Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Carnage

So much goes on in this book and it’s just wow. But there is a plot twist I didn’t see coming that had me stopping my car to listen without distraction. At this point I love all of these books in this standalone series and it’s hard to pick a favorite now. Hayden is my favorite and he’s not even the main main character. I loved this book and the characters and the storyline. All of it.

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ahbee_p_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-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

2.5

2.5 stars purely for entertainment value.
The FMC needs serious therapy.
The second half of this book was messy, and the flashbacks were repetitive.
MMC isn't "morally grey," he's abusive.
I've read other books from the L.O.R.D.S series, so I went into this with a fairly open mind.. overall, I was disappointed.

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colorcrystals's review against another edition

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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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krimzunfire84's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

If you like dark romance, this series is a must read. Always check your trigger warnings. Reading this book after the ones before allowed me to understand all the characters that had been brought to life in all the previous books and shed light on them from a different POV. I would say, most definitely, the darkest of the series so far, but only because of the setting and characters involved. I can't wait to read about the other Spade Brothers, this one is Saint's.

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marieb_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I cannot recommend this book enough

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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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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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