Reviews with content warning for Classism - Corupt

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Corupt by Penelope Douglas

9 reviews

hilary89's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

3.0

I liked the story fine but the male narrator really ruined the audiobook for me. His voice for Rika was so cringey it totally took me out of the story. I think I’ll continue the series at some point, but just read it on my kindle instead.

Also docking a star for the constant and obnoxious song references. Note to authors: no one is impressed with your (in this case, terrible) taste in music. Moreover, name-dropping songs totally takes readers out of the moment. If they don’t know the song it adds nothing to the scene, and worse, if they do know the song and dislike it then that can ruin the scene. Show us the type of music with your description rather than telling us the exact name of the song. Unless it’s a universally known artist, but still leave the song up to the reader’s imagination, ie. “A Bob Dylan song came on over the radio.” Name-dropping song titles just makes your writing sound super amateur.

Content Warnings

starspacecorn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

I honestly don't think I can describe just how much I despise this book. Aside from the romanticizing of sexual abuse, the amount of absolutely unnecessary sex these characters have is bonkers. ALSO! The story switches between the main girl and her love interest's points of view- both 3 years ago and in the present. And uh, 3 years ago Ms Girl was 16. A minor. And this man even admits that "yeah she's 16 but that won't stop me." I really tried to like Michael. I really did. But he did TOO many things that are absolute no-nos. The amount of times Rika said 'no' to him but he messed with her anyway was absolutely ridiculous. Also I hate all of his friends. Kai was okay until the absolutely unnecessary threesome he has with M and R at the gentlemens club. I think why I'm mostly angry is because this story could have been so good, but no of course not. The plot was so messy, there was too much smut and not enough world building, and there was SO MUCH SEXUAL HARASSMENT/ABUSE. Red flags all around. Literally the main group of guys Rika is so desperate to be a part of went to prison for beating up a police officer, arson, and R**ING AN UNDERAGE GIRL. And the story's like, "yeah but they have abs." And then they hold so much resentment towards Rika for ratting them out that they (Michael included) burn down her house, steal all of her money, send her mom to a mental hospital so Rika can't talk to her anymore and are seconds away from r**ing her and killing her when then suddenly "oh she didn't do it? All is forgiven 🤪🙏" I am also upset at how obsessed she was with M bc he is literally such a horrible person and keeps playing games on R and only sees her as a piece of meat. Everytime he sees her he decides to mention that he got hard just seeing her and he wishes he could take off her clothes. Rika isn't that great either, tho. She's obsessive, dumb, and doesn't answer her phone toward the end when she KNOWS she's in danger, just because she's cocky and it's convenient for the plot. Also there is SO much sexual tension between her and the only other woman in this story, Alex, and when they actually do it, the scene is told through the POV of Michael watching them. Rika only did it to make M jealous and then he basically throws poor Alex out and Rika doesn't even give her a second glance. This makes me so angry because the only slightly gay scene in this entire thing was for a man's pleasure and I wish they wouldn't have even put that in there because it furthers an idea that lesbians only exist for the pleasure of men and I must say shame on Penelope Douglas. Anyway there's this completely unnecessary chapter after the epilogue of when M was 16 and R was 13 and he picked her up from practice and she was crying and she watched him kill a dog (poor thing was already dying, he just made it go faster) and she was angry and visited her dad in the cemetery and he took her home, and anyway the whole point of the chapter was to show that Rika was the one who inspired M to make his group of assholes and it was just so unnecessary. I could have lived the 20 minutes that chapter wasted from my life, but no I had to get unnecessary background at the very end. Also, I don't understand how these characters always notice the nipples getting hard? Like, as a woman I barely ever notice unless I'm freezing cold, so that's unrealistic. Also R casually mentions she likes fencing and then doesn't bring it up until the end of the book. And when she puts on the fencing uniform she mentions that "it rubs against [her] clit." LIKE GIRL GET BETTER PRIORITIES ON WHAT TO THINK ABOUT. Because THEN she gets turned on by the uniform rubbing against her that she goes and has a threesome in the bathroom. I can't make this shit up. I can't. Anyway I hate this book and I will never read it again.

Content Warnings

bookishemmy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

samflowerv6's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

Unpopular opinion... I loved this book. Everyone seems to hate Michael but I really didn't. Michael and Rika were so high stakes and complicated. I really enjoyed the mystery, secrets, devils night antics and even the horsemen in all their mean bad boy glory. I found all the characters so interesting and Michael was fucked up but I couldn't help loving him. Also, maybe I just like hot guys who are a bit evil? Seems to be my type. I am a seasoned dark romance girly but this was super solid. I would definitely say it's taboo at times but what can I say, I ate it up. Even Damon, who is such an asshole..... i was having so much fun. I know it's problematic and all the men are straight up terrible. I think I have bad taste. Whatever bad things people say, are mostly right but..... I like messed up people and dark romance. I do wish Michael groveled though, Rika forgave him too easy. They should have all begged on their hands and knees. The catacombs, the mask scene and the sauna... I was sweating. RIKA SAID LETS GO TO PARIS. Rika is so real though with being in love with an asshole for her whole life and being blinded by hotness. I did like the ending and they honestly fit. I did expect her to have more of a backbone and was disappointed with her not making the boys beg but at every turn.. she folded. But this was all kinds of fucked up. Check trigger warnings. I feel mildly shameful for how much I enjoyed this. I love these freaks.

And it was October 30, the night before Halloween. Devil’s Night.

Damon Torrance, Kai Mori, Will Grayson III, and—I locked my gaze on the blood red mask covering the face of the one always in the lead a little more than the others—Michael Crist, Trevor’s older brother.

“It’s just you, Little Monster. Own it or it will own you.”

“Run all you want, Little Monster,” he said, sounding like a threat. “We’re faster.”

They were here. The Four Horsemen. They were Thunder Bay’s favorite sons, and they’d gone to high school here, graduating when I was a freshman.

As individuals we had weaknesses, but as the Horsemen we were invincible. We each brought something different to the table, and where one lacked, the others stepped in.

Three years ago, curious little Erika Fane wanted to play with the boys, so we indulged her, and she betrayed us.

“Trevor’s not my boyfriend.”
“Too bad. I like playing with shit that’s not mine.”

That’s what I admired about the Four Horsemen. They were always in control and always visible.

“You robbed your own fucking store, Rika!” Will laughed and grabbed fistfuls of my sweatshirt, shouting into my face. “You’re the fucking king, baby!”

Will started singing, then slid out of his seat, and I shook with laughter as he straddled me, giving me a lap dance to the music.

“When we used to wear the masks,” Michael said, dropping his voice to a near whisper, “you liked it, didn’t you?

“So you like the mask. You’re pretty fucking sick, aren’t you?” he teased.

“Such a beautiful little monster,” he whispered

“Because you’ve corrupted her nice and good. She’s a force now, and it won’t be long before she’s brave enough to demand what she wants. If you don’t give it to her, she’ll find someone else who will.”

THE KAI AND MICHAEL SANDWICH CHANGED LIVES!

Alexa play Monster by Skillet

Content Warnings

ephemeral_remi's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

jesshart8's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-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

Content Warnings

becflourish's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

quietmarki's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

Content Warnings

moonlina's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-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

0.25

It troubles me how the autor overlooks rape in this book and make its sexy. (especially how rika gives a fnck abt it)if its your kink go off dude but for me it was trauma triggering (wich is my fault) so be careful <3

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