Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

112 reviews

m0czy's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Confinement, and Stalking

Moderate: Blood, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Vomit, Gun violence, Medical content, and Pregnancy

midnightrose_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The Ritual is the first book in The Lords series and is a dark romantic suspense about a secret society, that resembles an assassin guild. Ryat and Blakely attend Barrington University, a college for the super wealthy. Ryat has been in The Lords secret society since freshman year, and in his senior year, he is ordered to take Blakely as his ‘Chosen’.  Blakely, agrees to the arrangement in order to get back at her very controlling boyfriend Matt. Little does she know how much her life will change….

This is a pretty solid start to this series, with plenty of scorching hot spicy scenes, and tense nail-biting moments. It’s not a five star, for me, however. I feel as though because this book is clearly half romantic suspense the page count should have been tightened up considerably. I feel as if the suspenseful parts would have popped even more if it didn’t feel like in parts it was starting to drag. I don’t mind a long romance book, but for books that contain romantic suspense elements the page count needs to be much shorter than 600+ pages to really be effective in those parts.

(Just as an aside: I hope the word ‘whimpers’ is decreased in the next installments of this series. Its constant mentions in this story drove me nuts! LOL.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Rape, Torture, Violence, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

wanderingpages0718's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Sexual violence, Stalking, Murder, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Death, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Vomit

Minor: Child death

bookwxrmvictoria's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.5

2.5 stars because I was promised plot with spice and this was spice with minimal plot. If this was marketed correctly, wouldn’t have been so difficult to get through

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Drug use, Torture, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Stalking, Blood, Death, Sexual content, Murder, and Kidnapping

mykindamagical's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Read the triggers. It borderlined non consent in many chapters (aside from fantasy play). You either like the guy or you don't. He was meh. Just did too much because he "could". 
Id recommend for a fun yet cringy laugh out loud "dark romance" with A LOT of spice. It's almost so over the top it's not exciting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Violence, Sexual violence, Bullying, and Stalking

robynensolis's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Torture

corrupted_taco's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Pregnancy, Blood, Gun violence, Stalking, Torture, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, and Alcohol

kaileet's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Rape, Cursing, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Violence, Death, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abortion and Vomit

yisat's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Death, Physical abuse, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

elliot_37's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.5

Amazing read, couldn’t put the book down. Blake is a great FMC and Ryat is incredible. 😍😍

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Grief, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Murder, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Medical content