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1.65k reviews for:

Under Your Scars

Ariel N. Anderson

4.29 AVERAGE

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes

4.5 🌶️ 5 🎧
🎧Release: 07.10.2025
⌛️ 19hrs 2mins

MCs: elena youngchristian reeves/the silencer

"If you're so concerned about my humanity, then reach into my soul and find it, because I'm not sure I have any left"

💭a deeply dark & emotional story...im so wrecked!! so thrilling & heartbreaking at the same time from beginning to end!! the growth on elena's love & overall character...props!! christian was intense, unhinged, & intoxicating AF!! the spice...SCORCHING!! & the twists & turns... 💯disturbing & tragic!! i effin LOVED every second of it!!

🎧 if asked 1 word to describe lee daniels & joe arden's performance for this audio... SENSATIONAL!! all the raw emotions intended... FELT!! it complimented the story so perfectly its def left lasting effects for the unseeable future👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 

My love isn't perfect, and it isn't beautiful. It's broken and scarred and ugly, but all of it is yours. I will always be yours.

💎 ʙıʟʟıටɴᴀıʀᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋ ʀටᴍ
🖤 ғටʀᴄᴇᴅ ᴘʀටxıᴍıᴛʏ
💎 sᴇᴄʀᴇᴛ ıᴅᴇɴᴛıᴛʏ
🖤 ʙᴜʀɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡටʀʟᴅ 4ᴜ
💎 ʜᴇ ғᴀʟʟs 1sᴛ
🖤 ʙටss 𝐗 ᴇᴍᴘʟටʏᴇᴇ
💎 ᴍᴀsᴋᴇᴅ sᴛᴀʟᴋʀ
🖤 sᴇʀıᴀʟ ᴜɴᴀʟıᴠᴇʀ
💎 ɢʀıᴇғ/ʟටss
🖤 🚫ʜᴇᴀ

📖Pages: 480
🗓Release: 09.30.2023

thankU Blue Nose Audio & Ariel N Anderson for this post release ALC♥️
‼️ ur mental health matters. ✔️🆃🆆/🅲🆆
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Best book of the year!! I love this book. Read the trigger warnings... if those bother you,  do not read this.  I loved the characters,  the story was great.  What the @&#$ at the end???? Like,  what? Honestly!!!! I'm reading Delilah now!!!!!
challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Equal parts loved and hated this book. I hate everyone who recommended it and also can’t recommend it enough. 

This. Book. Yall......
I'll have to come back and write an actual review when I have the words and mental capacity to even process this book....
dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark sad 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

I like dark romance a lot and I can see why dark romance readers enjoy this book. In case  future readers are on the fence about if this is the  right kind of dark romance for them, here’s why it didn’t land for me. This is the kind of plot where all the characters are just constantly tortured, by the plot and by their inner turmoil. It felt like there was just no room for them to grow, so they felt really static and I found it hard to connect with the characters. Since I didn’t connect, it was hard for me to accept their really toxic choices (and toxic choices aren’t a dealbreaker for me) and hard for me to root for their love. I really disconnected when
they adopted a little girl—even though they were wildly unqualified—by bribing the judge. It was so delusional and I just didn’t believe their  desire to be parents, so it eroded the last bit of “root for them” energy I had. For the rest of the book I just kept thinking “but what about the kid?!”
The book warns that there’s not a HEA, but by the time I got there I just wasn’t invested in the characters enough to feel the punch of it. If you’re looking for a dark  romance and good cry, this might be the book for you (I’ve seen so many people rave about it), but not if you’re affected by the things I listed above in a similar way 🤷‍♀️

i’ve been meaning to write a review for this book since i read it, but every time i sit down i go blank. all i’ll say is that this book has a piece of my heart. there’s so much pain is this book, but in my opinion it was so beautifully written. there is heavier content so i think anyone who chooses to read it needs to understand that. this isn’t your regular love story and i’m sure by the time you finish you’ll question where you stand because you will most likely fall in love with a morally black mmc and find yourself making excuses for him.

as always, read triggers and happy reading

This was one of the Most painful books I’ve read this year. Is the writing phenomenal, no, did I still read this in one day, yes. Each character is so wonderfully flawed I just wanted to keep reading.
dark slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

*Audiobook Review*

I went into this not knowing a thing except that it would be dark and tragic. Go in blind but do not take the trigger warnings lightly as this has to be one of the most gut wrenching things I have ever listened to; I read a lot of dark romance and I can't remember the last time I had a visceral reaction to an ending  so this one is going to stick with me for a while.  I thought the end of part one was rough but that ending was something else. 

It was a long listen and although I was engaged, I did find the pacing was a little slow for me overall and there were a couple of plot points which could have been fleshed out more. I worked out the major reveals but I couldn't put my finger on whether it was intentional by the author to really ramp up that ending as none of the characters (from what I remember) know the full truth about the events in the book so the listener/reader is the only one with the full picture. Lee Daniels and Joe Arden put in great performances and there are some really tough scenes for both narrators as Elena and Christian are complex characters working through their own traumas whilst also trying to support the other. Although there is a lot of bleakness in this tragedy, there are still some sweet moments as Elena and Christian's banter is a highlight in amongst the angst and you will fall in love with Caroline. 

My interpretation of the star system;
3 stars - I enjoyed it; would read the author again
4 stars - I really liked it; I am invested and definitely want more from this author/series
5 stars - I loved it; I engaged with this book completely until I finished it and it is one I will re-read

dark emotional sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes