Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Sea of Ruin by Pam Godwin

58 reviews

littlemaggiemae's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Fire/Fire injury

sarahjscott's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

CW/TW for this book: Infidelity, Sexual Assault from both villains and love interests, Noncon, Dubcon, repeated graphic descriptions of Rape, Physical Assault and Torture against women. 

This was not a book. It was torture porn. The insanely gratuitous violence committed against this female character was disgusting. I read books almost exclusively by female authors because for the most part they write good stories about women. This was not that. This was scene after scene of a what should have been a strong female lead facing trials and tribulations to come out the other side stronger however those trials and tribulations started with repeated sexual assault not only by the villains but by one of the love interests. Continued with truly graphic descriptions of rape and torture bringing her to the point of death countless times only to have the men ‘save’ her and do it all over again. All of this pain then leading to the main character choosing to forgive her adulterating husband and rapist disguised as a Dom lover because what they did didn’t seem as bad as everything else she went through….I don’t even know how to explain how upsetting that was. 

I was under the impression that this would be a mfm romance but in a Pirates of the Caribbean setting, I added to my tbr because it was recommended on Booktok but no one mentioned just how many triggering themes were in this book. I’m just at a loss for what I was supposed to enjoy. I wanted to read a book about an awesome badass female pirate and her two lovers who would love and protect her above all else. This was not that. 

I wish that more authors would put content warnings on their books because if I knew them I wouldn’t have bothered reading it. We have rating systems for tv and movies and trigger warnings before the episode or movie. Why have we not adopted this practice with books? I know what I don’t like to read because it effects my mental health and if this had any kind of content warnings then I would have been able to steer clear of it. Unfortunately any new reader has to read all the comments to find out if there are triggering themes. This also leads to spoilers so either way the reader is at a disadvantage. I’m very disappointed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture

Moderate: Infidelity

alyssa_dorene's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Blood

Moderate: Slavery and Colonisation

Minor: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

my_corner_of_the_library's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? No

4.75

After my read of To Kill A Kingdom I found myself really craving a sexy, magical pirate story. I wanted Pirates of the Caribbean meets smut…that’s how I found this book, and oh boy…I DEVOURED EVERY PAGE. 

Is this my favorite book of all time with absolutely no criticism? Not at all. But, did I love every page and did it fill my need for such a book? YES. 

So what did I love? A strong, sassy, MC who is fierce and not afraid to be the badass she is. A tall dark and handsome love interest that is smooth talking with eyes for only our MC and will slay the world to get her back. A loyal crew that is more like friends that stand by our MC through the worst of times without question. A second love interest that is poised and beautiful that falls apart for no one else. 

What didn’t I love? Well…
I hate talking bad about this book, but there were things I wasn’t a fan of. The biggest one would be Bennet’s time on the HMS Blitz. I was so looking forward to watching how Bennet navigated being part of ship that wasn’t hers and had such a different culture, but instead we spent literally the entire time in the bedroom obsessing over sex. Now I am as horny as the next smut reader, but it just seemed like too much and really started to feel repetitive and like I was missing out on any plot during that time. 

Also…I understand this was a smutty book, and I went into it with the expectations of there being a lot…but the entire plot revolved around sex, and by the end it started to feel like too much. How is it possible that throughout the entire time of this book and every situation Bennet found herself in the one and only focus and solution to any problem was sex?

Need information? Seduce, repeatedly. 
Get captured? Immediate SA attempt. 
Saved from SA attempt and need an escape plan? Seduce
Taken to another ship? Repeatedly assaulted. 
Saved from ship? Reward with sex.
Need another escape plan? Sex. 

And that’s like…only half the book. I just felt that there could have been some other focus in the book instead of everything revolving around sex.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Slavery, Trafficking, and Injury/Injury detail

30something_reads's review against another edition

4.5

4.5 ⭐ This was a wild read for me. I went in to this one totally blind. My thought process was literally, "Wow this is pretty," and "Oooh look pirates!" and I honestly had a great time

BUT here is the thing. This book is DARK and angsty. I was not anticipating a dark historical romance just based off the cover and description so some of this story was pretty shocking as I was going through it. LOTS of trigger warnings needed for violence, suicide, sexual abuse, rape, gore - SO MANY THINGS!!! So.... as long as you are going into this knowing ALLLLL of that - this is a really good read. 

It's the 1700s and Bennett Sharp is a badass lady pirate captain out there sticking it to the Royal Navy and slaver ships.
Her love interests are: 
Priest Farrell. Another badass pirate rake who has spent the past 2 years hunting her down for reasons. 
and Ashley Culter. Commodore for the English Navy and successful pirate hunter.

WHEW the steamy tension and spicy spice throughout this book is excellent. 

And I was VERY much appreciative of their HEA - much needed after all of the darkness in this book. YEESH.

My only real complaint was the inclusion of the rape scenes as a plot device. I think we could have gotten to the same end without it. Same for the one scene between Bennett and Ashley that moved into the nonconsensual territory. - - again, dark dark VERY dark and angsty - - but overall had a really good time with the story and the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

atgcbooks23's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

adhara13's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

About one of the rape scenes:

the main character is raped by (one of) her love interests and this isn't presented as wrong (not even considered as rape within the story) because her rapist regrets it and she's in love with him.

ameliajag's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

vero_lee's review against another edition

A+ for effort. unfortunately, this isn’t my cup of tea. I couldn’t even bring myself to finish it.

 I highly recommend skipping the first five chapters, minimum.

I understand it’s a pirate story, so violence should be expected. However, I thought the amount of rape and torture was too much. Gratuitous, even.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Misogyny, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Murder, and War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Colonisation

STOCKHOLM SYNDROME TW: what i listed Spoilers all the way down Bruh. She’s a respected captain, but only on her ship. And that spans only a handful of chapters. Beyond that, she’s a captive with no rights. She endures a god awful amount of trauma, from beginning to end. 14 years old. Orphaned. Sexually assaulted and beaten by her 40-something fiancé because her mother practiced sold her so they could return to proper society. Her mother, who was portrayed to be cold and abusive, had a mini redemption arc until she literally threw herself off a cliff. I can’t even begin to describe what else transpires. it’s definitely a lot.

elishaj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

A Pirate Erotica. 
I completely,fell in love w both love interest. 
I felt every pain  the protagonist went through but her heart was her greatest enemy & her best asset. Her love has no borders and it’s so true and that was the driving force of the book. 
I did not expect the plot twist but it was a definitely a   surprise.
At times reading this book was extremely difficult but the author is talented. And I admire that she was able to tell this whole story in one book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment