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elisabeth_w3's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Blood, and Death of parent
lizcrg's review
<Spoiler> Nowhere in the description does it say that this book is Reverse Harem. There are seven partners and one woman, who they all view as something for sex. This book also has so much sex that it overshadows the plot and the story line of the book. <Spoiler>
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, and Alcohol
readingwithfefe's review
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
1st person/multi pov
Spice: 10/5 š„š„š„š„š„
WTAF DID I JUST READ? š³
Another wild AF ride from KA Knight thatās what! š
If you want vampires, if you want blood (and I mean LOTS of it), if you want revenge, if you want a fully thought-out storyline, and if you want loads of spice - this right here is your book! I will āattemptā to explain without rambling on but you have to understand there is just so much packed into this story itās hard not to!
So the plot is so different from any other vampire book Iāve ever read. Itās got some of your typical vampire elements in it of course but there are several unique additions to how the vampire world works and what their capabilities are. I found it refreshing to have all these vampires that are all their own and did not feel like a carbon copy of other books. You get a good bit of back story at the beginning and then things shift as we find our FMC in the present day dealing with the aftermath of the chain of events that led her there. Here we are introduced to seven new characters, seven vampire men who take this story from interesting to ādid I just read what I think I didā in a matter of minutes. And the spice that comes along with them is INSANE! š Haha in more ways than one. š
I have never in my life read any smut like thisā¦ I mean for starters Iām having difficulty recalling a vampire book that had this much bl00dplay in it and thatās saying something all on its own right there haha. But I loved every drop of it so kudos Katie. Then thereās the amount - whew lord! You might have almost 10% of the whole book that doesnāt have some sort of spicy scene in itā¦ Maybe. Cause yea at a certain point itās like every single chapter until practically the epilogue lol. But I will say the storyline does advance along with it so itās not like it just leaves you hanging in the wind while the characters spend all their time getting it on. I am going to admit though that as I got closer to the end of the book I may have started skimming some of those scenes that seemed to be similar to others within the book. Some of the repetitiveness just didnāt hold my attention quite like it did the first time so I didnāt spend a lot of time focusing on what was going down in those handful of moments. None of that is important thoughā¦ not compared to the level of, gah whatās the word to even describe what Iām trying to say here, deviant (maybe?) scenes that played out before my internal eyes.
Look, while Iām new to the monster smut world, I definitely donāt hate it. But this here haha this had me all up in my head trying to figure out how I felt about it. I just havenāt read something that made me cringe, pant, and question myself quite like a few of these scenes did. I have to give Katie props because thereās no way in hell Iād ever be brave enough to write some of the things she did in here. Of course, the whole time I was sitting there reading I was peeking through my fingers because I couldnāt physically read it any other way. š«£ Do I regret it? Not even a little bit. To all those who can read smut with a poker face donāt be shocked if this book is your exception to that talent cause I honestly donāt know how someone could sit through the wilder spicy scenes with a straight face lol. š¤£
Oh, and I canāt remember if it was ever mentioned in any of the teasers but there was a tad of MM action within the group and boy oh boy was I crossing my fingers for more of that up until the last page. So had there been, I possibly wouldnāt have skimmed those few scenes I did. Like I really would have loved to see more of it during group scenes because hot dayum it was fantastic when I got it!
The characters however were the best part of this whole book. They were exceptional and all so different. Our FMC Althea starts off not necessarily weak but not in a great place. She turns down a dark path only to be saved by these seven men and once she is her whole personality explodes into her best self. She becomes so comfortable in her own skin and her confidence is steadily on the rise. Not to mention she turns out to be a complete bad @s$! Which if youāve read any of Katieās books before you already know to expect her FMC to be a bad MF - just saying. Which drives our guys wild with need.
When it comes to them youāve got all these different backstories that made them who they are now. Each one as tragic as the one before. Each guy played a role within the group dynamics perfectly and their unique powers as well as their individual pasts and knowledge played an important role at certain points within the story. It made the mystery behind them unfold quite well in my opinion. Like you got to know a little bit more about them along the way while your love for them grew with each new layer that was peeled back. Their love and loyalty to each other was just the icing on the cake because that intense bond of found family they brought with them is impossible to not gush over. And of course, you canāt expect to have a group of guys like that without some good banter and quite a few laughs.
In the grand scheme of things, I enjoyed this book immensely. Could it have been a tad shorter? Yea, maybe just a little bit. Could some of the spice have been removed because it didnāt really have to be there? Possibly a few scenes. But the way it made me feel to read this, the laughs and joy and even a few tears here and there is what made it worth 5 stars in my book. The entertainment factor was just through the roof. If you have an open mind or are hardly bothered by some of the more out-of-the-box content out there then youāll love this book.
*If you have any triggers - I mean absolutely ANY at all you should not skip over the content warnings for this one trust me! I highly recommend going in blind but only if you think you can handle anything. Otherwise yea that list is a must-read first.
So enjoy.
Welcome to the Court of Nightmares. š
Spice: 10/5 š„š„š„š„š„
WTAF DID I JUST READ? š³
Another wild AF ride from KA Knight thatās what! š
If you want vampires, if you want blood (and I mean LOTS of it), if you want revenge, if you want a fully thought-out storyline, and if you want loads of spice - this right here is your book! I will āattemptā to explain without rambling on but you have to understand there is just so much packed into this story itās hard not to!
So the plot is so different from any other vampire book Iāve ever read. Itās got some of your typical vampire elements in it of course but there are several unique additions to how the vampire world works and what their capabilities are. I found it refreshing to have all these vampires that are all their own and did not feel like a carbon copy of other books. You get a good bit of back story at the beginning and then things shift as we find our FMC in the present day dealing with the aftermath of the chain of events that led her there. Here we are introduced to seven new characters, seven vampire men who take this story from interesting to ādid I just read what I think I didā in a matter of minutes. And the spice that comes along with them is INSANE! š Haha in more ways than one. š
I have never in my life read any smut like thisā¦ I mean for starters Iām having difficulty recalling a vampire book that had this much bl00dplay in it and thatās saying something all on its own right there haha. But I loved every drop of it so kudos Katie. Then thereās the amount - whew lord! You might have almost 10% of the whole book that doesnāt have some sort of spicy scene in itā¦ Maybe. Cause yea at a certain point itās like every single chapter until practically the epilogue lol. But I will say the storyline does advance along with it so itās not like it just leaves you hanging in the wind while the characters spend all their time getting it on. I am going to admit though that as I got closer to the end of the book I may have started skimming some of those scenes that seemed to be similar to others within the book. Some of the repetitiveness just didnāt hold my attention quite like it did the first time so I didnāt spend a lot of time focusing on what was going down in those handful of moments. None of that is important thoughā¦ not compared to the level of, gah whatās the word to even describe what Iām trying to say here, deviant (maybe?) scenes that played out before my internal eyes.
Look, while Iām new to the monster smut world, I definitely donāt hate it. But this here haha this had me all up in my head trying to figure out how I felt about it. I just havenāt read something that made me cringe, pant, and question myself quite like a few of these scenes did. I have to give Katie props because thereās no way in hell Iād ever be brave enough to write some of the things she did in here. Of course, the whole time I was sitting there reading I was peeking through my fingers because I couldnāt physically read it any other way. š«£ Do I regret it? Not even a little bit. To all those who can read smut with a poker face donāt be shocked if this book is your exception to that talent cause I honestly donāt know how someone could sit through the wilder spicy scenes with a straight face lol. š¤£
Oh, and I canāt remember if it was ever mentioned in any of the teasers but there was a tad of MM action within the group and boy oh boy was I crossing my fingers for more of that up until the last page. So had there been, I possibly wouldnāt have skimmed those few scenes I did. Like I really would have loved to see more of it during group scenes because hot dayum it was fantastic when I got it!
The characters however were the best part of this whole book. They were exceptional and all so different. Our FMC Althea starts off not necessarily weak but not in a great place. She turns down a dark path only to be saved by these seven men and once she is her whole personality explodes into her best self. She becomes so comfortable in her own skin and her confidence is steadily on the rise. Not to mention she turns out to be a complete bad @s$! Which if youāve read any of Katieās books before you already know to expect her FMC to be a bad MF - just saying. Which drives our guys wild with need.
When it comes to them youāve got all these different backstories that made them who they are now. Each one as tragic as the one before. Each guy played a role within the group dynamics perfectly and their unique powers as well as their individual pasts and knowledge played an important role at certain points within the story. It made the mystery behind them unfold quite well in my opinion. Like you got to know a little bit more about them along the way while your love for them grew with each new layer that was peeled back. Their love and loyalty to each other was just the icing on the cake because that intense bond of found family they brought with them is impossible to not gush over. And of course, you canāt expect to have a group of guys like that without some good banter and quite a few laughs.
In the grand scheme of things, I enjoyed this book immensely. Could it have been a tad shorter? Yea, maybe just a little bit. Could some of the spice have been removed because it didnāt really have to be there? Possibly a few scenes. But the way it made me feel to read this, the laughs and joy and even a few tears here and there is what made it worth 5 stars in my book. The entertainment factor was just through the roof. If you have an open mind or are hardly bothered by some of the more out-of-the-box content out there then youāll love this book.
*If you have any triggers - I mean absolutely ANY at all you should not skip over the content warnings for this one trust me! I highly recommend going in blind but only if you think you can handle anything. Otherwise yea that list is a must-read first.
So enjoy.
Welcome to the Court of Nightmares. š
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder