Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Wicked Beauty

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

crustyplush's review

Go to review page

emotional 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? No

5.0

Content Warnings

meeklovestoread's review

Go to review page

dark funny 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

4.75

Again I'm really surprised at how much I'm enjoying this series. This is my first polyamorous romance, but I knew it was one going in so I didn't really have an issues reading about it. I'm actually surprised at how much I enjoyed their dynamic with one another. I adore Helen and her determination to prove that she is more than a prize to be paraded around. She is more than someone's accessory and her behavior throughout this book showed that. I enjoyed reading her inner monologues about living under her father and her ambivalent relationships with her siblings

Really wish we got more on Hercules though. I'm so curious about his exile and I feel like a talk with him would've really shed light on just how cruel Olympus can be.

. I don't think the book did it on purpose but this book indirectly tackled the detriments pretty privilege has on girls. Honestly, I was rooting for Helen the whole time. I enjoyed witnessing her journey in battling her inner conflicts as well as gaining more confidence in herself and her worth. Also, loved her friendship with Eros. Glad we got little bits of him in here. Literally love him and Psyche (they're my favorite so far)!

I absolutely LOVED and adored Patroclus. I relate to him so much when it comes to being the brains. Always on edge. Always coming up with strategy. Always overthinking. I love his dynamic with Helen so much. The little emotional bits we got between them were so cute. You can tell how much he cares for her, especially through the little small things he does for her. His dynamic with Achilles was interesting for sure; I enjoyed them and their backstory, but sometimes I feel like their relationship wasn't balanced.

Now, Achilles, I liked 65% percent of the time, and the rest of the 35% annoyed me. I think he fits together in the group quite nicely. His rough around the edges persona really bounces greatly off Helen's stubbornness and Patroclus's sensitivity. I really enjoyed the whole enemies-to-lovers banter he and Helen had.

Their first sex scene with one another was EVERYTHING! I'm not ashamed to say that it leaves rent-free in my brain. This is the type of enemies to lovers that I'm talking about. I usually would've been disgusted by something like that, but she had agency and she wanted it just as badly as he did and the consent was very clear. I admired that. It was raunchy, but it worked for them. Oh, and when he literally takes his shirt off and puts it on her so she's not walking around with ripped clothing; I just found that moment so sweet.

I do like how protective he was of her. I like how he helped her realize her strength and I think it was real nice how she was able to lean on him for comfort sometimes. And even before Helen got into the picture I thought his dynamic with Patroclus was great.

However, his pushy ultra-dominant attitude unnerved me. Bedroom persona aside, he was INCREDIBLY pushy; it got on my nerves. He wouldn't listen to them sometimes and was extremely selfish a lot of the time.

Like he wouldn't even let Patroclus have his "moment" with Helen (I hate how I worded that because she is not an object for their/Achille's desire even though he acted like it a lot of the time). I really wish he had an individual love scene with Helen and Patroclus.

His overall possessiveness of them two really bordered the line from sweet to straight-up controlling.

Him literally asking if he could "keep" Helen as if she's a toy he can bend to his whim unnerved me. The scene where he was getting off ordering them around annoyed me so much because I feel like he doesn't view them as equals and let his libido do all the talking for him. I understand he's dominant or whatever, but sometimes his behavior was veering real close to sexual assault and I most DEFINITELY didn't like that. And what makes it worse is that I hear in the epilogue that he literally decides to still keep their relationship open after everything. After literally sacrificing his job to be with Helen (and Patroclus) he still wants an open relationship?! Like what?! I'm sorry but there were moments where I just wanted Helen and Patroclus to get together because Achilles just got on my nerves! Also, it was never explained why Achilles or Patroclus decided to have an open relationship to begin with. Like it was obvious they were head over heels for one another so why not just make things exclusive? It was pretty evident that Achilles was the one mainly sleeping around so it makes me wonder how much he really loved Patroclus. I know I'm thinking critically over a book that isn't meant to be taken seriously, but I honestly can't myself. I'm a true Patroclus in that regard.😅

I just hated how disgusting he could be toward them sometimes (this was pretty prevalent in the later half of the book). Like I can tell he cares for them in his inner monologue but he honestly doesn't know when to step down and just admit that he was wrong or admit that he cares for them. He wants to have his cake and eat it too (he literally says this) and ughhhh it was just too much sometimes. I was honestly waiting for Patroclus to finally to stand up to him and assert some dominance of his own.

I think that's my qualm with these books. They're fun reads (nothing complicated) and I enjoy them, but the characters lack character development a lot of the time and this is especially prominent with Achilles's character. Honestly, he's what kept this book from being five stars for me. Him and a few other things. I like to note that LOVE that consent and safe sex were prioritized in this book. With a relationship like this being careful in every regard is definitely key. I also like how the stakes in this book seemed higher than in the previous two.

The challenges weren't anything crazy at all. And I kinda wished they were, but I know books like this aren't praised because of their effective world-building, but I really do wish it was fleshed out more. That's another thing that keeps me from rating these books five stars. I'm really interested in learning what the state of Olympus will be with this newfound knowledge of the barrier being weak and outsiders being able to come and go much easier than they did before. I hope we get some bits in the next book on how Helen is navigating being the new Ares and the whole power imbalance considering all members of the Kaisos family are one of the Thirteen now.

Despite certain things in this book, I really enjoyed this one! It's my favorite in the series so far and I can't wait to continue it.

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5

Content Warnings

kylasmv15's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

lovepotion's review

Go to review page

emotional medium-paced

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

2.25

The third installment in the Dark Olympus series was a let down for me. The set up had me very intrigued, but as we more into the story, the plot fell flat.

Robert spends a lot telling and not showing in her novels- each new issue in the Dark Olympus series we get a better understanding of the world building and social dynamics. It’s book three, and I’m still wondering how there is a barrier in Olympus and why their citizens can’t leave.

We have a couple outsiders join the cast and I have no understanding how they cross the barrier.

There is a scene where Zeus tells Helen that the barrier is falling, but not much information beyond that. Why is it falling? How is it? Give us more. Maybe we will get answers in book four.

Throughout the novel, our characters are competing as the title as Ares in a series of tournaments. Three different tournaments to determine one winner. The action scenes were so poor, I had such a hard time visualizing the tournament scenes. It felt the author squeezed an over abundance of action verbs into a sequence and called it a day.

I get that this is a romance and an erotica piece of fiction, but this novel would be so much stronger if it was fully fleshed out to its potential. The tournament scenes could have been thrilling, but yet they only lasted a few pages. I felt like author rushed through writing this one, if she really down, and made the work longer. I would have like to see it similar to Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire’s tournament scenes.

Or, instead of doing three tournaments, find a way of narrowing it down to perhaps one? And have that scene a little more longer and dramatic. I felt like both of those ideas would have worked better.

Helen- is our FMC is the prize not to be won. She fighting for her own hand. (I don’t know why, but her energy reminded that scene in that Disney movie, Brave) she is rich girl and wants the prove to the world that she is a lot stronger than she looks. Maybe this is just me, but I’m starting to see a lot of Roberts FMC (in the Dark Olympus Series) all feel a little similar. We have a woman who looking for independence and is trying to escape some kind of arrange marriage, while sticking it to the a family relative and the society of the Thirteen.

Achilles- He was cocky, arrogant, and someone who is way too proud of himself. At times he is hypocritical- (however I didn’t hate this at much because, him being hypocritical was very discussed) he was very much the “brawn” of the team.

He was very much the hot headed and impulsive player in the group, but I didn’t necessarily hate him. Actually I kind of enjoy the flavor he brought into the group. The different energy he had with both Patroclus and Helen was kept me turning the pages. He was soft and gentle to one and hot and a tease to another.

Patroclus- I felt like he was the most underdeveloped out of the three. We did get a back story out him, which was interesting. But beside him being the brain of the team and being more of gentler side. There wasn’t much about him. He didn’t share the same ambitious as Achilles or Helen. I don’t really know his own personal ambitions beside helping Achilles. To be honest, he was labeled not much more as Achilles’ boyfriend.

As the three of them together, I needed more development. I feel like ending was a little abrupt, especially since there was no epilogue. There was a lot of jealousy between the group and it just didn’t seem like it didn’t come to a conclusion.

We keep going over and over with the same repetitious dialogue of the issue of if Helen and Achilles became Ares and how that would affect their relationship. I know Robert can be repetitious, but this seem to drone on and on. If we had less of same dialogue and more a development the actual plot, this would be a stronger book.

The smut in the one may be my personal favorite so far. I will commended the author on that.

There was references or information that called back from the previous novel that wasn’t rehash properly. There was no proper reminder how this information came about. Such as Helen reminding Eros she owes her a favor from Electric Idol. Robert does not remind the author as to why he does.

Overall, the plot idea was definitely there. I wish the author had slow down and prioritized executing more of a plot and then reiterate the same dialogue over and over again.

Content Warnings