Reviews with content warning for War - Scarred

3.5⭐️4🌶️
This book is kind of a hamlet/lion king retelling but again for the never after series, it seems the author is mostly using names and places and vague plot lines. I’d say this plot more strictly adhered to hamlet than hooked did to Peter Pan though. I like this book but I definitely liked hooked better. It’s a slow burn historical romance (light on history, heavy on romance), so all the spice is within the last 40% of the book.

I really liked Tristan’s character, as he’s the kind of morally gray for a good cause that I can get behind! He’s the kind of man who would burn the world or cut off a man’s hand for touching his woman. He’s definitely very possessive. He’s the definition of no grave could hold me down, I’ll crawl home to her. I loved his audiobook narrator as well.

One of the main complaints I have that is I listened along to the audiobook while reading the KU ebook and there are some major differences between the two. Some are minor like sentence structure (which can happen if narrators/editors don’t catch them) but also the ebook completely eliminated 90% of the lion king nods. For example, Tristan calls Simon “little tiger” in the ebook but “little lion” in the audiobook. The very end conflict is COMPLETELY different between the two versions and I’m not sure why?

Maybe the author wanted to have the FMC save the day.

This might be nitpicky but I really didn’t care for the narrator for Sara, I felt like she should’ve had a much deeper voice. She tends to pitch her voice higher, making her sound like a child. (She’s meant to be 21 and Tristan is 26). That might have contributed to my dislike of her character. I really feel like the FMCs in the never after series so far haven’t had much of a personality. I guess you expect that with Wendy, since she doesn’t have a huge personality in the movie, but we keep getting these fleshed out, deep MMCs and then they’re in love with women who have the personality of a fiber cracker. I’m still going to continue with the series but I probably won’t be rereading this one if I ever return to it! Also the extended epilogue available through the author’s website is just okay, you could probably skip that one.

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hannnataco's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense

3.5

Audiobook! I liked this book far more than the first book, HOOKED. Easy to listen to. Found the ending to be just okay though.

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niamhrowanch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

a lot better than the first one and the ending epilogue is so cutesy

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stephliljazz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

Another great and smutty book in the Never After Series. It never fails to make me smile when the villain gets their happy ending. Finding out the hero was not so heroic after all makes you love the villain that much more. This fractured fairy tale retelling of Lion King is amazing. The scarred prince and the mad king facing off throughout the book just further proves there are two sides to every story.
A few of my favorites quotes from the book...
"His tone is deep. As if it was made in hell, then woven through silk. A gentle caress that singes your senses."
"That's the difference between me and other people. They run away from the bad things, and I become them."
"But our strength is impatience. In planning. That is what topples empires. Together we rule, divided we fall."
"Death inevitably changes you. "
"I'll be damned if this woman wasn't molded in the heavens and plucked from the sky just for me. "

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lizzie_isms's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.5

Hooked was enjoyable, but it's nothing compared to Scarred. I think the key difference is that Sara is almost as ambitious and dark as Tristan, they really feel like equals and somehow make each other better.

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libbyyjo's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.0

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secretlybatman4's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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