Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Stolen Heir by Sophie Lark

11 reviews

notamouse's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

1.5

🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Blood, Sexual assault, Murder, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Child death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Kidnapping

Minor: Rape

imskylow's review against another edition

I had to DNF this book. The writing felt very juvenile. The words don’t have weight. The prose is stiff and unyielding and the emotions felt dry to me. There was also a big lack of imagery. I tried to skip forward to see what the book would feel like later and I was not terribly impressed by what I found. This plot of this book is merely a vehicle for the smut.  I say this as a reader who enjoys smut: I feel like each tool an author uses in a story should be carefully placed, crafted, and utilized. Smut just isn’t interesting when there’s a lack of believability and a real sense of tension. 

I received the digital version of this book as a ARC books from NetGalley, which is interesting because Goodreads says this book was published back in 2020. Not quite sure why this available for review now in 2023. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Confinement

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Rape and Antisemitism

booksalacarte's review

hopeful fast-paced

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

2.5

2.5⭐️ 3🌶️

Mafia dark romance
Beauty and the beast retelling
Enemies to lovers
Professional ballerina
Opposites attract
“Touch her and die”


The writing is really stilted int he beginning. Maybe it’s the dual first person POV. And it’s needlessly repetitive. Something said in chapter 2 is almost verbatim in chapter 6. 

The monotonous replay of a specific scene in the other POV in first person isn’t interesting, it’s boring. 

The characters are under developed. There is such potential, but their character arcs are rushed and their relationship arc hardly goes beyond Stockholm syndrome. Their on page interactions are very few, making their relationship seem very immature. There is very little on page tension because they hardly ever interact. 

But it was a quick and easy read.



Thank you NetGalley and Bloom Books/Sourcebooks for an Advanced Reader Copy of the ebook in return for an honest review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Cursing, Suicide, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Murder, Stalking, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Rape, Violence, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment

a_libra_library's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Child death, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Drug use, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Death, Self harm, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Abandonment, and Blood

darkclouds's review

slow-paced

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

2.0

Wasted potential really.

Miko's character was much more compulsive and for the most part, I could bear the leads for this story. What Sophie Lark couldn't sell me on was the immediate empathy between them two following ONE dinner and a dance. We went from Nessa being frightened, to a forced dinner playing dress up and dancing like Beauty and the Beast (which this story tried so hard to reimagine) to suddenly placing niceties and an odd shared compassion for one another.

It did not flow. At all.

We knew the Stockholm Syndrome vibes was already toeing the line but there was barely any development for them to have reached an understanding after 2/3 interactions. Also Nessa being SO SMART that she could speak Polish that fluent after reading translated books of her favourite children books? Being receptive when it comes to learning choreography in dance is NOT the same as adeptly learning a whole new language. Especially one so difficult.

A whole lot was happening and yet nothing at all. Because it's just narrated to us without actually showing us what's happening. So the whole book went on Nessa being pampered. Miko stalking her on CCTV. Lot of food and scenes with bonding with the Polish speaking maid whom Nessa easily understood. Intelligence you guys. Remember?

We went from lowkey slow burn to instalove in moments I don't even know how that was possible.

It was a messy wrap up but it was a degree better than the first story that's for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual assault and Suicide

hannahmichele5's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Confinement and Death

featherinthewind's review

dark emotional lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

kaitlynn_l2's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Suicide, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

alexandryareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Gun violence

Moderate: Confinement, Stalking, and Cursing

Minor: Medical content

taroroot's review against another edition

challenging 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

3.0

i liked this one less than the first one but nessa and miko were still interesting and fun. i loved how she found her fire and created her ballet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Confinement, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Stalking

Minor: Fire/Fire injury