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csantos's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Death of parent, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse
dalmak's review against another edition
1.0
when i tell you this man was VILE. his nickname should have been that because he was worse than just vicious. i think i could go on and on about why this book was horrible. and i will.
first of all, mmc was absolutely horrible. he had no redeeming traits besides SOMETIMES being sweet to the fmc.it took him until half of the book the act decently towards any character (and it was his love interest, not his friends). mans treated his friends horribly. not sure why they stuck around him. it was only in the last 100 pages that he continuously treated her and the people around him decently. i was also not a fan of the whole power imbalance they had going on when she worked for him. he’s a horrible person and needs some (a lot of) fucking therapy before he gets with anyone.
second, i hated the whole dean thing. it was so unnecessary and weird at some points. it would have been acceptable if he didn’t go and thirst over the fmc’s sister???? he literally dated and had sex w the fmc and now he’s gonna do the same to her sister in the second book. that’s gross.
third, the plot really lacked. i guess the whole he’s rich she’s poor thing came through but none of the other shit did. the build up to the reveal of his trauma wasn’t terrible but then it was used to excuse his actions (which were not excusable).
fourth, it’s not really related to this book (they were background characters) but can we talk about jaime and his wife???? he married and had a kid with his english lit teacher!!!! that’s disgusting. idc if he was of age it’s still so predatory.
i don’t know what this author is on but it can’t be good. all in all i do not recommend and i am not planning to read any more books from this series. not only is the main couple incredible toxic, it also gives a bad impression of how relationships should work. whatever. i give it one star bc there were some cute scenes. (though the bad ones seriously outweighed them) also i did like the fmc.
first of all, mmc was absolutely horrible. he had no redeeming traits besides SOMETIMES being sweet to the fmc.
second, i hated the whole
third, the plot really lacked. i guess the whole he’s rich she’s poor thing came through but none of the other shit did. the build up to the reveal of his trauma wasn’t terrible but then it was used to excuse his actions (which were not excusable).
fourth, it’s not really related to this book (they were background characters) but can we talk about jaime and his wife???? he married and had a kid with his english lit teacher!!!! that’s disgusting. idc if he was of age it’s still so predatory.
i don’t know what this author is on but it can’t be good. all in all i do not recommend and i am not planning to read any more books from this series. not only is the main couple incredible toxic, it also gives a bad impression of how relationships should work. whatever. i give it one star bc there were some cute scenes. (though the bad ones seriously outweighed them) also i did like the fmc.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Toxic relationship
comamorcat's review against another edition
lighthearted
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Physical abuse and Child abuse
spaghettii's review against another edition
dark
emotional
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Car accident, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship
billykills's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
This book was bottom of the barrel. And I know that’s harsh, but the heavy topics in this book were not handled with care. The writing style was not my cup of tea and the characters (even the minor ones) were so hard to like. I’m honestly surprised I didn’t dnf this.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
valeria_gzz's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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
2.0
Edit: the biggest reason I gave this such a low rating even though it was entertaining was because there was too much “you’re mine” and not in the cute way but in the creepy way ya know? 2 These people need therapy. This was entertaining enough because of the drama. I didn’t like Vicious at all for the first 60% which good for me. I liked that Vicious got better about expressing his feelings and knowing what he wanted, even though I still don’t think this is a good relationship. I also liked that the author showed that while he did like her he knew that the way he was going about it was completely wrong. I don’t plan on continuing this series because I didn’t like the other characters enough and don’t want to read another bully or dark romance, I’ll stick to my fluff.
I only have a few things to add about the bully romance aspect:I think the author could have written Vicious a lot worse than how he was written i.e. as someone who physically hurt Emilia (did threaten her a lot though which isn’t any better, it’s the thought that counts). He also could’ve been written as someone who actually hated her and then felt bad about it and started to like her, unlike how he knew of his attraction to her but was hindered by his personal issues. Omfg I just went back and skimmed the first few chapters and yeah no this guy was absolutely crazy awful to Emilia and I’m just now remembering that I thought it was so weird how even though we were in Vicious’ pov he didn’t act like he knew he liked her more like he just wanted HER (and not to be with her) it was weird.
(Original)2,5 These people need therapy. This was entertaining enough because of the drama. I didn’t like Vicious at all for the first 60% which good for me.I liked that Vicious got better about expressing his feelings and knowing what he wanted, even though I still don’t think this is a good relationship. I also liked that the author showed that while he did like her he knew that the way he was going about it was completely wrong.I don’t plan on continuing this series because I didn’t like the other characters enough and don’t want to read another bully or dark romance, I’ll stick to my fluff.
I only have a few things to add about the bully romance aspect:I think the author could have written Vicious a lot worse than how he was written i.e. as someone who physically hurt Emilia. He also could’ve been written as someone who actually hated her and then felt bad about it and started to like her, unlike how he knew of his attraction to her but was hindered by his personal issues. I’m really glad the only bully romance I’ve ever read (this one) was one where the characters were not physically abusive and hateful.
I only have a few things to add about the bully romance aspect:
(Original)2,5 These people need therapy. This was entertaining enough because of the drama. I didn’t like Vicious at all for the first 60% which good for me.
I only have a few things to add about the bully romance aspect:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
Minor: Abandonment
golden_like_dior's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
3.75
Actually a good dark romance with some little things that personally annoyed me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Stalking and Pregnancy
hawinet's review against another edition
emotional
fast-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
4.25
I thoroghly enjoyed the heroine in this book. She was really different to the one's I've read before. She really made the book for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Bullying, and Emotional abuse
summera's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence
anniekurian's review against another edition
I got 75% of the way through the book but I just hate Vicious as a character. He has no redeeming qualities, not even morally gray, just morally bad, and I couldn't bring myself to see him get a good or happy ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content and Emotional abuse