Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Corrupt by Penelope Douglas

91 reviews

pages_for_holly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Bullying

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Animal death, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

alicenight's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Bullying

risseandshine's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

I have been corrupted and I don’t regret a single second of it.

This first book of the Devil’s Night series stars Rika Fane and Michael Crist, one fourth of the Horsemen who are infamously known for wreaking havoc during Devil’s Night. Rika dated Michael’s brother but her eyes have always been on Michael with all his mysteriousness and terrifying vibe. One night when they were in high school, something unfortunate happened that caused Michael’s friends to get imprisoned and all signs pointed to Rika as the culprit. Told in alternating timelines, the past conveniently catches up with the present as attraction gets set aside and revenge takes its place...or so they thought. 

This was one hell of a story that tied my brain cells in knots. Until now, I haven’t untied them yet. I also don’t know if I want to. 

For one, this book has ZERO morally upright characters. Rika is a wealthy heiress to a jewelry company and is the typical quiet and timid girl. She seems naive on the surface but looking deeper, she is really a girl clamoring to show that she is more mature than she looks. She may be seen as “good” but I don’t suppose a girl who is drawn to mischief can be considered an angel. Michael is rich, powerful, and an overall unlikeable character. It doesn’t seem like it but he is, in fact, very similar to Rika in that he seeks to be understood for his unconventional wants and desires. He is driven by resentment and revenge and he doesn’t care about consequences. The rest of the Horsemen, even though they piqued my interest, aren’t the most honorable characters out there, either. 

But you know what? My brain didn’t seem to care. It got caught up in the darkness and decided to bask in it.

What I loved most about this book is the fact that it made me think. My moral compass was telling me to hate it but the way it was written made me pause and reassess character decisions and motives until I understood all sides. For instance, I can’t even tell you how many times I wanted to push Michael off a cliff one minute, then the next I wanted to protect him at all costs because I got to be in his head during a particular scene and that somehow justified his motives. My thoughts were being pulled towards different directions and I loved the challenge that gave me. 

As for the romance, I’d say I rooted for Rika and Michael’s relationship for the most part. I admit that I found it quite unbelievable and lust-driven at first, but the writing helped it evolve into one that is anchored in a deep “like attracts like” type of connection.

With all that said, I’d like to give huge props to the incredible writing in this book because it definitely made the entire story. It had the unique ability to take a completely bonkers scene into something so beautiful (see chapter 25). And shoutout to that epilogue! It turned my view of this book completely on its head and I was absolutely mind blown! 

I only have one reason for deducting a star from my rating and that is the length. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good chunky romance book. I just don’t want to feel it, and there were significant parts in this story where I surely did.

Still, I get the hype now. It’s not my favorite, but I think it’s well-deserved. 

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tw: death, murder, blood, sexual assault, animal cruelty/death

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, Animal death, and Sexual assault

itsmeyseniab's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Sexual content

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Animal death, and Sexual assault

Minor: Addiction, Car accident, Death of parent, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Child abuse

annareadz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying and Gaslighting

Minor: Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Rape, Emotional abuse, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

quietmarki's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Misogyny, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Animal death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Classism, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

jen1804's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

This book is an absolute rollercoaster. I read it within 24 hours because it just got me totally hooked. This is a very dark and twisted romance with a lot of dark and twisted sexual content thrown in. Alongside that is a really interesting and mysterious narrative with P Douglas flitting between the present day and the past, keeping the reader engaged and wanting to find out more about what happened three years go. Despite how fucked up the characters are in this book, I actually really dig them? I love that I can get lost in this dark fantastical story which is full of the type of guys I’ve been taught from a young age to avoid, all from the the safe confines of my own reading space. I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of the series and exploring the rest of the four horsemen’s stories.
Drops points because some of that shit I read was disturbing and also because of the high number of spelling/grammatical errors! Penelope, get a new editor girl.
Satisfactory ending? Yes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Rape, and Animal death

midnightrose_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Corrupt is the first book in the Devil’s Night series. It’s about a young woman named Erika Fane and a young man named Michael Crist. Erika and Michael have felt a connection to each other that they’ve both tried to ignore their whole lives. It finally comes to a head on Devil’s Night, and changes all their lives forever. This was a strong start to an exciting and well loved series. Michael and Erika have a crazy amount of chemistry together. Also reading about his friendship with his fellow friends The Horsemen (Kai, Damon, and Will) was really enjoyable as well. The found family aspect of their friendship was really beautiful. Suspenseful, sexy and shocking this is definitely not a book for the faint of heart!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Violence, Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Incest, Animal death, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

sydneyluxford's review against another edition

challenging dark tense

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

2.0

I’m really scared.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

reema_ismail's review against another edition

challenging 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child abuse and Animal death

Minor: Rape, Murder, Death of parent, and Car accident