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suzelarson's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Minor: Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Misogyny, and Torture
Very open dooramandaevans's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
this book is genuinely concerning lol - for those of you out there that have read it and LOVED it like gave it 5 stars, are you ok? like actually, are you ok?
overall the plot was interesting and I liked the supporting characters (Ava’s friends Bridget and Stella seem interesting to me, Jules or otherwise oddly referred to as Jessica Rabbit in the book — eh, she kinda fell flat for me). HOWEVER, Ava (female main character) seems far to sunshiny and rainbows following her every move for the literal world shattering trauma she has experienced. Like girl… let’s maybe take a second to go to THERAPY and feel our feelings instead of never having a problem with anyone or anything that should be a problem. Otherwise she had the potential to be a great main character, troubled home life, artsy, confident, kind, etc. But it felt like the author was trying way to hard to make her this happy-go-lucky character for the experiences Ava has had. Like miss girl literally had no memories of her childhood before age nine and is just okay with that? Seems a little odd.
Don’t even get me started on Alex. Our male main character is a walking red flag. He should legally be required to carry one because holy ****. And I’m CONCERNED because we are supposed to like this man? PASS. Everything about him gave me the ICK a hundred times over, and the spicy scenes that should’ve been interesting and well.. entertaining, made me giggle and made me actually uncomfortable. Like this man who Ava is supposed to be in love with should actually be committed. And I can get behind a dark romance with spicy scenes if they contribute to the story line but this guys only personality trait is that he is dark and brooding and incredibly violent? The sex scenes all felt very random and unnecessary and I still don’t really know how Ava and Alex ended up together in the first place.
I think this book had the potential to be great but yikes… if you genuinely love this book and this male main character, do everyone a favor and 1) go to therapy, and 2) value and love yourself and do not let a man walk all over you like this. Thank you, I love u bye
overall the plot was interesting and I liked the supporting characters (Ava’s friends Bridget and Stella seem interesting to me, Jules or otherwise oddly referred to as Jessica Rabbit in the book — eh, she kinda fell flat for me). HOWEVER, Ava (female main character) seems far to sunshiny and rainbows following her every move for the literal world shattering trauma she has experienced. Like girl… let’s maybe take a second to go to THERAPY and feel our feelings instead of never having a problem with anyone or anything that should be a problem. Otherwise she had the potential to be a great main character, troubled home life, artsy, confident, kind, etc. But it felt like the author was trying way to hard to make her this happy-go-lucky character for the experiences Ava has had. Like miss girl literally had no memories of her childhood before age nine and is just okay with that? Seems a little odd.
Don’t even get me started on Alex. Our male main character is a walking red flag. He should legally be required to carry one because holy ****. And I’m CONCERNED because we are supposed to like this man? PASS. Everything about him gave me the ICK a hundred times over, and the spicy scenes that should’ve been interesting and well.. entertaining, made me giggle and made me actually uncomfortable. Like this man who Ava is supposed to be in love with should actually be committed. And I can get behind a dark romance with spicy scenes if they contribute to the story line but this guys only personality trait is that he is dark and brooding and incredibly violent? The sex scenes all felt very random and unnecessary and I still don’t really know how Ava and Alex ended up together in the first place.
I think this book had the potential to be great but yikes… if you genuinely love this book and this male main character, do everyone a favor and 1) go to therapy, and 2) value and love yourself and do not let a man walk all over you like this. Thank you, I love u bye
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Violence, Death, and Gaslighting
just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
3.0
Look, I knew what I wanted when I picked this book up. This is epic, soap opera, levels of drama. And I was *living* for it. I was thoroughly entertained. There was page-turning revenge and years-long cons and lies and (though it took longer than I had expected to get there, based on reviews/lists featuring this book) some very spicy scenes. It was so, deeply, unhealthy, as relationships go. And yet, like I said, I knew that going in and sometimes reading about an over-protective/possessive ass that I wouldn't touch with a 39.5-foot pole (grinch-style, you know?) IRL, is exactly the kind of escapist shit I want to read. So, in summary, this novel was unbelievably *stupid* good for my current reading mood. I shall be reading the next in the series post-haste.
Very small side note: not my fav third act breakup (like, honestly, I never like those - UGH least fav romance trope - so take this commentary with that grain of salt), but I *particularly* didn't like this one. Too much/long “time passing” to get back together - it just feels like, he should have caved sooner…but at least the friends/fam are holding the grudge still.
Very small side note: not my fav third act breakup (like, honestly, I never like those - UGH least fav romance trope - so take this commentary with that grain of salt), but I *particularly* didn't like this one. Too much/long “time passing” to get back together - it just feels like, he should have caved sooner…but at least the friends/fam are holding the grudge still.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Murder, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Toxic relationship
ellydearmond's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, Stalking, Child abuse, and Gun violence
emily98griffin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Cursing, and Death
mels_reading_log's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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
4.0
He’s her brother’s best friend and he has been left in charge of her safety for the year while her brother is out of the country. She is sweet as sunshine and he is a grumpy ass. When these opposites attract, it gets super spicy and some deadly family secrets come to light.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Murder
Minor: Vomit
witcheep's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This book is so not a good fit for my reading tastes. I was constantly appalled by how Alex seems to get away with anything and always get his way — by any means necessary, including but not limited to gaslighting, murder, and stalking . The possessiveness Alex shows is on another level as well. All that is scary, not sexy. 🚩🚩🚩
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting and Sexual content
Moderate: Murder, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Child abuse, and Violence
Minor: Self harm and Drug abuse
idk_indigo's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-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
3.0
I literally just hate Alex, he sucks and is hella scary. The book also felt like it was trying to be too many things at once... brother's mafia-adjacent billionaire best friend meets the sunshine-y college-aged art student who hates him, she begs him to open up but he won't can't, he helps her reveal the mystery of a traumatic near-death experience, also he's into rough sex but wait she's into it too, he kills multiple people ya know.... standard stuff. It lowkey started to feel a bit like poorly written fanfic, and I'm almost surprised that Ava wasn't sold at some point. There's also a princess, for some reason.
That being said, I feel like the outrageous is sort of standard in this type of romance. I don't read dark romance much, but I feel like, while a bit too overdrawn from the list of Dark Romance Tropes, there wasn't anything too out there. However, it is not my thing; I think the over-the-top just starts to feel lazy... random unhinged plot twists don't make up for bad writing and a poorly developed plot.
Alex just also sucks, he's scary and menacing. Like, going fromvery cruelly announcing that he never loved Ava and was only using her to avenge the murder of his entire family to stalking her to London, then following her everywhere until she agrees to look his way (like, seriously, does this dude have absolutely no hobbies? Friends? Movies to watch? Food to eat? Dumps to dump? Get a grip dude, take a note from Ms. Sabrina Carpenter & stop relating to desperation) not to mention he kills her father like girl I-
I also just hate the "he hates everyone but her" trope because what's to stop Alex from doing that shit to her? What happens if she needs a break from the over "protection" and the bordering-on-psychopathic possessiveness and then he likekills her too ? Be so fr because why is that attractive at all, he threatened to murder someone because he brushed her waist, like what next? Is he going to give their waiter a black eye because he smiled at her? Will headlines read Local Walmart Cashier Found in Parking Lot With 4 Bruised Ribs because she needed help with a return?
Also, and understandably my least favorite part of this book, was the fact that the female narrator sucked. She wasn't terrible, but I do think she would be better suited as a car saleswoman, or maybe the needy, middle-aged side character in a Nickelodeon family sitcom who needs better boundaries with her neighbor's kids. I do not think she was the right person for the gig.
It was enjoyable. The sex was not as slay as it could've been. But I can see why this is hyped up.
That being said, I feel like the outrageous is sort of standard in this type of romance. I don't read dark romance much, but I feel like, while a bit too overdrawn from the list of Dark Romance Tropes, there wasn't anything too out there. However, it is not my thing; I think the over-the-top just starts to feel lazy... random unhinged plot twists don't make up for bad writing and a poorly developed plot.
Alex just also sucks, he's scary and menacing. Like, going from
I also just hate the "he hates everyone but her" trope because what's to stop Alex from doing that shit to her? What happens if she needs a break from the over "protection" and the bordering-on-psychopathic possessiveness and then he like
Also, and understandably my least favorite part of this book, was the fact that the female narrator sucked. She wasn't terrible, but I do think she would be better suited as a car saleswoman, or maybe the needy, middle-aged side character in a Nickelodeon family sitcom who needs better boundaries with her neighbor's kids. I do not think she was the right person for the gig.
It was enjoyable. The sex was not as slay as it could've been. But I can see why this is hyped up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Kidnapping, Gun violence, Stalking, and Suicide
charlottedejoya's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Child death, and Death of parent
meriss's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Violence, and Gaslighting
Minor: Child abuse and Gaslighting