piabartolini's review against another edition
4.5
I have complex feelings about this book.
The good - Leo and Anna are a lovely couple and their dynamic is sweet and sexy and hot, especially by the end. Leo’s growth in this story is compelling and you can’t help cheering for him.
The bad - Dean, as an antihero, I like. He has traits to commend him as far as villains go, and complexity I enjoyed. But his myopic fixation and refusal to intelligently view a situation with others that he doesn’t actually personally understand was frustrating to read. And the way he basically
Sexual assault discourse ahead
it felt very abrupt and violent and as a reader we didn’t get a good wind up OR emotional cool down in those encounters. That almost throwaway insertion jarred me far more than the actual subject matter.
It was an excellent book overall and one I’d highly recommend, but I’d love it if there were trigger warnings in the front cover. This is the third or fourth book by Sophie that has really jumped straight into very difficult content and I adore that she takes it on, but stylistically would have appreciated a list to read through to mentally prepare, especially over such a common trigger as
The good - Leo and Anna are a lovely couple and their dynamic is sweet and sexy and hot, especially by the end. Leo’s growth in this story is compelling and you can’t help cheering for him.
The bad - Dean, as an antihero, I like. He has traits to commend him as far as villains go, and complexity I enjoyed. But his myopic fixation and refusal to intelligently view a situation with others that he doesn’t actually personally understand was frustrating to read. And the way he basically
Spoiler
rapes someone, twice over, without even that female character’s perspective admitting it as such, was frustrating to read.Sexual assault discourse ahead
Spoiler
I think sexual assault has to be handled a certain way in stories, even dark romances - there is ground work and prep for the reader, either by us expecting a truly bad character to do it, or in the victim internal struggles with what happened to them. But somehow The Heir didn’t have that build up -It was an excellent book overall and one I’d highly recommend, but I’d love it if there were trigger warnings in the front cover. This is the third or fourth book by Sophie that has really jumped straight into very difficult content and I adore that she takes it on, but stylistically would have appreciated a list to read through to mentally prepare, especially over such a common trigger as
Spoiler
rape and attempted rape of a main character.Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Rape
Minor: Child abuse
psyched_np's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
4.25
Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, Bullying, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
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