Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

The Awakening by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham

122 reviews

vclarisse's review against another edition

Poorly written, just free and unjustified bullying of the protagonists with no other plot point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexism and Sexual content

autumnwitch14's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.5

I enjoyed the world building very much. I wish it focused more on the fantasy elements outside of just supernatural races. I wouldn't say this book is much of a romance even though it describes itself as a bullymance. Maybe later in the series, but this first one in particular barely has any outside of a little flirting (in between all of the sexual assaults)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Genocide, Incest, Abandonment, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Slavery, and Infidelity

Mind control is prevalent in this book, meaning sometimes characters are forced to do things they don't want to do.

earlieststar's review

adventurous funny mysterious 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? Yes

2.5

im cringe but im free

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Car accident, Classism, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

listen: it is described as bully romance but these girls get absolutely very much abused from beginning to end. it's not schoolyard bullying, those are crimes being committed every other page.

cait's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Stalking, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Abandonment

geooo's review

dark fast-paced

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

1.0

Trash.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

jamby4546's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Stalking, Abandonment, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Drowning mention

thewildbookcase's review

dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

4.0

What I struggle with when writing this review is I hate almost everything that happens to Tori and Darcy in this book. I find 99% of the characters irredeemable and their actions entirely inexcusable- but this book is GRIPPING! I am dying to see the Vega twins rule the kingdom. 

I really enjoy the absurdist / farcical elements of this series. I know people say it’s not “high quality writing” and I understand why they say that. However, I think the Twisted Sister knew exactly which elements they wanted to emphasize the stupidity of- and the exaggerated features are there to entertain, which they do so successfully. 

I also really love Geraldine who is just someone I wish I had in my life. I love the Vega twins- I think their rise from the ashes is going to tell an amazing story. I love that the series uses elemental magic and I love how easy and quick it was to read. 

However, I knew from the first interaction that Tori and Darius will get together but it’s difficult to reconcile who Darius is now and who I know he will be

because burning her clothes and forcing her to expose her body against her will

lost all romantic credibility in my eyes. 

I also hate passively abusive people like Caleb.

Oh- I can’t “harm” you because it’s against the vampire code. Well inaction is an action and it helps the oppressor. At least he feels guilty about it but wtf.

 

Don’t even get me started on Lance and the other teachers.

Lance dragged them to ZA against their will and then treats them like shit- and Darcy has a crush on him?

Talk about abusive. 

I know it’s a bully romance and I know this world has a different understanding of what’s “normal” or accepted but it’s genuinely so aggravating. Yet I can’t stop reading. This is such a binge worthy series and while much of the world building makes my blood boil, an awful lot of the dialogue makes me laugh. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death, and Sexual harassment

akcurtis's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I rarely give below 3⭐s, but this book was a challenge for me.  First, did they actually pay someone to edit this? Where are the commas? Why are there so many typos?  There were so many mistakes that they actually distracted me from reading.

Content-wise- first, let me admit I didn't know this was a "bully romance." I didn't know that was even a thing going into this.  So some of why I hated this admittedly is my own fault. That being said, this wasn't bullying, this was sexual harassment (and that's being generous).  The unwanted physical contact was hard to stomach, and the female leads' thirty-second aversion that flips to desire was gross. 

The storyline is actually intriguing. I read this quickly. I want to know more about the world, and I want to see how long it takes for them to realize who the (obvious to me) predator is. I'll just have to skip huge chunks of the text to do so.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Bullying

shaykay's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0

You can only hear about this series on TikTok or in the book world. Zodiac Academy was everywhere, especially last year. It has calmed down a bit this year but is still a super popular series. When a series is super hyped, they really intimidate me. Plus, I just haven't been into anything supernatural, and everything I used to pick up has been very contemporary/traditionally published, so Zodiac Academy was nowhere near my TBR. But this year, I've been picking up some crazy random books and decided to dive deep into this series. Now, I went in as blind as I could, but at the same time, I knew a lot about this series because it's been all over the place, and I honestly really liked this book. I felt confused about who was who because the book switches between Darcy and Tori's POVs, and since they are twins and the book keeps going between their POVs, I struggled to figure out who was who. But overall, I get the hype and really like what the story is starting to set up. I hope to get to the point where I can tell the twins apart. Everyone struggles with that, but it does get better in later books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

adalora's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

0.5

It had potential as a premise then quickly falls off. The storyline is a little addicting, but some of the things that happen are unnecessary and extremely off-putting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Drug use, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence