Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Tragic Bonds by J. Bree

26 reviews

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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slow-paced
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No

Book five of the series and giving us more of the same. The start is pretty grim and feels quite emotionally manipulative (check the content warnings people). I would have preferred a redemption arc that went with communication rather than shock value. 
The end had potential but needed a more sophisticated build up

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

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tbh I’m really starting to get bored. if there wasn’t only one book left I might stop. it feels very repetitive and
they didn’t even draw out the bonding so it’s not like I have the appeal and tension of a new bonding in each book.


I’ll listen to the last book because it’s easy listening and mostly just keeping me company while I work. But I’ve reached the point where sometimes I get a little unfocused and I don’t even worry I’ve missed something important. 

I also thought it was annoying how they just stopped trying to figure out who tf messed with Sage. Because Giovanna isn’t actually a void eye being so whomever got to sage did have void eyes and they just kind of willfully forgot about that detail. I’m assuming  perhaps it was the senator all along idk but it’s kinda dumb

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

“Recovery isn’t about wiping the board clean. Recovery is learning how to function around all of the scars and open wounds inside of us.”

Bro, I knewwwww that bitch was up to no good. The character development in this series has been incredible. I honestly don’t know what the hell to expect in the next book, but I’m excited for the conclusion to this series. 

Also, I just wanna say that I still don’t like Nox. I’m not gonna get into it, but I don’t forgive him, not like he really asked for forgiveness anyway… He’s  unredeemable for what he did to Oli. 

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dark sad tense medium-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

To preface - major trigger warning for childhood sexual assault. I feel like this kind of should have been mentioned at the beginning of the book. It’s one thing to say recommended readers 18+ and to say there “might be” triggering content. But CSA is particularly triggering for a lot of people even if not described explicitly. Especially if it is incestuous.

Honestly, I have to dock half a star just for not including a content warning. It is not a spoiler to warn readers of something potentially triggering. It allows people to prepare themselves emotionally to read about that. In this case, it would have been nice to have had that. 

Not only to have had a CSA and incest content warning but also just child abuse and neglect warning in general. Not something I was really prepared to read about in this silly little series, to be honest.

I stand by my statement that Nox is my favorite. But I'm really irritated that J Bree didn't give him any actual healing or redemption. He didn't apologize to Oli (or anyone else) and he didn't get to tell her about his trauma himself. That sucks. But I don't think J Bree is a good enough writer to do this. Or maybe she doesn't have the desire to have her characters have real depth in this series. Again, I don't know. 

Anyway, I feel like this one dragged on a lot. It felt like it was leading up to something that I just kept waiting for. Maybe the last book will be better? I really don’t know but I kind of doubt it. I'll be finishing it nonetheless. 

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slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No

talk about a slow burn

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emotional tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No

Having a tragic backstory is not a reason to treat someone like shit???? Yes, looking at you Nox.
like wtf is the reason to make a character who has been sexually abused, sexually assault the fmc? (Book1) It doesn't make sense and is just infuriating.
Seeing someone's past is not an instant redemption, you have to actually act like you've changed. 

Oli is still as infuriatingly annoying as ever :).

Rest of the guys are nice I guess, they're the only reason I am still reading these books. 
The plotholes are neverending, nothing happens and this should've been a trilogy to keep it fucking moving.




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Uhm. What was that?

Another cliffhanger but this time tied to a character with no emotional attachment or real prior set up? 
If I wasn’t trying to get through my physical TBR I would probably series DNF here. 
We got no trigger warnings, no apologies for abhorrent behavior by the damaged one, just immediate forgiveness.. which look. I get it. Maybe some people liked that. But I really didn’t. I’m missing the together moments with Gabe and Atlas and feel like we’re trending down a path of focusing mostly (almost exclusively) on Gryph, North and Nox. 
I’m tired of the hearing about their bathrooms and tile. 
At one point Oli gets the whole plan, CAN THAT BE SHARED PLEASE? because all we ever see is Gryph and North being in meetings but sharing nothing. Oli has one of the most powerful bonds yet she’s kept in the dark? No wonder her bond overreacts to just about everything. I’d be fucked up too my dude. 
Also there’s a whole lot of side questing happening for the last book to be the size that it is. There’s nothing I hate more than plots that look like Swiss cheese. You don’t have to develop extra side characters if they aren’t going anywhere. 🙈
Sigh. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious medium-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: Complicated

Sex scenes by far the best part of this book. The lack of world building in earlier books makes more sense now and plot is getting better. Another cliffhanger!

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