Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Brutal Obsession

I'm conflicted about how I feel about this...but I think I did enjoy some parts more often than not?

Greyson basically ruins Violet's life one fateful night when he speeds down a seemingly empty road and crashes into Violet's car. With her leg shattered, her dreams to be a principal ballerina is up in the air. And since fate's so funny, turns out Grey is the new hotshot hockey player at her college now since Violet missed out on a whole semester and he's out to get her for "ruining his life."

Yep. He totally believed at the very beginning that she ruined his life for outing him originally as the guy who hit her car. Does he ever apologize? Nope. 🤣🤣 The author wasn't kidding when she said he's not gonna grovel.

Greyson is 100% a red flag and suffers from rich boy-itis of always being right and gets what he wants. He goes out of his way to humiliate Violet and harass her and puts her in these situations with the threat of breaking the NDA over her head. It's a dark bully romance so I expected most of his psychotic obsessive behavior. (But I did want just a little explicit apology teehee.)

Though he was very infuriating, I was hooked because of the story. And I eat up the psychotic asshole finding out he has *feelings* every time. That process is so funny. Like when Grey gets jealous? Phew. What a silly cutie (who's a little violent towards his bros.)

Violet was just okay as a heroine. I was rooting for her to be more toxic to Greyson 🤣 like when he toys with her by kissing her dance team enemy, I wanted her to fuck his teammate 🤣 She was fine though. She's not like total doormat. I think her just tolerating Grey/ignoring him riled him up just the same cause he's obsessed with her attention.

Plus Violet discovered her dark and kinky side with Grey 🤭 so can't blame her mind on focusing on that instead of "Oh no I'm being bullied." So yea the dynamic was entertaining here and there.

Their relationship did turn into something kinda cute despite *everything*. And I did really like their sweet moments which with some context, was Grey being sweetly psychotic. There were a lot of quotes I loved! But I wasn't 100% really sold on their emotional connection or their love really. Grey did show subtle remorse and he did show his care for Violet but it needed more juice. Like as Violet wondered once, why her out of everyone?

The final conflict kinda felt meh to me too. It was external forces at play targeting Violet. But it felt thrown in there despite hints from the start. I think their ends/motivation was too convenient.

So do I recommend? It's a maybe! If you like that non-remorseful bully dynamic go for it!
I think expecting that crazy obsessive psychopath Ryat Archer from the Ritual and Killian Carson from God of Malice energy, maybe not?

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volanscore's review

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dark tense fast-paced

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

Picked this up to see why booktwt was talking about this and… I’m just trying to give it 0 stars… man was this book fucking awful. Side note, the “dub-con” and “cnc” tags do not apply to actual rape and masking it as if the victim “enjoyed it” is not dark romance.

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lendrella's review

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Bully romance with no romance at all. It’s kidnapping, blackmailing, rape and sexual violence. Not my cup of tea.

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kltrevett's review

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Far too dark, felt ridiculous reading about an SA and mentally abusive person.

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proud_book_nerd's review against another edition

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dark 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

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christilovesbooks_smut's review

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Brutal Obsession, book 1 of the Hockey Gods series by S Massery & @ authorsmassery is a new to me author.

I did NOT finish this book.

Personally, I have a very difficult time with books that don’t completely disclose the SA warnings. Considering this is a huge trigger for me, I could not continue the book. I did talk with some people that have read the book & they said it would contain more scenes.

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cham721's review

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dark emotional 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? Yes

2.5

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kaalex12's review

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

The mmc was god awful. The chemistry was non existent and didn’t makeup for the red flags. I only finished it because of the narrator.

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