Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

That Sik Luv by Jescie Hall

29 reviews

dezzella's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I liked this dark romance, it was pretty good. This book is a stalker romance that deals a lot with religious trauma and revolves around our main character who is very involved in her church. The first part of the book grabbed my attention, I was curious where the story threads were going, however the last part is mostly spice/romance focused rather than the plot. The plot does get tied together at the end, but I think it got drowned out with the spice. This isn't necessarily bad, but I had wished the spice and plot had been balanced better in the latter half of the book.

Still our love interest here is very unhinged and completely obsessed with our main character, and takes delight in corrupting her. It's a fairly fun read for those who like dark romance and fast paced as well.

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monica0309's review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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enchantingreads_rosyreviews's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

"Her understanding of love is entirely different from mine. Her lens, through which she sees the world around her is warped, in my opinion. But to her, my lens is a direct reflection of the pain I’ve yet to surrender. 'Some would call me broken... but I’ve never known anything other than the comfort of my pieces.'”

I didn’t know much about this story going into it. I read Hawke by the author & everyone raved about this one, so I picked it up. The duet audio performance was incredible in bringing these words to life! This is a dark one, like with a capital "D" but it’s also a beautiful one. Heartbreaking at times, edge-of-your-seat suspenseful at others, and always well-written. Fans of dark romance with a splash of crazy, some effed-up misogyny & an unhinged kind of “sik” love, then this is definitely the read for you!

“I don’t expect a simplistic love with Aero. It will never be normal, just as it shouldn’t. It’s complicated. It’s an abstract piece that’s painted with harsh strokes of pain, jarring splashes of deception, and obscene colors that scream in the face of injustice. I shouldn’t need to change him, and honestly, I don’t want to. But what I desire more than anything is an alignment of souls set in our own unbreakable bond.”

This was my darkest romance read thus far, but I knew I could trust Jescie’s beautiful writing. On the surface, this is a book about exploring desire, escaping oppression (mainly religious), and getting revenge. That’s completely true, this book contains the dark versions of all those themes. I mean it, this book is dark and true to its genre. But what I loved about Jescie’s writing were the layers of storytelling she gave us. There was mystery, a heist of sorts, assassin/hitman-style of revenge, a twisted love story, and discovering oneself.

And I have to say: if Chapters 54/55 of ACOMAF are the “ultimate, drop the mic” chapters for romantasy fans, then That Sik Luv’s Chapters 43/44 are the dark romance equivalent. Seriously! “Worth” and “Abstract Love” are poetic, tragic, emotional, beautiful, and unfortunately a representative experience for too many people. The audio performance during these chapters was incredible. And Jescie Hall's words are spectacular. Bravo! 

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bookabundance's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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allymurphy's review against another edition

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4.5

unexpectedly quick read, I finished over the course of two days. very enjoyable, not at all a literary masterpiece but delightful nonetheless

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jdeeyore's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0


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carrieleaharris's review

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DNF. 35% It goes too far. Even for me. Plot doesn't carry so you really need something to latch onto. Well the spice just went too far. It wasn't sexy, it was rape. He wasn't good to her in or out of bed. He's like, I'm not killing you, so now you're my slave for life. And he smells like sulfur? So he smells like rotten eggs? Eww. Every time he had her suck his tongue that's what I was thinking, and I couldn't get past it. There were certain things that reminded me of HA... the roses, the gun, the chase, but the book doesn't reach the same conclusion. Not hot, not fun. The only thing I liked was when she stabbed him. Every time. That shit was good. 

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leighlo_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Overall Rating: 4.5 ⭐️
Narration: 5 ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5

5 ⭐️ for the narration - they both did amazing, but Joe Arden just went above and beyond! When Aero went on his psychotic rants - Joe really brought the character to life. You could feel the crazy coming through your headphones. 

4 ⭐️ for the plot. Deeply dark and disturbing, but I ate this book up! Definitely check TWs on this because it’s A LOT. The plot got lost with all the spice towards the middle but it picked back up and I actually liked the premise of the story. Cults have always fascinated me, and I loved Briony’s journey to learning the truth and stepping into her power. 

4.5 🌶️ for the spice. Holyyyy was it spicy and it was good spice too. Aero was so unhinged, some of the things he would say were just like what the actual F. He’s def not sweet in the sheets (lots of degradation/humiliation) so again check TWs. Oh and did I mention his 🍆 is pierced? There are a few scenes that will leave rent free in my head 🙃. 

I 1000% recommend listening on audio. You won’t regret it!

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alijaywat's review

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

3.0

Holy shit…. That was a lot…. Check your TW

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hereiskyra's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 SPOILERS AHEAD…

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I had ALL of the mixed feelings reading this book. Pretty sure I gained some new forehead wrinkles from raising my eyebrows so much. 

I’m not crazy about the religious aspects but after figuring out what part it played, I didn’t find it so taxing. This writing and content was so unexpected after reading Hawke & KID. This book belongs in an entirely different realm. So, it took a while to get into but once I did, I was on the edge of my seat. 

That confessional scene will live rent free in my head, probably forever. Maybe the club scene, too. Dayummmmm.

Please tell me why I was genuinely feeling gaslit allllllll the way up til the end with Saint?! 
I thought for sure he was going to turn out innocent in all of this… boy, did that all take a turn. Just like everyone and everything in this book, I should’ve given up trying to figure things out because I got NONE of it right. 

It took a LONG time to warm towards Aero. It wasn’t until Briony started to crack that tough shell created by his trauma that I started to understand and appreciate him a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, he’s really not even morally gray… he’s just morally black. BUT he cares deeply for his girl and I still dug it. 

Briony thankfully had some good character development towards the end because for the longest time I was annoyed with her. Yes, she fought and she was strong… but by the end she was a straight up badass and I loved every second of it! 

At the end of the day, these two were flawed and that’s okay. They broke each other and then built each other back up in only ways that they could… understanding that trauma and circumstances don’t have to be forever. 

Seriously, though… They’re both completely f*cked in the head. But… in the best way. 

And that epilogue was… HOLY HELL 🥵

Favorite quotes:
 “Right and wrong dance together to the music of my own pitiful and weakened excuses, as I find myself locked in a slow dance with the devil himself.”

“We’re toxic. My blood, infected with the same sick love he owns for me. We crave this illness.”

“Love is beneath us.”

 Tropes:
Forbidden
Age-Gap
Stalker
Enemies to Lovers
Touch Her and Die
Religious FMC/Morally Black MMC

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

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