Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Stolen Heir by Sophie Lark

41 reviews

julianacosta_01's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Suicide, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Trafficking, Sexual content, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Violence, and Stalking

Minor: Rape

theinstabookworm's review

dark tense slow-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

3.0

I liked the Beauty and the Beast vibes this gave. However, there was too much mafia and not enough romance in this for me. The smut was left to the end, and then it felt like the author just put it there, and it was too much all at once. I didn't enjoy this as much as BRUTAL PRINCE, and I found my interest in the story coming and going. I'm not sure if I wasn't in the mood for mafia romance or if I wasn't vibing with the slow-burn romance. But I am interested in continuing the series and will be picking up SAVAGE LOVER sometime soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Murder

Moderate: Rape

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

blissfullibrary's review

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

_lavender24_'s review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

3.75

It’s an easy to read one. Not much chemistry between leads tho. But I still enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape

nineinchnails's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide

nebulous07's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Sophie Lark has done it once again, and I love the Brutal Birthright series! 

Stolen Heir follows Nessa Griffin, who grew on me in Book One (The Brutal Prince). It was wonderful to reunite with the Gallos and the Griffins! I appreciated how her strength is demonstrated through her art and creativity as a ballerina and choreographer. Mikolaj couldn't be more opposite to Nessa. Fuelled by anger, revenge and duty as the head of the Polish Braterstvo, he has seen his share of torture, brutality and apathy. 

Sophie Lark weaves her magic using Beauty and the Beast elements, and the character growth is believable. This book is about enemies to lovers and proximity with an age gap, and I loved every minute of it. The balance between dark and light is Sophie's strength, which shines throughout the book. The backstory behind the protagonist, complemented by a fast-paced plot, made it engaging. The elements of passion and spice are well-spaced. The only thing I missed was it being more high-stakes, for I never felt Mikolaj would lose. I can't wait to dig into book three with Nero's story! 

Thank you, NetGalley & SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, for giving me an ARC. This honest review is left voluntarily.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Torture

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

carla20's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence