Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Devil of Dublin by BB Easton

3 reviews

dreamypageturner's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Domestic abuse, Death, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Child death, Misogyny, Gore, Cursing, Confinement, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Body horror, Blood, Pregnancy, Bullying, Violence, Incest, Grief, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Torture, Self harm, Car accident, and Drug abuse

Minor: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

lillygabriella's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Heed the warning! If you like thrillers and crime stuff and also romance, you probably won't have a problem with the dark elements of this book.  Now without getting too spoilery (I hope) the relationship part isn't what's dark, but some things that happen to and around our main characters are.  So be advised. I'll tag some trigger warnings when I am done writing this review.

So Darby is awesome and I love her. And Kellan is great and should have all the good things, especially Darby.  This is the best romance I have read so far this year.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Murder, Pedophilia, Blood, Grief, and Child abuse

Minor: Kidnapping, Vomit, Cursing, Torture, Trafficking, Self harm, Car accident, Animal death, and Cancer

weelasswithabook's review

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

 

CW: religious fanatacism, religious trauma, child neglect, violent child abuse, deaths of loved ones, cancer, grief, attempted rape, domestic violence, murder, CSA

⭐ Mafia romance
⭐ Magical realism
⭐ Childhood friends to lovers

🌈 C-PTSD representation

Oh the struggles I've had rating this one. This might be the strangest combination of genres I've came across so far. The juxtaposition between the first and second half was so jarring that I felt I was reading two different books, or the same story but in two separate subgenres.

The first half of the book is set in the MMC and FMC's childhood and it very much fits into the gothicky, dark, magical realism, haunting subgenre of romance. The setting was absolute perfection, set in rural Ireland with Celtic mythology and Irish folklore being a great influence on the story. The first half of the book was more than worthy of 5 ⭐s

The second half of the book is a mafia romance (albeit there are still some threads of the magical realism in the second half although nowhere near as prominent). I felt like the mafia aspect fell a bit flat and the progression of Kellen's character could've been more successful in a different format than joining the mafia. It still worked, but with the opener of the story as it was, it felt sort of jarring to end up in the mafia world.

One thing I will say, is the character work itself in the book was great. Kellen had an abusive childhood, Darby had an abusive adulthood, so both had shared trauma that they helped each other heal from. This played out well throughout the course of the book, however again I think this could've been done more effectively without the mafia aspect and more focus on the two characters as opposed to splitting the time between the action and intricacies of a mafia plot and the character's healing.

The way Kellen's abusive childhood played out was upsetting to read, but I feel like the way he was as a character really summed up the sheer despair that comes with growing up in an abusive setting. At their initial meeting, he is mute and has never experienced any kindness whatsoever in his life and that ripped my heart to shreds. To see him begin to trust and form a friendship with Darby as children in this mystical setting was honestly one of the best parts of the book, it was just beautiful to see unfold.

I know that this probably sounds like a negative review, but I genuinely did enjoy this book, I merely found frustration in how the book had been put together. Combining mafia and magical realism/folklore seems like a huge risk, and tbh it paid off as a whole because the reviews I've read so far have been great. I just don't know that the combination worked 100% for me personally.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Mental illness, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Bullying, Cancer, Pedophilia, and Rape

Minor: Kidnapping, Medical content, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Addiction, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Alcohol, and Child death