Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Dom by S.J. Tilly

16 reviews

amyroseb's review

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I thought maybe this time around we'd get an FMC with a little more backbone but alas, another pushover who is all talk and no game.

Look... I get it. He's hot. He's dark. He's large. He's in charge. And you want to fuck him. But are we forgetting that he

drugged you?? Had non-consenual sex with you? Drugged you again? Tattooed your body without permission in a VERY visible spot? And then to top it all off, forced you to get pregnant??

I was so excited for Val's story because after reading Payton's, then Savannah's, and having read Cassie's book first, I thought the trajectory for decent men and strong-willed women was heading upward. King and Savannah were better than Nero and Payton, and Hans and Cassie were way better than either of them, so I thought Dom and Val would slot nicely in between but unfortunately Dom was just as bad a man as Nero, and Val turned out to be just as weak-willed as Payton.

And I understand these are meant to be morally grey, dominant MMC's. I get that we are supposed to put up with a little strong-arming and overbearing attitudes. But this book went too far for me. There were times when I felt nauseous thinking about what Dom did to Val... all the ways he tricked her and deceived her, and all he had to do was whip out his dick, and she forgave him. Just doesn't do it for me. Also, it's not believable either. At all. Moreover, it was frustrating to get glimpses inside Dom's mind and see how much he wanted Val to trust him (!!!) and then in the next breath do something so fucked up that he would be beyond crazy to think that would gain her trust e.g.

switching her birth control aka forcing her to get pregnant when he had no idea if she wanted that aka taking away her choice aka maybe he's secretly a pro-lifer???

Anywho, I am overall very disappointed in the characters of this book. Both of them. Which sucks because the writing is so good. The dialogue is great, and this one finally had a plot to stand on.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicide

pageswithruby's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Gun violence

Minor: Suicide, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Vomit, and Torture

culzean's review

dark emotional funny mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gaslighting, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Murder, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gun violence, Suicide, Body horror, Cursing, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Sexual content, Stalking, Classism, and Violence

herbookarchives's review

emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Fatphobia, Torture, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Suicide, Body shaming, and Murder

taylorjade's review

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Gun violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Death, and Medical trauma

Minor: Trafficking, Drug abuse, Abandonment, and Fatphobia

mbichaela's review

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

ENG

I did not expect to have so much fun reading this one but I was kicking my feet and giggling a lot. I truly enjoyed the banter between the mcs. 
(diversity: plus-size fmc)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicide and Death of parent

Minor: Body shaming

crispycritter's review

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I don't know how many mafia romances I've read at this point but I desperately want to get the appeal. I guess as far as mafia kidnappers goes Dom is at least self aware? For just once can we have an alphahole who grovels and apologizes for doing OBJECTIVELY TERRIBLE things to the FMC and a FMC with the briefest whisper of a spine. Can we not solve things by jumping into bed together? No one's dick is that magical.

Three stars because the writing, pacing, and plotting were good and like . . . I understand the things that happened are pretty cookie cutter situations for the subgenre despite making me want to call the police.

Big eyeroll for being a man who *dOeSn'T Ap0LoGiZe* ooooh look at you, big strong man.

TL;DR this book was the closest to getting me to like mafia romance but still gave me a big ick. If this is your thing maybe go to therapy and call your dad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Body shaming

noellelovesbooks's review

dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

3.75

 Content Warnings: sexual content, violence, gun violence, murder, blood, gore, torture, anxiety, drugging, PTSD, ...what do you call it when the guy switches her birth control for sugar pills?...consensual sex but forced breeding? 🤷🏽‍♀️
Mention of: death of a parent[s], suicide, emotional abuse, body shaming, abandonment, addiction, infidelity,

It's been a while since I read an alliance book...and felt a little slumpy...but boy did Dom get me out of it lol

Now King is still my favorite member of the Alliance but Dom's a close second.

It was easy to relate to Valentine's upbringing by a woman who really should never have had children...and in fact seemed to only have Valentine as a way to try to set herself up for the rest of her life...and when that didn't work she took it out on Valentine each and every time she could. Valentine never felt like she belonged or was wanted and just desperately wanted to feel like she did/was.

Enter Dominic...a man with a large family who constantly praises her, worships her body, and seems to be the perfect man...except the part where their meet cute...wasn't so coincidental.

I did think the big bad in this book was kinda lame...and seemed a bit thrown in...like the ending just felt a bit rushed and thrown together...but I'm hoping the next book clears that up a bit...

I'm also hoping in the future Aspen gets a book...I'd like to know more about her and I think getting her inner thoughts/monologue could be really fun. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Body horror, Body shaming, Torture, Sexual content, Murder, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, and Drug use

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Drug abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, and Emotional abuse

andeng's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

moodreadmoonchild's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

4.5

So so good. definitely has the most plot and character development so far in the series. Dom is definitely the most “grey” of the alliance men and has to work the hardest to earn the love & forgiveness of the FMC. The plot is much more significant in this book than Nero & King. Nero was mostly smut, some dialogue in between. King is still mostly smut but there is a bit more plot, story, and character development. This book still has a lot of spice but it’s actually mostly plot & story. The climax is built up to and it’s great to see the FMC & MMC’s relationships outside of them two progress. My heart went out to Val and i loved reading about her healing journey. Definitely would recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Car accident, Grief, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Suicide

Minor: Drug abuse, Body shaming, Vomit, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Addiction

most are on-par for a dark romance but i do want to give a bit more info on the ones that are not “standard” for the genre. These are non-spoilers. Panic Attacks - FMC has panic attacks that you read through in first person. read through her thought process and also her grounding practices Body Shaming - mostly historical & off-page except for one quick comment made by a person about the FMC while not in their presence Suicidal thoughts - not ideation, brief and rare. Suicide -historical, not fully on-page but not fully off-page either. this is the only one that i will go into that could be minor spoilers but do want to give proper warning & will note what chapter to avoid

FMC finds person who has committed suicide & states how it was done. Story not told while in her POV. After than, mentioned twice very briefly and not in detail. if you want to avoid, stop reading in chapter 53 when FMC is detailed her packing her bag to leave back home. skip 1 page and then you can continue.