Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

27 reviews

hilary89's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

I’m not sure I really get the hype on this one. There was literally no character development and I found Ryat and Blakey both flat and one dimensional. Most of the plot revolves around fitting sex scenes in.

Also docking a full star for the near constant references to specific songs. It’s just rude of an author to assume their readers have the same taste in music and will know all their references.

It seems the next book is the most popular and the smut was admittedly fantastic, so I might give the series one more shot, but so far I’m not impressed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

fermented_mangoz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

aubrieanne's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Torture, and Pregnancy

lilbrioz's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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

A little too much smut for me, but I love the lord trope, and the actual plot was great once I got into it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

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: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

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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. 

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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

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

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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

kdb_0620's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

cheeserue's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

"I’d go to war for my wife. One man was nothing."

and go to war they did; just, not the kind he expected.

wtf was this book? why did they build up a good plot only for it to suck so bad in the end? WHY DID SHE KEEP TAKE THE DRUGS WILLINGLY?! why did they take (approximately) 1000 showers?

force sex fantasy and CNC but not one conversation about limits or safe words, GHB fed to her every 5 seconds, fucking next to dead bodies, secret society plotline barely touched, FMC having just about no personality, obsessed ex bf who didn't want her when they were together but now wants her because his enemy has her, random elopement so she doesnt have to be forced into marriage to said ex bf. it just keeps going. 

I love dark romances, especially CNC/FSF but this wasn't it. this book didn't need to be 600 pages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Abandonment

klsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy