Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

There Is No Devil by Sophie Lark

8 reviews

spatterson7's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Body horror, Gore, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Suicide, Torture, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Car accident, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Grief, Self harm, and Alcoholism

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

kejendjsa's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Self harm, Body horror, Drug use, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Addiction, and Sexual content

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

shaipanda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

Ok absolutely binged this duology and definitely preferred the first one - this one gets wayyyy darker which was a lot at times and just overall this was a lot but still definitely really liked this series despite it being super tucked up lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Alcohol, Torture, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, Death of parent, Classism, Physical abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Body shaming and Abortion

lizslazylibrary's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

first of all this book had NO RIGHT to be that good. that’s it. it was amazing!! my brain is mushy and i can’t form a cohearent thought because all i’m thinking about is cole blackwell. i hate men but DAMN that man is IT! woooooooooooooo weeeeeeeeeee yessssssssssss 

sophie lark did it yet again when she wrote There Is No Devil. i want to write a well thought out review but that’s just not me. i want to scream and rant and rave about the books i read and that’s what i’m doing! the things i would let cole blackwell do to me... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Body horror, Blood, Death, Gore, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Cursing, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

naaytaashreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

"I'll make sure you see prison time along with him. You'll be splashed across every fucking paper: the Karla Homolka to his Paul Bernardo."

How do I review a book that I love so much?
If someone were to ask me what I love about this book, I will just say everything.
It seems vague but it's true, everything about this book was perfection.

Sophie Lark's writing really checks off everything.
The world-building of course got more intense with the issue with Shaw.
We were definitely preparing for something to explode.

The character development was done in a way we could see progress, change and questions answered.
We get more storylines of Mara's and Cole's life. 
Their childhood, what happened to them, what makes them who they are and together how they evolved as a couple with their chemistry.
Especially with Mara, we really got to understand her art, what it speaks and the story it relates to her childhood.

The pacing of the plotline was fast but balanced in a way we get enough reading time from both Cole and Mara's perspectives.
It was an easy read although things can get quite intense, dark and spicy spicy.
Overall, it was such a satisfying sequel and the wrap up to the series was a stand up ovation.



"Whatever else I may be, I was never a man who had to tear a woman down to shine bright beside her. If you're not as good as me, then you're no good at all. And when I saw you, Mara ... I thought, this girl is really fucking good. I don't want to hold you down, chop you down, diminish you in any way. I already know I found something special. Now it's time for everyone else to see it."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Blood, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

anaya_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

This book had more of a thriller vibe to it and I loved it. Mara is crazy and Cole is a literal psychopath but they are made for each other. Kinda love that they’re obsessed with each other. Once again, check trigger warnings

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, and Violence