Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Stolen Heir by Sophie Lark

10 reviews

cdbrown's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Suicide, Self harm, Violence, and Murder

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

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

__romancereader__'s review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this book i think this one is my favorite so far in the series so Stolen heir is my number 1 and Brutal prince is my number 2 so far i cannot wait to read the rest of these books i loved the beauty in the beast things that were happening in this book i don't really know if that makes sense i hope it does i did also really love that Mikolaj was her first ifykyk and her last ofc these books are very good i read them fast there good story's i love the couples in these books so far i loved how even trying to hate Nessa in the beginning Miko still wouldn’t let none of his men touch her or even think about hurting her i love these crazy things that happen at the end but go by fast it gives me enough time to enjoy the ending without my anxiety kicking in this book was so good i love how in these books so far also you get to meet the next book’s character in it overall i lived this book the most and i rated it obviously five stars⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🥰🥰🥰🥰

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Not all content warnings are about the main characters some are and some are about the characters you meet/hear in the book 🫶🏼🫶🏼🥰🥰Enjoy

abladanyi's review

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Self harm, and Suicide

weelasswithabook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense slow-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

3.75

CW: rape, suicide, death of a sibling, neo Nazis, knife violence, gun violence, stalking, murder

⭐ Mafia romance
⭐ Beauty and the Beast
⭐ Captor/Captive 

Holy hell, I thought this mf was going to be irredeemable. But, as expected, Sophie Lark managed to make me fall in love with someone I felt was beyond redemption. 

Cold and callous, I understood why Miko ended up the way he did based off of his childhood backstory. However, it took a long time for me to actually feel that softness towards him that I wasn't expecting. 

Nessa was like a baby bird that had fallen from the nest and ended up much stronger with a wealth of independence I didn't believe she was capable of achieving. 

While this is an opposites attract, the two personalities complimented each other completely and created a fine balance. 

I really enjoyed this book in the end, having wavered near the beginning, and I'm glad I continued reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Child death, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Suicide

Minor: Torture

midnightrose_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Stolen Heir is the second book in the ‘Brutal Birthright’ series. Nessa Griffin is the youngest  daughter of the Griffin family. She’s a college student and ballet dancer. She gets kidnapped after her Jeep malfunctions. Mikolaj Wilk is apart of the Polish Braterstwo. He wants to get revenge on the Gallo’s and the Griffin’s who in the previous book killed his mentor/adoptive father Tymon Zajac. So he has one of his men kidnap Nessa and bring her to his house. Her family are frantic to find her. After a false exchange and brief alliance with the Russian Bratva, Miko realizes that he not only loves Nessa but that he wants a marriage alliance with the Griffins (and by extension the Gallos). And Nessa feels a strong connection to him as well. The get married at the end of the book, both having been changed for the better having met each other.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Cursing, Self harm, Death, Misogyny, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Rape

psydneigh's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.5

This one was good. I think I enjoyed the first one a little more. On to the next one!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Stalking