Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Painted Scars by Neva Altaj

9 reviews

dunndiggity's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

I am blown away with how much I loved this book. The plot, the characters, the dialogue, hell even the little chihuahua all completely impressed me. There are some darker themes but it’s a morally neutral grey and Roman is SO HOT.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Body horror, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Slavery, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Vomit

abicaro17's review

dark emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.5

I love Roman and Ninas banter omg!!! Nina, is an artist who is blackmailed into marrying the head of the Russian mafia after her father embezzled 3 million dollars. Roman, is the leader of the Russian mob who is learning how to walk after an explosion that destroyed his knee. I love this book. I was kicking my feet and giggling the whole time. My only issue is the whole "Nina is like a sprite she's so small" thing. It's weird anytime an author does this and Nina is not an exception unfortunately. Otherwise the banter, plot, and conclusion were all awesome and it was a fun read overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Body horror, Gun violence, Stalking, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Torture, Medical content, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body shaming, War, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Grief

mmz19's review

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, and Car accident

Minor: Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

threeundertwopnw's review

dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.0

A quick novella. Not really enemies to lovers, more like strangers to lovers or forced marriage. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Ableism, Sexual content, Blood, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Car accident

lillithstorm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

dovahkiin_shea's review

dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse and Torture

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

drishthings's review

3.5

felt too rushed we didn’t get much of ninas past
i liked roman tho

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Panic attacks/disorders

r1vana's review

fast-paced

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

3.75

A not-so-dark mafia arranged/forced marriage between a mob and an artist.

Tropes: arrange marriage and forced proximity-ish?

I really enjoyed the first 75% of the story but at the end, it kinda went downhill…with the cliché “scared to be married and in love with a murderer”… when the FMC obviously knew that he is in the mafia and murders people. Again, she saw someone getting murder but still….

Nina is forced to be married for six months with Roman Petrov because her father stole over thousands of dollars from him. 

Roman, on the other hand, got his knees shattered by two unknowns “fake allies”. He has been moving around with a wheelchair and has been taking physical therapy to get better. 
One of his right hand, suggested him to get married because due to his condition, he is shown as weak. So, he decides to fixates a temporary marriage with the man’s daughter who stole his money. Nina reluctantly agrees in order to protect her father and herself since Roman threatened to kill them both. 

I really enjoyed that we see a MMC that has a disability and is still able to scare other people (he is not scary but he scares his rivals quite well…)
I enjoyed both Nina and Roman’s chemistry. Though, I wished we had more of it because at the end, it felt like I read an instalove story. And for a mafia book, it wasn’t as spicey as I expected.

One thing I don’t like is how the MC’s always talk about size differences and how MMC can easily lift FMC up in his “big strong arms/biceps”. The amount of time I eyerolled… and Roman is a red flag… that I like very much.
Nonetheless, I will be definitely read the other books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Drug use

Moderate: Physical abuse

andeng's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Body horror, and Panic attacks/disorders