Reviews tagging 'Rape'

That Sik Luv by Jescie Hall

23 reviews

rumaisaaa's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

3.5

“They want to crumble her sweet, innocent soul into the ground, whereas I want to break it, reviving her pieces in my darkness.”

fair warning: quite possibly one of the darkest books i have ever read. 

the plot had a LOT of potential, especially with the whole religious corruption aspect and the kind of character Aero was and how Briony offset him so starkly. the whole premise of the book offered SO MUCH yet, it fell short. 

Aero didn't do it for me as the MMC, whilst i get that the book was dark and i have read my fair share of morally grey men in dark romances, i didn't feel the connect with Aero. he was too brutal in his attempt to show Briony "the light" (as he so eloquently puts it). i unabashedly agree that he was the catalyst to and cause for Briony's growth. his methods worked, yes, but he was crude, unnecessarily harsh and relentless at times (read: SEVERAL). 

as the main (sik) love interest, i needed his vulnerability, his softness and his affection shown more. while i do understand the darkness of his downright traumatising past and how that moulded him into who he was throughout the course of this book, i feel like his character's growth only came in the last 20 pages or so. frankly, it was a little too late for me, especially considering his actions, his words and his thoughts throughout the rest of the book. Briony quite literally overlooked everything he did and only ever saw his greater motives (which, agreed, were good when seeing the larger picture) but the disrespect she faced from him, the lack of answers, the riddles, it was too much for me. 

that said, Briony's character was beautiful. her growth and empowerment were written really well. i loved how she embraced herself and let go of all her inhibitions when she realised that she didn't need to conform to the church elders. also, i LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that she recognised that power abuse is real, even in apparently religious and 'holy' places, and decided to cut herself off from aspects of christianity that she did not believe in and yet, held onto her faith in a supreme power, despite Aero's non-believing. 

tldr; didn't enjoy it as much as i hoped i would but Briony (fmc) for the win. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Stalking, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Torture, and Toxic relationship

naechan's review against another edition

0.5

This was so bad I was in physical pain while reading it, but I refuse to DNF a book so I forced myself to finish it and that’s the real sadomasochism right there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

nebulousbooks's review against another edition

dark inspiring 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

5.0

This book changed my brain chemistry. I loved it so much. I’m going to be thinking about it for a long time to come, I think 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual content, and Stalking

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Rape

poupi's review against another edition

dark tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

The story is good. 
all the secrets, the lust, the twisted and losts souls.
I am not a religious person but the notion of prohibition, of sin are well described. And you can appropriate them to see how much everything is f*uckup.
Aero is as a stalker psycho as I like.

I understand that some find similarities with the first book of Haunting Adaline. And I agree. But the story is really far from it.

and I hate the pregnancy trope especially in the middle of the book. it pissed me off until we learned that she is on the pill… WTF because it made absolutely no sense regarding how religious she was).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual violence, Stalking, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Rape, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Adult/minor relationship

siffpedersen's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Violence

stormibabyy's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense 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: Religious bigotry, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Abortion and Torture

kittykels's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

I mostly enjoyed this book. As someone who grew up with Christianity and left it behind as I got older, I appreciated the exploration of how it feels to have your entire worldview flipped upside down. Obviously I cannot relate to having a stalker that leads me on a sexual awakening, but I enjoyed reading about it! 😉

I gave the book 4 stars instead of 3 because I think a lot of things I wish the book had done differently were personal preferences rather than actual criticisms. This book is dark and can be pretty triggering in so many different ways, but overall it was well written and a good read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Gun violence

Minor: Child abuse and Alcohol

paige_77'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? It's complicated

1.0

Dude is 29. Girl is 18. Not cool in real life. Not cool in books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

ebancroft's review against another edition

dark tense 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

2.0

I feel like I would have enjoyed this book more, if I hadn’t read a lot of this trope before. I’ve read quite a few dark romance, with a stalker plot before, and sadly I’ve read ones that were just better than this. 

That isn’t to say this wasn’t a good book, it was well written, the plot was fleshed out, I enjoyed the religion aspect of it which I thought was unique and the characters were devised impeccably. But I just couldn’t shake the feeling of I’ve read this before. 

But overall enjoyable and I would probably read this author again. 

And with any books of this type I strongly, strongly urge you to read the trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

book_worm_mama_bear's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

I read this book and listen to the audiobook.  This is a 5 star book on its own but the audiobook took it to the next level and it was a 10/10. The spice is forsure 5/5 on the spice scale. I highlighted so many things in this book because it had me fully on the edge of my seat and at times when standing weak in the knees. This is not a book that will make you feel good inside. It is not a love story where they live happy ever after. This is a story where what was meant to be good is really evil and the hero is crazy as hell. The audiobook took this book that is filled with emotion and made you feel it. If you loved Haunting and Hunting Adeline I think you will enjoy the pain you will feel from this.  If you like books talking about the trauma from religion this book is also for you. If you like a crazy psycho hottie that gives off touch and her die vibes this is for you. Mask kink ✅,  stalker ✅,  all over pain with your pleasure Aero is your next book boyfriend. I am about to have one hell of a book hangover because nothing out there could come close to this story and these characters . This was forsure top audiobook of 2023 and in the running for best book of 2023. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, and Violence

This is about sexual abuse from church members.