Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian

15 reviews

attolis's review against another edition

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual violence

cameronmh's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Cursing

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Classism, and Misogyny

Almost all of the negative content is in the past. Marion has escaped (

at least by the second chapter when she kills him

) a toxic relationship, which is where a solid half the CWs come from. Most of the violence is during the book, and there is lots of very consensual sexual content, but all of the pregnancy and sexual abuse stuff is in the past. The whole thing is a big hurt/comfort fanfiction, basically.

kshertz's review

adventurous inspiring lighthearted 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? No

4.75

This is such a cute sequel. I probably like it more than the first book which is so hard to do. But Marian is just such a bad ass. Robs absolute obsession with her was sooo sexy. I definitely loved their chemistry and banter. I was confused why Marian was so easy forgiven for just disappearing so that’s why it’s not 5 stars. But it’s excellent, couldn’t put it down! Read it!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Death

the_crooked_neighbor's review

adventurous lighthearted 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? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this book. Was it revolutionary? No. Was it a feel-good read that had me blushing the whole way through? Absolutely. It was delightful to continue in this series (would not recommend as a stand-alone) and have such a similar vibe to a book I loved last year while having an engaging and new storyline. I really hope we get at least one more book in this series even though I feel like the ending did leave me satisfied. Great book- will most assuredly read again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

wilybooklover's review

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

Ahhh, the Robin Hood references! I grew up about half an hour from Sherwood Forest and it’s always been one of my favourite legends, so I’m delighted to see the parallels in this story. 

Rob’s blackmail letters to Marian soon turn into love letters, and his infatuation with her grows after she drugs him and ties him up only to ask for his help when she accidentally murders her husband. I just loved their dynamic; Rob’s laidback golden retriever nature versus Marian’s mean and prickly personality. He basically follows her around with heart eyes for the whole book (although briefly distracted by adorable kittens). Both Rob and Marian are bisexual disasters, and their interactions and relationship feel realistically queer. 

The sex scenes were so well-done. Marian’s dislike of penetration isn’t treated as something to ‘fix’, or as though something is wrong with her. Instead they just work around it and find other sexy things to do together! It’s such a rare thing to see portrayed neutrally in a romance novel.

There were some great nuanced conversations about ethics in this — about having money, about stealing money, about murder, about motherhood — but they didn’t feel intrusive or unnatural to the narrative. The dialogue is as witty and clever as it was in Kit Webb.  

I will admit I was a bit weirded out at Rob being the half-brother of Marian’s daughter and the son of her deceased husband, especially since he kept that info from her for longer than he really should have. But it didn’t bother me enough to impact my enjoyment of the story! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Dementia

Moderate: Pregnancy and Confinement

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Rape, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Emotional abuse

beccaand's review

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted 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: Sexual content, Gun violence, Blood, Dementia, and Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

kers_tin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Dementia

Moderate: Murder, Violence, and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

imds's review

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Dementia, Abandonment, Death, Sexual violence, Confinement, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Death of parent

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is officially vying with The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics to be my favorite historical romance.

Here are some general things that I enjoyed:

• Bisexual Robin Hood
• Georgian setting (I’m getting really sick of most historical romances I read being Regency)
• Cat
• Kittens
• Discussions of privilege and money and how to use wealth for good
• Stealing from bad people
• Horses
• Classics
• Rob and Marian are very enjoyable characters and I very much enjoyed them together

Sex- and relationship-specific things that I liked:

• This is the first romance I’ve read between a cis man and a cis woman where PIV sex was not part of the equation
• And they had a LOT of sex of all sorts of varieties
• Rob’s general subbiness was fun
• I loved the way they negotiated consent and talked things through
• Great handling of both characters’ bisexuality but especially Rob’s

Things that I didn’t like as much:

• Does Rob inherently have a stepmom thing because of this book? Also what is he to Eliza because oh god the family situation is convoluted as fuck
• This book was really bad at locations. I felt like I never knew where the characters were until halfway through a scene and I’m not really sure what went wrong there 

I liked this more than book one and would read more books featuring this band of chaotic queer highwaymen. If Betty doesn’t get her own book with a sapphic love interest I will riot (please Cat Sebastian, prove that you are capable of writing a full novel that’s sapphic. I believe in you and will like you less if you don’t).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia and Gun violence

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Blood

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Sexual violence

the_vegan_bookworm's review

adventurous lighthearted slow-paced

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

2.75

Though I like Rob and Marian separately as characters, the dynamic of the two of them together was kind of boring for me.  The plot also dragged so I ultimately had no clear sense of where the story was going or what I was waiting for, which gave me the impression of the book's pace being very slow. 

I did appreciate Marian's backstory of trauma and how the author worked that into the sexual scenes thoughtfully and with boundary-oriented solutions (without undoing the established boundaries, which often happens in romance stories with trauma-related boundaries).  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Murder, Death, Blood, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

Minor: Pregnancy