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A review by aromarrie
Damaged by Onley James
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.75
for something pretty short, this author still packed quite a heavy punch in this novella; something to be expected with how she writes suspense & mystery into each book in this series. i think even though i didn’t feel that connected to the main characters, i could still see how strong of a connection they had with each other and it almost…endeared me more to the story as we see arlo panic about this unprecedented murder that took place while dimitri was there to keep him steady.
after all the abuse & mistreatment that arlo has suffered in his life, for someone like dimitri to offer him a comfort that’s so at odds with what’s deemed the norm about psychopaths, it made their romance hit a little hard because that’s the thing with this entire series, isn’t it? we’re seeing these characters fall in love with their psychopaths and the whole thing just makes you wonder what the author is telling you with that. these characters feel safe with their lovers, they feel protected, they feel…loved, in a way. and i think getting to read a story in this series where we were witnessing this love at around the time where dimitri & arlo are in college offered a really well-rounded perspective that had its share of chaos like all the other books but all boiled down to these soft moments between our two main characters.
would i have loved to see more of the mulvaney family? yes. it would’ve been so cool to see them interacting more with dimitri, someone whose mom has tried to prevent him from involving himself in any more crime, and yet he finds himself in some deep shit anyways. and so what better way to see him evolve better than with the mulvaney brothers? august’s presence in this novella is a huge factor as to what makes me wish we could’ve seen more of that dynamic, because there’s this speech he gives at the end to dimitri that hints that he could sorta be considered the “next generation” for this project that thomas had created with his entire family.
getting to learn more about calliope’s background and how she came to even be part of this family was really interesting; so interesting, in fact, that a part of me is bitter we didn’t see more about her, either, specifically her relationship with her son, dimitri, altogether. the appealing thing about novellas for a majority of people is that they make you crave more, they make you latch onto these characters you only know for a brief amount of time and then boom!! they’re gone. here it felt like the same thing for me, but it also kinda revealed the disheartening thing with this format of storytelling because as sweet as this overall novella was, as tense & suspensful as it was, it didn’t feel like enough? but alas….
i’m glad i finally read this. this was something short & quick to read right before one of my most anticipated 2022 releases drops into my kindle library at midnight, and it was a nice reading experience, too. it had its emotional moments to be honest—again, the abuse that arlo has suffered is not to be taken lightly and seeing the effects it’s had on him makes for a sobering venture into what turns into a really bloody & scary night for him and dimitri. i’m just glad the two found each other, and it’s nice to have gotten to see what this novella was all about.
after all the abuse & mistreatment that arlo has suffered in his life, for someone like dimitri to offer him a comfort that’s so at odds with what’s deemed the norm about psychopaths, it made their romance hit a little hard because that’s the thing with this entire series, isn’t it? we’re seeing these characters fall in love with their psychopaths and the whole thing just makes you wonder what the author is telling you with that. these characters feel safe with their lovers, they feel protected, they feel…loved, in a way. and i think getting to read a story in this series where we were witnessing this love at around the time where dimitri & arlo are in college offered a really well-rounded perspective that had its share of chaos like all the other books but all boiled down to these soft moments between our two main characters.
would i have loved to see more of the mulvaney family? yes. it would’ve been so cool to see them interacting more with dimitri, someone whose mom has tried to prevent him from involving himself in any more crime, and yet he finds himself in some deep shit anyways. and so what better way to see him evolve better than with the mulvaney brothers? august’s presence in this novella is a huge factor as to what makes me wish we could’ve seen more of that dynamic, because there’s this speech he gives at the end to dimitri that hints that he could sorta be considered the “next generation” for this project that thomas had created with his entire family.
getting to learn more about calliope’s background and how she came to even be part of this family was really interesting; so interesting, in fact, that a part of me is bitter we didn’t see more about her, either, specifically her relationship with her son, dimitri, altogether. the appealing thing about novellas for a majority of people is that they make you crave more, they make you latch onto these characters you only know for a brief amount of time and then boom!! they’re gone. here it felt like the same thing for me, but it also kinda revealed the disheartening thing with this format of storytelling because as sweet as this overall novella was, as tense & suspensful as it was, it didn’t feel like enough? but alas….
i’m glad i finally read this. this was something short & quick to read right before one of my most anticipated 2022 releases drops into my kindle library at midnight, and it was a nice reading experience, too. it had its emotional moments to be honest—again, the abuse that arlo has suffered is not to be taken lightly and seeing the effects it’s had on him makes for a sobering venture into what turns into a really bloody & scary night for him and dimitri. i’m just glad the two found each other, and it’s nice to have gotten to see what this novella was all about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Sexual content
Moderate: Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail