Reviews tagging 'Torture'

All He'll Ever Be by W. Winters

9 reviews

destinynichole11's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Child death, Body horror, Car accident, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Deadnaming, Medical content, Murder, Vomit, Gun violence, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, War, Self harm, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Torture, Cancer, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death of parent, and Gore

zaesbookshelf's review against another edition

Coercion 👏 is 👏 not 👏 consent 👏
Horrific, a good bit into book two and still zero explanation of why he needed to not only kidnap, but also torture her. Zero explanation of their attraction to each other. She “saved his life” and that means he has to literally torture and starve her? I don’t get it. I love dark romance, but this just ain’t it. There’s no romance and I don’t see myself *ever* rooting for their relationship. Also, this weak woman vibe just ain’t it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Confinement

Moderate: Rape and Misogyny

audlittlebookshelf's review against another edition

I finished book 1 and a little bit of book 2. This is marketed as a dark Beauty and the Beast retelling but it’s really just a kidnapper romance with extremely dubious (at best) consent. The FMC, Aria, has an internal monologue that reads like someone in an abusive relationship. The MMC, Carter, is so unlikeable to me that the only ending I would find satisfying at the point is if Aria kills him. Aria has almost no fight or strength to her, which would be fine if we weren’t being told how strong she is.

I will typically forgive a lot of things in a romance if the romance itself is good but this feels so forced and I do not buy their chemistry. There were actually some moments where I thought this could be an interesting thriller but not a romance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, Sexism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Gore, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Cursing

Moderate: Death of parent and Drug use

Psychological Torture

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

I don't read very many straight romances, most leave me more annoyed than anything else.  However, I've read this authors work before and this book is probably my favorite so far.

This is a dark romance with nice world building and well written characters.  I was a bit hesitant at times about the romance but in the end I really liked both Aria and Carter and their character development.

Also, the formatting was so pretty, I love seeing pictures/art work in books.  It makes the reading experience so much better.

I do recommend reading the content warnings before picking it up though.

♡ Hurt/Comfort
♡ Dark Romance
♡ Forbidden Romance
♡ Dom/sub Relationship
♡ Angst with a Happy Ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Confinement, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Murder, Cursing, Alcohol, and Sexual content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death, Stalking, Torture, War, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Minor: Pregnancy, Vomit, Abandonment, Drug use, and Sexual harassment

taylorvalerie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Rape

cxizzybellcx's review

After reading the first book, i have decided to DNF this toxicity. How can this book be compared to beauty and the beast? THERE ARE LITERALLY NO SIMILARITIES!!! At least the beast wasn’t a complete beast to belle in the Disney movie. Carter was your definition of a psychotic and controlling beast of a human! If you can classify that blood thirsty psychopath as a human. Don’t even get me started on aria either. The poor girl was stripped from her basic human rights, but continuing to fawn over Carter’s good looks? Come on now, you are on survival mode!! I really dislike how manipulative and deceiving this book is! AND COMPLETELY DISRESPECTFUL TOWARDS WOMEN IN GENERAL! I get it takes place within a mafia setting, but the common decency this book has towards females is no where to be found. 
The fact that Carter makes aria KNEEL TO HIM to have some sort of control. It grinds my gears every time he has to mention Aria was nothing but a possession to him. And literally forces her to be with him, and give her all to him in order for Aria not to be traumatized more! I get Aria did it to survive, but she eventually liked it to the point where she begged him to stay! 
Don’t even get me started on the plot either, but wait? What plot? There was legitimate no plot at all!! It was just mentions of Carter being obsessive and possessive over aria and aria trying to Survive her captures! The storyline would’ve been great had it actually been followed. 
I don’t know…this book itself is beyond toxic. I hope I’m reading the same book as everyone else who gave it more than 3 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Torture, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Blood, and Toxic relationship

ednam0dewannabe's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Murder, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, and Death

Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Rape, War, Death of parent, Child death, and Misogyny

bearareads's review against another edition

I just couldn’t get into the story. It’s just not for me. I am not a huge fan of how possessive he is over her, especially since he hasn’t technically met her. His whole goal is to make her submit to him, yet his tactics are abusive. I don’t normally mind reading dark stories, but I would have preferred more build up, or interactions between them prior to her being kidnapped. I just can’t bring myself to finish it. It’s someone’s cup of tea, but definitely not mine.

Any content warnings I included in this blurb is purely based on what I had read so far. I do not know the extent of the rest of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Torture

ka_ke's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

2.0

This is a dark romance. Emphasis on dark. From what I understand All He Ever Was is the author’s way of healing from her own traumas, and I understand the point. I can see some of myself in Aria, but Carter pisses me off in a way that I’m not sure I can explain. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Blood, Grief, Mental illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Confinement, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, Rape, Abandonment, Self harm, and War