Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Carnage by Shantel Tessier

5 reviews

clairelisebella's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

booknerdcoco's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

This book seemed like pure smut towards the beginning (not complaining) and i felt like I really got to know the characters, though they jad brief appearances in the previous standalone novels, I didn't get the opportunity to properly get to know the , so I appreciate  that opportunity.

 Shantel Tessier is (imo) iconic for her plot twists, and I knew something HUGE was coming. And when it arrived...well, it bent me over and had its way. Because I was not expecting it...any of it!!!!!

The story starts off slow, but it does set up the history of the characters really well. I also really liked how this particular novel started to really build on the relationships she characters had from the other interconnected standalones. 

Dark and gritty are what springs to mind when I think about this book (very dark, in fact).

I got to the final 47 pages, and all hell was breaking loose. I was so worried. I would be left with questions that would go unanswered. Whilst I do have questions, a lot were answered in those final 47 pages. I think the other questions (like all of the series) are to set up to maintain a relationship with future novels. I'm OK with this. It's ST'S MO.

Now, for those of you who dont know, ST is the queen of the tease
 And what the plot twists hit, oh man, do they slap- HARD!!!

Plot 4.5/5
Spice 5/5
Book boyfriend 4/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Trafficking

colorcrystals's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Miscarriage, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity

chauntel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, and Suicide attempt

laylareadsthings's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Abandonment