Reviews with content warning for Cursing - The Ritual

i tend to be wary of secret societies in books as they’re often incorporated into college or high school settings which kinda feels ridiculous because omg all of the characters are just kids !! knowing this, i intentionally attempted to go into this book with an open mind and yet it still felt soooo silly to me and the characters just came across as dumb as much of their behavior made little sense. i definitely liked the first half of the book way better than the last half mainly because as the author tried to wrap everything up and explain all of the mysteries that had been perpetuated throughout the book, the final acts and explanations for everything just felt somehow lackluster and absurd at the same time. also given that this book is classified as erotica i want to comment on the sex scenes. there were a lot of intriguing kinks in here that were fun to read but i felt like the sex scenes were not really detailed or long enough to be that great. some scenes were definitely more involved and better than others but i kinda finished this book feeling underwhelmed by the sex scenes. i loved ryat’s response to blakely’s feelings of shame regarding her kinks. i think the amount of sex that it is implied the two main characters have throughout the book is concerning lol but i guess given that none of this book is very realistic, the preposterous amount of sex these characters are said to have is on brand. overall i guess i’m glad it be in the loop about this book since a lot of people have read this book and have things to say about it, but i definitely won’t be reading other works by this author.

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alis143's review against another edition

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dark 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

5.0

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asliusta's review against another edition

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I have realized dark romance is not for me

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cash_mama's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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alexklop's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

4 Stars!

I can’t say this was the best dark romance book I have ever read, but I can say with 10% certainty that after reading half of the book and then attempting to sleep. I got no sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about what might happen next, and how Blakely and Ryat were going to either fall in love or kill each other... Most likely the latter.

While there were so many amazing kinks in this book, I did find myself tensed and anxious at how some of them were portrayed and played out in the book. I wish at some point during their relationship a little more discussion about boundaries, hard limits, and safe-words would’ve happened, but alas… it will not keep me from reading the next book in the series next time in I’m the mood for something super dark and kinky!

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booknerdcoco's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny 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

5.0

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smolone13's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Ratings:
Goodreads: 4/5

Storygraph: 3/5

My Rating: 3/5

Synopsis:

Blakely entered Barrington University thinking that by the end she would be graduated and married to Matt but everything takes a turn when she lands in Ryat’s arms. Ryat is a L.O.R.D. which means he has to follow certain rules, regulations, and even do things that people in society have no clue about.

My Review:

This book was honestly really hardcore and it was hard for me to get into because for a while I was thinking that a lot of it was nonconsensual. It wasn’t until about halfway through that Blake talks about it and says that she enjoys the interactions and likes CNC but at first it wasn’t mentioned so it looked like a lot of things that were occurring between the two of them was rape. I will put that out there as a heavy trigger warning. So before you read it, if you have a hard time with that, there is that in there.

Moving on, I hated both of the characters, I am going to be quite honest. I didn’t find either of them likable. Let us start from the beginning with the two introduced characters Ryat and Matt. Ryat and Matt used to be best friends until Matt decided he was going to compromise their mission and not only murder the intended person, but also try to rape the woman that was next to the man in bed. That being said, wow what a start. Ryat doesn’t like this and tries to stop him and ends up “killing” the woman. Yes, I am already spoiling the book. However, Ryat honestly isn’t any better than Matt is. Matt is arrogant and thinks he can get anything he wants, including Blake. Ryat is the exact same way. Arrogant and thinks he can get his way with anything, including owning Blake. Honest to God, it it like reading the same side of a coin. The only difference is Blake didn’t want anything to do with Matt after a certain point, which pissed Matt off, and Blake uses Ryat to piss off Matt. Which in turn Ryat also uses Blake to piss off Matt. So they both are using each other to piss off Matt. However, Matt wanting to get his way with everything isn’t what makes Blake run into Ryat’s arms. No, of course not. The reason Blake ends up being in a situationship with Ryat is because Matt won’t tell her about the L.O.R.D.'s which pisses her off and then Matt ends up seeing another woman who he ends up using for his own gain. Otherwise, it is so easily noticeable I can’t help but see Blake as stupid. The answers are right in her face. Besides Ryat and Blake using each other to piss of Matt, they’re not any better. Ryat is hired by Blake’s father to make Blake his chosen. He does it. Ryat also offers to pay Blake’s father to marry Blake. Basically, she’s stupid, easy, and just accepts everything that Ryat does to her. Including putting her in a relationship with him and marrying him. Honestly, I don’t understand the stupidity of this character enough. Not to mention, her abusive mother isn’t her real mother and is the one who signed her up to become a chosen to begin with. The entire story is fucked up, and yes I understand it is a dark romance, but I also expected Blake to have more brains than to think for herself instead of following everything like a dodo.

Now that we passed the characters, the setting doesn’t matter too much. This entire book is smut. Every chapter you read has some form of smut in it. CNC, BDSM, choking, passing out, hair pulling, anal. Just about anything you can think of, it is probably in here. If you’re looking for smut, you’ve come to the right place.

The plot isn’t any different honestly. It is just smut. I think the closest thing to a plot is the both of them trying to capture Matt to murder his ass because he’s obsessed with making Blake his. So there is that, if you think it is some format of a plot, otherwise it is all sex.

Considering I managed to read the entire book, which I am impressed about, I would say the book is decent. I did read it for the main point of every chapter being sex, but there were a few things that raised alarms for myself and just Blake being overall stupid. Blake was just an easy target for Ryat to manipulate. I might try to read the rest of the series but I hope this review helped you, as readers, piece together if you really want to give this dark romance a try or not.

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