Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Ritual

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The book was great; it was engaging, the world building was pretty interesting BUT I had some issues with it as a whole.

The way the names of songs appeared throughout the book was pretty annoying. I didn’t enjoy that at all. Seemed forced and the writing became awkward.

I wish we could find out more about Ryat’s background and why he decided to serve in the society. I wanted a bit more backstory, wanted to know more about the society itself and while we learnt a little about the society at the end, we didn’t really learn too much about why it is what it is and what’s the purpose of this. I wanted to see and understand more about the Lord and Lady concept which was honestly very interesting. I know it’s a whole series but if I were to just read this one book I suppose I won’t get the full picture of the world built.

I felt that the ending

for Matt, didn’t really do much justice. I felt like he was such a bad guy that he deserved to die a little bit more tortured than this.

My last bit is that it’s marked as a dark college romance and while they all met at school, nothing actually happens IN school. In fact they stop going to school after meeting each other so there’s that.

Blakely’s best friend Sarah also eventually disappeared

in writing, only appearing as a tool to progress the story arcs.

I hope we get to see a book that features the kids. That would be really interesting for me.

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chels984's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

oh my god hello i need to reconnect with nature

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emily511's review against another edition

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This book just really wasn’t for me. The multitudes of trigger warnings aside, there just wasn’t much of a plot.

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thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

3.5

This year is my year to read more romance, and this is my first read in dark college romance. Thanks BookTok!

This felt like reading an AITA where ETA because money, entitlement, and secret societies.

While I actually enjoyed the supposed actual storyline, the characters smashing every other page just got too much. I mean, how many ways can they do the same thing and still be so surprised she likes it?!

Morally grey, dark, and quite spicy.

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