Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Demon's Dream: An Unexpected Love by Elle Kayson

10 reviews

the_modernreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

Came in because of Damien and Dream. Stayed for Smoke and Yana *swoons*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault

thenyamartin's review

dark medium-paced

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

3.5

I had heard very good things about this book from readers I follow and decided to give it a try. I enjoyed most of the main characters and their growth and the book was gripping most of the way through. I did not like the male lead (Demon/Damien) there were so many things that personally turned me off from him and made it excruciating for me to get through the title character's story. The overall plot was well done but I wish it was paced differently so the parts of the story that weren't about the romance of the characters flowed better. For me, the pacing of the underlying storyline was all over the place and made it difficult for me to really enjoy the story in its entirety. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys dark romances with mafia family vibes and high stakes. There wasn't a trigger warning placed in the book so please review the trigger warnings people put in the reviews.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Trafficking

shanaetheflyest's review

dark emotional funny 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

3.75

I've finally finished the very very dark novel, Demon's Dream and now at the end of the book I'm left feeling like the juice just wasn't worth the squeeze.

There are so many characters in the novel that you have to keep up with, and to be honest, Elle Kayson does a fabulous job at making them all equally entertaining, intriguing, and the events of their lives are interesting...but then there are a million others mentioned at the end of the novel and your head is left spinning as you try to keep up with who's who. I mean, even the FMC, Dream, gets a new name...Baby?

That said, I wish Kayson had bothered to extend the novel by another two or three hundred pages to give us more insight into the lives of the children at then, even if only Kam/Kalylah.

The story fast forwards 10 years, a significant time, and we don't know how the FMC or MMC get along as new parents, newlyweds, or what they do for work - does Demon keep killing? Is Dream still washing drug money?

I'm left with more questions than answers and that's soooo unfulfilling after reading 750+ pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

bibliofritz's review

dark funny fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

kennabereading's review

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

_limahz's review

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction and Violence

now_booking's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I have a lot of thoughts about the way this dark, mafia romance was presented. On the one hand. I’m in awe of this author’s ability to stretch this story out for over 750 pages and have action on every single page and not let it drag for one minute. On the other hand, I don’t think this book needed that many pages to tell this story as well. Indeed, to me, it could have benefited from being split into 2 books by character/plot line. As it was, sometimes it felt like we were getting very single character’s POV and I don’t think that was needed I did appreciate the author’s ability to weave together the almost separate storylines and POV’s of the two protagonist sisters’ coming of age plots in a violent, organised crime context.

The premise is that Dream is her crime family’s fixer and after her brother offends the biggest crime boss in the area by eloping with his daughter, she is forced to sacrifice herself entering into a 1-month arranged situation with the closed-off, intrinsically-damaged from a traumatic childhood, cold-as-ice, Damien/Demon (the brother of the crime boss her family offended).  Sparks fly as the two clash in every way in that one month where family and safety are on the line, and violence and murder are the order of the day. Dream’s sister, Dayana, also features heavily in this as a subplot with Demon’s only friend, Smoke, Dayana’s foolish ex-fiancée, and an assorted cast of bodyguards, villains, cute kids, and broken people.

Overall, I liked this as a dark mafia romance. It is VERY dark and not for the faint of heart. There’s on-page violence, assault, torture, child abuse, murder, gun violence, the list goes on. I don’t think it needed to be quite as gratuitous as it was, but within the context of being a darker romance, it was good. The length of the book really allowed you to follow the characters on their journey of growth so that you felt part of their character trajectory. This solid character development was probably my favourite part of the book. I also enjoyed the adorable epilogue. This book is inherently problematic in the way of dark, mafia romance. The characters do and say awful things and deeper issues are brought up but never dealt with responsibly. E.g. the abortion plot angle. 

In all, I enjoyed this author’s writing. It’s my first book by them and I thought they did a wonderful job keeping this ticking along and to blending an ensemble cast of characters and giving us different POVs without getting lost.  Personally, I don’t mind a dark, mafia romance but this is representative of the very dark side of that sun-genre, so you may want to keep that in consideration if you’re checking this out. I recommend this for the right reader- the one who is willing to “just go with it” and read some deeply problematic people who’ve been through a lot of trauma find love even amidst murder, mayhem, brutal violence and craziness. Nobody in this book is alright and it’s so compelling!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, and Infidelity

Minor: Body shaming, Trafficking, and Classism

j_themoodreader's review

adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.75

I really enjoyed this book. I was hesitant to read it because of the page count but those pages flew so fast it didn't  even matter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Abortion

kad21's review

emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

ashatroyal's review

emotional medium-paced

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

2.5

Demon’s Dream is such a cute title once you find out what the book is about. 

Demon is a no non-sense henchman for his family. Dream is a well educated woman and daughter of one of the biggest gun runners in the south. Dream finds herself in an arrangement with Demon in order to cover a family debt. Dayana, Dream’s sister is engaged to a man that was arranged by her father. Dayana comes to the realization that her fiancé is hiding a few things. Here enters Smoke, a widowed businessman that deals in illegal activities. He’s also the closest thing to a friend that Demon has. 

This book took me for a loop right off the bat. But after that, it was a bit predictable. The story was good and well written but didn’t draw me in or make have all the feels. I do like that hard subjects were discussed and the need for therapy. For me this book was boring and it dragged, I was at 52% and still felt like not much had happened. The brunch scene was funny though. What Demon was hiding was obvious from the start. The action didn’t start until 75%. 109 chapters!!! Unnecessary. Demon was also the only person who had character development. Towards the end, I started to see a few grammatical errors. Although this is a standalone, there will probably be a spin-off. 

If Dream is so refined, Juliette should be able to tell Dream wasn’t an escort. She’s also a little naive for someone who claims she should be taking over the family business instead of her brother. Dream also made me mad like she didn’t know what type of guy Demon was. Like he told you about the people he killed and you then you act like you’re surprised when you found out he really did it? She was really acting like she doesn’t know what her family and and Demon are into. Was there a reason he kept his house so cold? Dream also needed to keep her hands to herself. He told her repeatedly. Dream got on my nerves at the end. She just started doing things out of spite. And she was being a hypocrite, she made an assumption then felt a way when somebody else made the same assumption. Also at the end, when they searched Demon and he didn’t have a gun where did they think it went? 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Torture