Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

36 reviews

wandering_seal's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

4.0

Look it was fine. There are some really fucking questionable decisions going on storywise - the

kiddos names at the end

for one, and the weird need to write out the name and artist of every song they hear playing.

This is one of those books where I'm somehow meant to believe the MMC has only had sex as a teenager and has been abstinent for the past three years before getting a pet sex slave and is somehow amazing at everything he wants to do with a solid working knowledge of all the kinks and how to navigate our FMCs body. Oh and he's a super awesome killer. With a future in law. Yep. Yeah. The suspension of disbelief was hard in this one.

I think you know what your getting into with these books. The lack of kinkshaming was really nice, and the emphasis on consent was also good considering this is a story with lots of dubcon aspects. I listened to it on audiobook at twice speed so the length of the plot didn't really bother me, but it is a loooong story and the later part in particular could have been tightened up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Murder, Alcohol, Drug use, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Emotional abuse

clairelisebella's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

Fun book but could’ve used a good editor to tighten it up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Stalking, Violence, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Blood, Emotional abuse, Murder, Medical content, and Death

Moderate: Abortion, Confinement, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcohol and Infidelity

klsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Death, Addiction, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Torture, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pregnancy

alexklop's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

4 Stars!

I can’t say this was the best dark romance book I have ever read, but I can say with 10% certainty that after reading half of the book and then attempting to sleep. I got no sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about what might happen next, and how Blakely and Ryat were going to either fall in love or kill each other... Most likely the latter. 

While there were so many amazing kinks in this book, I did find myself tensed and anxious at how some of them were portrayed and played out in the book. I wish at some point during their relationship a little more discussion about boundaries, hard limits, and safe-words would’ve happened, but alas… it will not keep me from reading the next book in the series next time in I’m the mood for something super dark and kinky!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Grief, Blood, Body horror, Kidnapping, Bullying, Death, Violence, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

ink_mon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Sexism, Sexual content, Gun violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, and Blood

Moderate: Medical content, Torture, and Medical trauma

quietmarki's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-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

Please send Shantel Tessier to therapy please! This book is bad, has every trigger warning that exist!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Physical abuse, Stalking, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Confinement, Death of parent, Misogyny, Classism, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Abortion, Addiction, Blood, and Sexism

mayawata_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I finished this book in 24 hours and I am wrecked. I was obsessed. There is A LOT of sex in this book but given the plot, it didn’t feel forced or out of place. There are triggers within this book to be cautious of, but as someone who couldn’t finish Haunting Adeline (because of the triggers), this was much more enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Sexual content

Moderate: Stalking, Vomit, Sexual assault, Medical content, Pregnancy, Torture, and Drug use

there are scenarios of forced sex fantasies but it is all consensual and described in adult manners

m0czy's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Confinement, and Stalking

Moderate: Blood, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Vomit, Gun violence, Medical content, and Pregnancy

midnightrose_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Ritual is the first book in The Lords series and is a dark romantic suspense about a secret society, that resembles an assassin guild. Ryat and Blakely attend Barrington University, a college for the super wealthy. Ryat has been in The Lords secret society since freshman year, and in his senior year, he is ordered to take Blakely as his ‘Chosen’.  Blakely, agrees to the arrangement in order to get back at her very controlling boyfriend Matt. Little does she know how much her life will change….

This is a pretty solid start to this series, with plenty of scorching hot spicy scenes, and tense nail-biting moments. It’s not a five star, for me, however. I feel as though because this book is clearly half romantic suspense the page count should have been tightened up considerably. I feel as if the suspenseful parts would have popped even more if it didn’t feel like in parts it was starting to drag. I don’t mind a long romance book, but for books that contain romantic suspense elements the page count needs to be much shorter than 600+ pages to really be effective in those parts.

(Just as an aside: I hope the word ‘whimpers’ is decreased in the next installments of this series. Its constant mentions in this story drove me nuts! LOL.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Rape, Torture, Violence, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

wanderingpages0718's review

dark mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Sexual violence, Stalking, Murder, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Death, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Vomit

Minor: Child death