Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Scarred

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Scarred by Emily McIntire

15 reviews

thepeculiarlibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

not as edge-of-your-seat as hooked but still up there

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marucchiato's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.0

This was... Meh. Way darker than the first book to the series, Hooked. Obviously the spicy scenes are good, but the rest of it was kinda boring. Please read trigger warnings before picking up this book and honestly any book in this series.

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colorcrystals's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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kiwij96's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

As much as I love reading Emily McIntire's books, this one is so far not my favourite. I love the way that McIntire reveals more backstory about her characters as the story continues, and there was a dark mystery to this one with lots of plot twists. However, the main characters were kind if unbearable at times. Their whole personalities just felt like completely two dimensional with their only internal monologue being about murder and sex. I did love the references to the Lion King though, that was very well done and for the most part I understood them.

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elledanie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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abbyh1011's review against another edition

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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? Yes

4.5

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angelofthetardis's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

All I knew about this one going in was that it was supposed to be a dark "retelling" of Hamlet. But I couldn't figure out how it would work, as no-one gets a happily ever after in the original! So I was drawn into this from page one.

Honestly, if I hadn't been given the heads up I would never have put two and two together. It's only when I'm thinking about it after the fact I can start to see the resemblance, and recognise that this version isn't being told from 'Hamlet's' point of view, which I think is what threw me off. Instead, our lead character, Tristan, takes the part of Claudius; the dark, embittered younger brother with designs on the Crown and all that comes with it. His character is mesmerising, and something straight out of bad boy central casting. He's not my usual visualisation for an MMC, but in this case from the first description of him I could only picture Tom Hiddleston playing him. Which meant that his older brother, King Michael, was of course 'played' by Chris Hemsworth...

The contrast between the FMC, Sara, in this and Wendy in 'Hooked' is quite stark. As mentioned in my review of that book, I found Wendy to be lacking in depth, but that's definitely not the case with Sara. Although ultimately under the influence of various men, she is strong enough to stand as equals amongst them, has her own agency and brings her own ruthlessness to the story. There's no wondering how she can stand by someone with such a dark streak; she matches him perfectly.

With the Never After series comes smut, and these scenes match the tone of the rest of the book. The 'action' is not for the faint-hearted, but sadly I don't think the writing is quite hard-hitting enough to properly convey the dynamics of this part of the relationship. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it's missing something that I can't quite identify that would take it from 'it's a bit warm in here...' to supernova.

However, outside of that the writing and story is as engaging and clever as 'Hooked', if a little more restricted by the setting. Princesses and balls don't quite allow the same scope for exploration of space and character that the seedy underworld of a big city does. But there are some beautiful moments where the author really does weave a spell with her words; particularly in those quiet moments between two characters, whether it be our protagonists, father and son, Prince and pauper. That's where her real skill lies; she allows the chinks of light in a dark character burn bright, and by doing so gives them the humanity they need for the reader to root for them.

And once again there's an extra epilogue for those who subscribe to the author's mailing list! Again, it doesn't really add a whole lot, it's just an excuse for a bit more of the same and the author's way of showing that's she's kept her promise to give the villain his happily ever after, but there's nothing wrong with an extra freebie!

On to the next one!

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