Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Carnage

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Carnage by Shantel Tessier

30 reviews

chauntel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

3.25

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whichdirection's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

1.0

This book absolutely needed another editing run, there are multiple grammatical errors/errors in sentence structure that just made me do a double take. Additionally there are several spots where the characters say/think something, then repeat themselves a few paragraphs later.

This book is marketed & listed as stand-alone but I would argue you absolutely need to have read Sin & Ty’s books for a good chunk of this one to make sense. Otherwise the immediate introduction of all these characters & the things they know about Luke and Whitney would make No Sense.

There were a lot of plot holes, and inconsistent characterization.

(Saint is meant to be protective & even cuts off a guard’s hand for touching Ash, but does nothing at all to find/punish the man who SA’d her until he shows back up?)

And at the end of the book, nothing had really changed for any of them. No one developed as a person and their situations never changed.
Additionally Ash & Saint’s relationship (like their Romance and their Love) is developed mainly in flashbacks which I found incredibly unfulfilling. They have plenty of sex but he gives her Zero aftercare and they never really talk/bond.

Ash seemed to have a deeper emotional connection with Haidyn in my opinion.

Overall I was just really confused and disappointed for the majority of this book.

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missrandomess's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I really loved this story. I loved Saint and Ashtyn. Totally love how much Saint loves Ashtyn, how he’s always trying to protect her and look out for her.
I loved the storyline. The pace of the story. The twists and turns. It was great.

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firequeen_ash23's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

Title: Carnage
Author: Shantel Tessier
Series: L.O.R.D.S #5
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶🌶

The first book I ever read by Shantel Tessier was The Ritual, and from that moment on, I've been obsessed with her writing, the characters, just this whole series. I've been looking forward to reading Carnage since I read about the spade brothers. And of course, Shantel Tessier DID NOT disappoint with this 5 star read.

I love that Carnage, like the other books, was filled with mystery. Carnage is riddled with questions, unclear motives, secret agendas by multiple people, some of them unknown, and of course, it's got plenty of villians. I love how each book can be tied together in some way with whether it's the same characters in the same universe, the timeline, or just something that happened in one book but affected others in another book. I couldn't get enough of the darkness in Carnage. It’s raw and gritty, I love it and couldn't help but want more. Shantel is a fantastic smut author! You could forget about the hot and spicy moments in this book, whew 🥵🥵!! I really did enjoy the scenes between Ashytn and Saint, not to mention when Saint let Haiyden and Kashton play, too. The way Saint and Ashytn's owned their toxicity with their selves and with one another was just HOT! I love Saint's depravity. I love Saints' obsession with Ashytn. Yes, he loves her, but he's also obsessed with her to the point it's slightly toxic, but of course, that makes it even hotter!

I also really loved Haidyen and Kashton, the other Spade brothers, in this book. Haiyden and Kashton, though scary and maybe a little crazy, they're both sexy AF, bad@$$, and killers, but they both care about soft spot for Ashytn, especially Haiyden.

I really don't think I have one bad thing to say about this book, though I do wish some things would have been a little more fleshed out with better explanations, but I still loved the book. I CAN'T wait for the next Spade brother book. Shantel Tessier has become an autoread author for me with this series. If you haven't read the L.O.R.D.S series, then I highly recommend Carnage and the rest of the L.O.R.D.S series; they're all 5 star reads!

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booklovinmamas's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Sadly, Carnage will not be my favorite in the L.O.R.D.S world, and I’m upset it wasn’t because this was one of my most-anticipated books after reading Sacrifice earlier this year. I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, I found myself skipping over most of the book. Now, I enjoy a book that has smut in it, especially if written well, but if there is too much smut and a lot of repetition doing the same thing over and over, then I tend to lose interest. I needed a storyline and felt this book lacked it, especially when it’s considered a revenge story. The revenge plot didn’t come until toward the end, and by that time, I was ready to be done with reading the book.

Shantel Tessier split the book into two parts—the first part was okay and kept me intrigued enough to keep reading the second part, especially with how Ashtyn became Saint’s Chosen. I did feel for Ashtyn because she grew up in this world of the Lords and knew what was expected of her. She was okay with it and had wanted to be Saint’s Chosen. She didn’t have much of a backbone like previous FMCs that I had read in this world, but I believe it had to do with her mother and how she treated Ashtyn. Ashtyn’s mother was the worst, and I couldn’t stand her.

My main issue was with Saint and how he was described as being an OTT J/P MMC, and he was to a point, especially in the second part of the story. I believe this book would have been better written as an RH, especially with how he shared his Chosen with the other Spade brothers. One of the Spade brothers admitted to having feelings for Ashtyn, too, and Ashtyn liked all the brothers, but she loved Saint (supposedly).

I wished I had enjoyed this book more because, again, this book was one of the most anticipated reads for 2023. I wanted the revenge storyline more in the story, and it didn’t come until the end, when everything was revealed. This is when Saint showed his OTT J/P side, and I was here for it. You can call me a sadist for it, but I love reading the part ‘Who hurt you’ or ‘Where is my wife’ and reading the MMC go off the deep end to save his significant other/loved one.

Will I read the next book in the series? Yes, because I need to know who Kaston and Haidyn end up with, especially since they did have Chosens, but they were rarely mentioned. Haidyn is the one I am mainly intrigued with after what happened to him in this book.

Story Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Steam/Spice: 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

Standalone or Part of Series: I know it’s been mentioned that this book can be read as a standalone, but I recommend reading the other books set in the L.O.R.D.S world. I loved having Ryat, Sin, and Tyson show up in this book, plus other characters from Shantel’s other series that I need to read now.

Would I recommend this book? Although this book didn’t get a high rating for me, I’m still going to recommend it to readers who enjoy reading Dark Erotic Romance, that has a lot of smut in it.

Genre/SubGenre(s): Romance | Dark Romance | Erotic Romance

Trope(s)/Element(s): Secret Society | Revenge Romance | OTT J/P MMC | Virgin FMC

Content Warning(s): Please check your triggers before reading this book. Shantel lists TW at the beginning of the book.

Content Warnings

robdftch's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense

4.0

🚨🚨CHECK YOUR TRIGGERS🚨🚨

This book was a ride. I had no idea what was going to happen from start to finish. I will say, Ashtyn got on my damn NERVES. The whole time. She didn't know how to follow any type of direction. The definition of brat, but like, in a stupid way. I absolutely cannot wait for the next book in the series. Shantel has very quickly become a 1-click author for me.

Content Warnings

livvyreads's review against another edition

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dark fast-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

5.0

I received an arc of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
CHECK YOUR TRIGGERS
HOLY MOLY!! Shantel did it again. She blew me away with this book. Carnage is darker, spicer and all around one of the best books I’ve read this year.
Saint and Ashtyn’s story is not a happy one but they love each other I was on the edge of my seat for the last half of the book and all of the twists and turns had me guessing the whole time. Just when I thought I had it figured out bam plot twist. Saint is hands down the best lord to date. He’s so complex and twisted but his love for Ashtyn is strong even after everything they went through. I truly believe Ashtyn had the best character development and after everything she was still confident in her sexuality and wasn’t ashamed of what she liked. Learning about carnage and how the spade brothers came to be was just as twisted as I expected and I can’t wait for the next book.

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kaadee's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

3.0

I’m begging and pleading on my knees for one of these girls to run as far away as they can. I was ROOTING for Ash, but that dumb dumb had to get caught. I just want ONE FUCKIN GIRL TO LIVE HER LIFE SAFE AND HAPPY FAR AWAY FROM THESE LORDS.

Also, the plot is so all over the place, last 100 pages never make sense but I stay for the smut.

Content Warnings

laylareadsthings's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.75

Oh boy was this a roller coaster, as many others have said!

Overall this series is basically a perfect five stars for me. It’s top tier dark romance and my favorite to recommend when someone is ready to dive into DARK dark romance (please take TW and content warnings very seriously, they are lengthy and there for a reason). The smut is iconic, I don’t think anyone comes close to Shantel in this genre. So it pains me to say that this wasn’t my favorite of the series. And LOOK like I said I LOVE this series, so by ’least favorite’ I mean no insult, there were just some issues for me and each new addition is competing with perfection. Spoilers will be hidden, open at your own risk.

One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed this world is the attention to detail with the plot. The long conning and planning, the way characters maneuver around an incredibly strict set of rules. In Carnage, some of the character motivations and decisions felt more juvenile to me than previous books. More chaos than control. This may be because you’re juggling more characters here so the story doesn’t feel as tightly woven. There is more reiteration in this book than previous ones of the FMCs consent and interests, which some may find repetitive but I think is extremely important with this story. Ashtyn and Saint will make you work for their love, and I’m going to be thinking about them for a long time. Saint is SO GOOD, might be right behind Ryat for me as #1. And Ashtyn is really unlike any FMC I’ve read before which I mean as the highest compliment, especially in this genre where FMCs can feel repetitive to me.

There is lack of, or mis, communication in every Lords book but in Carnage there was more than once where I couldn’t buy the fallout from an event because of it. One of these events is Ashtyn leaving. She is helped by an additional MC who knows why she leaves. This is also THE pivotal plot point for this entire book’s events. And while I completely bought her emotional journey, as the author does an incredible job writing her trauma and reasoning through her decisions, I couldn’t buy her determinedness to stay silent once she’s returned. As the reader, I just felt like a single conversation would have solved the entire issue. The commitment from Saint to her was crystal clear from page one. While this is explained with Ashtyn feeling hopeless (and again, the author does a wonderful job here!), there were many times her actions and inner monologue show the exact opposite. Her character started to confuse me, which left me frustrated during the 60-85% mark of this book until the resolution picks up.

There’s incredible interconnectivity from the other books in the series, people pop up for a reason and it doesn’t feel frivolous. This book is written as a standalone, however I recommend you read the prior books to get the full impact. If you go in blind, the ending may feel confusing to you - but I actually think it would be a wild ride to go back and piece everything together knowing how this book wraps up.

I am so freaking thrilled to continue in this world and I’m dying for the next two brothers’ books (and hopefully many more)!! Once I’ve read a few palette cleansers, I’m excited to go back and do a reread.

Content Warnings

natashareadsbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Carnage is a dark revenge romance- check TW before going in! And while it's not required to read the rest of the Lords series before hand- I definitely recommend it.

Ashtyn was set to become a Lord's chosen one- and not just any Lord, but Saint Carter- one of the Spade Brothers who is set to run Carnage. And as a Chosen, Ashtyn belongs to Saint- but when things get complicated - Ashtyn must make an impossible choice. She tries to run... Only to be dragged right back. But now instead of Saint's love, she is faced with his revenge. Will Ashtyn survive, or will Carnage be the death of her?

So, ai absolutely love Shantel's books- she is the queen of dark romance & I devour everything she writes- and Carnage is no different.

I loved Saint & Ashtyn's story. It was hot & spicy & dark & twisted and I loved every second of it.

Saint was dark and wicked and down right delicious. If you love diving into the deep end, and love the depravity then I definitely recommend this book.
5⭐ out of 5⭐

5🌶️ out of 5🌶️. - s*x over plot & in detail. All the k!nks, spice, & dirty talk, etc.

Tropes:
→ dark romance
→ new adult romance
→ secret society
→ revenge romance
→ sharing 😏 (NOT an RH)
→ possessive/OTT Hero
→ touch her & 💀

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