Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Wretched by Emily McIntire

22 reviews

kylasmv15's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Addiction, and Misogyny

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

angelofthetardis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Again, please see my previous review of this book for full thoughts, but I'm currently listening to the audio versions as they're about to disappear from the Audible Plus catalogue.

Thus far, this book has had the best narrators of the series. Both voices finally match the characters perfectly, and their inflections and changes in tone to give voice to other characters are all strong enough to stand out, but not so over the top that they ruin the mood. I'd STILL like to see them voice the lines of their character in their opposing chapters; I just think it makes sense! But the performances were good enough in this one that I wasn't as bothered.

The audio does make the story feel slower in pace than the physical read, and overall it does seem like there is less action (but there is plenty of 'action' 😉) in this one, so there are moments where it is easy to zone out. But then, that's good when you're using the books to relax! And it's definitely an easy listen.

I guess I'm not as drawn to this one as the 'good boy/bad girl' dynamic isn't my favourite (I prefer the other way around). But still, the characterisation is good and I like the way it doesn't feel too stereotypical or trope-y, while still playing off of those things.

One more to go (Crossed isn't on the freebie list, sadly...)!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Murder, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Gore, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

readyforit's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

4.25

4.25⭐️4.5🌶️
I really liked this book! Probably my favorite so far in the series and I read it in one sitting! It’s mostly enemies to lovers, has plenty of touch her/him and die moments, knives/guns to the throat. This is a wizard of oz retelling, kind of, where the author uses some names and ideas from the movie. However it’s more of a dark mafia romance where the FMC, Evelina (although they say Eveline in the audiobook), is the brains of the operation. I LOVED her character! This author really shines with her villain characters in this series, and Evelina makes me support women’s rights and wrongs. Evelina is the morally gray villain, and the youngest sister who often gets left behind. She suspects her older sister Dorothy of murdering their oldest sister nessa many years ago. Her father lets her run the business but treats her like shit bc she’s a woman. She wouldn’t call him this but her only friend is really Ezekiel (zeke in the audiobook), since he seems to be the only one who cares about her. Evie and nick have a one night stand at a bar, riiight before he’s assigned to go undercover to try to get evidence of the westerly’s drug supplier (he’s a DEA agent). Nick is your classic, I never received love so I don’t believe in it playboy (representative of the tin man). Evie’s father decided to bring in a new guy to help push jewelry? And guess what? It’s nick. Evie is a deeply mistrusting and guarded person (for good reason), but as she and nick (he’s undercover with a different name though) go on missions, she opens up to him and they realize they’re more alike than they thought. He gets in over his head and they continue to hookup, even though his in with the family was supposed to be seducing dorothy. Nick has to decide if truth and justice are worth selling out the woman he loves. The spice in this book was good, very true to the characters as well. Both evie and nick’s character development was crazy compared to the first two books in the series. The ending is pretty perfect and HEA. The extended epilogue available on the author’s website was great too. I maybe could’ve done with less poetry lmao.

I also listened along to the audiobook and both the narrators were perfect for their characters! Once again there were a few changes between the KU ebook and the audiobook, but not as severe as scarred. There were a few names changed and one passage of Dorothy and nick out at dinner that was omitted from the audiobook for some reason. Overall I really liked this book and will probably reread in the future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Violence, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, and Addiction

Minor: Alcohol

TW some pro-cop language, since the MMC is a federal agent

lydiasmith's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

I liked that the lady main character had the morally gray traits! Also the wizard of oz/wicked references were amazing. Always makes me smile. I didn’t love the Mr. Main character I didn’t find him to be particularly interesting but I don’t think that was the intent. The focus is more on other characters growth and drive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Violence, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexual content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

barbarianmissy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

3.5 stars! ⭐️ 

Very very very spicy, quick, and easy read! 🌶️ 

A cool alternate universe twist on the wizard of oz! Thanks Jessica for the recommendation! I loved slowly trying to figure out who each character represented in the original story! 

The only issue I had with the book was that I didn’t necessarily like or agree with how it ended. But other than that it’s a very wild ride! 

Side note: Even though the entire story is completely based in Illinois, I 100% read this entire mobster book in my head as Buddy the Cake Boss would. Hoboken style BABY! 🍰 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, and Addiction

oceancervantes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I have read previous books by this author and really loved them, I really enjoyed Hooked due to the ability to take an already made, widely known and loved story and make it your own which is what lead me to read this. However, this book had no real connection to The Wizard of Oz apart from some of the characters names, it's a kind of Mafia x FBI Agent love story whereas i was kind of expecting at least a little fantasy. The book was OK which is the reason for 3 stars but not something I would really recommend. I felt the characters were a bit bland, there was no build up in relationship so even as a love story it was fairly disappointing. The ending was a little flat so if you are to read this then I would definitely recommend reading the epilogue you can find online or in the physical book (I read it on the kindle).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gore, Torture, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

nightowlreader46's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Drug abuse, Grief, Addiction, Blood, Abandonment, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Cursing, Gore, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

swolds's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Child death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Torture, and Murder

cavallonee's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Sexual content, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, and Gaslighting

Minor: Misogyny and Mental illness

dlsmk's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

4.0

Listen. I don't condone these things. And the fact anyone would throw away the morals, no, FLING them, so far because they fell "in love" is so dumb. But this shit...? I fucking ate this shit up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Addiction, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, Sexual content, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Grief, Body horror, Child abuse, Misogyny, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence