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eloharay's review
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I read this book as part of our “traveling book club” - some of the gals loved it (no judgement) and the author is upfront this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. I am not her target audience, but I was asked to review it so here we go!
(Some spoiler-ish elements below)
From almost the first page, I hated this book. Its list of trigger warnings is as long as my arm and I’ll cover most of them here. Glyndon (FMC) and Killian (MMC) attend competing colleges on a small island off the coast of England. He’s an American sociopath with a virgin kink; she’s a British art student with an inferiority complex. It’s a match made in the depths of hell.
The opening scene (meet not-at-all-cute?) is S.A at the scene of an acquaintance’s suicide. (I won’t refer to this scene as non-con or a cutesy name - it was assault through coercion). They return to school where he stalks her when he’s not indulging in raucous parties, secret societies, and underground fighting. He obsesses over her being a virgin. When they get down to it, it’s rough and dirty. I don’t have a problem with that but I do take issue with a lack of conversation around limits, safe words, and other practices to ensure a safe & healthy environment.
Naturally, they fall madly in love; she meets his parents and vice versa. They become engaged - he planned it all during some back door fun time - and they obviously lived happily ever after!
Things I liked: the annotations of the book club
Things I disliked: everything else
I bumped this up to 3 stars from my original 2 star review because someone who likes deep dark romance with young characters may enjoy it. The author is good at writing spice, and I could have enjoyed parts of the book if only the MMC wasn't such a tool.
(Some spoiler-ish elements below)
From almost the first page, I hated this book. Its list of trigger warnings is as long as my arm and I’ll cover most of them here. Glyndon (FMC) and Killian (MMC) attend competing colleges on a small island off the coast of England. He’s an American sociopath with a virgin kink; she’s a British art student with an inferiority complex. It’s a match made in the depths of hell.
The opening scene (meet not-at-all-cute?) is S.A at the scene of an acquaintance’s suicide. (I won’t refer to this scene as non-con or a cutesy name - it was assault through coercion). They return to school where he stalks her when he’s not indulging in raucous parties, secret societies, and underground fighting. He obsesses over her being a virgin. When they get down to it, it’s rough and dirty. I don’t have a problem with that but I do take issue with a lack of conversation around limits, safe words, and other practices to ensure a safe & healthy environment.
Naturally, they fall madly in love; she meets his parents and vice versa. They become engaged - he planned it all during some back door fun time - and they obviously lived happily ever after!
Things I liked: the annotations of the book club
Things I disliked: everything else
I bumped this up to 3 stars from my original 2 star review because someone who likes deep dark romance with young characters may enjoy it. The author is good at writing spice, and I could have enjoyed parts of the book if only the MMC wasn't such a tool.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual violence, Violence, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Suicide
cass_saun's review against another edition
dark
tense
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
Graphic: Rape and Suicide
agoraphobic_crawfish's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Trigger Warnings (Book 1,2, and 3): S/A, suicide, violence, Knife/gun play, toxic family, manipulation, masochism, stalking, murder, arson, attempted murder, child abuse, primal kink. dub-con, kidnapping, etc etc.
I read every book in the series that's available, (God of Malice/ God of Pain / God of Wrath), and all I have to say is every book is a HEAVY Trigger Warning. Personally, I love dark romances, but I've never strayed further than angry/sunshine type of dark romance. This is actually the first time I've read something this heavy and I'm surprised I made it through Book #1.
About the Series:
Each book follows two POVS, with the endings including bonus POV's [and Epilogues] from other characters on the relationship between the main characters. The main characters are on an island attending Universities that are located side by side, separated by a wall. One side is rich-kid-central (UK), and the other side is Mafia-Galore (US). There is underground fighting, initiation nights where people are literally being hunted for sport, and a whole lot of sexual discoveries. The male love interest are sociopaths, psychopaths, and annoyingly possessive/obsessive over the love interest. There is also a lot of controlling and manipulation.
Thoughts:
I get that this is dark romance, however this series doesn't really involve any romantic/passionate themes that I read about in the reviews. (I assumed this was one of those tropes where the villain becomes soft for her type of book but it's not. lol oops. my bad!) The relationships between the characters felt forced. Trauma bonding, maybe? The characters are repetitive, and so is the story. For some reason the author is obsessed with writing virgin characters. I love the whole "evil villain finds love" trope but each book is basically copy-and-paste except for name changes and a few character details and assigned kink(s). Each book gets 2 stars because while this was unrealistic and repetitive, it delivered on the dark themes; and the author did influence me to try to stray further into the dark romance genre.
I'm honestly reaaaally curious on who the author plans to pair up with Landon. I have a guess, but the author could also do a 180 and completely kill off the conniving character. (I'm rooting for the 180.) Also, was the mystery member for the initiation ever mentioned because either I zoned out or completely erased that info from my mind???
I read every book in the series that's available, (God of Malice/ God of Pain / God of Wrath), and all I have to say is every book is a HEAVY Trigger Warning. Personally, I love dark romances, but I've never strayed further than angry/sunshine type of dark romance. This is actually the first time I've read something this heavy and I'm surprised I made it through Book #1.
About the Series:
Each book follows two POVS, with the endings including bonus POV's [and Epilogues] from other characters on the relationship between the main characters. The main characters are on an island attending Universities that are located side by side, separated by a wall. One side is rich-kid-central (UK), and the other side is Mafia-Galore (US). There is underground fighting, initiation nights where people are literally being hunted for sport, and a whole lot of sexual discoveries. The male love interest are sociopaths, psychopaths, and annoyingly possessive/obsessive over the love interest. There is also a lot of controlling and manipulation.
Thoughts:
I get that this is dark romance, however this series doesn't really involve any romantic/passionate themes that I read about in the reviews. (I assumed this was one of those tropes where the villain becomes soft for her type of book but it's not. lol oops. my bad!) The relationships between the characters felt forced. Trauma bonding, maybe? The characters are repetitive, and so is the story. For some reason the author is obsessed with writing virgin characters. I love the whole "evil villain finds love" trope but each book is basically copy-and-paste except for name changes and a few character details and assigned kink(s). Each book gets 2 stars because while this was unrealistic and repetitive, it delivered on the dark themes; and the author did influence me to try to stray further into the dark romance genre.
I'm honestly reaaaally curious on who the author plans to pair up with Landon. I have a guess, but the author could also do a 180 and completely kill off the conniving character. (I'm rooting for the 180.) Also, was the mystery member for the initiation ever mentioned because either I zoned out or completely erased that info from my mind???
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Alcohol
hollybell23's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-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
3.5
The reviews really had me nervous to read this book. I thought it was going to be brutal rape scenes one after another. It was definitely not… it was a “love” story with someone who has Antisocial Personality Disorder. Like first of all, I love the representation. I’m not sure how everyone and their brother in the book is on the APD spectrum BUT that’s beside the point. It was a good read. His “love” for her is kinda shallow, but that’s the point. That’s what makes him a bad choice. On the whole I enjoyed his character, he may be twisted but he is honorable. Also it was cute how all of the parents in the book had such a good foundational relationship with their spouse. Often with a torturered soul the parents are evil so this was a nice surprise. The writing could use some work. There were some parts of the dialogue that confused me. I was honestly so confused by Remi’s character.
Recommend to a friend: 4/10
Read again: 3/10
Spice:🌶️🌶️.5/5
Multiple scenes, but weren’t overly detailed or graphic.
Spoilers go into detail about the questionable sex scenes if you are nervous to read this book like I was.
Forced BJ, NonCon sex scene (she admits that she is turned on by him and that she fantasizes about being forced. If that makes you feel better about it??), everything else was pretty consensual but w/ force.
Recommend to a friend: 4/10
Read again: 3/10
Spice:🌶️🌶️.5/5
Multiple scenes, but weren’t overly detailed or graphic.
Spoilers go into detail about the questionable sex scenes if you are nervous to read this book like I was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual assault
Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, and Sexual violence
emilycruz1016's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Gaslighting, Grief, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcohol, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence
lilithreads's review against another edition
dark
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Blood, Violence, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Stalking, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting
Minor: Murder, Drug use, Alcohol, and Animal cruelty
samster_reads's review against another edition
dark
medium-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, and Rape
Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Stalking
bookishdaylight's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
This is a thrilling dark college romance that represents dark themes that may be sensitive to others. A story with an addicting intense chemistry between two characters, with lots of tension, and vile actions that were acted upon throughout the book.
The main character Glyndon is a college student that is an artist who struggles with mental illness. She is closed-off and guarded with her feelings and doesn’t share the burden she feels, she is compassionate and supportive with her love ones as well as being self-sufficient and creative with her work. The love interest Killian is a obsessed, manipulative, smart and cold person. He represses the need to kill and hurt people with his own gain, to maintain control of his mind. He likes to torment people just for fun as well being cold, ruthless and remorseless.
This has an amazing friend group despite the other friends being literally psychopaths. Friends who has great humor and witty-ass comebacks as well as the great dynamic of how they all fit in the friendship. They also have a fun and safe atmosphere regardless of the intensity and cruel conditions they’ve been. The other characters that were introduced with possible romance storylines made me intrigue of their stories and characters more.
To conclude, I was very hooked and addicted to this whole book despite me being surprised of how intense it is, in the beginning. Lastly, it definitely has a great buildup of the intention of the characters and how well thought of on how everything took place.
The main character Glyndon is a college student that is an artist who struggles with mental illness. She is closed-off and guarded with her feelings and doesn’t share the burden she feels, she is compassionate and supportive with her love ones as well as being self-sufficient and creative with her work. The love interest Killian is a obsessed, manipulative, smart and cold person. He represses the need to kill and hurt people with his own gain, to maintain control of his mind. He likes to torment people just for fun as well being cold, ruthless and remorseless.
This has an amazing friend group despite the other friends being literally psychopaths. Friends who has great humor and witty-ass comebacks as well as the great dynamic of how they all fit in the friendship. They also have a fun and safe atmosphere regardless of the intensity and cruel conditions they’ve been. The other characters that were introduced with possible romance storylines made me intrigue of their stories and characters more.
To conclude, I was very hooked and addicted to this whole book despite me being surprised of how intense it is, in the beginning. Lastly, it definitely has a great buildup of the intention of the characters and how well thought of on how everything took place.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Car accident, Chronic illness, Cursing, Mental illness, Blood, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
kaalex12's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
courtneyhope21's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexual content