Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa

32 reviews

poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.25

Rhapsodic was a fairly spicy Romantsy story. It was scary but threaded with sexual assault.  The age difference between the characters was problematic for me.  It wasn't just that there was one, but the age and circumstances of their first meeting  gave me the ick.  The mystery of the children and catatonic fae was scary, but I wasn't satisfied with the resolution.  Perhaps the payoff is further down the series, but I won't get there.  I don't like sexual victimization as a plot point, and it was really the only thing moving the story forward.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Child death, Confinement, Torture, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Confinement, Dysphoria, Adult/minor relationship, and Infidelity

readyforit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

4⭐️1.5🌶️(I was promised spice with this series and honestly there were only a couple scenes and they weren’t super graphic)

This book is an urban romantasy set in our modern world but with an unknown other fae world. Callie is a human with siren powers who we learn has 322 debts to repay to The Bargainer (aka the fae king of the night realm aka aka rhysand 2.0). The story flips back and forth between Callie’s teenage years (about 7 years ago) when she made the bargains and present day, when The Bargainer has finally come to collect. Des is a possessive, obsessive, desperate man who would crawl home to her. I love how he’s only soft for her🥹 Callie is another one of those copy-paste badass FMC who is sassy and can fight and get shit done. You know her, you either love or hate her.

This book has a lot of similar elements to ACOTAR. If you hated how much world-building was in ACOTAR, you’ll probably enjoy this more since the world-building is minimal and woven into the flashbacks. I think it was a bit misleading of the author to write that the bargainer had “something else in mind” for Callie to repay her debts, which is honestly a really good premise for a spicy book, but didn’t deliver. Whoever rated it a 4/5🌶️ is out of their mind lmao.

I’ve read a lot of criticism about how des grooms Callie, and I think if that is a trigger for you, just skip this book. I don’t think des uses grooming techniques to form a relationship with Callie. I think they were two lonely people, one a human teenager and one the equivalent of a fae adolescent or young adult (idk he’s like 200 something), who formed a deep friendship that evolved into something more. He technically waited until she was 23 to come back to be with her and still gives her a choice. If every relationship between a human teenager and supernatural 100+ yo MMC is grooming then we also have to criticize twilight, the vampire diaries, ACOTAR, etc. It’s important to remember that this is 1. Fantasy and 2. Fiction.

Overall, I really liked the book but I don’t think I’ll reread unless the rest of the series really grips me. I felt like the first part of the book was very good and then the climax was a little lacking. I assume the villain will show back up later in the series.

I also listened to the audiobook and the narrator is pretty good! I would’ve liked it better if they hired a male narrator to do a duet for des’ lines but he doesn’t get a pov so I understand why they didn’t.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Confinement

Rape and CSA is mentioned but in the past and nondescript

novaxnovels's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Move over Rysand, I’m a Des girlie now. 

HOLY COW. I did not expect this book to blow me away!! From the very first line of the book I was super invested. I looooved the nods to SJM. It gave ACOTAR vibes without feeling like a copycat moment. Sure, there were some similarities, but I kinda loved it? The only reason I’m not doing 5 stars is because I found the 16-year-old bits of the story to be a bit … creepy. (SPOILERS) - he falls first, KNOWS they’re soulmates when she’s 16. Yeah he doesn’t act on it then, but the feeling that he would have just gave me a bit of a bad vibe. BUT, I am willing to absolutely blow past that because of how much I adored the plot. The mystery and the general spooky factor = happy reader. Not to mention that absolute perfection that was the longing, the tension, the DESIRE. I MELTED (The Harry potter movies. Need I say more???) 

Also, I hope it was intentional but the little Gatsby reference just made my heart soar. 

 I absolutely can’t wait to start the next book and see where it all goes. 

Trigger warnings: mentions of sexual assault and rape (past and present, not directly depicted on page but strong descriptions and emotional relivings) 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

avialaeleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a really great romantacy read. Funny and witty with just enough angst to not make it too frilly. I like that we kind of flop back and forth from present and past times so we see how Des and Callie met and used to be but also how they are now and everything. 

Also the surprise soulmates thing was a nice touch. Did not see that one coming. I also like that we get that bad boy, broken girl trope as well as strangers to friends to enemies to lovers thing that they have going on. 

Also the banter, really great made me laugh a lot and pause my audiobook to really make sure that I heard the narrator correctly. Both of them have some great one liners. And there were also moments that I was truly sad and also those that I wanted to hit them both upside the head cause they were both being idiots. 

I'm really interested in seeing where the rest of this series goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Vomit, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Torture, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Rape, and Sexual content

samdreckman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Slavery, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Rape, Cursing, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Body horror, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Sexual content, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Blood, Violence, Alcohol, Stalking, Abandonment, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Torture, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, and Toxic relationship

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Rape, Stalking, Torture, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Animal death, Bullying, Mental illness, War, Grief, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Misogyny, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Self harm

chrisljm's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.0

First of all, everyone who recommended this book is a sick freak. Because why are you people obsessing over this adult/minor grooming relationship. And even if you were to argue that they don't technically get together until the girl is an adult, it's still very strange how often they had to mention her being a "lovesick" teenager. Like that shit made me sick. It was also weird af that there was another (of lesser importance) adult male character that was dating a 16 year old girl. Although the focus was on him locking her in his basement, there didn't seem to be any criticism on him dating teenagers so it's kinda giving obsessed with grooming..

Second of all, why is a white author making a black character talk like that. It's weird enough she made her the stereotypical sassy black best friend, but the fact that the author sat there and typed "oh, naw, girl" as a part of her dialogue is kinda driving me insane. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Kidnapping, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Child death, Torture, Death of parent, and Confinement

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Slavery

emgibby's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Torture, Body horror, Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

hclin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

Overall, I enjoyed this book and will plan to finish the series. I would be hard pressed to recommend this series because of the sheer number of trigger warnings it requires. I liked the spice and even the relationship between the two main characters as adults, but it was difficult to get over that

the romantic part of their relationship began when she was 16. This detracted from my experience as a reader.

I felt the world building could have been a bit stronger but I'm hoping it will get better in the next books (this could be because I'm less of a fan of urban/low fantasy though). My favourite aspect of this series is the concept of Callie being a Siren and the power and difficulties of this identity. I found it to be a unique take on magic/powers with interesting reflections about sexuality and feminism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Confinement, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Rape

Minor: Slavery and Toxic relationship