Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Vicious

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Vicious by L.J. Shen

6 reviews

codicheyenne's review against another edition

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.

Content Warnings

sienasummerrreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

“It was always us and you know it.”

It’s 10 years in the future, and Emilia is living paycheck to paycheck trying to support her sister while working two jobs in New York. On a night shift waitressing she comes across a man that haunted her past. His family had control over hers and she was run out of the town…

When I tell you the MMC Vicious is a massive alpha hole and at the start, you question everything when reading. Wondering how it will turn around for you to fall for the MMC. This man is the biggest red flag walking but when you dig through the layers and brick walls the FMC Emilia starts uncovering a dark past and his true feelings. I am a sucker for a broken man and the grovelling at the end was delicious. She is his addiction but so is he to her. It’s a very toxic relationship and environment due to their past and present. I did enjoy this, but I did struggle with Vicious and his ways at times. I love how strong Emilia is in the present to put up with his behaviour over and over again and started to put her foot down against him.
The plot was great, excited to read about the other friends in the coming book. I’m so ready for Rosie and Dean. The audiobook is great and would recommend it.

If you love:

🔹Hate To Love
🔹Billionaire
🔹Past And Present
🔹Dark Past
🔹Secret Pining
🔹Perfect Amount Of Spice

Genre/Type: Romance 18+
APK: Kindle / Audiobook
Pages: 372
Audiobook Length: 10hrs 4mins
Narrators: Savannah Peachwood and Christian Rummel - Dual
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Spice: 🌶️🌶.5
Series or Stand Alone: Book One in The Sinners Of Saint Series
Tropes or Themes: Hate To Love, Workplace, Billionaire, Forced Proximity, Secret Pining, Slow Burn, Bullying, Good Girl Bad Boy Vibes, MMC Alphahole, Possessive, FMC Personal Assistant, FMC Artist, Past and Present, Blackmail, Letters, Scars, Grovelling, Mine, Cursing, Playlist, Sexual Content, Praise, Dirty Talk, Tattoo Parlour Scene and Office Scene
Mentions: Past Child Abuse
Check Triggers ⚠️ 💫

Kind Regards
All Round Romance Reader
Sienasummerrreads 💕📚
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sophiejo_'s review against another edition

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4.0

no spoilers <3

this book had SUCH A PUBLIC SEX KINK it’s literally the only thing possibly turning me off from reading the rest of the series. like sure, live your best life, but NOT in your office or on a Manhattan balcony. please and thank you

other than that, this was a really good book. i’ll say that towards the middle i was loosing a lot of interest, and i started to hate both of the characters, mostly bc of the friends w benefits relationship. but it picked itself up so go l j shen <3.

What was it say about this book is it I had a very curious plot. Honestly I think I may have liked most of the plot a lot better than the characters to be honest. there were just so many interwoven pieces like there was of course daddy issues, step mama issues, step mama’s brother issues, dead mothers issues, but also just like the relationship between the two characters while they were in high school, the pink and black, the relationship that emilia has with her sister, there’s just so many different elements that work really well together it really made the story very complex

I also loved the whole scene and the places that it was held like New York Manhattan the workplace, art galleries, like it all just sounded very like a luxurious, at least on vicious’ side, and it also kind of highlighted the bad parts of the city you know because emelia was not as better off so I feel like the development of the scenery was actually very good.

to be honest the worst part of this book was the characters because both of them were barely tolerable half of the time,. At some time I was rooting for emilia because obviously ✨ go girl boss she doesn’t need no man to pay for her, ✨ but on the other time like she was just as much of a jerk as vicious was. And again he is an absolute asshole like he does so many things wrong and starts out being just a horny teenager but turns out into a businessman who literally sue you for millions of dollars and burn your house or something like that. But then we go back to his past and see his trauma and he’s just such a layered character that honestly I have to appreciate him anyways. Does that justify all his actions absolutely NOT but it brings up good topics on morality.

overall this book really was a 3.5. I can’t really tell because the romance was definitely not my favorite, because I just kept going back-and-forth and I was like MAKE A DECISION, but the plot was really good outside of the romance and the characters traumas was also really well written. so I’m gonna give it a four stars for now but it may drop down later.

the real question is should i continue the series….?

TRIGGERS
explicit sex, death and violence, cursing, cheating, drug and alcohol use, a lot of trauma, domestic abuse, etc

Content Warnings

valeria_gzz's review against another edition

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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 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.

Content Warnings

golden_like_dior's review against another edition

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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

mehaksbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

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