Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Fiorenzo by Sebastian Nothwell

5 reviews

headlessphilosopher's review

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual assault

steph_weigle's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Confinement, Death, Torture, Classism, Violence, Drug use, Alcohol, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual harassment, Child death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Bullying, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

rhyslightning's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

I absolutely love the protagonists Enzo and Fiore. They’re so magnetic, the setting is fresh and unique, and the book is a feast for everyone that loves hurt/comfort. 

the relationship between characters in Nothwell’s novels always avoid reliance on toxic tropes, and it’s been a huge comfort to read his gay pairings for me. i started with fiorenzo and will now read anything attached to his name!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual violence, Vomit, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

farenmaddox's review

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

3.5

This book is a fantasy-historical romance, so I went in expecting certain tropes, which I found in spades. Nothwell's prose is lovely, and as a hurt/comfort enthusiast, not to mention a fond spot for narratives that let sex workers be sex workers while still enjoying a romance plot that isn't fuelled by jealousy, I have to say this book really does it for me.

On the other hand, it's too long. Some of the backstory stuff could have been handled quicker and there was at least one too many episodes of convalesence. I sympathised greatly with Fiore's medical trauma, but the amount of repetiveness given to it was excessive. Because of those reasons, the pacing felt wrong in a few places.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Moderate: Violence and Sexual assault

Minor: Confinement and Sexual violence

rachelgreenreads's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

*Thanks to Sebastian Nothwell for providing me with a digital ARC of this book!*

Fiorenzo is yet another Nothwell masterpiece. These characters are beautifully rendered as usual, with salient emotions that will have you feeling every feel right along with them. The tropes are gold: hurt/ comfort sweet enough to hurt your teeth, dueling, sword play (both kinds), cinnamon roll who would kill/ die for him, secret identity, class difference, height difference, a masquerade ball, mannerpunk, it’s all there! 

The plot moves effortlessly between cozy slices of life, to nail-biting drama: both of which make you forget your reading at all. The smut is top of the line, and doesn’t just get tacked onto the narrative for flavor, but rather their sexual/ relational development is a plot on its own. The tension in this book will leave you completely unable to put it down. 

An added bonus is the very best book dog in the world, Vittorio!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Murder, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Violence and Sexual assault

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

Warnings for descriptions of genital mutilation (historical, moderately graphic), whorephobia