Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by storiesintales
Madness by Shantel Tessier
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Somewhere between 4.5 & 4.75 stars.
Honestly, just like the sacrifice, this was a better book in the series. Charlabelle & Haidyn have won my heart.
The plot was good, though, you have to keep track of a lot of loose ends in order to tie everything together at the end. Because damn, we were used as a ragdoll too, having our minds going from one end to another.
Yet again there is an overload of smut in this book. But at this point you’re so far in, you know it’s coming. Although this time it went from exciting to see what was planned next to kind of a vanilla way of ending it to fill up some space on paper. I would’ve rather have had all those half bits skipped and seen the two sketched out scenarios played out (tied-up ball & honeymoon- iykyk). Sometimes it’s okay to let characters be humans and not hump each other at any given moment when they’re about to sleep and cuddle.
I was a little sad to see Charlotte change from someone who had a steady strong head on her shoulders. To a slight bimbo who wants to be used like a ragdoll all the time. A combination of both can exist, though she was fading right before our eyes the moment Haidyn did get his claws into her.
I had three happenings in this book where I was an utter blubbering mess of tears. Having emotions of all kind of the spectrum. They had me in my feels and I found myself needing a break and calm the nervous system down, because I started hyperventilating. As odd as it sounds, is a good thing when I’m reading as I felt deeply for these characters.
I still don’t understand why everyone hates Ashtyn as much as they do. She had one moment where she was a little clingy that felt unnecessary, but other than that, she was perfectly fine to where she needed to be in this story. Taking up her own space and standing up for Charlotte when she needed needed a voice to do that for her, especially against these self proclaimed “monsters”.
Could this book have been 200 pages shorter, absolutely! The amount of repetition was once again, a lot. This could’ve been edited out as we readers can remember what happened 5 pages back.
The book does leave a lot of questions unanswered, which are due to one of the side characters. So I’m hoping that the next book is about him, so we finally can get some actual answers.
And finally I’d like a round of applause for our trusty home feature “floor-to-ceiling” windows. They came in strong again.
Honestly, just like the sacrifice, this was a better book in the series. Charlabelle & Haidyn have won my heart.
The plot was good, though, you have to keep track of a lot of loose ends in order to tie everything together at the end. Because damn, we were used as a ragdoll too, having our minds going from one end to another.
Yet again there is an overload of smut in this book. But at this point you’re so far in, you know it’s coming. Although this time it went from exciting to see what was planned next to kind of a vanilla way of ending it to fill up some space on paper. I would’ve rather have had all those half bits skipped and seen the two sketched out scenarios played out (tied-up ball & honeymoon- iykyk). Sometimes it’s okay to let characters be humans and not hump each other at any given moment when they’re about to sleep and cuddle.
I was a little sad to see Charlotte change from someone who had a steady strong head on her shoulders. To a slight bimbo who wants to be used like a ragdoll all the time. A combination of both can exist, though she was fading right before our eyes the moment Haidyn did get his claws into her.
I had three happenings in this book where I was an utter blubbering mess of tears. Having emotions of all kind of the spectrum. They had me in my feels and I found myself needing a break and calm the nervous system down, because I started hyperventilating. As odd as it sounds, is a good thing when I’m reading as I felt deeply for these characters.
I still don’t understand why everyone hates Ashtyn as much as they do. She had one moment where she was a little clingy that felt unnecessary, but other than that, she was perfectly fine to where she needed to be in this story. Taking up her own space and standing up for Charlotte when she needed needed a voice to do that for her, especially against these self proclaimed “monsters”.
Could this book have been 200 pages shorter, absolutely! The amount of repetition was once again, a lot. This could’ve been edited out as we readers can remember what happened 5 pages back.
The book does leave a lot of questions unanswered, which are due to one of the side characters. So I’m hoping that the next book is about him, so we finally can get some actual answers.
And finally I’d like a round of applause for our trusty home feature “floor-to-ceiling” windows. They came in strong again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail