Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Hideaway by Penelope Douglas

12 reviews

shayrm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

Hideaway is the 2nd book in the Devil's Night series and you do want to read the 1st book 1st so you have the history this story builds on. 

This book is focused on Kai and his love interest, Banks. Each of the 4 MMCs in this series are coming to terms with the crimes that sent 3 of them to prison, the imprisonment and the events following their return to normal life. But Kai has another secret that he is trying to protect. Banks is the only one who can help them find the one estranged MMC and the one who knows the secret.

It becomes a cat and mouse game to see who can outsmart who and get the upper hand. All while Banks and Kai are steadily drawn together. He knows she has secrets of her own and she has made it clear her loyalty is to the other MMC. 

Penelope Douglas keeps you guessing throughout the book as to what will happen next. The story is also told through flashbacks of memories of from both Kai and Banks to reveal more of the story and motivations for each character.

There is good chemistry between our characters and I love the spice. The seduction leading to the spice raises the heat level 🥵

One of my favorite side characters is Alex. I love a woman, who is not afraid to go for what she wants and make absolutely no apologies for it!

I listened to this book performed by Tatiana Sokolov and Jeremy York. Both performers were able to bring me into the story and provide different voices for the characters. This is so important when listening so you don't get confused as to who is speaking when. My only issue is Jeremy doesn't have a good voice for female characters. (I guess he's too manly 😉)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Animal cruelty, Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Alcoholism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Child abuse, Murder, Abandonment, Addiction, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

lauryneball's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Violence, Self harm, Rape, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Animal cruelty

kaylabrotzman's review against another edition

dark tense

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Rape, Child abuse, Incest, Sexual content, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Physical abuse

theteamsreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

A further exploration into the world-building and characters at hand, this time we follow Kai Mori, who is desperate to get ahold of childhood lover-turned enemy Nikova Banks, to find Damon Torrance and bring him to justice for his crimes.  However, Banks is smart and more loyal to Damon than the other Horsemen realise.  The plot for this series only seems to get better and better, with always-promised spice and an increasing plot as tensions rise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Rape, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Addiction, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, and Gun violence

Minor: Body shaming and Car accident

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’. 

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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. 

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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

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.

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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

lauraeerika's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.0

was this book better or was this just more interesting & fucked up at the same time idk who can tell either way i blacked out in second half of this book so i don’t remember much of anything

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Rape, Classism, Pedophilia, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Cursing

queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Loved this book just as much as Corrupt! I love the fast-paced writing style and Douglas's exploration of Predator/Prey dynamics while still making consent and safety the number one priority. The gang's still dealing with previous events, with more and more drama piling on top. It's all exactly what I was looking for in the second installment. Can't wait to read Killswitch!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Moderate: Self harm, Stalking, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Animal cruelty

gracik56's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault