Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Awakening by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham

82 reviews

katharina90's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

Cringe Fest. 

The writing is terrible and there's too much going on with the worldbuilding which leaves little room for a plot. 

The characters are flat and painfully immature. I also just couldn't keep the twins apart. 

There's so much cringey and problematic stuff in this book, including but not limited to the non-stop boundary and consent violations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual content, Infidelity, and Violence

Minor: Fatphobia and Racism

roxyc's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, Sexual harassment, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, Hate crime, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Car accident

rolliepollie's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

they really threw a dart at a board of all the dark fantasy romance tropes and the. said “fuck it, we ball” and added them all anyways. 
it was stupid but pretty fun, logic and reason take a second seat to sexy tension and bullying tropes. however, i am tuned in for the meanwhile! tory and darcy are equally stubborn and kinda annoying but the heirs + orion are trouble and frustrating in their own rights. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Bullying

Moderate: Death

Minor: Death of parent

cait's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Stalking, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Abandonment

geooo's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.0

Trash.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

nineinchnails's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

the writing style/prose is somewhat juvenile and wattpad-esque (i'm familiar with it from devouring brutal boys of everlake prep in november so it's not too jarring) however every time i was forced to put this down i was itching to pick it back up. it's definitely laced with something. the worldbuilding was super fun and interesting to read despite clearly pulling inspiration from other sources. everything gets revealed at a steady pace so even though it's a lot to juggle with i think they managed to pull it off; there's the magic academy thing (sorted by houses), elemental magic, fae orders, and probably more i'm missing at the moment. the world is super addictive for me but i could be biased because i fell in love with harry potter when i was 7 and that probably permanently altered my brain chemistry. this feels like a fusion of harry potter, the cruel prince, and winx club but adult and it's so captivating. it reminds me a little of the magicians tv show too (haven't read the books yet which is probably a cardinal sin) because it's an academy for adults but it's not quite as dark and satirical in tone imo.

the pacing probably isn't for everyone since the book moves pretty slowly but it focuses on character development and worldbuilding which is definitely my preference in fantasy. it makes me kinda wish we had chapters from the boys' pov but i'm hoping we'll get that in at least one of the later books. the pov being split between both twins might be annoying too since i did struggle remembering where one twin left off in their last chapter occasionally but they're both distinct enough for me to know who's chapter is whose so it could be a lot worse. considering how long this book is i should be pissed that barely any action happens but idk what to say it's like crack and it definitely didn't feel 400+ pages long. i really liked the characterisation of the twins and more importantly their relationship - it didn't ever get ugly between the two of them. despite all the shit they went through and the manipulation they faced they didn't let anything come between the two of them and it was really sweet. it kinda reminded me of my own relationships with my sisters (when we aren't at each others throats over stealing clothes or something) and felt realistic in that the traumatic shit we went through only made us more loyal and protective of each other instead of competitive.

there's probably more to say but it's nearly 1am and my brain is failing me so to conclude: this book is super OTT and you absolutely will get secondhand embarrassment but if you can suspend your disbelief (and have heeded the trigger warnings) you'll probably love it just for the pure entertainment. yes this book is unserious as fuck but i am seated!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Torture, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Car accident, Violence, Body shaming, and Sexual content

Minor: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Abandonment

attempted murder

, student/teacher relationship, dubcon, noncon

book_bunny03's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

Its fucking horrible

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Violence, and Mental illness

akcurtis's review

dark tense 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

2.5

I rarely give below 3⭐s, but this book was a challenge for me.  First, did they actually pay someone to edit this? Where are the commas? Why are there so many typos?  There were so many mistakes that they actually distracted me from reading.

Content-wise- first, let me admit I didn't know this was a "bully romance." I didn't know that was even a thing going into this.  So some of why I hated this admittedly is my own fault. That being said, this wasn't bullying, this was sexual harassment (and that's being generous).  The unwanted physical contact was hard to stomach, and the female leads' thirty-second aversion that flips to desire was gross. 

The storyline is actually intriguing. I read this quickly. I want to know more about the world, and I want to see how long it takes for them to realize who the (obvious to me) predator is. I'll just have to skip huge chunks of the text to do so.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Bullying

adalora's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

0.5

It had potential as a premise then quickly falls off. The storyline is a little addicting, but some of the things that happen are unnecessary and extremely off-putting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Drug use, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

autumnruth's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This was book kept me entertained and annoyed at the same time. I loved the magical aspects to it, and I liked discovering this new world along with the twins. What I didn’t like was that the main girls in this book kept lusting after the men who tormented them. People described this book as a bully/romance, but really they’re extremely abusive and it shouldn’t be romanticized.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Murder, Death, Violence, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship