Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Caught Up: Into Darkness, Book 2 by Navessa Allen

66 reviews

dark emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Lauren is insufferable and there was just too many tropes competing for the main plot.

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adventurous dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark funny fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

Navessa Allen knows how to write her characters. I think I loved this one more than Lights Out! Much more spicier in this story and more intriguing with Lauren’s line of work. I love the confidence she portrays in herself. Also the banter between all the characters was superb! I think Taylor had to be my favorite character! I think it left on a cliffhanger so I’m excited to see what’s next!!!

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dark emotional mysterious 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

Nico “Junior” Trocci is a man who gets what he wants. This time, what he wants is Lauren Marchetti. She’s off limits. They have history and he broke her heart ten years ago. She’s sweet & vibrant - a stark difference from his violent life working for his father in the mob. It’s become too much for him and he wants out. He looks Lauren up online and finds that she’s no longer the shy girl he knew from high school but a beautiful and successful cam girl. He’s obsessed and he needs to see her in person. Once they run into each other old feelings are rekindled. But Lauren can’t stop thinking about her favorite subscriber or the masked man that comes into the local kink club. As the pieces fall together, will the truth lead them to their ultimate desires? Only time will tell which door they choose to enter. Watch & find out for yourself. 🔥

This book was so much fun! I loved the audiobook narration. The main characters and side characters were equally enjoyable to me. Lauren’s roommates are the type of supportive besties you want to have in real life. The LGBTQ+ representation was evenly spread throughout the book in the FMC, side characters and other club members. The sex work representation was well written overall, but I wish Lauren’s advocacy work for sex workers’ rights had gotten a little more attention/elaboration. The possessive obsession Nico has with Lauren is full of yearning and desire. GET ME IN THAT CONFESSIONAL ASAP. 🥵 Josh & Aly do make appearances and I have to say they’re still my favorites. 🫶🏼 Josh’s golden retriever friendship with grumpy Nico was fun to read. I was a little disappointed that this book is marketed as having bike content but other than Nico having one as his ride, there isn’t the bike content I think people are hoping for. For fans of Fred (Lights Out) - there is a dog in this book! Heads up, this book is a darker vibe and is not as funny and full of banter like Lights Out. I loved this one but I think it rekindled my love and appreciation for the first book. I’m a little nervous for book three (because I think Tyler is a douchebag) but I know Navessa will kill it again!

⚠️ Please research all trigger warnings before reading this book! ⚠️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Liked
  • Let’s be real the sex scenes in this are top notch and somehow better than the first 🥵
  • I really liked the kink exploration and it felt like the author really did her research. It was one of the only things in the book that felt genuine 
Disliked
  • Another terrible MMC name 😩
  • Not a fan of guys with anger issues 🤢
  • I kinda wish it were all new characters unconnected to the first book
  • Felt like it was trying way too hard to be modern and cool and edgy
  • Not the third act break up 🙄

I don’t want to compare this one too much to the first one bc I don’t feel like that’s totally fair, but imo this one fell short in pretty much every way for me. Everything just felt kinda forced and disingenuous, from the humor to the ‘plot’ to the character’s personalities. A lot of it just felt very how do u do fellow kids, look how quirky and fun my character are 🥴 it wasn’t terrible and at least there were minimal typos, but aside from the obscenely hot sex scenes
the fucking confessional booth oml
and the scattered scenes with Josh and Aly, I didn’t really enjoy this one too much. 
Also was that last page supposed to hint that
the next book would be about Tyler
bc absolutely fucking no 🤢

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark funny fast-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark funny medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Perhaps I judged lights out too harshly (actually no, that book needs help). Caught up was much better. I don’t care so much for erotica so I did skip around quite a bit but I really liked the story telling on this one and the very slight cliffhanger/hint to another book at the end. 
Navessa is good at creating interesting characters and propelling a story line at the length an ADHD reader would appreciate. I wish she would stop leaning so heavily on existing pop culture, internet colloquialism, and boomer humor. Some scenes that were supposed to show lightheartedness felt like they were missing a 80s laugh track, ick. There’s also a character that uses “they” pronouns which I actually liked but unfortunately they were just tossed in there to further the plot without having any real substance. And again, animal sidekicks that have the intent of showing the males gentle alpha side — lazy lazy lazy writing. 
Ton of repeat kinks, phrases, and themes. But, I do like Nick’s story better than Josh’s cause it’s not filled with self-deprecating humor. 
I also found it tough to think about how 2 books of hers in a row show mutual secret pining spanning over years, receptive attention to Italian features, and cannabalism warnings (much more detailed and disturbing this time). You okay girl? Do better 

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The FMC was frustrating in jumping to conclusions and refusing to allow explanations. I was also expecting more dark comedy like the first book of the trilogy but I still enjoyed the story. Loved the MMC

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