Reviews with content warning for Rape - Once You're Mine

“I'll never leave you. Not in this life or whatever comes after. You are mine, and I will burn this world to fucking ashes before I let anything take you from me.” ೃ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚

ᯓ★ Rating.
⤿ Plot: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.5
⤿ Spice: 🌶🌶🌶 3.0

› Genre: Dark Romance, Mystery/Thriller, New Adult Fiction
› Tropes: Villain, Stalker Romance, Possessive MMC, Touch Her and You Die
› Medium-Paced, Dual Timeline, Dual POV

ೃ — Hayden is definitely the perfect definition of the word obsession. The story follows Calista, daughter of a senator, who is willing to find out the truth behind her father's death. And Hayden, an unhinged attorney who killed Calista's father. When the death of the senator puts Calista in his sight, he becomes obsessed with knowing everything about her by any means necessary.

I thought this book was so dark because of the reviews I saw on BookTok, but for me, it wasn't. At first, it was hard for me to find the connection with the characters, and I've been fighting with myself if I would finish it or not. I don't know but everything on the first half of the book happened so fast that I was not sure what to feel while I was reading it. But good thing it got interesting on the second half. I loved how Hayden is so protective over Calista, and it definitely adds more in the element of obsession in the story. And I also agreed with Harper's (Calista's friend) words in that one chapter: Hayden actually has a way with words. Overall, the storylinr was okay and I somehow liked the second half. I just hope it gets better on the second book.

Note: The story contains triggering contents, so please check trigger/content warnings and read at your own risk.

› Finished: December 11, 2023

Content Warnings

mary_stormageddon's review against another edition

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dark fast-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

2.75

Content Warnings

nicichels's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

3.75

Content Warnings

acart0323's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

jessi_readss's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

“Don’t try to run,” he says, staring into my eyes. “I can see you want to, but don’t.” “Why?” “I will always chase you.”

🖤Dark romance

🖤Stalker romance

🖤Alphahole

🖤Enemies to lovers

🖤Slow burn

🖤Touch her & ☠️

“I admire your spirit, but you want this as much as I do. Your body knows it, even if your mind refuses to accept it.”

Summary:
Callista Green, our fmc, first meets Hayden Bennett as he is attempting to get her father thrown in jail for a crime, she believes he did not commit. Her father wins his case but is murdered shortly after. Now Bennett has returned to her life with one thing on his mind, to own every part of “Callie”. She is his obsession, and she is too scared to admit that he might also be hers.

My thoughts:

This story was good. It was well written, most of the characters were intriguing and felt real, the plot was mysterious enough to keep me wanting to read more and make it hard to put down my kindle because I needed more. I just have a few gripes with the book and that’s why I rated it 4 stars. For starters, Callie is dumb, not going to sugarcoat it. Everything pointed to Bennett being her stalker and she just was not getting it, so she annoyed me. And some characters felt pointless, like Callie has this ex-fiancé, he shows up once for 0 reason, and then that’s it. Why even have him show up at her coffee shop, it made no sense to me. But overall, the book was enjoyable, and I will be reading the next book!

“You belong to me, Callie. You have since the first time I saw you. I knew it then, and I’m telling you now, you’re mine.”

What I liked about the book:

▶️The mystery surrounding what happened to Callie.

▶️Her best friend, Harper.

▶️Bennet 🫠

▶️The stalker romance bit.

What I didn’t like:

⏹️Callie’s idiocy.

⏹️Some characters having no depth and no reasoning for making appearances in the book.

“If I give myself to you, you’ll break me into pieces so small I won’t be able to put myself back together or make myself whole.” “I’ll fuse your broken pieces with mine. Together, we’ll be whole, Callie.”

Read this book if:

- You love dark stalker romances.

- You love broody morally grey men.

- You have a praise kink.

- “eyes on me”.

- Elevators and alleys turn you on.

Happy reading besties😊

Content Warnings

lilhappyhermit's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was an enjoyable dark romance. I love a good stalker romance with a broody MMC who can’t help but be drawn to the unsuspecting FMC. Calista and Hayden were brought together due to the untimely death of Calista’s father, but as the story progresses it turns out there’s much more in store. Calista doesn’t want to share her secrets, but Hayden will stop at nothing to unravel them.

Content Warnings

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