Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Sinner by Shantel Tessier

32 reviews

ablossomedrose's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

larndarn's review against another edition

There comes a point where there it toooo much sex and you can’t even figure out what the plot is about. I was hoping for another Ryat and was so incredibly disappointed with who we got :/ may or may not give the third one a try

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

bookwarrior's review against another edition

This book disgusts me. I read through first book in the series and expected something dark but this was just disturbing. 
Sin did nothing for helping her through her past and emulated a lot if the characteristics of her past abusers
My heart ached reading what Elli was going through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

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

kathyjudy's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

christikb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

2.75

Alright, y'all, I have even more thoughts about The Sinner than I did about The Ritual and they aren't necessarily quite as positive. To catch everybody up to speed about the series: the L.O.R.D.S. are a hereditary fraternity society filled with rich edgelords that are initiated into a vast murder cult over three years of abstinence and homicide ; in their senior year, they receive a chosen, a (mostly-willing) participant in the Lord's dark romance fantasies. These are their stories (*insert Law & Order gavel sound here*). The Sinner is Sin (Easton Sinnet) and Elli's story and it is so much more dark than The Ritual. Our FMC is a sexual abuse survivor...and that's not even the darkest part of our story. Sin is one GIANT red flag, somehow even more so than Ryat, and he's intensely protective of Sin (aww, sweet) unless he's the one making her cry (less sweet). He would absolutely die for her and does his damnedest to prove that fact, which is simultaneously heartwarming and -breaking. Elli's story is...god, so freaking rough from the beginning. She was groomed from a young age and is trying to outgrow her grooming, however, she keeps getting surrounded by Lords who are nebulous (at best) on the subject of consent. To escape her devastating emotional, physical, and mental trauma, she uses drugs prolifically and engages in ever-increasingly physical BDSM play that not only toes the line of consent but sometimes bounds effortlessly across it. I'll be honest; it's a thorough, fairly chilling portrayal of a spiraling sexual assault victim and, although I'm not sure if that was necessarily the intent, it drives home the point time and again, making this an extremely difficult and emotional book to read. Elli overcame a bunch of her trauma and embraced her bad b*itch self, but it's about 90% of the book before we get there. It also reads a bit like a soap opera because the hits never stop coming. Bad thing 1 resolved? Nope, think again, Bad Thing 2 is here plus Bad Thing 1 has mutated. Silver lining here: Tyson Crawford continues to be my precious, problematic assassin dad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

kaadee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Sin is a rapey asshole who makes me angry. He’s a terrible character who deserves n o t h i n g. 

Terrible book but at least Tyson was hot for the 2 seconds he was there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

peeshy's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

vikrose's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

3.75

I was looking forward to this book and I may have overhyped it for myself. It takes talent to write a book like this and tie up all the loose ends created through the story. However, there simply didn’t need to be THAT MANY twists and turns. Certainly can say this book was unpredictable. The ending made me happy though, so it’s worth it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent

alxisrae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

This book was all over the place, and I thought the plot of the first one was chaotic. Also the sexual content in this one was so violent and the SA was so heavy it was uncomfortable. I sped through the last 1/2 of the book just to finish it. Like every male took every chance they could to actually SA the heroine or attempt to SA her. There is dark romance and then there is whatever this is

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit and Suicide attempt