Anti-Romance

Quote:📖

“In a few months, the snow will melt, and the world will invade us again, but right now . . . they’re mine. For this one winter, they’re mine.”

Thoughts: 💡
Sometimes I wish P Douglas wasn’t such an entertaining writer. This book sucks you in and keeps you rapidly turning the pages completely engrossed in the story. The problem is that she doesn’t seem to use sensitivity readers. She writes about a few topics that she’s clearly unknowledgeable about and creates very problematic scenarios. I’m certain that this book would rate much higher and be enjoyed by a wider audience if she makes a few revisions.
The characters are all struggling and have intense issues that they really should seek therapy for, instead they just hole up on a mountain and yell at each other. They do end up finding solas and a way to live, and create a very entertaining story. I wish we would have seen more character development, instead what we got were dark themes and crazy hot smut. The bonus chapter found at the end of the paperback gives you a look into Khalib’s struggles and thoughts. I loved that it finally gave insight into a marginalized character and their struggles. If you’re a dark romance reader I’m certain you will enjoy this one, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone that doesn’t like darker themes.
As for the audio, I liked that there were four different narrators. The audio quality was a solid 4, as well as the three male narrators. However, I think the female narrator was spectacular and would love to head more from her.

Fun Bits:
⚜️ Super Smutty
⚜️ Lots of Angst
⚜️ An Interesting Plot
⚜️ Some Suspense

Important Note:✨
This book was rereleased by Berkley and the paperback has bonus content that the eBook doesn’t have.

Full Content Warning:⚠️
misogynistic behavior, power imbalance, group sex, sexual violence, dubious consent, suicide, child neglect, domestic abuse, sexual harassment, and bondage

Stats:📊
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
💙💙💙💙
Audio: 🎧🎧🎧🎧
Narrators: 🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️
Dark Erotica: Taboo, Love Triangle, Coming of Age, Age Gap, Grief & Loss, Hurt/Comfort, Found Family
First Person, Present Tense, Multi POV
⚠️: misogynistic, power imbalance, group 🍆💦, 🍆💦 violence & harassment, dub con, self unaliving, neglect, & domestic 🤕

Content Warnings

ashleereadsbooks692's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

spookyandcozy's review

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dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

avery_29's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

booksalacarte's review

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dark sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

Credence- 1⭐️ 5🌶️

Contemporary Romance

Taboo Romance

Multi POV

Small town

Polyamorous FMC

Tw: suicide, parental death, SA, Rape, emotional abuse, physical abuse, pedophilia, predatory behavior, grooming a minor

The start of this book is interesting. A 17yo, raised by her parent’s assistant, looses her narcissist parents to suicide and goes to live with her step uncle in the middle of nowhere… but then the FMC turns 18 and things take a turn that I knew was coming, but by the end I felt like I was reading a train wreck I wanted to just finish and be done with. I think the setting was the only thing I enjoyed about the story. The rest just was a giant red flag. I think I kept reading because I was interested in how the situation could be sustainable enough to be considered a happily ever after.

This… was not the book for me. I don’t enjoy reading about the romantic couples abusing each other. I don’t consider that romance.

All of the characters were sad and depressing. There wasn’t a single person in this book that knew what joy or contentment looked like. Every single person in this book needed interventional therapy. The men were all misogynistic and gross. And once they had their “turn” they basically disappear from the plot . How? What?

The POV shifts were fine, but the 1 POV from the MMC (who is barely in the book other than SA/R scenes) was written to make his internal monologue sound like an absolute psychopath.

This was definitely a “taboo romance”. Although there was not really anything romantic about it. The girl sleeps with her step-uncle and step-cousins, who are supposed to be alpha males, but didn’t get possessive when it came to their own family. Nope. The spice was very disjointed and flipped on and off like a switch. It read more like Stockholm syndrome. The only character that showed her any type of romance was her pedophile step-uncle.

As if it could get any worse, it was over written. There is more than enough plot with the step-family…. Absolutely no other plot tools were needed to add to the drama.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for the Advanced eReader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Content Warnings