Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Sinner by Shantel Tessier

16 reviews

fictionalized_bliss's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kats_got_your_bookstagram's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was by far one is the darkest books I have read. I felt like the first half of the book was pure smut while the second was actually a good story about the L.O.R.D.S.

I did like that this book was parallel to Ritual and the stories overlapped at certain points. I'm looking forward to reading Tyson's book next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

inkshadows's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcohol

cinderellaeyes's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

I went from absolutely not to completely engrossed. I’ve giving this a 4 star simply because of how it kept me freaking engrossed in the book.

There were a lot of red flag moments and just so many absolutely not moments but I just felt the need for Elli to have her winning moment. The things that she had to go through consistently as a kid through to adulthood was just absolutely disgusting and sad. Some men can be so vile. This book is extremely TW heavy, even more so than the first book.

I wouldn’t say the plot of the book is missing. It’s there, but the plot was mainly focused on Elli so we don’t really see much of the LORDS world as compared to the first book. In book one there was more exploration of this world but in this one, it was certainly more focused on the characters. 

The “love” is intense, psychotic and painful but who am I to yuck someone’s yum 😅 the spicy scenes tend to be really brutal, painful and exhausting and I think that’s just me pushing my limits and boundaries.

But overall? I would say it got my attention. It is absolutely and most definitely insanely dark and a vast difference in darkness from book 1 to 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Murder

loganswifey's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

sdaley08's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

Read TW's first!! Very dark but such a great book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

tamiesue's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

First, let me say this book is DARK romance. Very dark. Darker than The Ritual. PLEASE CHECK TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE DECIDING TO READ. Your mental health matters. Never be afraid to DNF if what you are reading doesn't sit well with you. Trigger warnings that I think are especially worth noting, child SA, grooming, r@pe,  pain, drugs, blood. There is not bdsm as stated in authors trigger warnings as there are no safe words or anything safe for theat matter.

In the first half of this book, I was really on the fence. I hated Sin. I hated Elli. I hated everyone. I hated the relationship between Elli and Sin. They didn't seem like junior and senior in college. They seemed more like high-schoolers. There was literally no real communication between them. The spice was painful for the fmc, and although her body responded and her mind needed the escape, I don't know that she actually enjoyed it. Sin didn't really have many redeeming qualities, and his treatment of her was basically r@pe. The first half of the book was mostly devoid of any real plot. I almost DNF'd it, but I wanted to know what the point of the books was, so I stuck with it. 

Then, about halfway through, the plot actually picked up, and I couldn't put the dang book down. I needed to know how all the plot twists played out. I think if you liked the Ritual and plan on reading all of the LORDS books, you should read this one. There is definitely some interconnectedness and some over lap of stories even though they are marketed as stand-alone novels.

The three stars is because I thought the twists and plot were worth the read even though the romance wasn't. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ekrjordan's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

firequeen_ash23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Title: The Sinner
 Author: Shantel Tessier 
 Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

I really have enjoyed these standalone dark romances by Shantel Tessier that are all in the same world that follow individual characters. The Sinner follows the story of Sin and Ellington. Sin and Ellington grew up together as next door neighbors and now both attend Barrington College. Sin is a Lord and has decided that he will do whatever it takes to make Ellington his lady. 

But Ellington is on the list of ladies that Sin can choose from and so he decides that no matter what he has to do whether it's kill, steal or blackmail anyone and everyone to have what he wants most. But nothing is as it seems and there's so much going on behind the scenes that Sin isn't aware of and is working against Sin and what he wants. 

Ellington didn't have a normal childhood especially after her father died. Elli's mom is a lady and her father was a lord. So when her father died, her mom remarried to a different lord but he wasn't trying to be a father at all. Elli suffers at the hands of so many and Sin doesn't find out until the damage is done but it makes Elli the perfect match for him. Will Sin be able to save Elli from the past and present? Will he be able to have her when all is said and done? 

This story was so dark and smutty. I loved everything about Elli and Sin. Their story was hearts and flowers but more chains and pain. I love Sins obsession with Elli and what he does to show her that she belongs to him. He doesn't let her self destruct and instead protects her. 🖤i

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Mental illness

thelibraryoflovelythings's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Bro just r words her the whole book and they’re both ok with it 🤨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War