Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Always Practice Safe Hex

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Always Practice Safe Hex by Juliette Cross

51 reviews

rebakesl's review

dark hopeful 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

Extra spicy for the series so far, and darker than expected. Could have used some stronger content warnings at the beginning of the book, but a great HEA.

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jrod4322's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Somehow more horny than the previous books, probably because of the initial rivalry of Livvy and Gareth. It is kind of an inworld set-up with the whole "Grim auras bring dark urges to the surface and Influencers can make people like them automatically" deal, so their own denial of actual attraction at first is a bit funny. But I liked the tried and true method of building closeness by spending time with each other and actually getting to know one another in order to get to a point where screwing each other's brains out isn't a mental exercise in compartmentalized. Both MCs get good characterization movement, and the plot moves at a good pace too.

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kittykels's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

3.0

I thought this book would be my book. Broody, dark, mysterious supernatural man that's extremely dominant and has shadow tentacles? I couldn't ask for anything more.

But this story lacked a lot of interest. Even a straightforward, low-stakes story needs something interesting to drive the plot forward and

a random dude who wants to SA and murder the FMC just doesn't do it for me. We barely even see him and he's barely even a threat, except for at the end for like, 2 seconds. I'm glad it didn't get graphic or worse than it was, that's not what I wanted

. But I just didn't like this as the plot or the conflict.

I also thought the

shaving

scene was weird. I know it's supposed to be an intimate moment between them, but it was just cringe to me.

Someone said these books get better but I think it's the opposite. In the first book, the silly YA language made sense because the FMC was depicted as young-at-heart and nerdy and the MMC loved her in all her weird and quirky glory. The other sisters aren't supposed to have this same personality yet the language has stayed the same, and it seems to be just the language the author writes in. These women are supposed to be in their late 30s at least, yet they're all speaking like teens. Even some of the male characters, who are even older, will sometimes use this immature language. I just don't like that this would be the generic language choice for a bunch of supernatural adults who are supposed to be cool and sexy and serious. It doesn't add up, except in Evie's case.

Lastly I have to mention the song choices. A lot of the songs mentioned I was familiar with, but one of them, the one Gareth mouths to Livvy while they're dancing, I hadn't heard of before and looked it up because it sounded like a song I would really enjoy. I wish I wouldn't have because despite liking the song, it was a terrible mental image picturing Gareth singing that to her. I feel like setting Gareth up to be dark, serious, and dominant and then having him do something like this (among other things) was a really poor and out-of-character choice. A simple change to Livvy being the one to sing the song to him would have made it less weird. Maybe I'm nitpicking at this point, but I really wanted to love this series so I'm just a bit disappointed.

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reena's review

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1.5

This book was a rollercoaster. I didn't enjoy their relationship as much as any of the others ones cause it didn't seem like it built up into a satisfying way. The shaving was a bit strange and not sexy at all, also the fact that the author tried to introduce BDSM into the book but it fell flat. The trial plus the situation with Richard was also not the best. I don't understand why they didn't report Richard like the second time he tried to come on to Livvey at the wolves fundraiser. I'm just not very satisfied with this book. Hoping that the next two are much better

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bekacrook's review

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hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I found it super interesting to learn more about the Grims considering before this book the most we really knew was that they were good at Tech. Learning the full extent of their abilities alongside Lavinia made it feel like we were trusted with the secret. I enjoyed the continuing characters from the previous books as well as seeing more of Gareth and Livvy, I felt like we actually got to know them in this story.

The change from hate but in lust to in love happened very quickly between them and I do feel like Gareth got over his issues extremely quickly and Livvy was very, very unstanding and forgiving, almost a bit too much. However, I did like them together generally and I liked how obsessed with each other they were.

I enjoyed the small focus of the plot surrounding them of the competition they were in. It's a very character focused story rather than plot, it focused on the people, how they interlink and interact but I enjoyed this. It showed the bad side to some supernaturals in the community and how their power can be used to harm.

It was a good installment in the series and gave us more insight into all the characters lives, who they are and their world.

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beccisays's review

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funny lighthearted relaxing 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? No

4.5

At this point, I think almost all of the stories in the Stay A Spell series get close to 5 stars automatically. This world is my guilty pleasure or happy place at the moment. I can’t believe there’s only 2 left to read.

The narrator for the male POV in the audiobooks (Aiden Snow) knocked it out the park yet again. Although it was quite strange to lust after a character named Gareth of all things, you manage it quickly with all the shadow play, binding, mind links & BDSM.

I did think it was a strange choice to leave Jules/Ruben & Clara/Henry’s books to last as they are the most intriguing potential couples but this little diversion into Livvy’s world did end up being a welcome distraction.

That shaving scene was a nope from me tho 😬👎🏻

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