Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark

10 reviews

saoreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Miscommunication tropes, enemies-to-lovers literal dramatics, and the rough tone of language, considering the age, were quite immature. There's this immediacy that was toxic to a relationship to start off, but it was easily consumed for the most part due to the short chapters. I'm not a big fan of the violence, and the storyline was a bit lackluster; the scenes were short, and if it was fast-paced, it was just that it was detailed on parts I don't like that much. Overall, there were areas that could have been improved and some side characters to be given spotlight. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Stalking, Confinement, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Murder, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

booksalacarte's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Brutal Prince- 2⭐️ 3.25🌶️

Mafia Romance

Dual POV

Arranged marriage

True Enemies to lovers

Forced proximity

Bully moments

Age gap (10 years)

After a public incident between their children, 2 mafia fathers make a deal to have them marry to unite rival families.

I didn’t love the FMC. She came off as an immature and childish character for most of the book. My biggest issue was the strawberry allergy incident. Having a kid with a food allergy, I am very against allergies being used as a prank. Who the hell doesn’t take food allergies seriously?! The girl would have never been forgiven by me… And it’s on the cover? So is this the big draw to the book? Nope. That’s not tomboy/hellcat behavior. That attempted murder. And she doesn’t even think of the implications her actions would have on her family… ever.

Honestly the MMC wasn’t any better. He came off chauvinistic and depreciated the FMC, and women he dated in general… it was gross. Also, he was a 30 year old, living at home having his every thought taken care of by a housekeeper, chef and his parents.

This book wasn’t very lovey-Dovey. It was more enemies than lovers… well except that there were 4+ spicy scenes. So there was a bunch of lust.

There wasn’t and true character development. Nothing to show any growth. The main characters just stayed pretty flat while the plot raced through a bunch of quickly concluded plot points. 

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks bloom books for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Classism, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Classism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Medical content, and Gore

apolen's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Stalking, Kidnapping, Confinement, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Cursing, and Murder

Minor: Death of parent and Infidelity

tiana_king's review against another edition

dark hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual content, and Death

Moderate: Grief and Stalking

Minor: Animal death

a_libra_library's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Gun violence, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Murder, Stalking, Death, and Sexual harassment

emmacartlidge's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Sexual content

Moderate: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Confinement, and Violence

Minor: Death, Body shaming, Infidelity, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug abuse

lilyemmaaa's review against another edition

dark funny relaxing 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? It's complicated

3.5

Going in to this book, I 100% thought I wouldn’t be the biggest fan. I’ve never been intrigued with the Mafia troupe or the arranged marriage troupe, but this had me eating it up.

The story moved so quickly and I found myself not wanting to put it down.

Callum and Aida had such amazing chemistry and banter. I loved how Aida acted and how she was just such a badass and independent character. Callum had a soft spot for her and it was obvious form the beginning, even if he acted all tough in the beginning. 

I will definitely be continuing this series and hope to fall more in love with these characters. 


<SPOILERS>

I can’t even lie, every event that happened in this book had me thinking how is that even possible.

From a fire in the beginning caused by Aida, to an arrangement made between the fathers that made Callum and Aida marry, to Aida being the cause of an allergic reaction and nearly killing her husband not even seconds after they married, to a mafia boss coming in and subtly threatening the safety of their lives, to Aida, Callum and her family nearly getting killed by that same Mafia boss, to Aida and Callum getting drugged and kidnapped by that same mafia boos and Aida somehow created a plan to get out of the captors control, to Aida being kidnapped by her psycho ex and nearly being burned alive, only for Callum to come in and save her. 

A very action packed book that like I said had me eating it out of the palm of its hand.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Sexual content, Gun violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

featherinthewind's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

weelasswithabook's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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? No

5.0

CW mention of miscarriage and stillbirth, stalker ex, violence, gun violence, drugging, woman in peril, house fire

⭐ Enemies to lovers
⭐ Mafia romance 
⭐ Marriage of convenience 

An enemies to lovers, where they  are genuinely enemies and hate each other? Sign me the hell up🙏

A brilliant opening to a series, Brutal Prince ditches the rivals to lovers angle of the enemies to lovers trope and brings two feuding families with a prickly heroine who literally tries to kill him within the first quarter of the book 😂 Honestly an iconic move. 

I always love to see characters, particularly the macho MMC start to soften gradually over the course of a book and this had it in spades as we see Callum totally disregard his own safety and well-being just to rescue Aida. 

I loved it. I needed it. Chef's kiss. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol and Confinement

emily_clay's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Murder, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, and Confinement

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Medical content