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I get it.. there are TRIGGERS. And if the TRIGGERS trigger your rating, then your opinion is not valid. But.. this doesn’t have anything to do with said triggers. (Although the brother-sister kink did end up getting to me by the end.)
I HATE OLIVIA. She is fully aware of her “brothers” diagnosis and yet walks a very dangerous line with him? He’s not innocent but she brought so much of this on due to her actions towards him. Olivia had this WILD double standard, constantly laying blame on him and took zero responsibility. I thought in part two she would redeem herself, only to suck even more.
Olivia’s relationship with her dad and the way he treats Malachi makes ZERO sense. Malachi being beaten by their dad after he is the one who wanted to adopt.. but he isn’t not abusive to anyone else in the house? And maybe I missed it, but were they being fostered OR fully adopted. Why didn’t they just send him back? Because all of this doesn’t add up, I can’t understand the fathers actions. His character and the mom was very flawed. Also… how in the WORLD would they been approved after this to foster another kid?! I know “it’s just a story” but.. make it make sense?
Malachi: I didn’t love his inexperience, I don’t think it fit in with the actions within the book (if you get where I’m coming from.) I found their “lessons” to be slightly repulsive and just feel like I would’ve been okay with it if it weren’t based on that. I think we could’ve had a very twisted MMC and still had the experience and made him the one that was more in control.. the tropes felt contradicting and it didn’t flow well.
PART ONE of this book almost caused DNF, the only thing that kept me on is before I hit pause on Audible, Joe Arden said PART TWO with Malachi’s POV. There’s no plot in part one, there’s random inserts between spice scenes, but it just didn’t have that flow. It felt like reading an outline that wasn’t turned into a story if that makes sense. IF YOU WANT CRAZY, THE ENDING OF PART ONE EARNED AN ABSOLUTE WTF JAW DROP.
PART TWO started off with some redemption. Joe Arden did and INCREDIBLE job in the audiobook portraying a psycho (except this eventually because too far-fetched for me) CHAPTER 12 was really the only part of this book I can say I loved, the torture scenes continued and although it was good, it started to blur and by the time she realized it was Malachi, they lost me again.
There is no cliff hanger, but I do know what the second book is about and unfortunately I don’t care to pick it up. A cliff hanger might have made me want to. Even when she runs back to him after ending her forced relationship… ALSO SEEMS UNNECESSARY BTW, the forced relationship tropes.. I don’t know, I wanted to see him burst through and really show her love but it was another weird moment that didn’t fulfill anything.
Okay long story short. It has okay quality, not much of a plot, and too many tropes that didn’t blend. It wasn’t enough to cause a DNF but it and enough for me to continue the series.
Graphic: Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment
Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Sexism
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting
Graphic: Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Cursing, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Stalking
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Classism