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svjak's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I have... a lot of conflicted feelings.
First off - idk why the author decided to name all the characters some buff hotrod dudebro names but they sound like the names of generic biker gang characters. Ryder, Garret, Kenzo, Diesel, Roxy... c'mon lol. I'm not one to be super picky on names because it's so subjective but these were bad even by my very low standards. To the point it almost pulls you out of the story sometimes with their sexy one-liner phrases and these names.
Second - if I never hear another mc ever say 'they were afraid because they all knew what they were. they were vipers. and they were dangerous' ever again I am telling you it will be too soon. If you tossed out all of the repetitive mentions of how badass and dangerous these men were - how nobody messed with the vipers because they've got fangs, how they were so feared and notorious nobody touched what was theirs and they bite back harder - I swear you'd be cutting out half the book. It got SO REPETITIVE I just started skimming pieces because there would be several paragraph explanations of people's reaction to them followed by a monologue of why they're scared and/or why they should be. It got to be a bit too much.
Third - the author does have a tendency to show-not-tell and at times it gets very very old.
However... lets not pretend I picked this book up for it's masterful prose. The book was spicy. But in a surprisingly depraved and dark way. I picked up the book expecting a dark romance and a dark romance I got. It was almost like a buffet of every kind of 'not good for you' relationship there is mashed into one book. Each one of the 'brothers' (not actually brothers) filled one of those stereotypical roles had had a very different relationship dynamic with the mc.
I will probably never reread this book, but I can't say I didn't enjoy reading it.
First off - idk why the author decided to name all the characters some buff hotrod dudebro names but they sound like the names of generic biker gang characters. Ryder, Garret, Kenzo, Diesel, Roxy... c'mon lol. I'm not one to be super picky on names because it's so subjective but these were bad even by my very low standards. To the point it almost pulls you out of the story sometimes with their sexy one-liner phrases and these names.
Second - if I never hear another mc ever say 'they were afraid because they all knew what they were. they were vipers. and they were dangerous' ever again I am telling you it will be too soon. If you tossed out all of the repetitive mentions of how badass and dangerous these men were - how nobody messed with the vipers because they've got fangs, how they were so feared and notorious nobody touched what was theirs and they bite back harder - I swear you'd be cutting out half the book. It got SO REPETITIVE I just started skimming pieces because there would be several paragraph explanations of people's reaction to them followed by a monologue of why they're scared and/or why they should be. It got to be a bit too much.
Third - the author does have a tendency to show-not-tell and at times it gets very very old.
However... lets not pretend I picked this book up for it's masterful prose. The book was spicy. But in a surprisingly depraved and dark way. I picked up the book expecting a dark romance and a dark romance I got. It was almost like a buffet of every kind of 'not good for you' relationship there is mashed into one book. Each one of the 'brothers' (not actually brothers) filled one of those stereotypical roles had had a very different relationship dynamic with the mc.
I will probably never reread this book, but I can't say I didn't enjoy reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Car accident, Abandonment, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
I'm not even going to try to go into depth on each one of those but I need you to know that if you want to read this book that it is DARK. The MC is kidnapped and held against her will. She experiences what I would call stockholm syndrome and falls in love with her captors after they abuse/sexually assault her. There are graphic depictions of torture, toxic relationships, violence, and emotional abuse both in and outside of the proverbial bedroom. Take these TW's seriously. This is not your average 'dark romance.'laravo's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexism
slvt4b00ks's review against another edition
I just wanted it to end but there were like 30 more pages of sex scenes and I just couldn’t do it. This book should have only been 300 pages as it only took place within the span of a week. While the author makes a point to have Roxy explicitly say she likes all the abusive and Stockholm syndrome-y shit they do to her, I can’t get past it. It’s one thing to role play and have rough sex, it’s another thing entirely to read about it happening to someone else without them talking about hard and soft limits or safe words. Like are we the reader to assume that Roxy has absolutely no limit for pain as pleasure, or that she just coincidentally met these 4 insane assholes who coincidentally have the same exact kinks as her? I think I would have found it slightly more bearable if the author had one of the guys cross a limit for her and then there were consequences to that and they talked about it. The only person who’s line gets crossed as far as sex is concerned is garret, because he was traumatized by a woman. Roxy was beat by her father and yet these bastards are constantly slamming her up against walls and cutting her and choking her until she can’t breathe. You can’t tell me that wouldn’t have triggered a flashback. You can’t. This is just another instance where women are painted to be objects for a man’s pleasure and never the other way around. I fucking hated this book. I wish I could chuck it at K.A. knights head. For legal reasons that’s a joke but this book sucked. If you have sexual trauma DONT READ IT.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Cursing, Biphobia, Torture, Stalking, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Gore, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Alcohol, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Gun violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, and Abandonment
sasharebekah's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Grief, Blood, Sexual content, Violence, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
alyana's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Death, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Violence
aelinfeyrebryce's review against another edition
dark
fast-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
*Please do not read if SA, R*pe, violence, and talk of blood triggers you*
This is honestly, and I do not say this lightly, the most ATROCIOUS book I have ever read.
Let's just take this step by step:
1. Plot.
There isn't one.
Oh, there's an ATTEMPT at one with some rival gang trying to kill them, but it's flimsy at best. It doesn't actually have any effect on the story until maybe page 380 and it's over within the next 100 pages. Knight solely wrote this book to fulfill a reverse harem fantasy, and that is extremely clear when the "plot" ends at around page 465 and the book has 638 pages. The last 6 chapters before the Epilogue were literally only added so that there could be an additional sex scene with each of the Vipers and Roxy before the conclusion. If you need to add more smut in to entice your readers after the main plot has concluded, then you're doing something wrong. The only thing that has an ounce of detail are the sex scenes, and I really wish they'd had much MUCH less.
2. Characters.
Every character has 10 cons to every pro. From worst to best:
5. Diesel - He is the worst character by FAR. I don't care if you've got a pain kink, more power to you. My issue lies with being SEVERLY ABUSIVE and threatening your sexual partner's LIFE during every single scene! He has so many scenarios where he pushes into Roxy's genuine injuries without caring if she's enjoying it or not. It doesn't even matter that she enjoys pain because he clearly says that he doesn't care if she enjoys it or not! He also has no regard for Roxy's safety either, constantly mixing blood into her wounds, whether it be his or some from one of his poor victims, and only so much can be blamed on his convenient "insanity" before you just sit back and realise that he's a dick! He's horrific and the book could only have improved without him in it.
4. Roxy - Ah yes, the "strong lead badass woman" is a COW! She's rude to every single person she meets, regardless of whether they have done anything to her. She's weak-willed and honestly pathetic for giving up to the Vipers within a WEEK! Also, she actually thinks to herself and says out loud that she will not "let herself get abused" because she isn't "weak"? Abused women are not weak! They are strong, amazing, badass survivours, and it's disgusting for a character to have the thought process leading to anything other than that conclusion when we're meant to root for her. She consistently does horrific acts, including putting the staff and petty criminals in danger by provoking them to cause her harm or look at her in a sexual manner, purely for her own enjoyment! She literally gets a man beaten because she goes to a strip club dressed like a stripper and ACTING LIKE A STRIPPER! She's a toxic piece of shit and I hated her.
3. Garrett - Oh woe is him, he has trauma so no one else is allowed any happiness (!) Honestly, it's a fucking joke that he's meant to be someone to root for. He has genuine trauma and it could have been an interesting plot point, but instead, it's just used to have Garrett be into rough sex. He's possessive like the rest, likes to throw his weight around to intimidate everyone, and is unnecessarily aggressive. He treats women like shit because a woman abused him (not in any way judging that aspect though, I know trauma can cause someone a lot of mental stress), but he acts as if he is JUSTIFIED in his actions against women (ranging from basic assault to SA) because he also has trauma?! YOUR TRAUMA DOES NOT JUSTIFY GIVING OTHER PEOPLE TRAUMA! He doesn't need a fuck toy in Roxy, he needs therapy.
2. Ryder - Shit wrapped in a suit. He thinks he's something special because he's rich, and it's his entitlement that gets Roxy sold in the first place. He also needs therapy, and I'm meant to feel bad for him because he struggles with his feelings? Yeah, well join the fucking club mate, I don't go around committing murder and assaulting people by SQUEEZING THEIR BROKEN RIBS just because I can't tell people when I'm sad! We're supposed to appreciate him for always wanting to protect his family, but he does that at the expense of countless others, costing lives that didn't need to be lost, and he also indulges Diesel in his torture fantasies no matter if the victim is guilty or innocent, which makes him a piece of shit-by-association.
1. Kenzo - Says a lot when the best of the bunch is still a piece of shit and is actually the one who sexually assaulted Roxy first. We're meant to view him as a dark romantic hero of sorts, he's SO in touch with his feelings, when really he's just as possessive, entitled, and abusive as the rest of them! He buys Rozy some expensive stuff and tells her that he loves her and we're meant to swoon, yeah I don't think so! He constantly thinks to himself AND SAYS TO HER FACE that Roxy is his "property" and she will never be free of the Vipers. Even when they offer her her freedom (which they can't even do since it isn't theirs to offer but I digress), he doesn't even last ten minutes before going to drag her back and then PUNISHING HER FOR LEAVING! The fact that he is the pick of the pack honestly makes me sick.
3. Writing style.
It's something alright, but it certainly isn't stylish!
For one thing, the number of typos and grammatical errors in this book was a joke, her proofreader needs to be fired! Secondly, I think that Knight had a word of the day calendar, but every day alternated between "goddamn" and "fuck", she uses those words so often you'd think she invented them! She tries to come up with different descriptive words for sex acts and sex organs but it's just cringey every time, none of the smut scenes were sexy in the slightest. She also can't write characters well at all! Every smut scene (bar the knife scene - don't ask) she could have swapped the boys out with each other and it would have made no difference, which is just a sign of lazy writing. She had characters doing things that they physically could not be doing (See: Roxy running about in a dress and heels after being tortured and having broken toes, ribs, and fingers, as well as a concussion, all before seeing a doctor). Overall, there were no redeeming qualities to her writing style in my eyes, none of it worked at all.
In conclusion, this book deserves minus stars, it's a waste of paper and I would not recommend it to ANYONE! I would never judge anyone for what they like in a book, but I honestly just don't understand how someone could enjoy this book, it was purely written for smut and none of the smut was even good! If people enjoyed it then good for them, I'm glad they got their money's worth, but I pretty much knew from the first typo 3 lines into the first page that I was not going to mesh well with this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Incest
kpunt's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Porn without a plot, basically. Not my cup of tea, but, I mean...it's a specific kind of porn. So someone must enjoy it.
Kenzo is aight.
Kenzo is aight.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
Proceed with caution. No one under 18 should read this book.threeheadeddog's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.5
Smut without a plot. Really. The characters are so 2D it hurts (also why the name Roxxanne?), Diesel is just straight up psychopatic, and there is just not a drop of viable plot. It just doesn't make sense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Confinement
alexandravlvrd's review against another edition
dark
fast-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
Y’all need Jesus. And this is coming from an agnostic.
For real, the smut was awful, sounded like a bad gang bang po/rn film with some kind of copy of A Serbian Film. The plot? THERE WAS NONE. I remember I picked up this book because of TikTok obviously so I wanted to see what everyone was talking (curiosity killed the cat indeed) about but one girl talked about the approach to mafia and how they build family around friends, ehmmm, more than half of the book was only about sex and dirty talk, how is that building relationships?. They were like 5 out of 70 chapters in total about the plot and regret the time spent on this, but that’s my fault for not believing about how awful this was.
If you excuse me, I will go and wash my eyes with soap.
For real, the smut was awful, sounded like a bad gang bang po/rn film with some kind of copy of A Serbian Film. The plot? THERE WAS NONE. I remember I picked up this book because of TikTok obviously so I wanted to see what everyone was talking (curiosity killed the cat indeed) about but one girl talked about the approach to mafia and how they build family around friends, ehmmm, more than half of the book was only about sex and dirty talk, how is that building relationships?. They were like 5 out of 70 chapters in total about the plot and regret the time spent on this, but that’s my fault for not believing about how awful this was.
If you excuse me, I will go and wash my eyes with soap.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Violence
santinasimile's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
2.0
What in the...
Someone get this author a real editor. I'm all for trashy, but most of this was just trash.
Someone get this author a real editor. I'm all for trashy, but most of this was just trash.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence