Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Bonded By Thorns by Elizabeth Helen

10 reviews

popdrinkm's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Gore, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Blood

Minor: Death of parent and Death

pink_dahlila's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

This is a Beauty and the Beast fantasy retelling/reverse harem story. Rosalina finds herself at the Briar while looking for her missing father,

who got himself imprisoned for stealing a rose from the castle, and she trades places with him because she is always taking care of him

. 

Something mysterious is happening to the Briar, the four princes, and the staff that reside there. To gain her freedom she makes a deal with the princes to find a way to lift their curse by trying to find their mates.  

The description of the castle where the princes live is cool. It’s very magical. Astrid and Marigold were fun side characters, and I loved their friendship with Rosalina. 

The guys all had distinct personalities. The story is told mostly from Rosalina’s POV but we do get a few chapters in their POV. We don’t see much from Ezryn so hopefully we see more of him in the next book. This is a slow burn so we are just seeing the beginning of relationships between them. There is MM sexual content. 

I felt bad for Rosalina’s life before she got to the Briar. Her father is mostly absent and the town think he’s crazy, which makes her kind of an outcast. She doesn’t have any friends and she has an abusive on/off boyfriend. Rosalina really comes into herself at the Briar. She finds friends and confidence and purpose. 

There are a lot of unanswered questions at the end and the book ends in a bit of a cliff hanger. What does the Prince of Thorns have to do with everything? Could Rosalina know the Enchantress?

Overall I enjoyed it and I look forward to book two. Hopefully more questions are answered and we get to see more development of the relationships. 

MM

Dayton and Farron have sex

Slight OW/OM drama

none of the MCs have sex with other people after they meet, but there is kissing and flirting

Triggers: toxic/abusive boyfriend

abuse happens in flashbacks

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

froggyprints's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

I liked this!  It was a WC/RH, which tend to not be my favorite and I didn't realize that going into reading it.  About half way through, I figured it out.  The beginning is VERY close to Beauty and the Beast, to the point that I almost DNF because it didn't feel super innovative and the FMC was a little annoying with her mousy-ness.  But As I continued, it definitely shifted into a retelling that is absolutely it's own story and the world opened up, she grew as a person, and we got to meet a lot of fun characters.  There's good tension between her and the other characters with it still being a slow-burn.  And the world is interesting and was a lovely escape from real life.  Also, props to the author for the sprinkle of nods towards Disney's retelling.  It was very minimal but brought forward the re-telling aspect in a fun way that made me smile without it feeling forced or unoriginal.  I'll probably slip this one into my list of re-reads periodically.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Bullying

isabelleroyall's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

pritenpink2's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse

Minor: Bullying, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

forgottencupoftea's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Abandonment and Bullying

ruckystarnes's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Sexual content

Minor: Emotional abuse, Bullying, Violence, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Abandonment

tarnaflake's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Body shaming and Bullying

chloekaspari's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

1.0

This was very hard to read at times. What felt really odd about the book was that it was spicy 🌶️🌶️🌶️ but also felt written by someone very young. You would be told an action was happening or something to move the plot forward but there was no description or if there was it was confusing felt weakly explained. It was all tell and no show. When it came to the spice it felt slightly anatomical like talking about body parts and figuring out after how it all worked together. I know that’s a strange way to describe things but that’s how it felt to read it. The plot? Well if you read books in the genre you guessed the plot about 2 mins into starting this book. It was barely existed and was the most simple book I read in a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

bookishlucy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Abandonment, Confinement, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, and Misogyny

Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Bullying, and Vomit