Reviews

Damaged by Onley James

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sofia_santana's review against another edition

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dark funny fast-paced

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

4.0

meggkey08's review

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5.0

Onley James is a Saint. I need her to be sainted. Enough Said.

I love Necessary Evils and this was a great interlude while waiting for the next book! “Damaged” offers some insight into Calliope’s life and is centered around her son, Dimitri, and Arlo, who has been Dimitri‘s object of obsession since they were kids. While this works as a standalone, I’d recommend reading the other books before.

”Damaged” has the usual themes for the series: psychopaths, murder, mayhem and past abuse / trauma, but it’s also sweet and steamy. I love how fiercely protective Dimitri is of Arlo and my heart swooned when he tried to hide Arlo behind himself when meeting the Mulvaney brothers. The story feels a little rushed, which I find common with novellas, and I would have loved to see more development between the characters.

The ending definitely left me with so much anticipation for the next book, I need more of Asa and Zane!

gmarie03's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

4.0

alessia_g96's review

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5.0

do NOT skip this novella! first of all, it’s adorable as fuck (yeah ok there still is murder) BUT it provides so much context for my love Calliope

imme_van_gorp's review

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3.0

|| 2.5 stars ||

The thing with these books is that the premise always sounds amazing, and it usually starts with a lot of delicious obsession and adoration coming from our so-called “psychopaths”. Yet, somehow the progression stagnates pretty early on, leaving the romance to be a little lacklustre.
I mean, do I like the general dynamic of this couple? Yes. But did I feel very invested in them? No, sadly.

What I liked about these two though was the fact that they’ve known each other since childhood and they’ve been pining for each other for years, thus leaving their romance to feel a little less like insta-love, which was one of the major issues I had with the previous books.
Nonetheless, if I were asked the question whether I liked this couple more than, for example, Noah and Adam, the answer would still be no.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this, but the first two chapters or so were already the best the book had to offer, and after that it got a bit boring and was just mweh.

'Necessary Evils' series:
1. Unhinged - 2.5 stars
2. Psycho - dnf
5. Mad Man - 3.5 stars
7. Maniac - 2.0 stars

aubreysmith9412's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense 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? No

5.0

In Damaged, we see a snippet of the life of Calliope and her son, Dimitri. We know Calliope as the wizard behind the curtain - the woman who can hack any and every system possible. She is a huge part of the success behind Thomas Mulvaney's extracurricular activities. And her son is a psychopath.

Dimitri and Arlo really are adorable in their own way - as much as they can be when they're trying to get away with murder. But what starts as a life or death situation turns into Dimitri and Arlo establishing their relationship. And that, in turn, leads into what appears to be a snapshot of things to come.

The rest of this series is going to be a wild ride, and I'm quite excited to see how Dimitri and Arlo fit in with the rest of the rag tag Mulvaney/Navarro vigilante crew.