Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - A Hunger Like No Other

Really crossed the line in terms of how much ambiguous consent and/or sexual assault by the male hero I can tolerate in a book. Even once he changed and felt sorry, I still felt gross.

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redhairedashreads's review

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2.0

2 stars - It was ok

After being imprisoned and tortured by the vampire horde for years, Lachlain MacRieve, leader of the Lykae Clan, finally escapes with the help of the scent of his fated mate. Unfortunately, he is enraged to find that his fated mate is a vampire. Emmaline Troy is a sheltered half vampire/half valkyrie who just wants to know more about her parents, but instead finds herself kidnapped by a Lykae and fighting her attraction to him.

After seeing multiple people reading the newer books in this series it made me want to return to this series. Sadly, I have not read any of this series since 2013 and remember none of it, so that meant I needed to reread because I remembered nothing about this series. I knew going into this series that the early books are a bit dated and have some problematic MMC. I was hopeful I could look past that but sadly, I could not.

Lachlan is an extremely problematic character. He doesn’t understand the meaning of no at all or that women have any rights. He sexually assaults Emma by coercing her to do sexual acts with him after kidnapping her. He doesn’t outright rape her but he does threaten to multiple times and frequently ignores her when she says no. He also gets her drunk at one point to try and lower her inhibitions in the hope that she will willingly have sex with him, so no I don’t like Lachlain at all. Yes, he has a few moments where he is kind, protective, and sweet, But overall, he wasn’t a good man and I think Emma deserved someone so much better.

Now for what I did like about this book: Emma and the world. I liked Emma and her character development. She starts as a shy and sheltered woman who has spent her life surrounded by her valkyrie aunts but by the end she realizes she can take care of herself. She is fighting her own fights, beheading vampires, and beating up jealous women. Emma was surprisingly badass in the end and I wonder if we will see more of her in the future.

This world is fascinating and I am really captivated by the different factions of the Lore. There are Lykae, vampires, valkyries, ghouls, wiches, and all kinds of other stuff. It’s just a very fascinating world that makes me want to keep reading, which is good because at this point, the problematic heroes normally would make me stop. Hopefully the next book will be less problematic.

TW: Lachlain manipulates Emma into unwanted sexual contact, attempts to rape her a couple of times, and gets her drunk at one point in an attempt to lower her inhibitions so she will have sex with him; patricide; imprisonment, torture, self mutilation,

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obstinateheadstrongcurl's review against another edition

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dark 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

2.5

A Hunger Like No Other follows Lachlain, an ancient werewolf, and Emmaline, a young half Valkyrie/half vampire who’s his mate. They have to overcome their people’s distrust of each other in order to be together.

I picked this up because of The Ripped Bodice’s foundational romance list and I guess I understand its place on there? It’s werewolves and vampires in a way that feels more Buffy than Twilight. But the main characters just didn’t do it for me. Lachlainn is over a thousand years old and Emmaline is 70 but looks and acts like she’s twenty-four (according to the book, I found her more like a whiny teenager) and I am so not down with the ancient man/young woman thing, especially because there were a lot of dubcon scenes.

This story set up a lot of future stories with side characters, and I’m mildly interested enough to add the next one to my TBR. Overall a middle of the road read for me but fans of paranormal romance might enjoy it.

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shomarq's review

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Alpha bullies who immediately engage in noncon activities and a heroine with about as much personality as a wet paper bag are not my cup of tea

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clever_grill's review against another edition

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3.5

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rakizaka's review against another edition

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thereadinghammock's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense medium-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

4.0

Praise for the IAD series is shouted from the rooftops by so many folks and the bones of the series are pretty awesome, but not gonna lie, this was a rough start for a series for me. Not only was the consent dubious in the best of circumstances, it was outright assault in others. I know the romance genre had come a long way in recent years, especially to move away from these kinds of tropes, but I trusted in my sister and fellow bookstagram readers to get through the most cringe-worthy moments.

I enjoyed watching Emma come into her own over the course of the novel. Lachlan still has a lot to learn when it comes to communication and respect of boundaries, but he started to grow a bit as a character, which was nice to see. I enjoyed the book enough to want to continue the series. Here's hoping the rest of the series can get away from the SA tropes.

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