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curicastic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
I never know how to rate dark romance books because they're an entirely different breed for me, as far as books go.
I heard the hype, I guess it kind of lives up to it. I was a bit slow, the back and forth between the present and the "three years ago" POV was a little tiring at times. I think this book could be 100 pages less and it would change nothing, there where scenes where the character repeted themselves and it was eye rolling.
I might continue the saga because these type of books are like crack, there's just something about em. There were a few moments where I laughed and I was SURPRISSSSSSSSSSED, LEMME TELL YOU.
Penelope Douglas makes assholes look good, that's an art.
PS2: Oh my god. The whole "Rika got us arrested" was so stretched out thin I nearly fell asleep during that. I even thought it might've been more fun is someone stole the masks and did something with them that oh so special night. But I repeat myself, this book needed to be edited DOWN at least 100 pages.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
alicecaillau__'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.25
Mais le suspense est très bien maintenu, on a envie d’aller au bout du roman.
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Gun violence, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Car accident, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
modjeskapup's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Rape, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
anastashamarie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
If you take the 2006 film The Covenant, remove the magic, flesh out the plot a little more, and add smut...that's what this book is. An untouchable group of mischief-causing, incredibly attractive bad boys who enthrall everyone with their mystique. Old money posturing and politicking that leads to a revenge plot that uses the sweet blonde FMC as a pawn. Dramatic confrontation scenes that could have been resolved with a much-less-attractive, logical conversation. Some unexpectedly homoerotic tension that I don't think was intentional. The vibes are identical between the two.
And those vibes are immaculate for the first 2/3 of the book. But around 67.5%, this takes a weird atmospheric turn that I didn't vibe with as strongly. Idk how to explain it, but the storyline just didn't carry the same oomph after the 67% mark (the spicy scenes still did for sure, but I'm talking specifically about the actual storyline). It went from this hot push and pull between Rika and the whole Horseman group, to a different dynamic that I didn't enjoy nearly as much.
Also as much as I enjoyed the Rika and Michael circling each other, I really just felt bad for her the whole book because everyone around her objectively sucks. This girl deserves better than the thousand red flags surrounding her entire social circle. I hope she finds a genuine friend eventually or that at least the ones she does have treat her better.
But this was greatly enjoyable as a guilty pleasure read. I see why people like Penelope Douglas if this one was any indication, and I am going to read the next one for sure.
⚠️ TWs: lots of sexually explicit scenes, sexual assault/harassment, violence, murder, arson, gaslighting, manipulation, bullying, alcohol use, death of a parent, death of a dog (side note: wtf did this need to be in here for?)
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Car accident
A dog dies in the last chapter; I feel like you can just totally skip that chapter and feel like things are neatly concluded.assesgrass's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
ac_blanco's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
ecravens's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
quietmarki's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
_terah_hansen_'s review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
jen1804's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.75
Drops points because some of that shit I read was disturbing and also because of the high number of spelling/grammatical errors! Penelope, get a new editor girl.
Satisfactory ending? Yes.
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent