Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Sinner by Shantel Tessier

165 reviews

cmpurdy's review against another edition

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dark slow-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? It's complicated

2.0

Sometimes you read a book and think, "help." The characters are not likeable even by dark romance standards. The fmc is constantly on drugs and/or wants to be taken advantage of. While the topic of abuse explains why the fmc is constantly seeking a high, it just felt tragic knowing she was continuously SA'd her whole life and the mmc essentially just does the same to her. Sure, it could have been her trying to take back her power over sex, but it didn't hit the mark for me. I don't think there were many sober moments for her, which made me just feel sorry for her.

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jessblibrarys's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

2.75

This book was too much for me.
There was too much miscommunication between Sin and Elli which made the book 2x longer than it shouod have been.
This book would've been wonderful if it was 300 pages but there was about 150 pages that I had to skim read in order to keep my sanity, which I don't like doing.

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eepybeepybug's review against another edition

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dark

1.0

Dnf at 20% after “milk my cock” 

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alyssasmith917's review against another edition

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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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ivyreadstoomuch's review against another edition

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2.5

Okay… this one wasn’t as fun as the first book. It was actually dark. It was 600 pages of Elli being brutalized and retraumatized and Easton made it so much worse for her. 
I think I could’ve still enjoyed this book for what it was if Elli wasn’t breaking apart the whole time. Unlike the first book, this one felt firmly placed in real life. There were little fantastical elements beyond the secret society aspect. The rest of it felt like a ripped from the headlines SVU episode. Reading about Elli’s life just made me sad. She abused drugs and alcohol, she frequently put herself in high risk situations, she was passively suicidal. It was depressing as fuck to read. The first book was thrilling and exciting, and no real sexual violence happened to the FMC. I cannot say the same for Elli. 

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ielliie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

3.0


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katelyndunne01's review against another edition

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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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chaynesb's review against another edition

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Way too intense. Couldn't get past it. Elli is so fucked up and traumatized and Sin is not helping.  

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jellyfish0527's review against another edition

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

3.0


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hilary89's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-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

1.5

Basically just trauma porn with a super convoluted plot. I'm not sure if it's because I listened to the audiobook rather than reading it, but midway through I totally lost the plot and spent most of the rest of the book confused. The only reason I stuck with it was I had to many questions that needed answers (and I guess they were answered by the end, sort of). It was especially irritating because the book was ridiculously long (17+ hr) and it took forever to get any answers.

The only character that received any real development was Ellie... it was never explained why Sin is the way he is and how he became so shitty. 

Lots of sex... all exploitative and very little of it consensual. That's not really a dealbreaker for me, but it got super repetitive. 

Basically, it was a book trying desperately to push dark romance/erotica boundaries but it was all just poorly executed. 

The only side character in this universe I'm interested in is Tyson and he's the focus of the next book so I might still give it a try, but if it's as much of a mess as this one I'll just DNF and cut my loses.

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