Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann

39 reviews

kelseyfreeman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

aliceloyallaleon's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

smbl's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

It’s like reading a train wreck, you can’t stop even if it’s not the best writing. 

Pros: It dealt with messy process of healing from trauma - it wasn’t perfect which arguably why it’s done a decent job because everyone’s healing journey is different. MMC trauma journey was written well and overall the character had a lot more common sense. The serial killer motives weren’t something common.

Cons: FMC can be a little pick-me and self-centered. Actually she annoyed me a lot more than her sister which it wasn’t written to be that way. And how the sister was written is giving some internalize misogyny. Also no real relationship development on why the MMC was even dating the FMC’s sister. 

I think it had a lot of potential but as a standalone dark romance it missed the mark. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Torture, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

emilyreadstoomuch's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

very unique book, but it tried too hard and also was somehow not enough at the same time. don't know why when they were screaming at the abductor, of all the horrible things he did that they could've thrown in his face they just kept calling him fat?? they were like "you are FAT" like why not murderer, rapist, creep, etc.????? so insane. also it was just annoying at parts where cora was soooo not like other girls and mandy was villainized for no reason at times lmao mandy was a really terrible person though. this had a TON of potential like i could see the vision so clearly but was honestly underdeveloped. very fake deep!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

taelorslibrary's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Self harm, and Blood

Minor: Animal death and Pregnancy

bookish_leigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This book missed several rounds of editing because HOW on God's green earth did this get picked up by a publishing house.

If I was reading this on fanfiction.net in 2016 this would get 5 stars. 

The start of this book was ok. But in hind sight, I must have been swindled by the suspense and trauma to miss how mediocre the writing is and how annoying Cora is. 

For the writing, it's good quantity fanfiction AT BEST. So juvenile that, at times, I completely forgot that the characters are touching 30. And Miss Corabelle is no better than the next 17 year old. The only silver lining is that the dialogue and emotions flowed clearly and seamlessly.

For the plot, I really like the kidnapping concept and everything that came with it, but everything that came after was a mess. I wish the psychology of Earl (The Matchmaker) and his victims were expanded upon but no such luck. 

For the characters, everyone outside of Dean and Cora were an after thought. The parents were TOO hands off after their daughter and future son-in-law was just kidnapped and brutalized for weeks. At some point, after Cora tried to unalive herself, the mother mentioned wanting to give her space....seriously😑. The lack of attention on Cora's mental health is CRIMINAL. This book could have been a medium to create a dialogue around mental health but failed miserably. 
Mandy is a victim of biased writing. She was made to seem like the mean girl of Cora's life from the beginning with out any standing. Only to paint Cora with the "not like other girls" persona...she likes books and pranking Dean...it was never that deep. 

Y'all on Book Tok stay exaggerating.

Plot: 2.5/5
Writing: 2.5/5
Characters: 2.5/5
Spice🌶:2 out of 5 forgettable, and hard to rate given how much I disliked this book
Overall: 2.5/5⭐

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

sienasummerrreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow, I’m in shock honestly. This was dark and I felt sad the whole way through. Don’t get me wrong, this was a fantastic read but I believe it is better if you go in blind. These characters go through so much that their connection is inevitable. This isn’t your average romance it’s a journey of being at your lowest point and coming back and battling demons and finding yourself in the world again. From the start of this book, it just dived straight into the darkness and draws you in so fast. I honestly only felt one emotion reading this book sadness. If there were happy bits I was sad still. I read the physical and listened to the audiobook. The audiobook was fantastic and enhanced my experience while reading. It's told in a dual narration as well. 

Overall really good read and I do recommend just please look into triggers before diving in. 

If you love: 

🔹Dark Content & Themes 
🔹Graphic Scenes 
🔹Survival 
🔹Intimate Connection
🔹Mental Health 
🔹Emotional Reads

Genre/Type: Dark Romance 18+
APK: Physical & Audiobook ARC
Pages: 300
Audio Length: 12hrs 7mins
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Series or Stand Alone: 
Tropes or Themes: Enemies To Lovers, Forbidden, Forced Proximity, Kidnapping, SA, R, Captivity, Violence, Physical Abuse, Guns, Forced Cheating, Murder, Past Memories, Miscarriage, Tattoo, Alcohol, Drug Use, Overdose, Mental Health, Trauma, Medical Content & Playlist 
Check Triggers ⚠️ 💫 

All Round Romance Reader 
Sienasummerrreads 💕📚
TikTok | Instagram | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Scribd | Amazon | Audible Reviews 💫

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Miscarriage

jordiemooon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

sjbookslut's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Death, Miscarriage, Self harm, Blood, Dementia, and Pregnancy

volatile's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail