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ladylaurenexplorer's reviews
1014 reviews
Oleander: A Great Expectations Retelling by Scarlett Drake
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
* I definitely don’t want to ruin anything for anyone especially this early, but if you want to read a great romance. That in stages leads more and more desperate for some kind of happy ending. Yet you have to go through this grueling emotional angst filled journey. Come the end of it, you realize that they chose you and has been choosing you since they subconsciously realize that they loved you.*
I was really happy to receive this ARC. I had been in almost a month long reading slump. This is so angst filled. You get invested in the character’s fill in the emotions that sometimes you’ll just end up tearing up or crying without realizing that it’s happening.
Jude has made me feel so much through my reading journey with him that when he was feeling the heartbreak was feeling it and crying.
I never expected the I don’t even know what to call it. If you should call it the twist in the end, but I didn’t expect how everything played out. The ‘Why would you?’..and ‘How could you?’…just kept coming up.
You definitely need to check the trigger warnings because as a story progresses, you start seeing things that suggest certain situations, but doesn’t outright say things until it does. I haven’t felt this way since reading, Darling Venom, for various other reasons that aren’t the TW of the book. But the very visceral emotion that I had as the FMC character developed.
My first paragraph might seem a bit dramatic, but I think that’s what this book has still in me because I want you to understand that this is going to hurt, but by the end of it, I hope, you’ll love it just as much as I did. So please read it!!!
I was really happy to receive this ARC. I had been in almost a month long reading slump. This is so angst filled. You get invested in the character’s fill in the emotions that sometimes you’ll just end up tearing up or crying without realizing that it’s happening.
Jude has made me feel so much through my reading journey with him that when he was feeling the heartbreak was feeling it and crying.
I never expected the I don’t even know what to call it. If you should call it the twist in the end, but I didn’t expect how everything played out. The ‘Why would you?’..and ‘How could you?’…just kept coming up.
You definitely need to check the trigger warnings because as a story progresses, you start seeing things that suggest certain situations, but doesn’t outright say things until it does. I haven’t felt this way since reading, Darling Venom, for various other reasons that aren’t the TW of the book. But the very visceral emotion that I had as the FMC character developed.
My first paragraph might seem a bit dramatic, but I think that’s what this book has still in me because I want you to understand that this is going to hurt, but by the end of it, I hope, you’ll love it just as much as I did. So please read it!!!
Lessons from the Depraved by Kinsley Kincaid
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Although this was short, it did take me three days to read it because of how outrageously the plot is.
I kept falling out of the story, because of some of the things that were being done to the FMC and her reactions to it.
But I am glad I read it!
I kept falling out of the story, because of some of the things that were being done to the FMC and her reactions to it.
But I am glad I read it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, and Kidnapping
Her Drag Barbarian by Kate Raven
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The Catcher by Kate Raven
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I said what I said, and I don’t know why this was just good for me, but it was just good.
I like a very toxic relationship, and this gave me all that and more I just wish it was longer and kind of more plotted out.
I like a very toxic relationship, and this gave me all that and more I just wish it was longer and kind of more plotted out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Emotional abuse
Bloodshed by Molly Doyle
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This was just a meh for me, not a bad one just not anything to write home about.
I literally think it’s because I’ve read the prequel, and the story is supposed to go after this story, so then having to read the in between storyline, just wasn’t as appealing as I thought it would be, at least for me.
I literally think it’s because I’ve read the prequel, and the story is supposed to go after this story, so then having to read the in between storyline, just wasn’t as appealing as I thought it would be, at least for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Murder
The Pucking Wrong Date by C.R. Jane
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
<strong>Liked it better than book 2</strong>
Wish it was a little more darker, but I did enjoy it!
I am very intrigued by Camden’s story though. So I will be reading that one!
Wish it was a little more darker, but I did enjoy it!
I am very intrigued by Camden’s story though. So I will be reading that one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Stalking
Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use
Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault
Bad for Me: An Anthology of Dark and Forbidden Romance by MT Addams, Poppy Jacobson
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder