Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Hideaway by Penelope Douglas

64 reviews

midnightrose_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Hideaway is the second book in the Devil’s Night series. Its Kai Mori and Banks story. The journey of me reading this book is a interesting one. I like Kai a lot but only thought Banks was an okay character. I know some people don’t like the heroine from the first book (Erika), but I actually like that character and think that Banks is actually a much more unlikeable character. Obviously, the way she grew up was really unfortunate, but there was chunks of the story where I couldn’t stand that characters personality. The way that Kai and Banks meet is intriguing, but they don’t have me in the absolute chokehold as Michael and Erika did in Corrupt over their entire book. I also didn’t buy that Banks fell in love with Kai given the fact that she was so resistant towards him for a good portion of the book. In lust with him, sure. They have physical chemistry and I think Kai comes to care for her as the story goes on, but them being in love is a stretch. Near the end of the book it felt like they were getting to know each other more which could lead to the love, but didn’t  feel convincing at the time when they said their ‘I love you’s’. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Rape, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

jen1804's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

I enjoyed this book, though not as much as book 1 in the Devil’s Night series. The story for me this book felt just that little bit too chaotic. I don’t really know how to explain. But on the whole I really liked it. There were some scenes that I absolutely adored too (confessional scenes/father Kai scenes/chase scenes, all defo big yesses from me).
I like Kai and Banks together and their dynamic where they’re both so stubborn, and with the forced proximity trope and the power play. Though I find I’m left feeling that their love story was lacking somewhat. I can’t really pinpoint it, I kinda feel like it all happened too quickly even though it probably actually didn’t, but having finished the book that’s the feeling I’m left with. I also feel that their emotions were a bit too up and down with each other a bit too often, too much so that it started to seem a bit too unrealistic. Anyway I look forward to hearing a bit more about them in future books in the series and how their story continues to unfold and progress.
It was interesting to uncover more of the sad complexities about Damon in this book and I’m really looking forward to reading his story next even if it is probably going to hurt. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Incest, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Blood, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Confinement, Death, Abandonment, and Mental illness

niyahneal's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Addiction, Death, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

booksbynat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

Girl idk how to feel about this. I think that this series might just have a bit of a death grip on me. I am glad that this was Kai's book bc I loved Kai from the first book but I have to trudge through 2 more books to get to Will's book, and I feel like he will be my favorite. So, I can't decide whether I like this one or the first more, but I am quite hooked while listening to the audiobooks. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

coligmueller's review against another edition

4.5

I am shocked at how much better this one is than the first. Kai still has issues with misogyny, but not nearly as bad as Michael or Damon.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Lesbophobia and Gun violence

_youfloweryoufeast_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

2.5 ⭐️


Genre: Dark Romance
Age group : Adult
POV : First person / multiple POV
Characters: 3/5 ⭐️
Plot: 3.5/5 ⭐️
Setting/Themes: 3/5 ⭐️
Writing: 2/5 ⭐️
Spice : 4 ⭐️

• Please check TWs & CWs
• mature language, sexual scenes, violence, arson, mentions of kidnapping, vandalism, sexual assault, mentions of statutory rape, child abuse, implied blasphemy, murder, attempted murder, guns, substance abuse, mentions of mental illness, loss of a loved one, slut shaming & more.
• Dark romance
• Tropes : Brother’s best friend (but make it dark & gritty)
• HEA

“Run. Because I turn into a very different person when no one’s looking”

Okay so, did I like this better than corrupt? Yes. Was it a lot more problematic, too? Of course. But I saw a tweet today speaking of how we’re not allowed to berate dark romances for it’s problematic aspects as that’s the entire point of the genre. And that if we intend to, we might as well not read it. While I do particularly disagree, I’m not going to complain about it, I will highlight a few though. Overall, the plot intrigued me. I liked the suspenseful, horror esque elements in the book, I really did. 

Nikova Banks. Okay, for the most part, her judgement and her jaded view of love for her brother and how she thought he was right all along pissed me off, but it did make me understand how victims of abuse felt. It’s heartbreaking, truly. I liked her strength and grit, though. I liked how she had the ability to think, and I do think she’s particularly intelligent. On top of it all, I liked the way she functioned. She’s a badass. 

Kai Mori. Dare I say I liked Kai? I did not like Michael but I did love Kai. Sucker for strategic, intelligent and calculating men (people in general) also a sucker for simps, that mess up and grovel after. 

My issues: 

- the misogynist tendencies of all the men in the book (toy or tool, iyk, yk)
- the fetishism of WLW for the sake of the men’s satisfaction 
- the shaming of escorts/sex workers 
- slut shaming 
- usage of berating names (not in a kinky way, but a really mean way) 
- the sexual interaction between an 18 & 17 year old ?!
- the way women were berated 
- a brother talking horribly about his sister 
- the Japanese rep?¿ she could’ve done it better, truthfully

Welp, there’s so much more. But as I said, no complaints, yes? Will I continue on with the rest of the books in the series? Yes, since I impulsively bought them all.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abandonment and Child abuse

Minor: Murder

There’s a lot more triggers, please search it up.

bananapie123's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Violence

sydneys_bookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

i enjoyed this book much more than the first one. kai is streets ahead of michael and banks gave all of the boys a run for their money. i think their relationship was much more flushed out than erika and michael’s in the first book. plus, there is some redemption (SOMEHOW) for damon in this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

elenamarmiroli's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Le interazioni tra i due protagonisti mi hanno convinto meno rispetto a quelle tra i due protagonisti del primo libro. Inoltre, anche la trama secondaria è meno interessante.
Nel complesso risulta un romanzo dark okay, ma decisamente nulla di speciale e/o memorabile.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

romanysky's review against another edition

sad tense slow-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: Child abuse

Moderate: Self harm