amandalachelle's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Homophobia
charliauthor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.0
A few of my mates said this book was really triggering, a dark romance that was super dark so yes, i read it to find out what the fuss was about. What can i say, sucker for punishment! Ha!
So, Sea of Ruin had a promising start. Well written, engaging FMC with a touching back story and of course it was about pirates! All in all, a good smut rec to start but unfortunately everything after chapter 3 was an endless smut fest with no rhyme or reason for the excessive actions that took place.
Bennett, while a forceful and rebellious character at the start which was endearing and at a point life saving, by the end of the book was extremely annoying. It is not smart to run your mouth in the company of forty pirates who've not seen a woman in a reallly long time and are emphatically telling you what theyre going to do to you without your consent...
(Minor Spoilers here:) This incident aside - which involves some unnecessary and disgusting finger violations - there is a lot of mention of rxpe in this book. While there is only one instance of this actually taking place which we were thankfully saved from any truly explicit description, there was always the threat of rxpe at every corner. One of the standout issues for me is after she is abused, the love interest tells her that she has never looked more beautiful then in that moment because she was brave and endured her ordeal. Please note that she is tied down and naked at this point and this...arouses him?! WTF?!
What makes matters even worse is that she welcomes the attraction and is also aroused. This makes absolutely no effing sense!!! Why would you want rough - he's a spanker and bootyhole invader - after having been violated for two weeks?!
My issue with this entire book more so than the triggering and largely unnecessary content was how accepting the FMC was about her ordeals. There was never any questioning about the actions of those around her, instead telling herself to constantly endure and breathe through.
I found this vile and largely disrespectful to people who have been through such things.
It gets one star for the writing, the author really knows about pirate ships and terminology and there were some very emotional passages that i found interesting. Outside of this its sexually explicit and violent for absolutely no reason and plot choices make no sense.
Graphic: Blood, Sexual harassment, Death, Cursing, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Confinement, Rape, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Violence, Sexual violence, and Colonisation
cgn's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Physical abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Sexual content, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Medical content, Sexual violence, Infertility, Blood, Suicide, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Vomit
cryptidcucumber's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Gore, Blood, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Infidelity, Confinement, Slavery, Murder, Grief, Death of parent, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
Moderate: War, Rape, and Vomit
gougoulf's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Sexual violence, Colonisation, Death, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Gore, Infertility, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Cursing, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and War
mollyjeansutter's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Rape, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Confinement, Infidelity, and Blood
Minor: Infertility
katkinslee's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
This is a dark romance so some questionable stuff happens but for the most part I really enjoyed the romantic interests.
Trigger warnings for sure!!
Graphic: Slavery, Sexual violence, Gore, Vomit, Torture, Suicide attempt, Racism, Rape, Blood, Violence, Murder, Misogyny, and Kidnapping
allysonstrable's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, and Death
Moderate: Rape
koistyfishy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This book follows Bennett who has been raised by her mother to fit into the mold of a proper lady. We also find out pretty early on in the book that Bennett is the daughter of a very revered and famous Pirate. Bennett has a secret relationship with her father and absolutely adores him. She would do anything in the world for him and wants nothing more than to run away from her life and have adventures by his side. Unfortunately, Bennett's father is killed and her mother on the same day commits suicide; leaving a 14-year-old girl thrust into the pirate life, with nothing but a ship, a jade necklace, and a compass her father left her as her destiny.
I would describe the experience of reading this as "something"... I had a REALLY great time reading it, but it was also truly frustrating and agonizing but in a good way. Since this was a buddy read I couldn't read this in the manner I normally do - which is being solely dedicated to one book at a time, with no distractions, and no other side hustle books. BUT NOOOOOO - Nenia made me cheat, as to keep this buddy read fair for readers of various speeds - I could only read 50 AGONIZING pages a day. As luck would have it, those 50 pages would end ON EVERY "CLIFFHANGER" chapter imaginable.
Spoiler
I am talking about when she was torturing Priest with oranges or when she was spying on a sexy naked commodore on balconies ...it was just mean!I really enjoyed the setting of the book and how it felt really authentic to the history and culture of Pirates in the 1700s. I felt like I was on a ship right there with them and could tell this book was thoroughly researched by the descriptions, the terminology, the way illnesses and wounds are treated, and the general language and behavior of the pirates. Some parts of this history, culture and misogynistic treatment of women can be difficult to read. Pam Godwin did not shy away from making our girl Bennett suffer (in some cases I felt she might have suffered a little bit too much). But in some ways, it felt disgustingly raw and truthful, as the way she was treated is pretty much how I imagine bloodthirsty pirates to behave toward a beautiful half-naked woman.
I love Bennett, she is mostly everything you want to see in a FMC. She is fierce, strong-willed, a fighter, a survivor, and obviously godly beautiful. The way she is able to handle what comes at her is beyond admirable and is inspiring. She is a role model for her strength an willingness to survive all that is thrown at her. But she is also mildly annoying and insufferable at times. I still don't seem to understand why she ran from Priest just because he cheated on her. I get she was angry, but her reaction was childish and overly dramatic and I couldn't understand the motive or narrative behind why she was running (besides the whole needing it for the plot to actually happen I mean).
Ashley and Priest were both characters I absolutely loved. You need to fan a girl down when it comes to these two. Priest was smart, arrogant, cocky and a flirt of note. Ashley was poised, controlling, and commanding. I was rooting for both of them for Bennett as they both seemed to care for her, and would do anything for her - and in my mind, there was no way for this love triangle to resolve itself without one of them dying... Then the last 25% of the book happened and I docked a star for a few reasons.
Firstly I felt everything that had been built for Ashley's character was a lie. We went through quite a ride for the development of Ashley and Bennett's love to develop -
Spoiler
but when he described the fact that he wanted her from the moment he saw her - the enemies-to-lovers part fizzled up and dried up and it went way too much into "disguised instalove" which is an instant turn off.Secondly, the last 25% of the plot felt way way too convenient. I cannot count HOW MANY TIMES I rolled my eyes at the events in the end. The last bit also felt very drawn out, and it was almost like we got numerous epilogues that didn't need to be there. Ultimately I think the end could have wrapped up a lot quicker and a few of the scenes could have been removed.
Spoiler
Bennett went from being raped on the Admiral's ship, to being captured and beaten to an inch of her life, and I believe the admiral part could have been removed whilst still having something quicker happen that could have brought our characters to the events of the MutinyOverall I would recommend this book if you like the following:
▹Love Triangles
▹Pirate Romance
▹Captor/Captive Romances
▹Dark Romance (in general)
BUT PLEASE PLEASE read the trigger warnings in this before you pick this up, because it does not glorify the life of a pirate and captive pirate at all
Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, Confinement, Rape, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Violence, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, Death, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Homophobia
denacolada's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Gore, Rape, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Slavery, Animal death, and Suicide