Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Demon's Dream: An Unexpected Love by Elle Kayson

6 reviews

jadedavon's review

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

3.75

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shakehreereads's review

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dark funny tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

đŸŽ”: More Than Enough by Alina Naraz 

Baby the plot was plotting. My heart rate spiked several times with this book. I wonder if we’re gonna get Kam and Kaylah’s story. 

Damien “Demon” Montana was a complex character I had trouble feeling for, but as the story progresses you “get” him. Then I really started rooting for him. His character development was excellent. And when he did speak (of course he was man of few words), he was is funny af. 

Dream Dior Castle did get on my nerves a bit, but my girl grew up and got her happy ending. 

Smoke. My man, my man, my man. Now listen! It was Smoke and Dayana for me the whole book. I couldn’t get enough of them. And that wedding scene. All he said was, “Come here.” I could have passed smooth out. 

Bruh. Dream and Dayana didn’t care about other dudes lives at all. Like please stop involving these other men in their impending deaths. 

Kam had me tearing up though. It be the kids that get me every time. 

Them deadbeat daddies was downright despicable and deserved their demises. (Say that 5x fast as you can 😂) 
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thesloreader's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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

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thisreadingcorner's review against another edition

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

4.0

This book is a ride. I enjoyed myself, really enjoyed myself through about 80% (guessing). Smoke is my man my man my man tbh, I think his handling of grief and support of Dayana checked all the boxes I expected for this kind if romance without going too far. Dream and Damien on the other hand, left a little to be desired for me. I loved their initial tension and banter, even seeing his walls come down, especially seeing him seek help/support/family.
Spoiler The handling of Dream’s pregnancy was a hard no from me. I hate that Dayana went behind her back, and I really hate that Damien didn’t choose that moment to be vulnerable with her instead of asserting property rights and telling her she could just be his incubator. I have strong feelings about pregnancy and abortion and that messaging was ugly, especially considering how much of pregnancy she sat in that stress and discomfort. This man didn’t make it right until she was a month out from labor
 not cute.  


I also think the exact foiling of their lives was a bit of a cop out, they could have chosen different paths, especially with Smoke’s family dynamic being so different from Damien’s, and I would love to see more romances embrace non-traditional happily ever afters. I didn’t feel much from the epilogue and tbh I wouldn’t read a follow up, but I will remember the high of the majority of the book. I was giggling and kicking my feet, so although the end took me out, it’s still a solid 4.
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now_booking's review

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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-fiancĂ©e, 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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bookswhitme's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Mind blowing! It was dark, it was wild, it wasn't what I expected, but damn was it good. Two urban/dark romances wrapped in one? Genius. there were so many twists and turns that it was hard to keep up. I loved that though. It was also very hot and y’all know I love a spicy read. I just couldn’t put this down. Smoke and Demon were definitely unhinged, but they loved their women and would burn the world down for them. That’s just how I like my fictional men. Over 700 pages for a romance? Yeah I thought it was crazy, but actually it was WORTH EVERY PAGE! 
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