Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Heavy Crown by Sophie Lark

25 reviews

jennh96's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

spatterson7's review

emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

hanschub's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.5

i really loved this entire series and i think this book was a very bittersweet ending to everything.

the only things i wish were expanded on more were enzo’s death, specifically how his children grieved

and some aspects of yelena and seb’s relationship- it felt very bland in some places, but the story was great overall! i’m sad to be ending the series, and my emotions were all over the place during this book, but i’m glad that yelena and seb got their hea!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual assault and Torture

sabm01's review

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

hapalyn's review

dark emotional 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

4.0

Tense throughout the entire book! The ending set up the spin-off super nicely (but also has me stressed out haha)

I love Yelena and Sebastian was a surprisingly complex character.

I’m going to miss Enzo!!

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Torture, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

quietmarki's review against another edition

sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I'm glad I finished this serie. I didn't care for them anymore. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

booksalacarte's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

Heavy crown 2.75⭐️3.75🌶️

Mafia Romance

Dark Romance

Dual POV

Morally grey couple

Insta-love

Rival families

Secrets

For a finale of a series this was a complete bust. Generally a finale brings people together and this book just didn’t. It did a good job of bringing past couples into the story, probably more than any other book, but not in a good way. 

The insta-love was just that, with not a lot of relationship development. There was a little bit too much dub con for me. The situation put the FMC at a huge emotional disadvantage making the scene borderline emotionally abusive. Just yuck.

The book was a sloppy ending to this series and felt like it was just to set up the kingmaker series. There is no emotional resolution for this generation, only setup for 3 kids in the next one. 

Thank you NetGalley and Sorcebook Bloom Books for an Advanced eReader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

nineinchnails's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

i am very VERY conflicted. i was not looking forward to this book at all (i really just wanted to read so i could start kingmakers) but it took me by surprise and i was really enjoying it for the most part, despite how much i hate instalove. i still didn’t care much about their relationship but i liked the characters individually, seb more than yelena (who felt quite one dimensional). however, i think this book completely ruined

sebastian’s character after the wedding

. i would go as far as to say most of the characters from the previous books suffered a character assassination here, notably dante. 

the same dante who was

fiercely overprotective of his siblings refused to attend his brother’s wedding (but changed his mind and dropped in at the last minute) then abandoned him in his quest to avenge their father’s death

? this feels so far removed from the dante in aida’s book. aida is probably the only significant character who hasn’t changed for the worse in this book and i loved all her scenes. nero (and camille) also seemed very different, even from his own book let alone the first in the series. 

the writing did get a little repetitive when seb and yelena were thinking about each other/their relationship but i hate instalove so i don’t think i was ever gonna be obsessed with their romance. i think the worst part was how

sebastian treated her after their wedding - i love dark romance and can deal with cruelty from MCs but it just felt wildly out of character from sebastian

. it was jarring to read and honestly put me off him a little. i also felt like yelena’s characterisation was all over the place, but we only had this book to get to know her so it’s not as easy of a judgement to make as it is for seb. 

i think the part i hated most was

her and adrian becoming estranged. i get that it’s a set up for the spin off series but i really hate when close siblings have their relationship ruined. even him turning on her so fast felt strange since they seemed so close in the beginning

. i do love angst but i was really hoping it would be resolved at least in the epilogue.

all that being said, the side plot really captured my attention and i am excited for the spin off series. i do wish

enzo hadn’t been killed off though, it was nice to see a dad in a mafia series be loved so completely by his children

. i don’t usually read mafia books but i haven’t seen that much in the ones that i have read. i think the prose was improved from the older books in the series, though it was repetitive at times, and i liked the interactions with the other characters (aida the most) even if they aren’t the same as they used to be. i can understand that they all have different priorities now but just as a family unit the gallos seem so different to the way they did in the first book, a lot less united and it makes the whole book feel bleak when it’s supposed to have a (technically) happy ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Terminal illness, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

midnightrose_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Fantastic action packed ending to the Brutal Birthright series!

However…..

Dante’s character somewhat disappointed me in this book. Don’t get me wrong, he does show up for Sebastian and Yelena’s wedding, but in the heat of the battle  towards the end he’s not there. Obviously he explains to Sebastian why at one point in the narrative, but I have a hard time believing a man like Dante would not want to help get retribution for his father’s murder. Quite frankly, I never believed he would be truly happy moving somewhere like Paris, as he did in his book Bloody Heart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Torture and Pregnancy

just_klaudia's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Death of parent