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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
Let me say as the days go by and i digest this book more I like it less.
On my initial read I enjoyed it but there were so many moments that were awful to the MC’s that it was cringing and hoping she wouldn’t go into detail about it. In most books I’ve read the character can defend themselves and push back (and while this may not be completely true IRL, it is fiction, so i expected the characters to win in each situation) unfortunately not. The amount of Rape in this was severely disturbing especially because the MC’s barely come out on top. With that being said its one of those “were in the height of the climax” and something completely random and off page saves the MC’s. In the last chapter!!! I hate when that happens because it’s like oh i need to get back on the positive side but how do i do that?
I really did enjoy Aura and Ruby’s relationship in the latter half. There are lot of touch her and die vibes but that also seems to be the main theme of their relationship. We get some insight to their personalities but the majority of it is the sexual tension.
I don’t know i liked it but as the days go i keep getting worse feelings about it.
On my initial read I enjoyed it but there were so many moments that were awful to the MC’s that it was cringing and hoping she wouldn’t go into detail about it. In most books I’ve read the character can defend themselves and push back (and while this may not be completely true IRL, it is fiction, so i expected the characters to win in each situation) unfortunately not. The amount of Rape in this was severely disturbing especially because the MC’s barely come out on top. With that being said its one of those “were in the height of the climax” and something completely random and off page saves the MC’s. In the last chapter!!! I hate when that happens because it’s like oh i need to get back on the positive side but how do i do that?
I really did enjoy Aura and Ruby’s relationship in the latter half. There are lot of touch her and die vibes but that also seems to be the main theme of their relationship. We get some insight to their personalities but the majority of it is the sexual tension.
I don’t know i liked it but as the days go i keep getting worse feelings about it.
This was... not good. First of all, the trigger warnings page? You can't just say "blanket trigger warning" like that means anything. For all anyone reading knows, that could mean any host of different things. You might as well not even have a TW at all at that point. The writing itself isn't particularly good and I found at least three typos/errors. It's giving Self-Published. All that plus not being a fan of infidelity or love at first sight weirdness means this was not the book for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Toxic friendship
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dear Lord this book was such a wild ride.
I can see why this didn't work for a lot of people, because this is very dark, the romance is incredibly toxic (kinda reminds me of Hardin and Tessa with the hot and cold if you know what I'm saying), the writing is honestly pretty mid, lots of typos (would've benefitted from a good editor), and so many of the plot points straight up make no sense. I have so many unanswered questions.
But you know what? I still enjoyed this for the ride, the craziness of the plot and the characters, and I've never read a book with such amazing F/F spice. This was my first time reading a sapphic book that wasn't cutesy and YA, although I have read other straight dark romances.
I'd say give it a shot if you're okay with indie dark romances!
I can see why this didn't work for a lot of people, because this is very dark, the romance is incredibly toxic (kinda reminds me of Hardin and Tessa with the hot and cold if you know what I'm saying), the writing is honestly pretty mid, lots of typos (would've benefitted from a good editor), and so many of the plot points straight up make no sense. I have so many unanswered questions.
But you know what? I still enjoyed this for the ride, the craziness of the plot and the characters, and I've never read a book with such amazing F/F spice. This was my first time reading a sapphic book that wasn't cutesy and YA, although I have read other straight dark romances.
I'd say give it a shot if you're okay with indie dark romances!
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked the story, the characters, how dark it was; I thought the cult was extremely interesting to have in a dark romance and not a very common trope, so that was really cool. I was really hoping to be able to finish this book, because I loved the characters and they deserved happiness, but it was too much for me. There were many SA and non-con scenes (not between the two main characters) that were explained semi-regularly and also explained in pretty deep detail. I can handle SA in a book up to a certain extent, but once it starts becoming explicitly explained and recurring, it's too much for me.
I was regularly switching from extremely uncomfortable to happy about Ruby saying something very well deserved, and while I feel that you're meant to feel uncomfortable about it, it was just to an extent that I couldn't entirely handle. I didn't want to rate it too low or high, it would probably be a 5 star read if those scenes weren't involved or handled differently, but I in no way hated it, just was unable to finish it.
I was regularly switching from extremely uncomfortable to happy about Ruby saying something very well deserved, and while I feel that you're meant to feel uncomfortable about it, it was just to an extent that I couldn't entirely handle. I didn't want to rate it too low or high, it would probably be a 5 star read if those scenes weren't involved or handled differently, but I in no way hated it, just was unable to finish it.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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:
Complicated
Honestly I am shocked beyond belief that this book exists and that I managed to force myself to read it. This book is SO bad that I had to continue I was engrossed in seeing if I could mentally finish this book.
Also trigger warning for this review and trigger warning for the entire book! [rape, murder, blood, peadophilla, bdsm]
I will be honest I barely read the book, I skimmed most of it after 25% as I realised just how fucked it was.
This book is essentially about a weird cult that has no substance or basis for why they do what they do that rapes and manipulates children in killing other children for the sole purpose of ‘cleansing’ themselves ready for ?? God knows what because the writer clearly doesn’t know and neither do I. It was horrific to read and handled badly. The Themes and the ideas were interesting, I’m all up for dark, unsettling literature but my god this was NOT it.
Save yourself from the pain of reading this book, please. I never write reviews like this but I would just hate any person to read this and experience what I did. Also the wlw romance was fetishised and gross and TOXIC as fuck. Like I cannot get my head around one particular part where aura is literally raped and then aura and ruby have sex maybe an hour later? And like aggressive bdsm Sex. The thought process of that entire scene baffles me. The last thing I want to read after a rape scene is a horrifically explicit, DOMINANT sex scene like the parallels are painfully awful.
Don’t get me wrong the premise of this book is interesting and I wanted to read something out of my conform zone but the execution was bad. The themes needed to be dealt with better and the characters were 2 dimensional and bland and none of their actions made sense at all. If this was a book about a women who escaped a cult to find a wlw sex filled romance then that may have been ‘ok...’ but this was just ahhh cult ahh murder ahh lots and lots of Sex with people I don’t know and ahhh rape oh wait more rape and more you guessed it rape. Like seriously there needs to be a major trigger warning for this book.
Also the writing !! Hilarious so bad, typos! The sentence structure hurts my soul! The speech between characters? My entire soul cringed when I heard the name ‘Vibe Girl’ in a serious ‘I wanna f*ck you sentence’ like WHAT ! Also why so much swearing I think the most used word is either ‘f*ck’ or ‘p*ssy’ which are GREAT words but tire very easily in this book. Like cmon change it up a bit, there are many swear words and many words for genitalia.
This review is becoming increasingly sarcastic. I must add some positives ? I like women so seeing wlw in a book was nice but in all honestly I would take heteronormative literature over this any day. In fact Give me back of mice and men !!!
Also why is everyone in the book related to the cult in some way? Illogical? Messy? Bad writing? Yup.
You know? Maybe someone out there will enjoy this book. But myself as a lesbian woman looking for literature that represents myself? Definitely not. Someone with a fetish for lesbianism and blood and murder and rape? Maybe
Also trigger warning for this review and trigger warning for the entire book! [rape, murder, blood, peadophilla, bdsm]
I will be honest I barely read the book, I skimmed most of it after 25% as I realised just how fucked it was.
This book is essentially about a weird cult that has no substance or basis for why they do what they do that rapes and manipulates children in killing other children for the sole purpose of ‘cleansing’ themselves ready for ?? God knows what because the writer clearly doesn’t know and neither do I. It was horrific to read and handled badly. The Themes and the ideas were interesting, I’m all up for dark, unsettling literature but my god this was NOT it.
Save yourself from the pain of reading this book, please. I never write reviews like this but I would just hate any person to read this and experience what I did. Also the wlw romance was fetishised and gross and TOXIC as fuck. Like I cannot get my head around one particular part where aura is literally raped and then aura and ruby have sex maybe an hour later? And like aggressive bdsm Sex. The thought process of that entire scene baffles me. The last thing I want to read after a rape scene is a horrifically explicit, DOMINANT sex scene like the parallels are painfully awful.
Don’t get me wrong the premise of this book is interesting and I wanted to read something out of my conform zone but the execution was bad. The themes needed to be dealt with better and the characters were 2 dimensional and bland and none of their actions made sense at all. If this was a book about a women who escaped a cult to find a wlw sex filled romance then that may have been ‘ok...’ but this was just ahhh cult ahh murder ahh lots and lots of Sex with people I don’t know and ahhh rape oh wait more rape and more you guessed it rape. Like seriously there needs to be a major trigger warning for this book.
Also the writing !! Hilarious so bad, typos! The sentence structure hurts my soul! The speech between characters? My entire soul cringed when I heard the name ‘Vibe Girl’ in a serious ‘I wanna f*ck you sentence’ like WHAT ! Also why so much swearing I think the most used word is either ‘f*ck’ or ‘p*ssy’ which are GREAT words but tire very easily in this book. Like cmon change it up a bit, there are many swear words and many words for genitalia.
This review is becoming increasingly sarcastic. I must add some positives ? I like women so seeing wlw in a book was nice but in all honestly I would take heteronormative literature over this any day. In fact Give me back of mice and men !!!
Also why is everyone in the book related to the cult in some way? Illogical? Messy? Bad writing? Yup.
You know? Maybe someone out there will enjoy this book. But myself as a lesbian woman looking for literature that represents myself? Definitely not. Someone with a fetish for lesbianism and blood and murder and rape? Maybe
This book was so comically bad the spice couldn’t even save it (and the spice was good).