Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - What Lies Beyond the Veil

This story was a tough one. It was fast paced with major happenings every few chapters, but with seemingly no development in terms of the plot or the characters.

There were some hints dropped along the way that had me making predictions for where the book might be going but overall I found the relationship between the main characters toxic and too fast paced, I felt like there was no plot until the last 10% of the book, there were random info dumps but with not enough information added on throughout the book which left me confused in terms of the world building. If it wasn't for the map in the beginning of the book I wouldn't even know where they were going or what the landscape was like.

The pace of the book was a bit contradictory, it seems as if days pass with very succinct days being described, but then the FMC's inner monologue would suddenly talk about weeks and I would have no idea where the extra time came from. This also made me feel more confused in terms of their relationship which seemed to get very co-dependent very quickly.

The only plus from this book is that the spice wasn't too bad, the first two spicy scenes were fun to read and gave some depth to the relationship that was lacking before. The rest of the spicy scenes were a bit dark and maybe a bit disturbing, but if you're kinky, you might just enjoy them.

I still have many unanswered questions and I'm hoping they'll be answered in book 2.

Thank you to Jonathan Ball Publishers for gifting me a review copy of this book.

Content Warnings

enchanted_reader32's review

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dark slow-paced

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

2.0

This book was difficult for me to finish, I'm not gonna lie. It started out mostly decent and ended up being overly sexual. The relationship didn't contribute anything to the plot and a lot of the story went missing because of these parts. (Also, very disfunctional relationship. I would've broken this guys' nose and run like hell at any point during this book.) I kept wondering if people really talk like that and wishing that I hadn't read certain parts. A lot of pages, I just skipped.

The male MC kept calling his love interest Little One, which is kind of disturbing as that is something you call your child. In the last few chapters I heard way too many variations of the sentiment "I will not be owned by a man" to a point where I thought the character might have been overly-obsessed. Through some parts of the book, when they made references to drinking blood, they lost me. Overall the trigger warnings didn't lie.

There were a few good quotes and a few good moments of solid humor or cameraderie. Maybe this book just wasn't for me, but that doesn't mean you won't love it. Different strokes for different folks and all that.
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⚡️Trigger warnings (as listed in the book):

•Religious purity culture
•Verbal and physical abuse
•References to grooming behaviour & assault of a minor by an authority figure
•Ritualistic sacrifice
•Suicidal thoughts & ideation
•Graphic violence
•Graphic sexual content

Content Warnings

cassie12_21's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

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justagrlandherdog's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

I had the highest hopes for this book. And honestly I made it through most of the book enjoying it. But once the two mains really started to explore their relationship it went down hill so fast. I don’t mind possessive men but Caelum was just toxic in a bad way. And Estrella hates the idea of any man thinking she’s anything beyond a plaything but she has no personality beyond that. She holds Caelum to such a high standard of morals but will turn around and do the exact thing she condemns him for just to be with him. I honestly just wanted it to end by the time I hit 75%. And the “twist” wasn’t so shocking.

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rhxda's review

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adventurous medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

kingrosereads's review

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

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

3.25

Look. Was it good? Not really. Will I be reading the sequel? Absolutely. This is the kind of trash reading I really enjoy. If you like ACOTAR or FBAA, this definitely has borrowed themes and characters and plots from them, but very loosely developed. I do like the concept of the Veil and human mates. Caelum is an acquired taste for sure but I enjoy the bantering between him and Estrella. Not a fan of the “little one” nickname. “My star” is fine and very endearing but “little one” is so cringe. “Little” anything is barf. I didn’t like how he became super possessive towards the end especially since Estrella has always been at the mercy of other men and not having any choice in life. This book feels more like the base of a story that you go back and actually develop upon. It’s basically the skeleton of a good story.

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