Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - That Sik Luv

Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

That Sik Luv by Jescie Hall

21 reviews

monica0309's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

enchantingreads_rosyreviews's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

"Her understanding of love is entirely different from mine. Her lens, through which she sees the world around her is warped, in my opinion. But to her, my lens is a direct reflection of the pain I’ve yet to surrender. 'Some would call me broken... but I’ve never known anything other than the comfort of my pieces.'”

I didn’t know much about this story going into it. I read Hawke by the author & everyone raved about this one, so I picked it up. The duet audio performance was incredible in bringing these words to life! This is a dark one, like with a capital "D" but it’s also a beautiful one. Heartbreaking at times, edge-of-your-seat suspenseful at others, and always well-written. Fans of dark romance with a splash of crazy, some effed-up misogyny & an unhinged kind of “sik” love, then this is definitely the read for you!

“I don’t expect a simplistic love with Aero. It will never be normal, just as it shouldn’t. It’s complicated. It’s an abstract piece that’s painted with harsh strokes of pain, jarring splashes of deception, and obscene colors that scream in the face of injustice. I shouldn’t need to change him, and honestly, I don’t want to. But what I desire more than anything is an alignment of souls set in our own unbreakable bond.”

This was my darkest romance read thus far, but I knew I could trust Jescie’s beautiful writing. On the surface, this is a book about exploring desire, escaping oppression (mainly religious), and getting revenge. That’s completely true, this book contains the dark versions of all those themes. I mean it, this book is dark and true to its genre. But what I loved about Jescie’s writing were the layers of storytelling she gave us. There was mystery, a heist of sorts, assassin/hitman-style of revenge, a twisted love story, and discovering oneself.

And I have to say: if Chapters 54/55 of ACOMAF are the “ultimate, drop the mic” chapters for romantasy fans, then That Sik Luv’s Chapters 43/44 are the dark romance equivalent. Seriously! “Worth” and “Abstract Love” are poetic, tragic, emotional, beautiful, and unfortunately a representative experience for too many people. The audio performance during these chapters was incredible. And Jescie Hall's words are spectacular. Bravo!

Content Warnings

bookabundance's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

hereiskyra's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

SPOILERS AHEAD…

🖤

I had ALL of the mixed feelings reading this book. Pretty sure I gained some new forehead wrinkles from raising my eyebrows so much.

I’m not crazy about the religious aspects but after figuring out what part it played, I didn’t find it so taxing. This writing and content was so unexpected after reading Hawke & KID. This book belongs in an entirely different realm. So, it took a while to get into but once I did, I was on the edge of my seat.

That confessional scene will live rent free in my head, probably forever. Maybe the club scene, too. Dayummmmm.

Please tell me why I was genuinely feeling gaslit allllllll the way up til the end with Saint?!

I thought for sure he was going to turn out innocent in all of this… boy, did that all take a turn. Just like everyone and everything in this book, I should’ve given up trying to figure things out because I got NONE of it right.

It took a LONG time to warm towards Aero. It wasn’t until Briony started to crack that tough shell created by his trauma that I started to understand and appreciate him a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, he’s really not even morally gray… he’s just morally black. BUT he cares deeply for his girl and I still dug it.

Briony thankfully had some good character development towards the end because for the longest time I was annoyed with her. Yes, she fought and she was strong… but by the end she was a straight up badass and I loved every second of it!

At the end of the day, these two were flawed and that’s okay. They broke each other and then built each other back up in only ways that they could… understanding that trauma and circumstances don’t have to be forever.

Seriously, though… They’re both completely f*cked in the head. But… in the best way.

And that epilogue was… HOLY HELL 🥵

Favorite quotes:
“Right and wrong dance together to the music of my own pitiful and weakened excuses, as I find myself locked in a slow dance with the devil himself.”

“We’re toxic. My blood, infected with the same sick love he owns for me. We crave this illness.”

“Love is beneath us.”

Tropes:

Forbidden

Age-Gap

Stalker

Enemies to Lovers

Touch Her and Die

Religious FMC/Morally Black MMC

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Content Warnings

fairylass's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

3.0

Content Warnings

sunray_sunburn's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

Ok, what to say about this book.. This was a journey that I was not necessarily prepared to go on but I am glad that I did. The content is very dark and also very real. The experiences of members in high control religions were depicted in a perfect and gut wrenching way. The story was built over time in an interesting and entertaining arch that kept me guessing along with Briony.

To address everyone who is upset that Aero isn't Zade. Your are absolutely right! He is not Zade and that is the point!! I think you missed the entire arch of his character. The trauma that Aero works through in this book is eons worse than what Zade has to go through in HA. To me, Aero's story was so complex and layered that it made him an even more dimensional MMC. Also it is kind of weird that we are comparing two very bad men to one another... They are both walking red flags who stalk the FMC and force themselves on her (that being said, I enjoyed both TSL and HA because I am also a messed up sick person, lol).

This book healed and broke me in ways that I was not prepared for. The audio was amazing. It is hands down the best audio experience I have had with a book. Joe Arden had to make rent and he did!! I loved the pure raw emotion that he brought to the character. I am not sure what deep place that came from, but I hope that he is ok, haha!

Read the trigger warnings and listen to them (unlike me). It was intense in the best way possible. It is definitely a contender for the darkest book I have read. Also I am excited to get my physical copy because that is how much I loved this book.

Book Boyfriend Rating: 9.1/10

Content Warnings

ricedeveloper13's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

0.5

thank you for giving me something interesting to tell people about

Content Warnings

mae_dexter_author's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-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

Content Warnings

dumbbxtchash's review

Go to review page

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

always_reading_rachel's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Well the title for sure fits this story to a T. I love Joe Arden’s narration, it really brings Aero to life. He’s one of my favorite narrators and this performance is an example why. This book though was SO long. I feel like it could have been half as long as it was. I loved the danger and the tension between Aero and Briony. The spice was glorious. Be aware there is explicit descriptions of child SA and religion related abuse, so if that triggers you, you may not want to read this. I read this because there was so much hype on social media. It was good, but I don’t get the obsession to be honest.

Content Warnings

More...