Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Scandalous Letters of V and J by Felicia Davin

6 reviews

carolined314's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? No

5.0

A mystery in epistles, with 2 non-binary protagonists and delightful magic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Murder, and Deadnaming

Minor: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, and Classism

kpeeps111's review

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Really surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! I picked it out on a whim while browsing through the “romantic fantasy” section of Libby looking for something easy and fun to read. And it was both those things! After the beginning, I fully expected it to be mostly smut (not my typical cup of tea), but then to my delight a really interesting spy-thriller type plot unfolded involving mysterious magical artifacts! The setting is super fun, the magical system is interesting, the epistolary structure is delightfully engaging, and the characters were really dynamic and well rounded.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

rupanjali's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Violence and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual harassment, Classism, Deadnaming, and Death of parent

pedantichumbug's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

The first time this book lost me was when it switched to omniscient narration after the first 25 installments or so. I don't think it served the reading experience of that scene. The first-person pov in the last two similar

spicy!!!

scenes proves my point I think. The only time that switch worked for me was the

tense climax scene with Julie, Victor, and Alphonse.

But gosh, the queer rep was absolutely great. How the author used the metamorphosis magic theme to reaffirm gender fluidity was ingenious.

Overall, I liked the writing and the characters. The first one third of the book was more charming and absorbing for me, but I wonder if the loss of its charm relates to the fact that I stopped reading the emails daily after a while. Maybe it was the curiosity that made it more gripping for me at the beginning. I agree with the others saying that the second half stagnated at times. Some parts and characters could've been left out. It was still a solid 3.5 for me until the ending, which I found a bit underwhelming.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

khargaotte's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-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

5.0

This was such a fun read!! Following along the prepublication emails was an amazing experience, albeit frustrating at times when the action slowed down. Additionally, the spicier scenes were very well done, and I now want several spin offs focusing on some of the side characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Sexual content

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual harassment and Deadnaming

Injury:

several fights occur during the book, some of them leading to injury. The main weapon used however is one that makes wounds close instantly, so there is rarely blood

Sexual content:

the book is labeled as erotica for a reason, and contains several sex scenes, all of them enthusiastically consensual

Toxic relationship & emotional abuse :

one of the characters has a past relationship that was very toxic; the abuser is one of the main antagonists of the book, but the MC doesn't fall back under their influence. The relationship is described in the book but over by the time of the narration

Death of parent:

the book starts recently after the death of the mother of one of the main characters, whose cause of death is later explained in the book. The father of the same character dies of similar causes during the book.

Fire/fire injury:

the toxic relationship mentionned above ended with the abuser setting fire to the place where the main character was sleeping; no serious injury or death happened because of this fire, but it is described in the book as a memory

Deadnaming:

one of the main character's fakes their death, using their deadname for the funeral to make it more believable

Sexual harassment :

one of the main characters has some unsavory encounters, but nothing goes further than unwanted touches over clothes

daniellekat's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.5

I subscribed to the author’s newsletter to have this book emailed to me over a series of months. I’m not sure if it was just this formatting, but I found the book way too slow paced. There were some high action points, and I loved all the magic but romance is generally not my genre. Overall, it was fine, but not something or an author I’d seek out again. 

What was with all the mentioning of Forestier? It was so specific and then literally amounted to nothing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Murder, and Misogyny

Moderate: Classism and Violence