Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

All He'll Ever Be by W. Winters

10 reviews

katierosecrane's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book would’ve have been so much better if it was shorter. There were parts that were intriguing and parts that bore me. 

Carter Cross is a lunatic and I just couldn’t understand Aria’s love for him. 

I don’t see how his actions can be forgotten. He had her imprisoned and the only reason I see for her staying with him is purely sex. There is just too much trauma he causes her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Addiction, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Mental illness, Blood, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Violence, and Toxic relationship

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

alicia_joy's review against another edition

dark tense

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

2.0

I wanted to like this quartet. I really did. Like many bookish girls, Beauty and the Beast is my favorite classic Disney princess tale. But to claim this is a modern retelling of any fashion is crap. The story of Carter and Aria is nothing but toxic, abusive, glorified Stockholm syndrome. As much as I wanted to like this and read it on it's entirety to really give it a fair shot, it 1000% was not my cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Murder, Cursing, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Alcohol

sjoss06's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Kidnapping

cyodis96's review against another edition

Uhm. This is actual trash and I was angry the entire book. Carter is a terrible person and Aria has no backbone. She kept talking about how she had all this fight in her but she was slowly losing it…not once did I see any ounce of fight. Not only that, but how do you manage to have secrets in a 1st person POV. We never got any conclusive explanation as to why he was doing what he’s doing. This is just romanticizing Stockholm syndrome. I like dark romance. This was not it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Rape, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

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

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

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

avarlow's review against another edition

I’ve read dark romances before but the “romance” in this isn’t believable. I guess because there really is none it’s severe Stockholm syndrome and I can’t find the characters likeable. It just seems like a book about your tire and control no romance at all. It is also painfully slow. I might try again later but currently can’t keep going.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

CHECK TRIGGER WARNINGS I DID NOT AND THAT WHY I AM DNF

msmoneylady's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood

Very obvious Stockholm Syndrome