Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Vicious

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Vicious by L.J. Shen

23 reviews

once_upon_a_storybook's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I actually enjoyed this even though bully romances aren’t my thing. I do like that this isn’t as extreme as some bully romances are, yes he was horrible to her but at least he didn’t put his hands on her. And he actually kind of made up for all the BS he put her through and he actually had some character development and I started actually rooting for them.

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codicheyenne's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I genuinely enjoyed reading this book and I'm so excited to have received an ARC for the re-publication of it! I appreciated the pacing of the book and how the characters remained true to themselves even while growing. Millie was so easy to love and feel for. Her heart is so genuine and I really felt for her and how unable to be anything other than her kind, selfless self she was - even to her own detriment. Vicious was a "villain" I love to say suffered from the "he's just a boy" syndrome. (Other examples include Draco Malfoy, Jacks, Damon Torrance.) What I mean by that is he's a total jerk, hands down, but under that huge, standoffish persona, he's also a hurt little boy inside who needed an ounce of affection. I loved that while he was indeed a total jerk he was still lovable. I did find myself wishing he would just let himself cry every once in awhile though lol, I think it would help. I loved that there was no clear indication of the switch between enemies and lovers. It ebbed and flowed through time, distance and circumstance. I thoroughly enjoyed the dual timeline aspect as well. I'm excited to see what book 2 brings for Dean & Rosie.

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csantos's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-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

1.0

I usually like dark, angsty romance books with loads of pining and morally grey characters and this book had all of that but it just wasn’t for me. The MMC is abusive and immature. The FMC is strong-willed and smart until she gets around the MMC. He treated her like crap and I didn’t think his explanations and apologizes are realistically forgivable. I feel like this book romanticizes control and abuse. The side characters, the MMC’s so-called friends are awful, misogynistic, and just as cruel as the MMC. No redemption to be found for any character. I don’t think villainous characters necessarily need to be redeemed all the time, but it was clear that’s what the author was trying to do, and it just fell flat.
This is supposed to be a stand alone with other interconnected novels, but it doesn’t read as a stand alone. The author kept referring to things that happened in the prequel or that will happen in previous novels that makes it so you have to read the other novels to understand what’s happening in this one. That’s not what an interconnected standalone is. I shouldn’t have to read all the others to understand one of them. I don’t care enough for this work to even bother with the other books but I kept having to check that I was reading the first book in the series because so many things confused me. If you want to give this a chance, maybe read the prequel first. I feel like it will clear up the confusion, though I am not invested enough in these trash characters to care.

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rachelmichelson's review against another edition

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fast-paced

3.0

Our Hero (H) is mean d-bag, as a result of childhood trauma and wealth and our Heroine (h) is the quirky new girl/artist that grabs his attention . The story bounces between present day and 10 years prior, from both POVS.
They hate each other but quickly discover they love each other more.

It's a quick read with some on page spice. It drags in the 3rd act when our H has to win the girl back. The various threads of the story are a bit unnecessary and don't move it further.

Entire series is available on KU

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lillypad5455's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Very clever book, very crude at times, but great story development. The details follow through, it's very well planned out book, didn't feel predictable at all. Very very erotic, almost too much at times.

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