Reviews with content warning for Violence - Sea of Ruin

Where do i begin with this...?

A few of my mates said this book was really triggering, a dark romance that was super dark so yes, i read it to find out what the fuss was about. What can i say, sucker for punishment! Ha!

So, Sea of Ruin had a promising start. Well written, engaging FMC with a touching back story and of course it was about pirates! All in all, a good smut rec to start but unfortunately everything after chapter 3 was an endless smut fest with no rhyme or reason for the excessive actions that took place.

Bennett, while a forceful and rebellious character at the start which was endearing and at a point life saving, by the end of the book was extremely annoying. It is not smart to run your mouth in the company of forty pirates who've not seen a woman in a reallly long time and are emphatically telling you what theyre going to do to you without your consent...

(Minor Spoilers here:) This incident aside - which involves some unnecessary and disgusting finger violations - there is a lot of mention of rxpe in this book. While there is only one instance of this actually taking place which we were thankfully saved from any truly explicit description, there was always the threat of rxpe at every corner. One of the standout issues for me is after she is abused, the love interest tells her that she has never looked more beautiful then in that moment because she was brave and endured her ordeal. Please note that she is tied down and naked at this point and this...arouses him?! WTF?!
What makes matters even worse is that she welcomes the attraction and is also aroused. This makes absolutely no effing sense!!! Why would you want rough - he's a spanker and bootyhole invader - after having been violated for two weeks?!

My issue with this entire book more so than the triggering and largely unnecessary content was how accepting the FMC was about her ordeals. There was never any questioning about the actions of those around her, instead telling herself to constantly endure and breathe through.
I found this vile and largely disrespectful to people who have been through such things.

It gets one star for the writing, the author really knows about pirate ships and terminology and there were some very emotional passages that i found interesting. Outside of this its sexually explicit and violent for absolutely no reason and plot choices make no sense.

Content Warnings

cgn's review against another edition

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4.75

This book managed to keep me captivated into the wee hours of the morning even when I was distracted by life stress. It was gripping and sexy and exactly what I hoped for. Mind the trigger warnings

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alilbitofeveryth1ng's review against another edition

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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? No

5.0

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mavandyne's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

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explikated's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

4.25

Note: this is a very very dark book, much more so than the cover or description would signal. And in my opinion the trigger warnings are not called out clearly enough (or really at all) at the start of the book. I enjoyed the book because I came to really care about the characters, but there is a lot of explicit sexual assault, rape, and violence.

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