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jamreadsbooks 's review for:
Even If It Hurts
by Sam Mariano
first read: 4 stars Re-read. 5 stars with major trigger warnings.
Exactly what I need from this kind of book. I love that the author doesn't try to excuse the hero's behaviour. Like, he is abusive and he rapes the heroine, but it's acknowledged and not tried to be played off as anything else. So often in dark romance when people are upset about the relationship people clap back with "we told you it would be dark, read the warnings" but then in the book after a noncon scene they try to play it off as if it wasn't horrible because H loves and is obsessed with h. No, nope, no. If it's going to be a toxic and abusive relationship, I want both to be very clear that that's what going on by the end of the book, and the author does that very well here. I do wish we got more time with the heroine after she confronts the reality of the relationship and how she processes it and how she gets to the point where she ultimately feels safe in a very unsafe relationship. That's why I originally only gave 4 stars, but I keep thinking about the book and coming back to it and I'll probably return to it again so I'm bumping it up and hoping as the author continues to write stories in the universe I can get some cameos that fill in what was missing at the end.
Exactly what I need from this kind of book. I love that the author doesn't try to excuse the hero's behaviour. Like, he is abusive and he rapes the heroine, but it's acknowledged and not tried to be played off as anything else. So often in dark romance when people are upset about the relationship people clap back with "we told you it would be dark, read the warnings" but then in the book after a noncon scene they try to play it off as if it wasn't horrible because H loves and is obsessed with h. No, nope, no. If it's going to be a toxic and abusive relationship, I want both to be very clear that that's what going on by the end of the book, and the author does that very well here. I do wish we got more time with the heroine after she confronts the reality of the relationship and how she processes it and how she gets to the point where she ultimately feels safe in a very unsafe relationship. That's why I originally only gave 4 stars, but I keep thinking about the book and coming back to it and I'll probably return to it again so I'm bumping it up and hoping as the author continues to write stories in the universe I can get some cameos that fill in what was missing at the end.