Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Awakening by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham

39 reviews

midnacine's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Overall, I enjoyed this! The story was interesting and engaging, the world building was pretty intense and unique, and the little bit of spice was enticing.
But goddamn, getting past the poor writing was a struggle. About 100 pages in, the only way for me to continue was to start annotating just so I could edit as I read. I restructured sentences, corrected grammar and spelling, and added punctuation where necessary. It honestly felt like no one but the authors read through the book before sending it out to print. And don't even get me started on the fact that Tory and Darcy- two 18-year-old girls who were supposed to have grown up in the US- used terms like "sports kit" and "postie", which are very British terms.
But again, I enjoyed it. So am I gonna read the rest of the series, no matter how infuriating it is? Absolutely.

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phdoyle's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.25


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allisonbraun's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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lestie4short's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5


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zanazy's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I finally caved in and decide to read this much-hyped book series. The setting in a prep academy, the twins, the overly hot boys… I seriously thought this was headed for disaster. I found myself pleasantly surprised if not also annoyed. This was also a fairly quick read. Let’s get some things out of the way…. This is classified as a bully romance which I didn’t know was a thing until recently. I was warned by a friend who DNF and the general YA/NA book community that this book/series would be hard so I was prepared for the worst. 

Perhaps this says too much about my upbringing and life experience yet I’ll admit, I didn’t find the bullying to be off putting and it was not until the end that I felt its impact. That said, there is a ton of bullying done through the whole book so if that’s not your thing… be warned. It’s beyond mean girls and crosses a lot of lines. Physical and emotional bullying/abuse is hard to read and there is a lot in this story. Underneath the bullying there is some plot driven acts that add to the mystery.

I haven’t read much on this series, but already, I have some theories and suspicious people that I don’t think are supposed to be obvious…yet. We’ll see how that goes. 

The Vega sisters are walking contradictions and frustrate me… especially because they walk right into too many traps that are screaming DON’T. Their sisterly bond and love for each other is admirable and one of my favorite parts. For that alone, and the fact that deep down they care about others they consider friends/allies keeps me rooting for them.

The boys are all a**hol**. Yet, I can’t help but feel some of them are not wholly corrupt… more to come there I suppose.
Caleb and Darius are the two I get the sense have deeper layers. I thought Seth was in this too, but after that ending… IDK. I have a thing with hair. I am also thinking there is some serious teacher-student romance hints here so not sure. Orion and Darcy are too close for comfort. It feels like a lot of triangles are being setup.


Ok so on to my theories…. 

  • Caleb truly cares for Tory
  • Seth cares for Darcy?
  • Orion cares for Darcy
  • Diego is sus and may be a harpy?
  • Diego spiked the drinks but Sofia foiled his plan and is working with the harpies


The book ends on a cliffhanger but it’s not a I will die if I don’t find out what it is. The setup is there to have an uphill climb until the Reckoning during which we’ll know if the Vega girls can survive. The series is long so I imagine that is only Act 1.

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solinel7's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5🌟
Because the magic system is so cool and I can't wait to find out more. 
Loving the twins (I wanna know why people hate them).
Hating the Heirs (I wanna know why people like them).
The Heirs have to have some redeeming qualities but so far I see nothing. 
How do you fall in love with your bully?
I'm thinking of getting to book3 and then go back and read the guys' POV books.

Check for Trigger Warnings/Content ⚠️


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alexleigh20's review

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

2.0


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darling_book_mage's review

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

⚠️ 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗨𝗣 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗪 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗕𝗘𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 ⚠️

❝𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘱 𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦’𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵.❞

✶ I wouldn’t technically describe it as bully romance because that wasn’t entirely what I was expecting with bully romance. 𝗪𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴? 𝗬𝗘𝗦 𝗔 𝗟𝗢𝗧 but there wasn’t really romance either more like a fling? I don’t think they really fell for them YET. Maybe it does eventually turn into bully romance though. 

✶ The celestial heirs are a**holes and so are the majority of the supernatural attending ZA. 𝗭𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗰 𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 reminded me of an adult version of HP but with 𝗔 𝗟𝗢𝗧 of 𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮**𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀. There’s also the fact that it involves Fae who can shift to different animals/beast/siren/supernatural creatures. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗭𝗔: 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲, 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗶𝗿. You make a mistake and points are taken from the house you belong to (depending on your elemental power) or given if you answered correctly in class. Plus there’s the element of Zodiac signs and how each of their personalities stay true to the signs. 

✶ It just so happens 𝗧𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗰𝘆 (𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶, 𝗩𝗲𝗴𝗮 𝘁𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀) holds all four elemental power therefore they face the wrath of the four celestial heirs, which is actually really uncalled for. The Vega twins have been through so much shit while growing up YET they still go through so much shit to this world that they barely knew. Tory and Darcy are one hell of a strong FMC with a strong sibling bond. Although both are identical twins, I could distinguish which one is who because their personality differs just a tad bit. The bullying they go through is extreme. I can honestly say I hope they get retribution. 

☾ 𝙋.𝙎. 𝙄 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧𝙨 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢!


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kellicat94's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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beersbooksandbooos's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I hesitated with reading this book because of the TW but I am glad I finally did. I understand why the TW were listed and why some might need them. This wasn't a fluffy book to read but a very dark book which I have been in the mood for. I am already falling for a few of the boys and I wonder what that says about me.  I really like how strong Darcy and Tory Vega are and you might think they are broken but they are not. I can't want to see what they are up to in the next book and I can't wait to read about some revenge. I love some good revenge. 

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