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hereiskyra's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
This book might have been marginally better had I not listened to the audio and read the physical material instead but… only marginally.
I won’t go on and on about what I didn’t like about it. The audiobook itself is just VILE and hands down one of the top 3 worst audiobooks I’ve ever listened to… but the story itself had a lot of issues, too. But at least it if I had read it with my eyes, I wouldn’t have had to listen to nineteen, yes nineteen, hours of some guy sounding like a bad Disney villain.
I didn’t grow to like or become attached to a single main character. I couldn’t stand Roxy… she’s not funny? But generally all of the dialogue was kind of cringeworthy. The chemistry to me wasn’t very believable and I didn’t feel like the characters really had any growth or actually showed signs of emotional depth. I just wasn’t a fan of the way any of them were written.
But for a book that was clearly written with a loose plot simply to set up some kinky RH smut? It did its job. There is most definitely smut and no shortage of it!
I also learned that if I’m going to commit to a gigantic book with a bunch of dudes banging one girl… I think I actually prefer some sword crossing. It’s more fun. 😋
Tropes:
Enemies to Lovers
Captive/Captors
Reverse Harem
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
breannloveland's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
sara_locke's review against another edition
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
marleyjade123's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
jacinta1711's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction
starryaqua's review against another edition
CW: domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, rape, coercion, violence and uhh…. gross misogyny, etc, etc
I took a risk with this one. I thought this was gonna be a chill, turn-your-brain-off kind of romance. I can do dark romance without an issue. But this? Is truly something else.
The writing is extremely immature and barely edited. Way too shallow to handle content of this nature, even if it’s supposed to be mindless. I was catching blatant errors (like forgetting the character’s pov mid-chapter and having them accidentally say their own name in dialogue). Physical descriptions were giving teenage Wattpad fanfiction. Like filling a paragraph with the main character talking about her getting dressed. Ebony D’arkness Dementia Raven Way type of prose.
Speaking of, the fmc was THE most “not like other girls”, edgy and damaged and “tough” fmc I’ve ever read. The ~silver~ hair and piercings and tattoos and clunky boots. Not her calling herself a “rocker chick” as she put on a concert shirt for The Killers. I wish I was making this up. Just her and her bat and her overpowered skill to knock out four huge men against the world. She was bland, tired, and miserable to follow. I simply did not care about her and definitely didn’t care for the fact that we were told EVERYTHING about her. Like she was directly blabbing to the reader.
The other main characters (love interests? I guess) are equally insufferable and horrendously trope-y. All comically huge and tough and spewing the most constant stream of misogynistic vitriol it was actually gross to read. Their inner monologue was either annoying and boring or downright disturbing. All of them were insanely sexually charged at all times, some getting off on gratuitous displays of gore and violence. If any of them were supposed to be redeemable in the eyes of the reader or if their actions were justified, I didn’t care to keep reading. Nor could there ever be an excuse to their calling dibs on their new “property”, discussing raping her, and immediately sexually assaulting her, or threatening her with needless violence.
The plot was as thin as a tissue. Mafia made a deal with fmc’s dad, he falls through, they collect the debt by kidnapping his daughter to “own” her. Why? No reason. 2013 fanfiction was calling I guess. I didn’t read more to find out what happens, but I don’t need to to know that whatever sex occurs won’t be consensual. Dubious at best. Coercion isn’t consent. Threats aren’t consent. There’s nothing safe and sane about holding someone captive and immediately pushing your <i>actually</i> psychopathic murderous sadism on someone. That’s not how this works. It’s a shaky line of fantasies and actual harm in its portrayal, leaning hard on the incredibly unethical practices.
For the level of strength, sheer walls of muscle mass, and penitent for violence, it truly made no sense that the men were even human? Everything about them (especially Diesel) read like they were some sort of inhuman force. His lust for blood and biting at people’s skin (he ripped an earlobe off with his teeth?) was so unnatural for just a regular human dude. An extremely fucked up human, but still. Human. If this was fanfiction of some kind I wouldn’t be surprised.
TDLR: yikes. If you want to write unethically violent rape-y fantasies, at least get an editor with better eyes.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
lethridge'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: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Mental illness and Kidnapping
Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
amateur_bookworm's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Diesel, Ryder, Garrett, and Kenzo are The Vipers. Ryder is the front man and face of their legitimate and illegitimate companies. Garrett is the enforcer. Kenzo is the bookie. And Diesel is the assassin. They are ruthless, brutal, and sexy as hell. They run this city and nobody crosses them. When Rob racks up a debt to them that he can’t pay, he offers to sell his daughter, Roxxane, to them to cover it. Roxy has been on her own since she was 17 and is now 24–and a total badass. She owns Roxers, a dive bar in town. When the Vipers come to collect her, she knows she has no way of getting away from them. But as infuriated as Roxy is by being taken as property, she soon can’t help but be attracted to her captors. And once she realizes they’re all broken in their own way, they all find ways to help each other heal.
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
shellind75'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
2.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Incest
flora_fcrp's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
A perfect example of men that we love in book but not in real life !
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol