Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Sinner by Shantel Tessier

67 reviews

curlymunroe's review against another edition

These books take so long to get anywhere, with so much focus on the sex scenes.  I have listened to dark romance, but this is just too much.  I found myself FFWDing through a lot of the sex scenes, so much forced situational SA, even from a guy who says he loves the girl.  In my mind, I was asking myself how much more can this girl take? I understand that these books take awhile to get to the point, but 18 hours is a huge commitment with little or no hope of something happening.  I might come back to it.  Not sure.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

alyssasmith917's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Alcohol

katelyndunne01's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

iida_a's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

alex_bousquet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

kdb_0620's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

A deep dive into the dark romance genre. If this is your first dark romance series, I'd recommend to start somewhere else. This book is fast-paced, and it starts exactly that way too. It is not for the light-hearted, and if you thought the first book in the series, The Ritual, was bad then this one is definitely NOT for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

krista_timm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Probably the DARKEST book I've ever read. Please, please, please be aware of the trigger warnings. The shit that the MFC went through was very traumatizing -- I even had to take a few breaks for my own sake. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

hereiskyra's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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? N/A

4.5

 Once again, off to a wild start and it barely slowed down. Sin wasn’t your typical MMC. It took a lot longer to warm up to him than I anticipated. I liked Elli a lot sooner, though. She was the definition of damaged and had a really rich, albeit traumatic, backstory. 

I felt a lot more emotionally for Elli and all the ways in which she suffered through her childhood and young adulthood. I can’t imagine a lot of women would be able to function if they had gone through some of the things she had. Not that she was “thriving” or anything, I mean she had some terrible coping mechanisms and surrounded herself with some of the most toxic people… but she was able to maintain some relationships and she still managed to live her life. 

Honestly, I feel like the way Sin handled her wasn’t what we normally see with victims like Elli. Usually we see them healing and being shown a healthy love… instead this was more toxic love and “push through the pain” vibes rather than any healing. Sin loved her the only way he could and that looked different. But I will say, he absolutely accepted her the way she was and didn’t try to change a thing about her. 

There were a lot of characters that absolutely sucked but her mother deserved a special place in hell. I love the element of revenge and that Sin made sure everyone got what was coming to them in one way or another, whether that be death or torture. 

I’m not sure how Sin and Elli got to a healthy enough place to have a family so quickly but I loved that 18 year check-in. It’s always satisfying to see a conclusion and happy ending for characters who’ve been through so much to get there. 

Tropes: 

Obsessed MMC
Stalker/Secret Identity

Best Friends Brother

College Secret Society

Touch Her and Die

Kinks/BDSM

Spice:

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kitsuthebookworm's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.75

The last 40-50% saved it because I hated this book in the beginning, the plot came in way too late, and it's no match to The Ritual, it's not the CNC that phased me but the ratio of plot and spice is awful to the point where you don't enjoy the spice and end up skimming through it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Blood, and Death of parent

leshalea30's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Ellington was a hard character to connect with. She's been through a lot, but it annoyed me how often she turned to drugs and let herself be hurt.
 Sin.... not better than Ryat. I wanted to punch him after the halfway point. It got very confusing with the secrets, but when the story unfolded... it was astounding.  

It's super spicy.

 I can't wait to read The Sacrifice and Carnage. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Stalking

Minor: Pregnancy