Scan barcode
brittanica_bold's review
3.0
Rating: 3 stars!
Trigger warnings:
- References to suicide
- Violence
- Mutilation
- Dubcon
What I liked about the book:
1. That cover is gorgeous! It gives me pin up + Rob Zombie feels.
2. It was a super quick read as it’s a novella.
3. I loved the descriptions in this book, as well as the Paris setting. It was all very pretty to read. It had a very Moulin Rouge! feel to it, especially with George being a sweet artist and Cece being the starlet.
4. I also liked the mystical/paranormal feel to it. It was simple enough to not be convoluted, but enough of a story to want to see it through to the end.
What could have been better:
1. More time spent developing the characters would have had me more invested in them.
2. The romance really felt one-sided, which I didn't enjoy as I found George to be a sweetie.
3. This book was marketed as erotica, but I personally didn’t see it that way. Yes, there is sex and some taboo things, but nothing crazy that I haven’t seen in books purely marketed as romance. This tag is a bit of a stretch.
4. The ending was pretty jarring. I felt there was so much build up for a sudden change of plans on Selena’s part and everything came crashing down super fast. I would have appreciated not having a shock happen in the last 20 pages or so, as it just felt dizzying and out of place.
5. Most disappointing was I got the feel from the synopsis that Cece and George would be working together to solve the mystery, but there was barely any interaction between the two. I was looking for partners solving a mystery and I didn't get that.
Special thank you to NetGalley, Brigids Gate Press, LLC., and Antonia Rachel Ward for the opportunity to read this book for free. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review.
Trigger warnings:
- References to suicide
- Violence
- Mutilation
- Dubcon
What I liked about the book:
1. That cover is gorgeous! It gives me pin up + Rob Zombie feels.
2. It was a super quick read as it’s a novella.
3. I loved the descriptions in this book, as well as the Paris setting. It was all very pretty to read. It had a very Moulin Rouge! feel to it, especially with George being a sweet artist and Cece being the starlet.
4. I also liked the mystical/paranormal feel to it. It was simple enough to not be convoluted, but enough of a story to want to see it through to the end.
What could have been better:
1. More time spent developing the characters would have had me more invested in them.
2. The romance really felt one-sided, which I didn't enjoy as I found George to be a sweetie.
3. This book was marketed as erotica, but I personally didn’t see it that way. Yes, there is sex and some taboo things, but nothing crazy that I haven’t seen in books purely marketed as romance. This tag is a bit of a stretch.
4. The ending was pretty jarring. I felt there was so much build up for a sudden change of plans on Selena’s part and everything came crashing down super fast. I would have appreciated not having a shock happen in the last 20 pages or so, as it just felt dizzying and out of place.
5. Most disappointing was I got the feel from the synopsis that Cece and George would be working together to solve the mystery, but there was barely any interaction between the two. I was looking for partners solving a mystery and I didn't get that.
Special thank you to NetGalley, Brigids Gate Press, LLC., and Antonia Rachel Ward for the opportunity to read this book for free. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review.
jessicaeliz's review
2.0
If I’m being honest I can’t even remember the story
It’s really short and not to memorable
I thought I would like it a lot more,
The cover is beautiful.
The erotica tag is abit much the sex felt brushed over.
Thanks for the arc netgalley
It’s really short and not to memorable
I thought I would like it a lot more,
The cover is beautiful.
The erotica tag is abit much the sex felt brushed over.
Thanks for the arc netgalley
hanxue's review
1.0
Rating: 1 Star.
Let me just say this book pissed me off. I wanted to DNF it so many times but kept going because I was SURE that no way is the writer, who is a woman, was just gonna let this book keep going in the misogynistic tone that it kept going in but nope. It in fact didn't get better it got worse.
By the end of the book there was some hope that the tides were gonna turn but sigh, it was a disappointing mess. The funny part is that it is clear the writer intended this book to be a girlboss story with women reclaiming their bodies from the clutches of a misogynistic society but that flopped hard and the writer only ended up feeding into that misogynistic mindset even more.
Oh and there was A LOT, and I mean every few pages, scenes of lesbian sex, kissing, etc which were only ever done for male pleasure. Also scenes of a certain important character thinking of wlw kissing as demonic. I really hope no one classifies this book as LGBT. Canonically bi characters were there but as I said, for male pleasure.
If you told me this was written by a 1500's male writer who frequents brothels and illegally sells erotic novels for the violently misogynistic male society I would believe it.
Apart from all that, I do not understand why George even needed a POV? Also there were so many inconsistencies within the book including plot holes and a lot of things were just not explained and vague in the worst possible way which just gave off laziness.
The only good thing about the book was Selena.
I will not recommend this for anyone, don't even hateread it out of curiosity it is just not worth your time wasted.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book.
Let me just say this book pissed me off. I wanted to DNF it so many times but kept going because I was SURE that no way is the writer, who is a woman, was just gonna let this book keep going in the misogynistic tone that it kept going in but nope. It in fact didn't get better it got worse.
By the end of the book there was some hope that the tides were gonna turn but sigh, it was a disappointing mess. The funny part is that it is clear the writer intended this book to be a girlboss story with women reclaiming their bodies from the clutches of a misogynistic society but that flopped hard and the writer only ended up feeding into that misogynistic mindset even more.
Oh and there was A LOT, and I mean every few pages, scenes of lesbian sex, kissing, etc which were only ever done for male pleasure. Also scenes of a certain important character thinking of wlw kissing as demonic. I really hope no one classifies this book as LGBT. Canonically bi characters were there but as I said, for male pleasure.
If you told me this was written by a 1500's male writer who frequents brothels and illegally sells erotic novels for the violently misogynistic male society I would believe it.
Apart from all that, I do not understand why George even needed a POV? Also there were so many inconsistencies within the book including plot holes and a lot of things were just not explained and vague in the worst possible way which just gave off laziness.
The only good thing about the book was Selena.
I will not recommend this for anyone, don't even hateread it out of curiosity it is just not worth your time wasted.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book.
marissalee's review
3.0
A very quick and enjoyable read. However, I really wish that we could have gotten to know our characters more as I didn’t really feel attached to them at all. Also, this is just preference, but I really wish trigger warnings were placed in the front and not the back of the book.
Thank you NetGalley for the Advance Readers Copy in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you NetGalley for the Advance Readers Copy in exchange for my honest review.
bndugan's review
3.0
This book had a few uncomfortable scenes. I mean, one of the points of horror books is to make a reader uncomfortable. The seance was definitely on the line with the dubious consent. So this novella is very dark, so be sure to check out trigger warnings. So that's my PSA. I read dark romance a lot, so I'm used to a lot of darkness, and while the topic is uncomfortable, it was well-written.
hat
However, overall, it was a pretty cool novella. I think it could have been a wonderful full length novel--then it would be possibly that the characters would be a liiiitttle more developed as well as the ending.
This book was incredibly frightening. Being trapped in one's body is definitely a fear. Cece is controlled by Selena and she has no control. The descriptions of this make it so terrifying. The descriptions were really the strong suit of the novella.
The cover is so interesting to look at. That seriously deserves all the points. I am obsessed with that.
hat
However, overall, it was a pretty cool novella. I think it could have been a wonderful full length novel--then it would be possibly that the characters would be a liiiitttle more developed as well as the ending.
This book was incredibly frightening. Being trapped in one's body is definitely a fear. Cece is controlled by Selena and she has no control. The descriptions of this make it so terrifying. The descriptions were really the strong suit of the novella.
The cover is so interesting to look at. That seriously deserves all the points. I am obsessed with that.
undermeyou's review
4.0
4.5 - I think this would have worked better for me as a full length novel. I loved so much about it, especially the quality of the writing when compared to other similar books. Ward can write for sure. Because of the length too many important plot points did not get enough devoted space. If you’re going to have a romance and then I want development of the relationship. And if you’re going to have graphic language surrounding your sex scenes then I want actual details of the sex. It wasn’t like it was a YA and the sex was danced around. If you’re going to say someone put a cock in their mouth before they fucked then just go for it, don’t just vaguely describe what sex is by passively saying well she climbed on top and he filled her up and they both experienced pleasure until orgasm. I would have loved more surrounding the Marthe storyline. Not just a few mentions of her. But again, all of that goes back to length for me.
SPOILER: My one actual complaint about this book is that the ending ends up taking away a lot of the feminine power of the book. Giving this a happy wrap up instead of leaving all the vengeance be and letting Cece feel empowered by Selena feels like Cece is just another female prop in a storyline where the male lead will save her. Maybe if the romance had been less one sided and was more developed I might feel less of this, but I would have rather her just let George go if it was going to have to have a cliche “happy ending”
Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC
SPOILER: My one actual complaint about this book is that the ending ends up taking away a lot of the feminine power of the book. Giving this a happy wrap up instead of leaving all the vengeance be and letting Cece feel empowered by Selena feels like Cece is just another female prop in a storyline where the male lead will save her. Maybe if the romance had been less one sided and was more developed I might feel less of this, but I would have rather her just let George go if it was going to have to have a cliche “happy ending”
Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC
flowerranger's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
caitlina's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
skylarkblue1's review
1.0
NSFW review for an NSFW book
Thank you to Netgalley for an e-ARC in return for an honest review!
Trigger warnings (please take these seriously): non consentual sex, dubious consentual sex, mutilation, murder, violence, abuse, female objectification, sexism, demonising sex workers.
Do I need to say much more than the trigger warnings?
This book is just filled with "woman are just whores", basically every single sex scene is essentially non-consentual, and because its so short in the couple times when it does start to redeem itself (a female character saying something other than "haha sex" for example) it just very quickly brushes past it.
The main "romance" (despite 90% being of non or dubious consent..) is also questionable as the man is shown to be sexist and have a massive issue of saviour complex and can't help following his dick despite knowing something isn't right. If you know something isn't right and you don't think the other person is fully there mentally, whether spirit's are involved or not, don't whip your cock out!
I didn't think fifty shades could be topped as the most abusive and disturbing book in terms of sex/romance/etc. This also isn't an erotica. It's a paranormal horror book set in a brothel/strip club with prostitutes/slaves.. (?). It's got sex, but also at the same time I don't really want to count how many times the word "flesh" was used as a descriptor. The sex scenes where also all incredibly brief, only a paragraph or 2 for the most part.
I think my main thought after reading this is really, are the straights ok?
Thank you to Netgalley for an e-ARC in return for an honest review!
Trigger warnings (please take these seriously): non consentual sex, dubious consentual sex, mutilation, murder, violence, abuse, female objectification, sexism, demonising sex workers.
Do I need to say much more than the trigger warnings?
This book is just filled with "woman are just whores", basically every single sex scene is essentially non-consentual, and because its so short in the couple times when it does start to redeem itself (a female character saying something other than "haha sex" for example) it just very quickly brushes past it.
The main "romance" (despite 90% being of non or dubious consent..) is also questionable as the man is shown to be sexist and have a massive issue of saviour complex and can't help following his dick despite knowing something isn't right. If you know something isn't right and you don't think the other person is fully there mentally, whether spirit's are involved or not, don't whip your cock out!
I didn't think fifty shades could be topped as the most abusive and disturbing book in terms of sex/romance/etc. This also isn't an erotica. It's a paranormal horror book set in a brothel/strip club with prostitutes/slaves.. (?). It's got sex, but also at the same time I don't really want to count how many times the word "flesh" was used as a descriptor. The sex scenes where also all incredibly brief, only a paragraph or 2 for the most part.
I think my main thought after reading this is really, are the straights ok?