Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Caught Up: Into Darkness, Book 2

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Caught Up: Into Darkness, Book 2 by Navessa Allen

62 reviews

sleepy_bookworm's review against another edition

5.0

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

I loved Lights Out, but mafia romances are my jam so I think I might have loved Caught Up a bit more. I did love seeing Josh and Ally though!

Junior's story was so good, and I loved that Lauren was fierce and unapologetically herself. I loved the sex work/advocacy aspect of this book. I also loved that kink exploration was a theme. Junior's character development was so good too.

I genuinely do not understand why Navessa Allen is getting so much hate for this book. The audiobook was *chef's kiss*, casting a queer narrator for a queer role was such good casting. I also loved Teddy Hamilton and Kasi Hollowell. I have a really hard time with the narrators being the same despite books being about different characters in a series. It's hard for me to picture them as different characters. I think the right call was absolutely made in casting new narrators. Additionally, the hate about the sex work is just straight up misogynistic at this point when everyone loved that Josh made thirst traps.

Anyway, this book was fantastic, all my love to Navessa. I have a good feeling the next book will be about Tyler, and I cannot wait!!

Content Warnings

atsy6's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Navessa Allen warned us it was going to be dirtier than Lights Out and she delivered. It was a smut fest lol. Junior was an intense red flagger and absolute perfection. Lauren had a lot more insecurities and faults than I really wanted. Maybe I missed most of Junior's faults because they didn't really seem like imperfections, and Lauren carried the bulk of the issues which made her feel like a more flawed character who was the main reason for any issues they had. I loved the brief drop ins from past characters. The audiobook was excellent duet narration! I absolutely loved the narrators.

Content Warnings

sashamariereads's review against another edition

3.5

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I’ve seen the conservative asshats complaining about how ‘woke’ this book is Sex work is real work. Non-binary people exist (and I promise, using they/them pronouns really isn’t that hard to understand 🙄)

I don’t feel like Nico and Lauren have the chemistry that Josh and Ali do, so their relationship fell just a bit flat for me, but I love a good second chance, friends-enemies-lovers story.

Lauren is a really strong FMC and I loved her.

I had a fun time reading this one overall. Teddy was amazing, as usual. His voice really fits the character

I can’t wait to hear all about Tyler and Stella!

Content Warnings

riddikulyssreads's review against another edition

4.0

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

Content Warnings

ccricket's review against another edition

3.5

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 🤢

Content Warnings

rdaacvhiesl's review against another edition

3.0

funny 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: Yes

The best thing about this book was Navessa's writing style. She does a great job at infusing every character and relationship with unique qualities. I didn't particularly love the plot of this book though. It absolutely revolves around Junior and Lauren's relationship, but the sprinkling in of all the side characters and side quests made it hard for me to be invested. It was easy to see the conflict coming from a mile off and had this been by any other author, I would have DNF (I really, really hate the miscommunication trope). The celebration of and respect for sex work was a pretty cool theme throughout.

Story moral: let people find their own happiness and consider yourself lucky if you're along for the ride.

Content Warnings

read_with_tiffanie's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark funny hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is darker than the first book (Lights out), but that shouldn't be a deterrent to reading it. Just be prepared for it if you've read the first book and are expecting the same book with a different font. you will not find that here.

Content Warnings

spookyyzoeyy's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional 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

I loved this more than the last book. It was freakier than the last book, and it was more intense. I liked the mafia and Italian ties, and it was nice to see parents in therapy.

Content Warnings