Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Does It Hurt? by H.D. Carlton

36 reviews

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Sawyer is on the run and hiding in  Australia. To get by, she has been stealing people's identities. Fate throws her in to Enzo's path and bed. After realizing his identity has been stolen, Enzo sets out to track down and punish the woman responsible.

The idea behind this book was interesting to me.

Two people who hate each other get shipwrecked on an isolated island where there is nothing but a creepy old man and some noisy "ghosts".

I liked the mystery vibes to it. That said, the dark romance edge didn't really work for me and the twists were super predictable. 

First off, I didn't like either of the characters. Sawyer has a really fucked up past and is dealing with all sorts of PTSD from it. Enzo is a psychopath shark expert. There was nothing redeeming about him.

A woman steals his identity, and his reaction is that shark scene? WTF! Truly a psycho.

I just didn't care about either of them. It's a shame because with Sawyer's background, there was so much potential for readers to make an empathetic connection.

Second, both characters felt flat and there was a lack of chemistry between them. It was all about who could hurt the other more. Together they are completely chaotic and explosive (not in a good way). There was no real character development in this book. Neither were likable, nor were they really redeemed by the end.

I feel like this would have worked better as a regular thriller without the dark romance edge to it. Parts of this book just dragged so much, and they were always the dark romance parts.

Tropes' forced proximity, enemies to lovers, morally grey, one bed

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Sexual content, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Gun violence

puffins57's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I love the characters. I love the dialogue. The spicy scenes are hot as hell and the mystery/thriller-ish aspects certainly delivered (and I’m not one to really enjoy those mystery subplots all too much).

The first shark scene was just lovely and I very much enjoyed seeing the growth of both of our main characters. I especially appreciated the written and clearly expressed acknowledgment of shorty behavior and genuine apologies to allow for Sawyer and Enzo to start up anew with a fresh start and work towards a healthy relationship now built upon a toxic foundation.

I 100% would recommend this book. If you like this genre and are debating reading this book do yourself the favor and READ IT (though please keep yourself safe and look over the trigger warnings first).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, Violence, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Death, Incest, Kidnapping, Rape, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Blood, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Police brutality

lolalastname's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

0.25

Not just bad, but also boring

Full review later

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Body horror, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Confinement, Cursing, Suicide, Abandonment, Blood, and Kidnapping

chlorelladevil's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Its a kinda dark romance/thriller. Really enjoyed the plot, it hat a few good twisted. The FMC was at times really funny. The MMC has mommy issues. 
I did not like the ghost aspect of this story, as if the two MCs believed that the lighthouse is haunted... I also did not find the keepers backstory believable, it felt like there were continuen error. Did he have the wife befor he got to the island or after? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Suicide, Physical abuse, Child death, Gore, Child abuse, Death, and Murder

trinityturnspages's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

The only characters I liked in this books were Simon and Troy. I really didn't like the romance at all or the main character, and only kept reading for the mystery portion of the book. I can read a lot of things but some of the stuff that happens in this book (hint hint sharks) wasn't it for me and really put me off this book. Don't really have much else to say besides this just wasn't great for me. 

Literally only giving it 2 stars because of the mystery/thriller aspect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, and Rape

katierosecrane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

emilyspex's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

This book definitely isn't for everyone. It's a very dark romance with quite a bit of dubcon and gore. But if you can stomach that, it's got a great mystery thriller aspect that hooked me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Murder, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Blood

stitchof's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Gore, Infidelity, Police brutality, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Incest, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

xlaurareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

another great book by h.d. carlton and i must admit it might be my favourite one so far. the storyline was different to what we usually encounter and the whole setting at the lighthouse was amazing. i liked it when we finally got a bit more to the plot than only the sexual tension and sexual acts between enzo and sawyer and, although i suspected who was rattling the chains, it was still crazy and sad to have it confirmed. i feel like the ending was a bit rushed tho, but all in all this was a great dark romance book, which was, for once, not only about degradation and sex but had an actual story to it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Murder, and Rape

rosereadsalot's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, and Rape