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tazmae79's review
4.0
This book was pure madness and I was here for all of it. If you can handle dark, like really dark, then by all means, enjoy. I will definitely be continuing this series to see where it all goes.
victorianmettle's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
This “book” is entirely too problematic. I had the displeasure of reading it in its entirety, only because I am making a more in-depth video about everything wrong with MBTM and the author herself.
Not only are there 20+ (yes, i counted) assault scenes before Part 3 is even over, but the romance in this dark “romance” is nowhere to be found.
The main female character, Sau, and her love interest, Caden, can only be described as a pairing even the devil wouldn’t condone. Sau is married off to Caden when she is 12, he 23. She is then brutally assaulted by werewolves and left in a 30 year coma. During this coma, Caden takes it upon himself to r*pe his child bride, causing her to have over 5 children of her own. When Sau wakes up from her coma, she has this victim mentality for the entirety of the book — something Miranda Grant could have used toward character development, but instead kept Sau in a Stockholm relationship with her abuser, hidden behind terribly written dialogue that attempted to convince the reader (or Sau) that Caden is a loving husband who only wants the best for her. Caden, as well as other characters and her own SON, proceeds to assault her throughout the book.
Grant claims on social media, and in a blurb at the end of the novel, that this was an attempt to bring awareness to SA victims and child brides. If that were true, why did she attempt to write in valid excuses for Caden’s behavior? If he didn’t marry this 12 year old, his father would most certainly kill his beloved baby brothers. If he didn’t r*pe and impregnate his comatose child bride, like her UNCLE suggested(!!!???), his father would certainly kill everyone he loved and little baby Caden would lose everything. Of course he had to do these things! Of course he HAD to! And of course Caden claims to love this child he has no interactions with other than meeting AND NAMING her when she was an infant, then at their wedding, then when he used his telekinesis to make her an active participant in his 30-year long coma assault — he is so deeply in love with her, maddeningly so, that he’d kill anyone who touches his property. Because that’s all she is to him, even when she wakes up as a 42 year old woman.
Sau is weak. Not in a “im a new victim, just reeling from what has happened to me” kind of fragile that some of us experience. Sau. Is. Weak. She comes from an all powerful witch family but there is no written development of her powers. She can’t physically fight. All she does is explain how to be a good wife, how she can’t save anyone, and how much she wants to kill Aleric. Sau can suddenly do things perfectly when it’s convenient for the plot (though there’s not much of that either), and then the next chapter she needs a man to save her because she doesn’t know how to use her powers again. There are about 3-4 insane time skips in this horror story, and not once do we get more than a paragraph of Sau going full out with her abilities—mainly because she never knows how to—but also because I am convinced Miranda Grant wrote every single assault scene first, and then wrote everything else after. Sau doesn’t learn to fight because her abuser, sorry, Caden, wont let her. Sau doesn’t do shit all with her Shadow powers bc??? idk??? all her family members are dead? Its very unclear. Sau doesn’t develop her healing abilities because..well i dont fucking know why, its never explained.
No one is redeemable in this book. Frankly, I don’t think Miranda Grant knows the meaning of the word.
Besides her terrible writing skills and abhorrent attempt to bring awareness to a REAL issue, the author herself is nothing more than a narcissistic liar who seems to believe the world is out to get her — not that there could be anything actually wrong with her book. Grant has blocked anyone with a differing opinion on MBTM, claiming we have attacked her readers (called them freaks, told them they were never SA’d, etc), and posted personal reviews on her own social media pages claiming the readers hadn’t read her poorly written TW list. She has taken to GR, Facebook, Ig, and even stalked a reviewer’s twitter account and began blocking accounts who haven’t even interacted with her pages (me included!), simply for MENTIONING her book in a negative light.
To put it plainly, the book is an abusers wet dream — as more than 3 r*pists, 2 pedophiles, and a whole lot of enablers get off (in great detail) over the course of the entire novel. If you find comfort during your healing journey in Grants writing, thats fine, but this particular book is not a romance — and definitely shouldn’t have been marketed as such.
*not mentioned:
CSA/murder of a 3month old baby (author has it written, on page, in the form of dialogue & a terrible description as the father finds her corpse).
Everything else I have to say about Ms. Grant and MBTM will be mentioned in my youtube video, coming shortly. Someone pray for me, i hate it here.
Not only are there 20+ (yes, i counted) assault scenes before Part 3 is even over, but the romance in this dark “romance” is nowhere to be found.
The main female character, Sau, and her love interest, Caden, can only be described as a pairing even the devil wouldn’t condone. Sau is married off to Caden when she is 12, he 23. She is then brutally assaulted by werewolves and left in a 30 year coma. During this coma, Caden takes it upon himself to r*pe his child bride, causing her to have over 5 children of her own. When Sau wakes up from her coma, she has this victim mentality for the entirety of the book — something Miranda Grant could have used toward character development, but instead kept Sau in a Stockholm relationship with her abuser, hidden behind terribly written dialogue that attempted to convince the reader (or Sau) that Caden is a loving husband who only wants the best for her. Caden, as well as other characters and her own SON, proceeds to assault her throughout the book.
Grant claims on social media, and in a blurb at the end of the novel, that this was an attempt to bring awareness to SA victims and child brides. If that were true, why did she attempt to write in valid excuses for Caden’s behavior? If he didn’t marry this 12 year old, his father would most certainly kill his beloved baby brothers. If he didn’t r*pe and impregnate his comatose child bride, like her UNCLE suggested(!!!???), his father would certainly kill everyone he loved and little baby Caden would lose everything. Of course he had to do these things! Of course he HAD to! And of course Caden claims to love this child he has no interactions with other than meeting AND NAMING her when she was an infant, then at their wedding, then when he used his telekinesis to make her an active participant in his 30-year long coma assault — he is so deeply in love with her, maddeningly so, that he’d kill anyone who touches his property. Because that’s all she is to him, even when she wakes up as a 42 year old woman.
Sau is weak. Not in a “im a new victim, just reeling from what has happened to me” kind of fragile that some of us experience. Sau. Is. Weak. She comes from an all powerful witch family but there is no written development of her powers. She can’t physically fight. All she does is explain how to be a good wife, how she can’t save anyone, and how much she wants to kill Aleric. Sau can suddenly do things perfectly when it’s convenient for the plot (though there’s not much of that either), and then the next chapter she needs a man to save her because she doesn’t know how to use her powers again. There are about 3-4 insane time skips in this horror story, and not once do we get more than a paragraph of Sau going full out with her abilities—mainly because she never knows how to—but also because I am convinced Miranda Grant wrote every single assault scene first, and then wrote everything else after. Sau doesn’t learn to fight because her abuser, sorry, Caden, wont let her. Sau doesn’t do shit all with her Shadow powers bc??? idk??? all her family members are dead? Its very unclear. Sau doesn’t develop her healing abilities because..well i dont fucking know why, its never explained.
No one is redeemable in this book. Frankly, I don’t think Miranda Grant knows the meaning of the word.
Besides her terrible writing skills and abhorrent attempt to bring awareness to a REAL issue, the author herself is nothing more than a narcissistic liar who seems to believe the world is out to get her — not that there could be anything actually wrong with her book. Grant has blocked anyone with a differing opinion on MBTM, claiming we have attacked her readers (called them freaks, told them they were never SA’d, etc), and posted personal reviews on her own social media pages claiming the readers hadn’t read her poorly written TW list. She has taken to GR, Facebook, Ig, and even stalked a reviewer’s twitter account and began blocking accounts who haven’t even interacted with her pages (me included!), simply for MENTIONING her book in a negative light.
To put it plainly, the book is an abusers wet dream — as more than 3 r*pists, 2 pedophiles, and a whole lot of enablers get off (in great detail) over the course of the entire novel. If you find comfort during your healing journey in Grants writing, thats fine, but this particular book is not a romance — and definitely shouldn’t have been marketed as such.
*not mentioned:
CSA/murder of a 3month old baby (author has it written, on page, in the form of dialogue & a terrible description as the father finds her corpse).
Everything else I have to say about Ms. Grant and MBTM will be mentioned in my youtube video, coming shortly. Someone pray for me, i hate it here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Rape, and Child death
blacksoulreads's review
5.0
How to describe this book?
I guess I should start with the trigger warnings. DO NOT read this book if you have triggers. Any of them. All of them. I guarantee they are in this book in one guise or another. DO NOT read this book if you think you might struggle with reading depictions of abuse (including CSA) and deep trauma. This book is darker than dark and so beyond heavy.
However, if none of that applies. This book is wonderfully and authentically written. As someone whose childhood followed similar patterns to the FMC, her responses and reactions, her naivety and desperate clinging to hope felt deeply truthful and right to me. The MMCs in this book are all quite awful in their own unique ways, yet they are fleshed-out and intriguing. You hate what they’re doing, whilst also feeling a grudging understanding for why they’re doing hateful things. Not to say you accept what they’re doing, but each character has their own reasons and motivations, and you can understand how they’re justifying to themselves as they act. Particularly so in the cases of Caden and Antonio.
Sau , the FMC, is the absolute epitome of hope. She always, no matter what, hopes for better things. For things to improve. Be better. She is strength and tenacity. She’s powerful and brilliant. But above all else, she is hope personified. At least that’s how she feels to me. I empathised and understood why she did the things she did, her actions, no matter how ill-advised, felt true to me. They felt true to someone living with deep trauma, and true to someone desperately trying to make everything ‘better’ without being able to see the bigger picture and respond accordingly.
I hadn’t heard of this author or this book before a few days ago. The author was mentioned, several times, in a FB thread, where the consensus was that the author was just a genuinely lovely person who should get more credit. That alone made me decide to read a few of her works. Then she commented herself to warn me not to read this one if I had triggers (I don’t, even though I probably should) But I am SO glad I found and commented on that thread. I read voraciously, 200+ books a year on average, but this has stormed into my top 5 ever. I have immediately ordered the rest of the series and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
If you don’t have triggers, and can handle heavy and dark. Read this, it’s genuinely excellent. I believe there is a ‘soft’ version with some of the more traumatic scenes cut from it, but I can’t speak to how heavy it still is so do check before you read that one instead.
I guess I should start with the trigger warnings. DO NOT read this book if you have triggers. Any of them. All of them. I guarantee they are in this book in one guise or another. DO NOT read this book if you think you might struggle with reading depictions of abuse (including CSA) and deep trauma. This book is darker than dark and so beyond heavy.
However, if none of that applies. This book is wonderfully and authentically written. As someone whose childhood followed similar patterns to the FMC, her responses and reactions, her naivety and desperate clinging to hope felt deeply truthful and right to me. The MMCs in this book are all quite awful in their own unique ways, yet they are fleshed-out and intriguing. You hate what they’re doing, whilst also feeling a grudging understanding for why they’re doing hateful things. Not to say you accept what they’re doing, but each character has their own reasons and motivations, and you can understand how they’re justifying to themselves as they act. Particularly so in the cases of Caden and Antonio.
Sau , the FMC, is the absolute epitome of hope. She always, no matter what, hopes for better things. For things to improve. Be better. She is strength and tenacity. She’s powerful and brilliant. But above all else, she is hope personified. At least that’s how she feels to me. I empathised and understood why she did the things she did, her actions, no matter how ill-advised, felt true to me. They felt true to someone living with deep trauma, and true to someone desperately trying to make everything ‘better’ without being able to see the bigger picture and respond accordingly.
I hadn’t heard of this author or this book before a few days ago. The author was mentioned, several times, in a FB thread, where the consensus was that the author was just a genuinely lovely person who should get more credit. That alone made me decide to read a few of her works. Then she commented herself to warn me not to read this one if I had triggers (I don’t, even though I probably should) But I am SO glad I found and commented on that thread. I read voraciously, 200+ books a year on average, but this has stormed into my top 5 ever. I have immediately ordered the rest of the series and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
If you don’t have triggers, and can handle heavy and dark. Read this, it’s genuinely excellent. I believe there is a ‘soft’ version with some of the more traumatic scenes cut from it, but I can’t speak to how heavy it still is so do check before you read that one instead.
lorcansshirt's review against another edition
Update: AUTHOR DOESNT KNOW HOW TO STAY OUT OF READER SPACES AND WILL PUT YOU ON BLAST ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM IF YOU CRITICIZE THEIR BOOK.
I wish I could lobotomize myself to erase this disgusting “book” from my mind.
Take my 1 star as actually negative 1000 stars
I started reading this kind of as a joke. I read a lot of dark romance with a lot of dark stuff, but this isn’t a dark romance. It’s just snuff porn.
‼️‼️‼️ TRIGGER WARNING‼️‼️‼️
The part that sent me over the edge is the detailed description of a TWO MONTH OLD BABY being molested, raped, and murdered and stuffed into a toilet.
The first rape scene we are given the 12 year old FMC is cut open at her pelvis, while simultaneously being raped through the mouth. We THANKFULLY don’t get to the part insinuating the other to rape her through a hole cut open on her breast. OR the others with sticks for “dildos”
The compounding rape scenes afterward coupled with the random torture/violence with no plot was evident of the author just trying to garner shock value and no actual talent for writing or building a story.
This book is marketed as a romance but there is minimal romance to be seen despite being marketed as dark romance.
The writing is god awful in general, no plot exists, literally just torture porn/snuff porn.
The author just throws in the most extreme things they can think of for shock value, but the description of the baby has me genuinely questioning if they actually have these thoughts about children.
I cannot stress enough how much I wish this author would never try and write another book again.
‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
This is a second trigger warning for in depth detail of the baby scene if you are wanting to know but this is a HUGE warning that it is VERY graphic.
The lead up shows the FMC walking up on the uncle molesting the baby vaginally. Mentioning the baby’s red face screaming.
Later the mmc is rightfully torturing said uncle and uncle mentions how when he would do diaper changes he would “stick his finger up her cunt until she screamed”
We then see the mmc entering the bathroom and notices blood on the sink and follows the trail to the toilet. Where he opens it and finds the baby, mentioning the baby’s prolapsed anus, red thighs, and broken back and then shoved down into the toilet.
I wish I could lobotomize myself to erase this disgusting “book” from my mind.
Take my 1 star as actually negative 1000 stars
I started reading this kind of as a joke. I read a lot of dark romance with a lot of dark stuff, but this isn’t a dark romance. It’s just snuff porn.
‼️‼️‼️ TRIGGER WARNING‼️‼️‼️
The part that sent me over the edge is the detailed description of a TWO MONTH OLD BABY being molested, raped, and murdered and stuffed into a toilet.
The first rape scene we are given the 12 year old FMC is cut open at her pelvis, while simultaneously being raped through the mouth. We THANKFULLY don’t get to the part insinuating the other to rape her through a hole cut open on her breast. OR the others with sticks for “dildos”
The compounding rape scenes afterward coupled with the random torture/violence with no plot was evident of the author just trying to garner shock value and no actual talent for writing or building a story.
This book is marketed as a romance but there is minimal romance to be seen despite being marketed as dark romance.
The writing is god awful in general, no plot exists, literally just torture porn/snuff porn.
The author just throws in the most extreme things they can think of for shock value, but the description of the baby has me genuinely questioning if they actually have these thoughts about children.
I cannot stress enough how much I wish this author would never try and write another book again.
‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
This is a second trigger warning for in depth detail of the baby scene if you are wanting to know but this is a HUGE warning that it is VERY graphic.
The lead up shows the FMC walking up on the uncle molesting the baby vaginally. Mentioning the baby’s red face screaming.
Later the mmc is rightfully torturing said uncle and uncle mentions how when he would do diaper changes he would “stick his finger up her cunt until she screamed”
We then see the mmc entering the bathroom and notices blood on the sink and follows the trail to the toilet. Where he opens it and finds the baby, mentioning the baby’s prolapsed anus, red thighs, and broken back and then shoved down into the toilet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Body horror, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, Violence, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt
phedre's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This review is for the hard version. I very much recommend you read the trigger warnings if you have any. They are all in this book, plus some that aren't listed. I'm a seasoned reader of dark books including extreme horror and horror erotica. I didn't think anything could be "worse" than the Life of Anna series, but this one did it. I had to put the book down several times to just breathe and stare at a wall. Just one traumatic event after another. I can't say I liked any of the characters all that much. Sau was repeatedly making stupid mistakes, Caden supposedly had such love for his wife that he raped her A LOT while she was in a coma (really, how could he have developed such an eternal love for her when they spent zero time together). The only character I really liked was Meyers. He was the most consistent and I would love for him to have his own book. I will say I also loved Aleric. I do love them batshit crazy. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I love to see how depraved a book can get. Now I am on the hunt for one that outdoes this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Gore, Rape, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death, Body horror, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Vomit, Alcoholism, Incest, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, and Trafficking
beanareada's review
5.0
I started with Cursed to be Mine and knew I needed more from Sau and then read Madness Behind the Mask. This book stole pieces of my soul. It was pitch black but so worth the trauma to watch Sau grow and not lose herself through the darkness. God I love that woman she is mighty and feral and majestic and everything a strong female character should be. Miranda fleshes out her characters to the point that you believe they are real people. You feel what they feel. You love with them and grieve with them and want to watch the world burn with them. Thank you for giving the world such amazing books to escape into.
lillaphina's review
1.0
DNF @ 40% Spoilers*******
Way to much incest and rape all involving little kids while trying to have a a fantasy spin on it with witches, vampires and werewolves.
No thanks
The MFC was in a coma for 30 years who got raped multiple times by her "husband" and others and before her coma when she was a child, her father and uncle would beat her and just do nasty vile things to her at 10 years old and younger. This book goes into way to much fucked up details about that.
I'm all about trigger warnings but this, this is not a good one at all.
Way to much incest and rape all involving little kids while trying to have a a fantasy spin on it with witches, vampires and werewolves.
No thanks
The MFC was in a coma for 30 years who got raped multiple times by her "husband" and others and before her coma when she was a child, her father and uncle would beat her and just do nasty vile things to her at 10 years old and younger. This book goes into way to much fucked up details about that.
I'm all about trigger warnings but this, this is not a good one at all.
willie_g's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
meg_anne719's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
filthydecisions's review against another edition
DNF not because it’s dark, like pitch black, locked in an air tight box kinda black (I got the all the triggers version, I knew what I was doing) but DNF because the story was putting me to sleep at best, some character development would have also been nice, their motivations are “do dark shit” and “act like a naive brat” which just icked me worse than the child SA. This book exists solely to say it’s got all the triggers, not all the triggers done well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Cursing, Torture, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt