Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

111 reviews

smilestarshine's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Torture, Gaslighting, Violence, and Rape

wandering_seal's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

4.0

Look it was fine. There are some really fucking questionable decisions going on storywise - the

kiddos names at the end

for one, and the weird need to write out the name and artist of every song they hear playing.

This is one of those books where I'm somehow meant to believe the MMC has only had sex as a teenager and has been abstinent for the past three years before getting a pet sex slave and is somehow amazing at everything he wants to do with a solid working knowledge of all the kinks and how to navigate our FMCs body. Oh and he's a super awesome killer. With a future in law. Yep. Yeah. The suspension of disbelief was hard in this one.

I think you know what your getting into with these books. The lack of kinkshaming was really nice, and the emphasis on consent was also good considering this is a story with lots of dubcon aspects. I listened to it on audiobook at twice speed so the length of the plot didn't really bother me, but it is a loooong story and the later part in particular could have been tightened up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Murder, Alcohol, Drug use, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Emotional abuse

lexuslovesbooks's review against another edition

this is so painfully pretentious,
the lords sound like big violent babies and there is no substance or plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Sexism, Emotional abuse, and Blood

chesneisanchez's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Child death, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Sexual content, Blood, Rape, and Violence

laplusbelle's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

0.25

Nope. Just nope. From the first pages, the MC are not intersting. He is just a sadist and she is stupid. I like my SMUT to have some attraction between the MC and consentment. He firs  abuses her when she's drunk (rape in my book) and when she's drugged. Then she decide to belong to him. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Drug use, Rape, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

booksandgore's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Confinement, and Sexual violence

jessanicolesingh's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Don’t get me wrong, this book and the world it sets up is TOXIC, but I was completely caught in a trance and wanting more! If you think about this book in the realm of reality then you will likely be too distracted by the misogyny, entitlement, violence, and overall red flags of our MMC, and respective red flags of the FMC for being so attracted to it all, but if you can separate it then you might just find yourself having some fun. One of those “it couldn't be me,” but a thrill ride to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Death, Gore, and Murder

lissy_reads345's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Rape, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual content, Stalking, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Violence

xlaurareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

a dark romance masterpiece! i really enjoyed reading this one although i was actually expecting it to be a bit darker than it actually was because of all the reviews i read and heard about on bookstagram. i mean, don't get me wrong, it was really dark and there were lots of quite morally questionable scenes, but it still didn't get me totally freaked out if you know what i mean? i fell for ryat the second he appeared (don't we all love the broody, morally-grey dark-haired guys?!) and i found blake to be a quite nice fmc, too. nonetheless, she sometimes seemed a bit too..idk eager?? to be degraded and all that and it didn't make her seem like a very confident fmc. however, she got some real nice badass properties and some real bite, which i enjoyed pretty much. some twists and turns felt a bit overdramatic and didn't make that much sense to me as to why they were incorporated in the story. and i am not the biggest fan of all the

knocking the fmc up, breeding kink, loads of kids kinda stuff

to have a happy ending. still, it was a great book and as a sucker for dark romance i highly recommend reading it! i am also looking forward to "the sinner" as the fanart of sin is already making me drool lol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Sexual assault, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

lillerstehund's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Kidnapping, Drug use, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Torture, Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Rape, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Death, Cursing, Death of parent, and Sexism

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Vomit