Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Still Beating

wtf did i just read.

i was looking forward to their journey of trauma healing but got none whatsoever. i am satisfied with how things turned out at the end tho, good decision on Dean’s part.

Content Warnings

dontbechey20's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

This book absolutely DESTROYED me in every way possible...and has become one of my favorite books because of it. I initially tried so hard to not like this book. Seriously! I was fighting it. It's beyond messed up to fall for your sister's fiance after he is forced to do unspeakable things to you after being kidnapped together...right?! WRONG! Jennifer did such an impeccable job unraveling the story of Dean and Cora, both as enemies and lovers.

One of my favorite things about this book is how raw and real it is. It's not an insta-love story that works out perfectly. It has glaringly obvious and frustrating bumps along the way, which makes the love between Dean and Cora feel so real and authentic. As a reader, I was THROWN every which way with my emotions. I spent the entirety of this book crying, laughing, swooning, and yelling from pure and utter frustration.

Authors can very quickly and easily fall into a "pit" of trauma and pain. Writing a story stemming from pain, dispair, and trauma can be easy. Jennifer seamlessly joined two timelines together to tell the love (and hate) story between Dean and Cora. She somehow brings awareness to dark, heavy, and deep topics, while simultaneously keeping the book hopeful and hauntingly beautiful. I was honestly worried the entire book was going to be focused on the abduction, so as I got through the first chapters that were utterly disgusting (in the best way possible), I was worried Jennifer was only going to hone in on the ugly. To my surprise, she pivoted the story rather quickly to focus on the part of the story a lot of people avoid - the recovery. That is why this book is so powerful.

This book is not meant for everyone, but if you can find the mental space and capacity to read it, please do. You will not regret it. It will leave you aching, crying, and in love with both characters individually and together. Also, this book is NOT focused on the spice. Expect spice (don't worry, it gets better), but that is not the focus of this story.

Quote from the book: "I know I said you’re holding me underwater but you’re the only thing keeping me afloat." I CAN'T!! How can you read that and not fall in love?!

BRB, going to see if I can find a matching necklace, because I need to torture myself every single day with a reminder of a chef kiss of a book boyfriend.

Content Warnings

rachael_tee's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

5.0

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aliceloyallaleon's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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

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goodgirls_library's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? No

4.25

Rating: ★★★★.25
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶🌶
Darkness: ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫

Quotes:

It was only three weeks, but it’s burned into every cell, every vein, every tainted pocket of my soul. Forever. And so is she.

Short version: This is a harrowing novel that weaves an intricate tapestry of two people who are broken and work to hold each other together. I would strongly recommend reading trigger warnings before reading, even though it will likely spoil the plot for you. Still, if you are comfortable proceeding, I believe you will find this book beautiful and challenging.

Full review below:

Tropes:

⚫ Dark Romance
🚫 Forbidden Romance
😡 Enemies to Lovers
👥 Forced Proximity

Plot Summary: After her sister’s birthday party, Cora realizes she’s lost her wallet and has no way home. She calls everyone, but the only person who picks up is her sister’s fiance, and her archnemesis, Dean.

But on the way home, flashing lights in the rearview mirror pull them over. Only it isn’t a cop, it’s a serial killer, and he takes them both. Locked in his basement, they are made to endure horrific torture, and must learn to let go of their pain and frustrations with one another to help one another survive… and escape.

But with every day that passes, the lines between them blur, and they are left to grapple with much more than just the basement’s horrific reality.

The Good: This book broke my heart and put it back together. The trauma these two endured, the way their stories unfold and we learn how they’ve really leaned on each other all along, the way they heal each other and help each other through the toughest moments of their lives… it’s stunningly captured. I’ll admit, the premise of this book was challenging for me to look past, and I did not expect to sympathize with these characters, or to root for them. In honesty, I almost DNF’d around 70% of the way through, but I am glad I stuck with it, and got to watch their story come to fruition. Even the things I didn’t love about the book, made sense for the characters and their development.

The Bad: This is a dumb thing to complain about, but plot point of needing a wallet to have money to pay for an Uber while she has her phone just kinda made my eye twitch because that’s not how Uber works, but honestly, now I’m just nitpicking. More seriously, I do think the book got a little repetitive at times, but as I said before, I think it reflected how “stuck” the characters were in their trauma.

Spicy chapters: Honestly, most of them. But it is hard to count, because many of the scenes involved non-consensual encounters.

Cheating? It’s complicated
Third-Act Breakup? Yes
HEA? Yes
OWD? It’s complicated

Content Warnings

smbl's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

It’s like reading a train wreck, you can’t stop even if it’s not the best writing.

Pros: It dealt with messy process of healing from trauma - it wasn’t perfect which arguably why it’s done a decent job because everyone’s healing journey is different. MMC trauma journey was written well and overall the character had a lot more common sense. The serial killer motives weren’t something common.

Cons: FMC can be a little pick-me and self-centered. Actually she annoyed me a lot more than her sister which it wasn’t written to be that way. And how the sister was written is giving some internalize misogyny. Also no real relationship development on why the MMC was even dating the FMC’s sister.

I think it had a lot of potential but as a standalone dark romance it missed the mark.

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firequeen_ash23's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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

I went into this book blind and I'm glad I did. It wasn't what I expected. (in a good way)
I loved the characters, well most of them and thought the author did a great job with writing about the trauma and the healing.

I honestly wasn't sure if this book was going to be a HEA especially with all the stuff that happens to Cora and Dean. They go through a very traumatic event and aren't sure if they're going to survive or not. It's a very emotional book. I think the way the author turns the book around and is able to show what love should be when it's healthy was beautiful.
I know I cried a time or two because the book just spoke to me in a way you want your romantic type of books to do. I think the author did a fantastic job at makin the readers experience several different emotions throughout the book which in my opinion is the best because if I'm not feeling sad, angry, happy and overjoyed at one point in the book, was it really that good? I need my books to connect to my emotions and feelings. That's how I know I really enjoyed the book.

Not to mention after everything that Dean and Cora experienced together, they deserved a HEA. I was also glad that Mandy got her happy ending as well.

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