Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

41 reviews

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Grief, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual violence, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual content

Moderate: Gore, Emotional abuse, Torture, Body horror, Confinement, Physical abuse, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Pedophilia

cdoubet's review

dark emotional 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: Alcoholism, Child death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Genocide, Bullying, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Physical abuse, Addiction, Death, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Moderate: Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, and Medical content

Minor: Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

maevesheehan's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Sexual content, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Ableism, Body shaming, Gaslighting, and Confinement

merlinandrose's review

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, and Domestic abuse

lovenecy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

There were moments where I was able to predict things, like that Hawke was an Atlantian. I also predicted he was the Dark One.  The ascension truth threw me though. Wasn’t expecting that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body shaming, Classism, and Child death

Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

dalenora's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

I really did not enjoy the resolution of this book. As many have covered the plot was very predictable, and I could have told you exactly what all the reveals would be within the first 100 pages. I also found it to be very poorly written, to an almost annoying extent. I don’t tend to expect much of my smutty fantasy novels, I tend to think of them kind of like reality tv where my expectations are pretty low for the prose/plot, but this one somehow set the bar even lower than it had been. 

while I was kind of into the way the book explored organized religion and how harmful it can be when it’s used as a mechanism of control, I found the emphasis placed on the main characters virginity/purity to be incredibly uncomfortable, and it undermined any social commentary the book might have had. The way the male main character had what amounted to a fetish for her “purity” just really gave me the ick. I also really took issue with the end of the book and “Hawk’s” behavior. I had been anticipating some conflict when she finally found out the truth, expecting it to follow the same kind of trope where once she understands his motives she is able to forgive him, but with this book I found his behavior totally unacceptable. He didn’t even seem remorseful for hurting her as deeply as he had, and it seemed like he was almost gleeful to be completely shattering her reality. For how much the book focused on the way agency had been taken away from her, and the way Cas himself went out of his way to deconstruct her captivity and make her realize she deserved freedom, it was shocking to me that he turned around and inflicted the exact same trauma on her. He touched her without her consent, refused to listen when she said no, and completely tormented her. It’s just something I cannot excuse or get behind, and as far as I’m concerned he is the villain of the novel for that behavior. I have a feeling they’re going to completely overlook that abuse in future books in favor of continuing the romance, and I just cannot get behind a male love interest who treats the female mc like that. He was totally irredeemable whether they have “chemistry” or not. 

 

I guess despite not really loving this book I was still incredibly protective of the Poppy, so I was still into it to some extent. I just don’t really want that kind of abuse in my fantasy novels, it’s not my cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, War, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

mlachevre's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Gore

cait's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Gore, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Murder, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Sexual assault, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Torture, War, Child abuse, Child death, and Slavery

skillyillian's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

Another notch in the bedpost as far as slutty dark book boyfriends go 😌🙏🏻 mild spoilers ahead 💅🏻

There's really not a whole lot of plot until like. Literally halfway through. It's mostly Poppy fawning over Hawke and fretting about all of her ✨ activities ✨ being discovered. After the first fight she's actuslly involved in, things pick up more. 

Poppy is naive, as someone in her position would be, and someone her age. I'm sure we're all shocked to see another completely unnecessarily barely legal FMC 🙄 but anyway she's also a little bit not super smart all the time? Hawke's true identity was pretty clear once they started getting closer and it had to be literally spelled out for her to get it. Idk. She's still pretty badass tho, seeing her fight against and completely defy the bullshit purity culture she was forced into was really satisfying. Hell yeah, you go girl, get dicked down like you deserve 🙌🏻 and her revenge moment against someone evil was just chef's kiss, 10/10, give her more swords right this instant. 

Hawke is great, the banter and flirting were 10/10 and the way he knew she could and would hold her own and let her do it was so hot.

my big ick with him was when poppy found out all his secrets and she was clearly distraught and having a whole entire menty b and he just kept hitting on her and telling her they'd fuck again and all that stuff. WHILE she was realizing he'd been the direct or indirect cause of all of the deaths of the people close to her. And he was like "yeah they're all dead but you'll let me tap that again later" like ... Dude that's gross. Yikes, the insensitivity 😐 but that was it, ig?

  he definitely fits the angst factory profile and that's what I'm here for, so props for that lmao

Anyway despite this not feeling super plot heavy and somehow still taking a while to get going, it was an entertaining read and I'll definitely continue with the series. The smut was fun. The banter was great, #1 way to keep me reading is with witty, flirty, steamy banter. This was that thing. I'm excited to see poppy come into her own as someone not chained down by evil shitlords and a foul purity culture. 🙏🏻

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing and Medical content

heathersinkwell's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

3.5

It took me a bit to get into the book, but then I devoured it. I thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Despite that, I found Poppy annoying and the plot was predictable. I think I accurately predicted every major plot point at least 200 pages before it happened.

Cas and Poppy's relationship also annoyed me. Poppy is super violent towards Cas and he FREAKING KIDNAPPED HER. Not sure how I feel about that whole relationship. It feels very ick

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, and Child abuse