Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Hooked by Emily McIntire

18 reviews

hamgreene's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

1.5

Move over Colleen Hoover, there’s a new incest-adjacent, sex obsessed, plot twist writer in town!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Incest, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

I just want to say I don’t think we should be supporting books that tell a story of

someone being kidnapped and then still having sex with them and falling in love with them and living with the person who kidnapped them. THEN killing their father and living happily ever after and making a family with the person who kidnapped them. And also, it’s really fucking weird that Jon is brothers with Hook and sisters with Wendy. Also, why the fuck was Peter Wendy’s dad in this story?? I’m sorry this was recommended to me by my 16 year old niece this is just not what I was expecting.

Peter Pan is ruined for me forever now. Do not recommend.

savage_book_review's review against another edition

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I read this series of books last year (and reviews were posted at the time), but recently found the first four were available as audiobooks as part of my Audible subscription. However, they're being removed in a couple of weeks, so I want to try and get them listened to before then! 

The audio version definitely adds a level to the story in bringing it to life, especially where you have a male narrator reading James' chapters and a female narrator reading Wendy's chapters. However, I still cannot understand why you would hire two narrators for that purpose, and then not have them speak the appropriate lines in the other person's chapter (I.e. have the male read James' speech within Wendy's chapters and vice versa). They don't do badly at putting on the opposite voices, but it just grates on my nerves!

I was less convinced by the voices/accents employed for the secondary characters - the male narrator had an especially tough job given that he's a Brit and most of the secondary characters Americans. I couldn't tell you whether the accent was right for the setting (Brit here), but it was quite harsh and didn't necessarily suit the narrators' natural tone of voice. But equally they managed to bring each character to life throughout with different voices for each and, for the most part, they didn't wander too much. 

There were a couple of places where I felt the narrators could have 'acted' a bit more to get the point across, but generally it was a very enjoyable listen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

galleytrot's review against another edition

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

4.25

READ: Mar 2024 

FORMAT: Digital 

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 4.5 / 5⭐ 

TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 4.25 / 5⭐ 

FINAL – OVERALL: 4.25 / 5⭐ 

In this book, Wendy is feeling a little lost in her father’s apparent lack of interest in either hers or her brother’s lives, and a rebellious night out with her coworkers has her stumbling into the arms of a very dangerous man. As she sets foot in the doors of the Jolly Roger, James recognizes Wendy immediately as the daughter of the man who ruined his life, and while it surprises him that Peter is in the area, unfettered access to his daughter – famously his pride and joy – is fortuitous beyond expectations. Revenge all too sweet is finally within his grasp, and it would be made all the sweeter with Wendy broken and used up by his side. 

Fairy tale reimaginings are something I need more of in my life, and who doesn’t like to root for the heinous, irredeemable villain every once in a while? When my friend proposed this as our next buddy-read, it felt like a good choice, mixing flavours of fantasy, crime, romance, and drama – something for each of us. I might not claim that this story is especially original or clever, but because I don’t stray from my normal genre all that often it was very much new and novel. Some things felt well-thought-out while others felt a bit silly or ham-fisted. I liked that the author wasn’t precious about sticking to the motivations and relationships of the characters from the original works, although plenty of recognizable winks and nods were given to keep the reader looking for them. 

One thing my friend and I agreed on is that towards the end of the book, at the reveal of the even eviller villain, while adequately set up throughout the story, didn’t come with a very satisfying explanation. We were both left with far too many questions regarding their motivations and their ability to orchestrate the events of this book, with so much dependence on random chance. The stars wound up aligning so perfectly to set off a specific set of events, and the idea that the villain would wait in the shadows for as long as they did doesn’t honestly make much sense to me. These notes aside, the book still captivated the both of us completely, and was likely made better as a shared experience. We had a good time, and we are likely to continue on with the series over time. 

This book has at least one character who is portrayed as non-white; there is otherwise little else in the way of diversity. 

The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail.

This book contains:

death, murder, torture, violence; blood, injuries, gore; weapon violence (knives, guns); alcohol use; implication of past incestuous sexual assault of a minor; past physical abuses of a minor; past parent deaths (car accident, plane crash); drug trafficking; mentions of bullying; kidnapping, confinement; fire/arson; mentions of drug addiction; animal abuse; drug abuse; mention of past infidelity; and, vomiting.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Car accident, and Abandonment

rbjennings's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

ALL OF THE TRIGGER WARNINGS. It’s a good book but VERY GRAPHIC.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Drug use

readyforit's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4⭐️4🌶️
The author really gets your hopes up and then you have a moment of WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!! There are lots of twists, some of which I predicted as the book went on. I also listened along with the audiobook and I’d say that’s the superior way to read this book, since there are 2 narrators. I do wish they did duet narration where the FMC and MMC are speaking to each other back and forth like a dialogue, rather than have the FMC chapters narrated by the woman and MMC narrated by the man. I also wish we got more Jon! Wendy and Jon and James and Jon. I also read the extended epilogue that is free on the author’s website and it’s a nice wrap up 10 years later, along with character profiles for Wendy and James. 

I liked both the FMC and MMC but I wished for more character development from Wendy. She doesn’t have a huge personality in the movie either but I feel like maybe she could’ve had some more development than “finding her voice” (barely). James is a complex morally gray character that often makes terrible decisions because he’s blinded by his trauma. I could see so many times in the book where I was like CANT YOU SEE THE ANSWER IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU! And he would just continue blaming his enemies from his past.

If you’re hesitant to pick this book up, I’d lookup the trigger warnings. There is mention of

child abuse/pedophilia

but nothing graphic. Also just because this is a Peter Pan “retelling” doesn’t mean hook and Wendy have an age gap, they’re both consenting adults in their 20s. It’s more like the author uses elements of the story like names and places, as she calls it a fractured fairytale.  I liked the book and there was plenty of spice, but I wished it was longer for more fluff and maybe more backstory. I probably won’t be rereading it unless I forget the plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy

mentions of child sexual assault are all done through flashbacks and are not graphic

amber_rmyoung'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Alcohol

hchaus21's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-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: Toxic relationship and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Death of parent

elledanie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mitrosec's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Anyone who looks at this man and unironically wants someone like him needs psychiatric help. 
With that said, I understand he is a villain and thoroughly enjoyed the book. Although, as a lesbian reading about his perceptions of women made me sick to my stomach. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

booksalacarte's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

2.75

2.75+⭐️ 3.75🌶️

A dark contemporary romance using elements of Peter Pan woven into the story. It was a quick read. I found myself more excited about finding all the Easter eggs than the plot itself. It was pretty unbelievable and leaned heavily on both MC’s trauma to define them. The plot was fine, but left a lot of holes that could have been easily addressed and tied up.  The dialogue was really repetitive and a lot of discussions that could have built on the characters took place off page. 

Insta-lust
Grumpy/sunshine
Crime lord
Enemies to lovers
“Burn the world for you”


Definitely check your trigger warnings on this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail