Reviews

Cruel Control by Candace Wondrak

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06loralee07's review

challenging dark emotional tense 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

4.0

Cruel Control is the first book within The Desecration of Innocence series. It's a dark, mysterious and very chaotic mafia-like book. Or maybe that's just me view on how everything went down. Still, I want to dive into the next book because I feel like everyone is going to keep me on my toes constantly guessing what will happen next.

Are the guy's crazy territorial? Sure, but who wouldn't be if someone who you thought was family messed up big time. Then to find this young naive innocent girl just waiting to be plucked from underneath that person. So, yeah, did I see her being kidnapped by them? Heck yes. It felt a bit obvious something was going to happen after her dad finally let her out of the house.

Speaking of this girl, I hope Juliet become a bit more likable in the next book. I get that she knows absolutely nothing since she was highly sheltered for her entire life. But dang girl, open your eyes and realize what's happening here. Also, can she stop calling her dad 'Daddy'? It creeps out.

Other than that, I'm excited to see what Markus has up his sleeve next. Also, need more Will and Jaxon please.

marabaelish's review

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3.0

3.5/5

ashatroyal's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This story feels like a preview of what’s to come. A lot and nothing happened. The author did a good job of making this a standalone series although it’s part of shared universe/world. There’s a lot of mystery and suspense and hopefully we’ll get some answers by the end of the series. Jaxon is so loyal. Will is insane. Markus is controlling. Theo is charming. Juliet is just naive and doesn’t know what the heck is going on. What I will say is that she’s stood up for herself and tried to get out of her situation.

The flashbacks should’ve been italicized. A few of the sentences were worded strangely. I’m also not a fan of characters talking to the reader.

kirreadsbooks's review

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Writing was choppy. FMC was written like a 14-16 year old, not an 18 year old.

_valorie_'s review

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3.0

It was a mid read. There really wasn't much going on and I felt like it was boring and dragged out. At times, I wanted to drop the book. Its one of those books where you don't know what to read so you just pick something random. I did like the writing though and I feel like the plot had a lot of potential. I feel like if there was more going on and it wasn't so dragged out, I would have enjoyed this a lot more. Also, none of the questions were answered in this book like I started out with nothing and I finished with nothing. We already knew everyone in that house was psychotic so that revelation really wasn't anything to the reader like it was to Juliet. It just felt like to the me like the author just wanted us to buy the next book to see what's happening, it seemed like a money ploy. This book wasn't very long either so the second book I think could have been included in this one as well so the reader actually felt like there was something going on. Unless the second book doesn't have anything either.

Overall I got to say I was dissapointed, I expected more.

hariboreads's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Seriously wtf?! And yet I have immediately downloaded the next one. I’d advise reading this book on an empty stomach, with your favourite squishie nearby for comfort. If blood and gore and terror is not your thing then run, run as fast as you can

Content Warnings

shayhay's review

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5.0

Dark.dark.dark

Holy darkness! The trigger warning is very real with this book. This book ends on a cliff hanger. The story line is so crazy, I have so many questions, can't wait for the next book.