Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Heavy Crown by Sophie Lark

6 reviews

hapalyn's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

Tense throughout the entire book! The ending set up the spin-off super nicely (but also has me stressed out haha)

I love Yelena and Sebastian was a surprisingly complex character.

I’m going to miss Enzo!!

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Torture

quietmarki's review

sad tense 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? Yes

2.0

I'm glad I finished this serie. I didn't care for them anymore. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Body shaming, Cursing, Sexual violence, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, and Pregnancy

booksalacarte's review

dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

2.75

Heavy crown 2.75⭐️3.75🌶️

Mafia Romance

Dark Romance

Dual POV

Morally grey couple

Insta-love

Rival families

Secrets

For a finale of a series this was a complete bust. Generally a finale brings people together and this book just didn’t. It did a good job of bringing past couples into the story, probably more than any other book, but not in a good way. 

The insta-love was just that, with not a lot of relationship development. There was a little bit too much dub con for me. The situation put the FMC at a huge emotional disadvantage making the scene borderline emotionally abusive. Just yuck.

The book was a sloppy ending to this series and felt like it was just to set up the kingmaker series. There is no emotional resolution for this generation, only setup for 3 kids in the next one. 

Thank you NetGalley and Sorcebook Bloom Books for an Advanced eReader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Grief, Cursing, Death of parent, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Death, Confinement, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, and Blood

nineinchnails's review

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

i am very VERY conflicted. i was not looking forward to this book at all (i really just wanted to read so i could start kingmakers) but it took me by surprise and i was really enjoying it for the most part, despite how much i hate instalove. i still didn’t care much about their relationship but i liked the characters individually, seb more than yelena (who felt quite one dimensional). however, i think this book completely ruined

sebastian’s character after the wedding

. i would go as far as to say most of the characters from the previous books suffered a character assassination here, notably dante. 

the same dante who was

fiercely overprotective of his siblings refused to attend his brother’s wedding (but changed his mind and dropped in at the last minute) then abandoned him in his quest to avenge their father’s death

? this feels so far removed from the dante in aida’s book. aida is probably the only significant character who hasn’t changed for the worse in this book and i loved all her scenes. nero (and camille) also seemed very different, even from his own book let alone the first in the series. 

the writing did get a little repetitive when seb and yelena were thinking about each other/their relationship but i hate instalove so i don’t think i was ever gonna be obsessed with their romance. i think the worst part was how

sebastian treated her after their wedding - i love dark romance and can deal with cruelty from MCs but it just felt wildly out of character from sebastian

. it was jarring to read and honestly put me off him a little. i also felt like yelena’s characterisation was all over the place, but we only had this book to get to know her so it’s not as easy of a judgement to make as it is for seb. 

i think the part i hated most was

her and adrian becoming estranged. i get that it’s a set up for the spin off series but i really hate when close siblings have their relationship ruined. even him turning on her so fast felt strange since they seemed so close in the beginning

. i do love angst but i was really hoping it would be resolved at least in the epilogue.

all that being said, the side plot really captured my attention and i am excited for the spin off series. i do wish

enzo hadn’t been killed off though, it was nice to see a dad in a mafia series be loved so completely by his children

. i don’t usually read mafia books but i haven’t seen that much in the ones that i have read. i think the prose was improved from the older books in the series, though it was repetitive at times, and i liked the interactions with the other characters (aida the most) even if they aren’t the same as they used to be. i can understand that they all have different priorities now but just as a family unit the gallos seem so different to the way they did in the first book, a lot less united and it makes the whole book feel bleak when it’s supposed to have a (technically) happy ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, Death, Violence, Sexual content, and Confinement

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Grief, Sexual violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness

amanda_reads13's review

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? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed the evolution of Seb's character throughout this series. You see him go from an outsider in his own family, to the one in charge. In each book, you get snippets of who Seb is becoming.  In this book you see him come to embrace his role in the family. 

At first Seb comes off as selfish and it leads to irrevocable damage to his family. Throughout most of the book he puts his family in danger, first due to infatuation and then his desire for revenge.

Yelena was controled by her father, she was a pawn in his schemes against the Gallos. She put all of her faith in her brother to have her back, but she was ultimately betrayed by the one person she trusted the most. You could see how she truly loved Seb, but she could have told him the truth at any point, maybe then his family would have been better prepared at the wedding. 

That scene in the dungeon... He said she could saystop at any point, but he made it very clear that to earn back his trust she had to allow him to do whatever he wanted to her. That was messed up. She was psychologically and emotionally abused her whole life, and he basically did to her what every other man has. What he did was emotional blackmail and, really, could be considered rape. 

I LOVE seeing the other characters come back through this book and being able to see how their relationships have progressed. BUT you also get the sense that the family is fractured and the damaged suffered will forever keep the family members on seperate paths. This is solidified in the epilogue when you have no mention of Aida, Dante, or Nero. It insinuates that Dante has remained estranged from his family, Aida and Cal have gone clean, and Nero is probably running his garage. 

Tropes: Mafia, instalove, revenge, waring families

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Sexism, Confinement, Death, Murder, and Violence

weelasswithabook's review

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

CW, gun violence, death of a loved one, dismemberment, torture, misogyny, abusive parental relationship, historical DV, SA

⭐ Hidden motive
⭐ Mafia romance 

Ooh this had me full of anxiety. So much happened in this book 👀 character deaths that broke my little heart, betrayal, sadness, a hero with such responsibility he didn't want nor need thrust on him, a heroine made to choose between her family (tbh they were dicks so I'd have bounced) and someone she loved. 

Uggghhhhh this was just the perfect end to the series and Kingmakers (which I read first for some reason 🤣) is such a natural progression which just flows from Heavy Crown to The Heir. 

10/10 would read again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Torture, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Terminal illness