Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - The Sweetest Oblivion

I hadn't read a mafia romance before and I realise through reading this book it's probably not my cup of tea, if this was someone's preferred genre I'm sure they would rate it higher but I just found the controlling aspects of the MMC and the fact that the FMC could not even leave the fucking house without him threatening to kill someone a bit much...
If you like dom/sub dynamics you'll like this book, but for me I wished the FMC wasn't apologising all the time for the actions of her jealous lover. I've got to admit he was so odd I kept reading out of curiosity to see what the next fucked up thing he would do or say.

However, I've heard the next one is better and yes I will be reading if ofc.

Content Warnings

danib24's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

elspethmigliore's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

okay, it was decent.

I have mixed feelings about it for many reasons.

the writing was actually very nice and descriptive. the smut wasn't too much and it wasn't very fade-to-black which can be appreciated, and the storyline was there throughout it all. I also really appreciated how well the relationship between the two main characters went from enemies to lovers in a very smooth way. It was slow burn, but the tension built perfectly. (although at the end it seems like the tension just immediately jumped to love and I was a little confused bc it almost like switched on suddenly with no buildup. the beginning tension contrasted well with the ending but the buildup near the end was not good.) My main issues with this book are about the characters and the general feel of the story.

The presence of misogyny, racism, and homophobia was way too strong for my liking. I understand it's a mafia romance which means "men, men, men!" basically, but the subtle racist and homophobic insults were too much. Also, the whole idea of the "Sweet Abelli" thing being based off of men and how the main character was too sweet and innocent that men couldn't control themselves was really an annoyance.

I got very annoyed with the miscommunication, but then again that's normal for a mafia romance (btw, not a really big fan of mafia romances to begin with). I do think the characters could have brought a little bit more, and I wish we could have seen more of the reactions of everyone to basically the whole story.

Although it wasn't my favorite book, it really was hard to put down. I did enjoy how the story just pulled me in.

would most likely reread it, but not definitely ☑️

Content Warnings

hollysutto's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

Mafia romance

Content Warnings

martho9's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-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

0.25

This is the worst book I've ever read.

Content Warnings

alyana's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense 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? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

biancaaabrown's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-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

There’s something about the way this book is written, that fools me, really fools me. It makes you think its enchanting and and eloquent but really its a collection of words that mean very little. Some sentences work. In fact many do, but often the ones that follow are so terribly cliche, drab and juvenile that it ruins it and you start the Stockholm from zero again. Yet, she achieves some sort of chemistry between the two and their gazes, and their erratic stomachs and bloodstreams, so I persist.

P.S I checked and the word gaze is used a whopping 103 times in the book. You never think you would but I wish Lori would have used a thesaurus that many times instead.

Content Warnings

khloereads86's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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