Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Beauty's Release by Anne Rice, A.N. Roquelaure

1 review

aravenclawlibraryx's review

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dark medium-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Ah, this series. Truly a series not for the faint of heart or for those easily offended/triggered by extremely sensitive topics that I mentioned in my trigger warning section above. This book in particular was no exception. It is chock full of depravity and incredibly intense sexual scenes. I’d wager that has probably the most amount of depravity in the series thus far. The sexual scenes were incredibly scorching. Everything was just on fire in this book. 

Most of the book is told through Laurent, who if I am being honest, is someone I didn’t quite remember. I believe he was a minor character in the first two books. But it had also been quite a period of time between reading the first two books and reading this one. I don’t have a very good memory. He had quite a bit of character growth from naughty slave to Master in a short amount of time, though. It was actually quite impressive and I enjoyed reading from his perspective because he wasn’t whiny, unlike the other main character. Even though I still don’t remember what part he played in the first two books. 

You would think that after how long she had been a pleasure slave, Beauty would have grown a thicker skin by now. But no, she still continues to be incredibly whiny most of the time. Maybe I’m being heartless. After all, she didn’t ask to be a slave. She didn’t ask to be taken from her home. But, she has expressed in previous books that she actually enjoys being a pleasure slave and loves the thrill of it. So I guess I’m at a loss as to why she behaved the way she did in this book. It just got under my skin after a while. But besides her being whiny, I enjoyed her story. I just wish there was more character growth from her. 

Okay. Let me clear up the elephant in the room. So I know this series and this book in general isn’t super great in terms of the fact that the two main characters are pleasure slaves and basically are raped repeatedly. Okay, it isn’t great at all, if I am being totally honest. But one of the things that is positive about this book (if you want to look at the bright side of everything) is how open everyone is in terms of sexuality. Sure, everyone has their preferences but no one judges the other for their preferences. If you prefer males as a male yourself, then so be it. The Queen’s kingdom is incredibly open in that aspect. But yes, I am aware of the fact that there is rape and slavery happening. I get that. I certainly don’t encourage it at all. I am just letting you all know that I am aware that there is incredibly graphic scenes in this book. 

Overall, I enjoyed the heck out of this book. I currently (well I did have the last book at the time of writing this review) have the last book waiting for me to read on my Kindle. I can’t wait to see how Anne Rice ends this series. I will be sad but I’m so happy to have found this series, even if the main character frustrates me to no end. I recommend this book but only to those 18 and older. It just has too much graphicness for anyone under 18. I also recommend this book but only if you can handle what I mentioned in the trigger warnings section. Remember to practice healthy mental health steps while reading this book because it will get to you. 


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