Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

56 reviews

lavieenrosee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

2.75

3 🌶️

I honestly do not know how to feel about this one.

I just started exploring dark-themed books, so I do not have much materials to compare it to.
But I find myself questioning my taste in reading. 

It started quite strong, but it lost me with the plot jumping from high to mid to low and all over the place. 
The characters were loveable for a second, then get boring as it goes. 

Almost dnf it at some point because the timing of spicy scenes came a little off than I expect them to be.  

A little disappointed, but it is what it is. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

emilypage99's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Gaslighting

hereiskyra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Like everyone else who’s been late to the game, I heard a lot of mixed reviews on this book so I knew I’d either love it or hate it. Fortunately for me, I love it! I didn’t even know I had the ability to read a 600 page book in less than a week but I could not put it down.

It started off a little rough, I think a lot due to Matt being an absolute soggy biscuit of a person. But as soon as Ryat came into the picture. I was hooked. 

There was so much in this book and somehow I still wanted more. I genuinely think I might need some therapy… but I loved the twisted romance, the secret society and everything in between. There were just, I mean JUST, enough plot elements to balance out the spice to make this perfect for me. 

The spice in this book started early (like 16%, I think) and once it started it didn’t stop. I usually need a little more slow burn and some time to form an attachment but this one was different. I felt the chemistry right off the bat and just hoped it would get deeper. It was kinky and chaotic and I loved it. 

And as crazy as he is, Ryat is top tier. 🙌🏼

Tropes/Themes:
Enemies to Lovers (vibes)
Secret Society
Possessive MMC
V*rg*n FMC
Degradation/Praise
Kn*fe/Bondage/Breath Play

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

stef_hent_'s review against another edition

dark 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

If all of the spicy scenes were removed, it'd be a novella. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child death

Super heavy read.

One of the main characters has a forced-sex fantasy

laileth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Heard this is the holy grail of dark spicy romance, was not disappointed! Expected this to be mainly smut, but surprised to find out the plot is so good and there's a lot of it! Love the story, love the spice, love the twists💚

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mynamesjess's review against another edition

It's not a bad book. The events just hit me closer to home than I thought they would. There's nothing wrong with the book, it was entirely personal.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, and Gaslighting

morgydunn's review against another edition

Absolute brain rot. The writing felt like a horny highschool Wattpad submission. Nothing that should warrant a multiple book series…

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Stalking, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

allymurphy's review against another edition

4.0

is this even close to a somewhat decent book? no. did I have a great time and fall in love with Ryat Archer? hell yeah I did
it lost a star due to

everything that happened with her mom at the end and that Matt didn’t have a painful enough death, it felt a little like throwing everything at the wall and seeing what stuck with not a ton of success. the rest of the book was fantastic

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Minor: Stalking

chels984's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

oh my god hello i need to reconnect with nature

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

emily511's review against another edition

This book just really wasn’t for me.  The multitudes of trigger warnings aside, there just wasn’t much of a plot.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting