Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

20 reviews

kdb_0620's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Torture, Medical trauma, Blood, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Rape, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Cursing, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Violence

cheeserue's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

"I’d go to war for my wife. One man was nothing."

and go to war they did; just, not the kind he expected.

wtf was this book? why did they build up a good plot only for it to suck so bad in the end? WHY DID SHE KEEP TAKE THE DRUGS WILLINGLY?! why did they take (approximately) 1000 showers?

force sex fantasy and CNC but not one conversation about limits or safe words, GHB fed to her every 5 seconds, fucking next to dead bodies, secret society plotline barely touched, FMC having just about no personality, obsessed ex bf who didn't want her when they were together but now wants her because his enemy has her, random elopement so she doesnt have to be forced into marriage to said ex bf. it just keeps going. 

I love dark romances, especially CNC/FSF but this wasn't it. this book didn't need to be 600 pages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Torture

Moderate: Abandonment and Child death

klsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Death, Addiction, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Torture, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pregnancy

alis143's review against another edition

dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Confinement, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Cursing, and Kidnapping

clareasday's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Torture, Medical trauma, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Stalking

loganswifey's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Pregnancy, Violence, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Blood, and Emotional abuse

alexklop's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

4 Stars!

I can’t say this was the best dark romance book I have ever read, but I can say with 10% certainty that after reading half of the book and then attempting to sleep. I got no sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about what might happen next, and how Blakely and Ryat were going to either fall in love or kill each other... Most likely the latter. 

While there were so many amazing kinks in this book, I did find myself tensed and anxious at how some of them were portrayed and played out in the book. I wish at some point during their relationship a little more discussion about boundaries, hard limits, and safe-words would’ve happened, but alas… it will not keep me from reading the next book in the series next time in I’m the mood for something super dark and kinky!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Grief, Blood, Body horror, Kidnapping, Bullying, Death, Violence, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

ink_mon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Sexism, Sexual content, Gun violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, and Blood

Moderate: Medical content, Torture, and Medical trauma

kbugz724's review against another edition

dark emotional

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

2.75

 Honestly... wtf. I had such high hope for this and they just all fell super flat for me. I love a good spicy dark romance and this one def had the spice but NO PLOT. I mean I am exaggerating there was obviously plot. But there would be one plot point to move the story further and then just an absurd amount of the same smut over and over. 
The " plot twist" literally came out of left field so hard that it made no sense. 
This was just NOT my cup of tea. At all. 

CHECK THE FREAKING TRIGGER WARNINGS

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Blood, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Rape, Stalking, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Body horror, Death, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

midnightrose_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The Ritual is the first book in The Lords series and is a dark romantic suspense about a secret society, that resembles an assassin guild. Ryat and Blakely attend Barrington University, a college for the super wealthy. Ryat has been in The Lords secret society since freshman year, and in his senior year, he is ordered to take Blakely as his ‘Chosen’.  Blakely, agrees to the arrangement in order to get back at her very controlling boyfriend Matt. Little does she know how much her life will change….

This is a pretty solid start to this series, with plenty of scorching hot spicy scenes, and tense nail-biting moments. It’s not a five star, for me, however. I feel as though because this book is clearly half romantic suspense the page count should have been tightened up considerably. I feel as if the suspenseful parts would have popped even more if it didn’t feel like in parts it was starting to drag. I don’t mind a long romance book, but for books that contain romantic suspense elements the page count needs to be much shorter than 600+ pages to really be effective in those parts.

(Just as an aside: I hope the word ‘whimpers’ is decreased in the next installments of this series. Its constant mentions in this story drove me nuts! LOL.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Rape, Torture, Violence, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury