredibly boring that made it hard to keep going. 

There were a lot of side characters and side plot lines like Mila's mother, Nadia, Albert; I would have loved to have delved deeper into these characters to flesh out the main plot. 

Ronan is a an absolute psychopath, and unlike Christian who took himself to therapy and showed genuine compassion, I just couldn't bring myself to root for Ronan and Mila to end up together. Fine, yes, the ending was incredibly sweet as expected of the author in this series but overall, definitely this book is an outlier in this series. 

Spice Rating: 3/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

zayyssa's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

This killed the series. Even in my Russian-mafia standard this was off. There was tension, yes, but there was no chemistry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Trafficking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Vomit, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Stockholm Syndrome. Emotional Torture. Manipulation. Forced confinement in one room. Female MC tied to bed, naked.