Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

There Is No Devil by Sophie Lark

11 reviews

hapalyn's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed a lot more of the backstory than I did the actual current plot. And the plot itself felt a little bit undersold. I think that there was so much more that could've been explored, and I found the swap of the two serial killers' control was really interesting and a good tie-back to the beginning of the first book. I would've loved to see a bit more unraveling of the MMC. The FMC got over a lot of things faster than I expected her to, and she was surprisingly chill with a lot of the unhinged, illegal things going on. 

I would've enjoyed more of an exploration of her dark side, seeing her become more twisted as we see the "twisted" MMC become more humanized. Overall, I think this duet is moreso for the people who want a sexual story than one with equal amounts of plot. It wasn't really for me, but it helped me shape my taste and know what I want in darker fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Cursing, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent

hereiskyra's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The first 25-50% of this book was not my cup of tea but it really picked up in the last half and I enjoyed the more thriller elements and less of the weird back and forth psycho romance nonsense (sorry, their relationship is a little odd). 

I think the longer we get to see Mara and Cole grow as characters, I liked them both less. I’m not sure why but Mara’s personality gets on my nerves. 

But, like I said, the last half of the book was great so it really brought it all together well and made up for a little bit of the weird vibes.

Tropes/themes:
Stalker/Obsessive MMC

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Murder

erinlaura's review

fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

3.25⭐️ 

I think the novelty wore off in this one unfortunately. By the middle I really wanted to look away from the train wreck but I’m not a quitter, and I don’t feel right reviewing books that I haven’t finished. So I finished it, and it lived up to my fairly low expectations. 

The first one was interesting in its unpredictability. The second one.. not so much. This went down pretty much as expected. More murder, dealing with “unfinished business” all over the place, and everyone continuing to treat the FMC Mara badly (except for the MMC Cole and his staff of course). 

We learn more about the exceedingly terrible childhoods of both of the main characters. None of it is particularly surprising, but we get to hear lots about Mara’s trauma and see her put it to use in her art, that of course is suddenly wildly successful because of course it is. 

Like in book 1, the couple has frequent interludes where they spout off eye-rollingly cheesy thoughts and dialogue. They seem to love to wax poetic about themselves and one another in a way that seems completely at odds with their usual behaviour.

The beginning started out spicy but didn’t really escalate much or stay central to the story. Of course there were little snippets, and comments made, but I really expected them to get even more unhinged as they started murdering together because sex and violence really seem to go hand in hand with these two. 

All in all, Cole still creeps me out, Mara’s clearly still very damaged from her childhood

despite some late-book catharsis

and this reads more like a cautionary tale than a romance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Toxic relationship, Murder, Sexual content, Gore, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror

nickbreezyreads_'s review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Stalking, Sexual violence, Blood, and Alcoholism

cierrabeth07's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

shasta2292's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

The additional of songs to listen along to scenes is brilliant. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Animal death, Body horror, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Blood, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death, and Sexual violence

isabelleroyall's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Gore, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Sexism, Gaslighting, Drug use, Addiction, and Alcohol

stacy_gets_lit's review

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Alcoholism and Addiction

acourtofstarsandmoons's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Again, I enjoyed this book for exactly what, I think, it was: perfect filler. 

It’s the kind of book you read to get out of a slump - it’s got an interesting, if predictable, plot that doesn’t lag, it has romance, it has tension, it has the steamy scenes, the big conflict. It was the perfect sequel to the first. 

For me there was never any questions, any confusion, the plot was clear cut from the beginning *spoilers ahead, beware* - Shaw will be an issue, Shaw will die, Cole will get away with it all and Mara and Cole will live happily ever after. And that’s exactly what we get. 

It’s a great book if you want to read something that doesn’t take a ton of brainpower as well. The writing is plain enough for those who don’t like the embellishments of other books but it’s got a flair that makes it attractive to the veteran readers. The world building, being a modern setting, wasn’t confusing, the characters were also pretty clear cut but Lark was impressive in being able to really delve into the thoughts and feelings of a psychopath as per Cole’s POVs.

Overall, I recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Stalking, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

lilithreads's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, Emotional abuse, Violence, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting