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A review by selda
The Ritual by Shantel Tessier
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
First of all I would say this book is more erotica than anything else. For 75% of the book it felt like scenes setting up a sex scene. Nothing wrong with that, but people should be aware going in.
I’m giving this 4 stars, but there were many things I didn’t like. The flashbacks gets very grating the further into the book you go. For the first part it’s fine, but then it becomes obvious the author just wants to do a flashy reveal of what happened in the previous chapter when it would have flowed much better to just see the scene happen in real time. It’s weak writing and an odd choice. In that vein the song insertions are so weird. Things like ‘character walked here and SONG by ARTIST started to play’ was jarring. I was never able to get used to it and she inserted 10+ songs mentions. The overuse of exclamation points. There were so many and some at very strange points. The descriptions of the heroine were strange at times like ‘she breathed and her tits bounced’ very male writer vibes, but there weren’t that many of these at least. I figured it was an objectifying choice because she was also described as Barbie doll and bubble ass. Which is more reason I see this as erotica.
So why 4 stars? I was into the kinks and I thought they were done well. Ryat was extremely possessive and dominant. I loved how he tracked her, how he told her what to do and expected her to do it and how she wanted it. The good girl theme throughout was so good. Definitely not for everyone but it worked here. I thought the Lords thing was interesting and how it was all set up. I felt the plot was a little weak how it moved from one reveal to the next, by the end I didn’t care. Still a couple of the characters were interesting enough like Tyson. Some of the one liners were really good. For me the strength is in the dynamic between Ryat and Blakely.
I’m giving this 4 stars, but there were many things I didn’t like. The flashbacks gets very grating the further into the book you go. For the first part it’s fine, but then it becomes obvious the author just wants to do a flashy reveal of what happened in the previous chapter when it would have flowed much better to just see the scene happen in real time. It’s weak writing and an odd choice. In that vein the song insertions are so weird. Things like ‘character walked here and SONG by ARTIST started to play’ was jarring. I was never able to get used to it and she inserted 10+ songs mentions. The overuse of exclamation points. There were so many and some at very strange points. The descriptions of the heroine were strange at times like ‘she breathed and her tits bounced’ very male writer vibes, but there weren’t that many of these at least. I figured it was an objectifying choice because she was also described as Barbie doll and bubble ass. Which is more reason I see this as erotica.
So why 4 stars? I was into the kinks and I thought they were done well. Ryat was extremely possessive and dominant. I loved how he tracked her, how he told her what to do and expected her to do it and how she wanted it. The good girl theme throughout was so good. Definitely not for everyone but it worked here. I thought the Lords thing was interesting and how it was all set up. I felt the plot was a little weak how it moved from one reveal to the next, by the end I didn’t care. Still a couple of the characters were interesting enough like Tyson. Some of the one liners were really good. For me the strength is in the dynamic between Ryat and Blakely.