Reviews with content warning for Blood - Sea of Ruin

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

katkinslee's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

I really did enjoy this book but alot of heavy stuff happens and that made it difficult for me to love it.
This is a dark romance so some questionable stuff happens but for the most part I really enjoyed the romantic interests.
Trigger warnings for sure!!

Content Warnings

allysonstrable's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

koistyfishy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

4.0

This was the first Adult Pirate Romance I have ever read and has been on my radar for quite a while. The only reason I had not yet picked it up was that I had heard that it was on the far side of Dark Romance and could be quite difficult to stomach for some readers. However, it remained niggling at the back of my mind, and since I have recently started exploring that avenue of romance I kept being drawn back to the whole "should I/shouldn't I" with regards to reading the book. My mind was almost made up for me when I saw Nenia Campbell was going to be doing a Buddy Read. It was almost like the stars aligned and the universe was screaming that I had to jump at the opportunity to join.

This book follows Bennett who has been raised by her mother to fit into the mold of a proper lady. We also find out pretty early on in the book that Bennett is the daughter of a very revered and famous Pirate. Bennett has a secret relationship with her father and absolutely adores him. She would do anything in the world for him and wants nothing more than to run away from her life and have adventures by his side. Unfortunately, Bennett's father is killed and her mother on the same day commits suicide; leaving a 14-year-old girl thrust into the pirate life, with nothing but a ship, a jade necklace, and a compass her father left her as her destiny.

I would describe the experience of reading this as "something"... I had a REALLY great time reading it, but it was also truly frustrating and agonizing but in a good way. Since this was a buddy read I couldn't read this in the manner I normally do - which is being solely dedicated to one book at a time, with no distractions, and no other side hustle books. BUT NOOOOOO - Nenia made me cheat, as to keep this buddy read fair for readers of various speeds - I could only read 50 AGONIZING pages a day. As luck would have it, those 50 pages would end ON EVERY "CLIFFHANGER" chapter imaginable.

I am talking about when she was torturing Priest with oranges or when she was spying on a sexy naked commodore on balconies ...it was just mean!

I really enjoyed the setting of the book and how it felt really authentic to the history and culture of Pirates in the 1700s. I felt like I was on a ship right there with them and could tell this book was thoroughly researched by the descriptions, the terminology, the way illnesses and wounds are treated, and the general language and behavior of the pirates. Some parts of this history, culture and misogynistic treatment of women can be difficult to read. Pam Godwin did not shy away from making our girl Bennett suffer (in some cases I felt she might have suffered a little bit too much). But in some ways, it felt disgustingly raw and truthful, as the way she was treated is pretty much how I imagine bloodthirsty pirates to behave toward a beautiful half-naked woman.

I love Bennett, she is mostly everything you want to see in a FMC. She is fierce, strong-willed, a fighter, a survivor, and obviously godly beautiful. The way she is able to handle what comes at her is beyond admirable and is inspiring. She is a role model for her strength an willingness to survive all that is thrown at her. But she is also mildly annoying and insufferable at times. I still don't seem to understand why she ran from Priest just because he cheated on her. I get she was angry, but her reaction was childish and overly dramatic and I couldn't understand the motive or narrative behind why she was running (besides the whole needing it for the plot to actually happen I mean).

Ashley and Priest were both characters I absolutely loved. You need to fan a girl down when it comes to these two. Priest was smart, arrogant, cocky and a flirt of note. Ashley was poised, controlling, and commanding. I was rooting for both of them for Bennett as they both seemed to care for her, and would do anything for her - and in my mind, there was no way for this love triangle to resolve itself without one of them dying... Then the last 25% of the book happened and I docked a star for a few reasons.

Firstly I felt everything that had been built for Ashley's character was a lie. We went through quite a ride for the development of Ashley and Bennett's love to develop -

but when he described the fact that he wanted her from the moment he saw her - the enemies-to-lovers part fizzled up and dried up and it went way too much into "disguised instalove" which is an instant turn off.

Secondly, the last 25% of the plot felt way way too convenient. I cannot count HOW MANY TIMES I rolled my eyes at the events in the end. The last bit also felt very drawn out, and it was almost like we got numerous epilogues that didn't need to be there. Ultimately I think the end could have wrapped up a lot quicker and a few of the scenes could have been removed.

Bennett went from being raped on the Admiral's ship, to being captured and beaten to an inch of her life, and I believe the admiral part could have been removed whilst still having something quicker happen that could have brought our characters to the events of the Mutiny

Overall I would recommend this book if you like the following:
▹Love Triangles
▹Pirate Romance
▹Captor/Captive Romances
▹Dark Romance (in general)

BUT PLEASE PLEASE read the trigger warnings in this before you pick this up, because it does not glorify the life of a pirate and captive pirate at all

Content Warnings