Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

All He'll Ever Be by Willow Winters, W. Winters

6 reviews

katierosecrane's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book would’ve have been so much better if it was shorter. There were parts that were intriguing and parts that bore me. 

Carter Cross is a lunatic and I just couldn’t understand Aria’s love for him. 

I don’t see how his actions can be forgotten. He had her imprisoned and the only reason I see for her staying with him is purely sex. There is just too much trauma he causes her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Addiction, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Mental illness, Blood, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Violence, and Toxic relationship

destinynichole11's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Child death, Body horror, Car accident, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Deadnaming, Medical content, Murder, Vomit, Gun violence, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, War, Self harm, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Torture, Cancer, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death of parent, and Gore

cyodis96's review against another edition

Uhm. This is actual trash and I was angry the entire book. Carter is a terrible person and Aria has no backbone. She kept talking about how she had all this fight in her but she was slowly losing it…not once did I see any ounce of fight. Not only that, but how do you manage to have secrets in a 1st person POV. We never got any conclusive explanation as to why he was doing what he’s doing. This is just romanticizing Stockholm syndrome. I like dark romance. This was not it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Rape, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

fanboyriot's review

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

I don't read very many straight romances, most leave me more annoyed than anything else.  However, I've read this authors work before and this book is probably my favorite so far.

This is a dark romance with nice world building and well written characters.  I was a bit hesitant at times about the romance but in the end I really liked both Aria and Carter and their character development.

Also, the formatting was so pretty, I love seeing pictures/art work in books.  It makes the reading experience so much better.

I do recommend reading the content warnings before picking it up though.

♡ Hurt/Comfort
♡ Dark Romance
♡ Forbidden Romance
♡ Dom/sub Relationship
♡ Angst with a Happy Ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Confinement, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Murder, Cursing, Alcohol, and Sexual content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death, Stalking, Torture, War, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Minor: Pregnancy, Vomit, Abandonment, Drug use, and Sexual harassment

bearareads's review against another edition

I just couldn’t get into the story. It’s just not for me. I am not a huge fan of how possessive he is over her, especially since he hasn’t technically met her. His whole goal is to make her submit to him, yet his tactics are abusive. I don’t normally mind reading dark stories, but I would have preferred more build up, or interactions between them prior to her being kidnapped. I just can’t bring myself to finish it. It’s someone’s cup of tea, but definitely not mine.

Any content warnings I included in this blurb is purely based on what I had read so far. I do not know the extent of the rest of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Torture

ka_ke's review

dark medium-paced

2.0

This is a dark romance. Emphasis on dark. From what I understand All He Ever Was is the author’s way of healing from her own traumas, and I understand the point. I can see some of myself in Aria, but Carter pisses me off in a way that I’m not sure I can explain. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Blood, Grief, Mental illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Confinement, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, Rape, Abandonment, Self harm, and War