Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

These Twisted Bonds by Lexi Ryan

8 reviews

kiwij96's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

This book might actually be the worst book I've ever read. It took me a whole week to read (and I read Priory of the Orange Tree in less time). The absolute lack of a plot until like 300 pages in was honestly painful. The first 300 pages was like every "male" (🤢) telling Brie that she was so gorgeous and that they wanted to kiss her or have sex with her. The lack of consent in this book is outrageous considering that this is a YA romantasy, what is this teaching young people? All the male love interests were just vile. Sebastian being a manipulative gaslighter, Misha being a player, and Finn giving mixed signals all the time. Story literally could have been like 200 pages shorter if you took out all of Brie's internal conflicts and monologues.

Then there was the "oh my god, the children are in danger. Quick, let's participate in a fertility festival and let me gift you a house on the way to see a Priestess who can fix all this". Full offence, but where was the urgency? Then a plot twist finally springs up on around the 300th page, and it finally got interesting. But by this point, I was so sick of every character, and reading Brie's perspective that I just wanted to set fire to the book itself. I persevered and it got me absolute nothing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Torture

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Blood, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, and Death

Minor: Sexual content

kbairbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

I love it, I love it, I love it. I feel so rejuvenated! I couldn’t put this down, I was reading it every second I could and just… freaking loved it. So fun, sexy, magical, enchanting. I think the only thing I’m upset about is that it seems wrapped up lol I want more! I’m feeling a sense of loss that I don’t have more story surroundings these characters! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Torture, Toxic friendship, Classism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Grief, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, War, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, and Miscarriage

thelongroadtosanity's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

"There is only one thing I can trust, and that is that no one can be trusted."

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This book concludes the conflict between the Seelie and Unseelie courts. Abriella discovers that Bash has betrayed her, and flees the Sun Court, wandering the woods until she stumbles upon a work camp for Unseelie prisoners. Freeing those trapped there, and befriending the Wild Fae King, Bri has to overcome her emotions and discover the truth about herself and the power of the Unseelie Court. 

The first book in this Duology has fan-fiction vibes, and that continues on into this story. Towards the end, I definitely felt there was some Throne of Glass overlap. I also struggled with Bri through the entirety of the plot. I felt that she was very, very whiney and annoying and continued to mope about and profess "woe is me, I've been betrayed". It's definitely like that for nearly half the book and I must admit, I would have DNF-ed this solely based on my agitation with Bri's character if I wasn't supposed to be doing a buddy read with coworkers. 

The plot is fast-paced, which did keep my attention, and I enjoyed the action and bits of spice sprinkled throughout Bri's emotional breakdowns. The lore and world-building is more complicated in this, and I felt that it was almost too overwhelming at one point until it was all explained later on in the timeline. Once it all made sense, it peaked my interest. 

I was not a fan of the conclusion. It felt like there was so much build-up to get to this point and then everything happened over what felt like 5 pages and then everything was suddenly fine and dandy again. The small plot twist at the end was a nice surprise, but I wanted more character development from Bash, Bri, and Finn. I suppose you could consider this a "slow-burn" type of romance with an awkward "love-triangle" troupe if you really wanted to. 

Overall, I was slightly disappointed in this Duology. The hype behind the books was so great, especially for those who love SJM, ACOTAR, and TOG (aka ME) but unfortunately for me it just wasn't there. I definitely wanted more from the plot and more from the characters. (07/2023) 

3 out of 5 stars 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

cady_sass's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Very pleasantly surprised. Same as the first it’s a tad repetitive to the point where it’s almost offensive to the reader but ultimately a fun time. Fun duology, no regrets. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Abandonment, Death, Grief, Confinement, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, and Body horror

nicole_thereader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

katvou's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: War, Blood, Drug use, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol and Fire/Fire injury

haley49's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

Compared to the last book this one was super slow. I took week’s getting through that first third of it. It was a lot of build up; however, when it got going it was amazing. The world building, the character relationships, the plot was all so good and worked as an excellent sequel. The twists were even better than the last book!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Blood, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, War, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Minor: Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Homophobia, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, and Genocide

luckylulureads's review

adventurous fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping

For a book labeled YA, it’s pretty spicy at certain points. This takes place between a minor and an immortal fae who is decades older.