Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Cursed Fates by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham

9 reviews

alliecatk's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense 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? Yes

5.0

this is the book where everything hits the fan, and you realize you are in for a world of heartache as the series progresses. 

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nineinchnails's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

these books are not good for my blood sugar at ALL i can't remember the last time i've felt so anxious and excited reading a book: or spent so long continuously reading a book that i missed breakfast, lunch, and dinner. the writing (specifically the prose) has improved quite a bit imo but even if it hadn't the plot manages to capture my attention so entirely that it doesn't really matter. i love angst and most of the characters were suffering so even though it's a lot of pining (i usually am not a big fan) i was obsessed!! the first half-ish was probably too slow paced but i really enjoyed it because there was a lot of character development (and suffering) and relationship development.

i think this is the first time i've felt them make progress with each other without them completely backtracking afterwards even if it is tentative and fragile progress. i am pretty much a tory girl now i think; she's so stubborn and prideful and argumentative and moody and insecure and vulnerable and loyal i would die for her!!! she feels very real and i feel more connected to her than i expected to at the start of the series. i think it might have been another case of me finding a character (ever so slightly) irritating because they remind me so much of myself that it's painful. some of her decisions and actions are questionable to say the least but it's more and more understandable the more we see of her chapters.

that goes for all the main characters if i'm honest since they get even more development + growth and even the ones i was iffy about i've kind of softened to. i'm still not obsessed with darcy and orion together (torydarius clear them any day) but i think i've come out the end of this book not hating them together so much... whatever makes darcy happy i guess! i do think the gap between them in terms of power imbalance/their dynamics is starting to close so it feels like they're closer to an even playing ground, if that makes sense, which is making me less icked out over them now. torydarius had so much development in this book and i was almost glad for the reason that they were suffering in this book because i don't think we could have got so much good without all that bad (in this context at least) but i'm hoping they get some sort of reprieve from the turmoil in the next book cause i don't know how much more i can take of it. ALSO torydarius felt very buffy x spike coded here like specifically season 6 the episode where the house falls down i'm obsessed with them.

the last half of the book made me feel sick because i was cycling through ITS JOEVERšŸ’” and WE ARE SO BACKšŸ„³ every 5 pages. honestly i don't even know what to say about the ending because it feels like there's so much going on but things just seem insanely grim. the only thing comforting me is the fact that i've finished 2 series by this duo now and if history (and the steadily increasing page count of ZA books) is reliable then i'm sure we will have a novella-sized epilogue by the time the final book comes out. i usually hate epilogues that long because they feel pointless and needlessly excessive but i think after all this suffering i will probably need it. 

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_alyssar_'s review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.75


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kat1105's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0


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charhollyx's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense fast-paced

4.25

Another annoying asf ending once again! Itā€™s like the sisters enjoy torturing their readers who just want to see the sisters have a win for oncešŸ„ŗ
The pacing was a bit strange, the third book span over a week yet this span over 6 months.
The character development was much better in this book. Tory was much more likeable, as well as all the heirs. 
There are a lot of moments where Iā€™m thinking ā€œsurely doing this would be much easier than the plan the characters are going ahead with?ā€ 
An unexpected highlight for me was Darcy and Dariusā€™ friendship blossoming over their shared love and fear for Tory and Orion, which I hope will continue into the next books.
I canā€™t believe Orion went to jail just because that silly bitch testified. Genuinely donā€™t get it. Surely his sentence wouldnā€™t have been 25 years bad if he had just shut up?
I love Dariusā€™ love for Tory, even though she pisses me off immensely. 
What I donā€™t understand is how easily daddy Acrux beat four heirs and two princesses, all of which are much more powerful once their powers combine and assist one another against one dragon and one shadow princess. It kind of felt like an unlikely move to make just to cause more shit to happen. 
Also, I was wrong in betting Diego was a villain, but I KNEW he was a nymph from the very first book!! Called it!!
Itā€™s getting to the point that Iā€™m losing love for the main characters if thereā€™s nothing to root for and no point doing so?

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sam019's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional relaxing slow-paced

5.0

This series is starting to really piss me off. It's still amazing but nothing good happens ever and it's getting so hard to read. Can there just be some happiness...please. 

I need to take a break and read a standalone or something because I'm too invested in these characters. 

After taking a break by reading a couple standalones to mend my broken heart, I confirm I'm still obsessed and in love with this series, I just hate reading about the characters I adore being in so much pain šŸ˜­

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juliette_95's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.75


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lotte5322's review

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5.0


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swimming_ducks's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

The excitement and tension all through the book kills me. My favorite one of the series BY FAR.
Loved the evolution between the Heirs and the twins, enemies to allies is always great. But even greater is enemies to lovers. Im obviously taking about Tory and Darius. Even though Tory denied their connection when they had their Divine moment they decided to defy the stars, and Iā€™m obsessed with it. Hopefully they achieve it, even with Orions help. Who, btw, annoys the hell out of me. I understand he wanted to protect Darcy after they were caught but he took it too far. I feel bad for Darcy, she is finally happy after years of feeling worthless and now she lost the love of her life (who she believed to be her Elysian Mate), her sister and the world seems to he crumbling down.
 When it all comes down, CANT wait to get to the next book :)

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