Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Sinner by Shantel Tessier

7 reviews

hilary89's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

alis143's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

avarlow's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad tense slow-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

I feel like the series has the potential to balance smut and plot but this book did not do that very well. I fount the smut to be overly distracting in a lot of scenes as if it didn’t really belong but was just put in anyway. I did think the plot was pretty interesting and is what ultimately lead me to finishing the book. I feel with the first book kept me guessing a bit more where as this one was a bit more predictable.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

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

satanshomosexualagenda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Abortion

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

misswirum's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

*Changed my rating from 3,75 to 3/5⭐️*

The trauma is strong in this one.

I have so many questions after this book. I'm not sure what I feel about this Lord-universe because I find it to unrealistic. Aaanyways, give me Tyson's book right now.

It has never taken me this long to read a book before and it's all because I had to take a break every other page. This book is dark. Read the goddamn TW if you have any!

Elli could be stronger. I think if you want very strong FMC Shantel's books aint for you. Elli has lots of trauma tho, so some of her behaviour is explained. But she don't have any money of her own? Couldn't she really just run away? Is the Lord's power that strong?? So many questions. I'm also starting to think the author writes weird stuff only for shock value 🤔 And the misogyny and sexism in this book is through the roof. You are warned.

3/5⭐️
3/5📝
4,5/5🌶

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail