Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

126 reviews

moralesveronica090216's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

very spicy and sexy 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, and Death

adaskam's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I have had a few days to stew on this book and I still come to the same conclusion. I simply did not enjoy this as much as I thought I would because of how much I disliked the FMC. Blakely started meh and had absolutely zero character development or progression. Her I’m weak, I’m strong routine got old fast and I just found myself rolling my eyes far too much to enjoy it. Ryat knew how to put it down 🍆, so I’ll give stars for that. Also stars for the narration! 👏 Finally, I didn’t know until this book how drugging someone in fiction land is just not my thing, who would have thought?! 🤷‍♀️ I’m listening to the next book in the series and crossing my fingers the next FMC is it! 🤞

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Violence

kdb_0620's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Torture, Medical trauma, Blood, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Rape, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Cursing, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Violence

meganlaza's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Classism, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Death, Drug abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Rape, Bullying, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

chels984's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

oh my god hello i need to reconnect with nature

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcohol, Stalking, Blood, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Bullying, Sexual content, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Cursing, Death, and Emotional abuse

emily511's review

This book just really wasn’t for me.  The multitudes of trigger warnings aside, there just wasn’t much of a plot.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Torture, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual content, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Stalking, Physical abuse, and Sexism

thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This year is my year to read more romance, and this is my first read in dark college romance. Thanks BookTok!
  
This felt like reading an AITA where ETA because money, entitlement, and secret societies.
  
While I actually enjoyed the supposed actual storyline, the characters smashing every other page just got too much. I mean, how many ways can they do the same thing and still be so surprised she likes it?!
  
Morally grey, dark, and quite spicy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual violence, Classism, Drug use, and Stalking

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Minor: Gaslighting

thereadaholic's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I ate this book up. It's a dark book and I would not recommend this for beginners because ryat is dark really dark. I absolutely loved every part of this book I thought the way the plot builds up was perfect , loved the way the characters were I just wished authors would stop making FMC'S so naive and make them strong willed , and just maybe once up the MMC'S
 
Other than that the book is just wow , I loved the way ryat's character development progressed through the book I also wished we could have gotten a bit more of how they started loving each other but again other than that the book is great.

I devoured the book , ate it up so quick and I just really enjoyed it. 

If your not a begginer looking for a dark romance book this is ur book bestie 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Alcohol, Gun violence, Torture, Murder, Sexual harassment, Gore, Grief, Blood, Cursing, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Kidnapping, Death, and Abandonment

Minor: Pregnancy

smilestarshine's review

dark tense slow-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? Yes

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Torture, Gaslighting, Violence, and Rape

wandering_seal's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Look it was fine. There are some really fucking questionable decisions going on storywise - the

kiddos names at the end

for one, and the weird need to write out the name and artist of every song they hear playing.

This is one of those books where I'm somehow meant to believe the MMC has only had sex as a teenager and has been abstinent for the past three years before getting a pet sex slave and is somehow amazing at everything he wants to do with a solid working knowledge of all the kinks and how to navigate our FMCs body. Oh and he's a super awesome killer. With a future in law. Yep. Yeah. The suspension of disbelief was hard in this one.

I think you know what your getting into with these books. The lack of kinkshaming was really nice, and the emphasis on consent was also good considering this is a story with lots of dubcon aspects. I listened to it on audiobook at twice speed so the length of the plot didn't really bother me, but it is a loooong story and the later part in particular could have been tightened up.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Murder, Alcohol, Drug use, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Emotional abuse