Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - The Ritual

Check your TWs!

The book was great; it was engaging, the world building was pretty interesting BUT I had some issues with it as a whole.

The way the names of songs appeared throughout the book was pretty annoying. I didn’t enjoy that at all. Seemed forced and the writing became awkward.

I wish we could find out more about Ryat’s background and why he decided to serve in the society. I wanted a bit more backstory, wanted to know more about the society itself and while we learnt a little about the society at the end, we didn’t really learn too much about why it is what it is and what’s the purpose of this. I wanted to see and understand more about the Lord and Lady concept which was honestly very interesting. I know it’s a whole series but if I were to just read this one book I suppose I won’t get the full picture of the world built.

I felt that the ending

for Matt, didn’t really do much justice. I felt like he was such a bad guy that he deserved to die a little bit more tortured than this.

My last bit is that it’s marked as a dark college romance and while they all met at school, nothing actually happens IN school. In fact they stop going to school after meeting each other so there’s that.

Blakely’s best friend Sarah also eventually disappeared

in writing, only appearing as a tool to progress the story arcs.

I hope we get to see a book that features the kids. That would be really interesting for me.

Content Warnings

thereadaholic's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.0

I ate this book up. It's a dark book and I would not recommend this for beginners because ryat is dark really dark. I absolutely loved every part of this book I thought the way the plot builds up was perfect , loved the way the characters were I just wished authors would stop making FMC'S so naive and make them strong willed , and just maybe once up the MMC'S

Other than that the book is just wow , I loved the way ryat's character development progressed through the book I also wished we could have gotten a bit more of how they started loving each other but again other than that the book is great.

I devoured the book , ate it up so quick and I just really enjoyed it.

If your not a begginer looking for a dark romance book this is ur book bestie

Content Warnings

booksandgore's review against another edition

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dark 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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

clairelisebella's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

3.5

Fun book but could’ve used a good editor to tighten it up.

Content Warnings

lillerstehund's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Content Warnings

klsreads's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

ptreader's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

smolone13's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Ratings:
Goodreads: 4/5

Storygraph: 3/5

My Rating: 3/5

Synopsis:

Blakely entered Barrington University thinking that by the end she would be graduated and married to Matt but everything takes a turn when she lands in Ryat’s arms. Ryat is a L.O.R.D. which means he has to follow certain rules, regulations, and even do things that people in society have no clue about.

My Review:

This book was honestly really hardcore and it was hard for me to get into because for a while I was thinking that a lot of it was nonconsensual. It wasn’t until about halfway through that Blake talks about it and says that she enjoys the interactions and likes CNC but at first it wasn’t mentioned so it looked like a lot of things that were occurring between the two of them was rape. I will put that out there as a heavy trigger warning. So before you read it, if you have a hard time with that, there is that in there.

Moving on, I hated both of the characters, I am going to be quite honest. I didn’t find either of them likable. Let us start from the beginning with the two introduced characters Ryat and Matt. Ryat and Matt used to be best friends until Matt decided he was going to compromise their mission and not only murder the intended person, but also try to rape the woman that was next to the man in bed. That being said, wow what a start. Ryat doesn’t like this and tries to stop him and ends up “killing” the woman. Yes, I am already spoiling the book. However, Ryat honestly isn’t any better than Matt is. Matt is arrogant and thinks he can get anything he wants, including Blake. Ryat is the exact same way. Arrogant and thinks he can get his way with anything, including owning Blake. Honest to God, it it like reading the same side of a coin. The only difference is Blake didn’t want anything to do with Matt after a certain point, which pissed Matt off, and Blake uses Ryat to piss off Matt. Which in turn Ryat also uses Blake to piss off Matt. So they both are using each other to piss off Matt. However, Matt wanting to get his way with everything isn’t what makes Blake run into Ryat’s arms. No, of course not. The reason Blake ends up being in a situationship with Ryat is because Matt won’t tell her about the L.O.R.D.'s which pisses her off and then Matt ends up seeing another woman who he ends up using for his own gain. Otherwise, it is so easily noticeable I can’t help but see Blake as stupid. The answers are right in her face. Besides Ryat and Blake using each other to piss of Matt, they’re not any better. Ryat is hired by Blake’s father to make Blake his chosen. He does it. Ryat also offers to pay Blake’s father to marry Blake. Basically, she’s stupid, easy, and just accepts everything that Ryat does to her. Including putting her in a relationship with him and marrying him. Honestly, I don’t understand the stupidity of this character enough. Not to mention, her abusive mother isn’t her real mother and is the one who signed her up to become a chosen to begin with. The entire story is fucked up, and yes I understand it is a dark romance, but I also expected Blake to have more brains than to think for herself instead of following everything like a dodo.

Now that we passed the characters, the setting doesn’t matter too much. This entire book is smut. Every chapter you read has some form of smut in it. CNC, BDSM, choking, passing out, hair pulling, anal. Just about anything you can think of, it is probably in here. If you’re looking for smut, you’ve come to the right place.

The plot isn’t any different honestly. It is just smut. I think the closest thing to a plot is the both of them trying to capture Matt to murder his ass because he’s obsessed with making Blake his. So there is that, if you think it is some format of a plot, otherwise it is all sex.

Considering I managed to read the entire book, which I am impressed about, I would say the book is decent. I did read it for the main point of every chapter being sex, but there were a few things that raised alarms for myself and just Blake being overall stupid. Blake was just an easy target for Ryat to manipulate. I might try to read the rest of the series but I hope this review helped you, as readers, piece together if you really want to give this dark romance a try or not.

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