Reviews with content warning for Violence - My Beautiful Enemy

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas

6 reviews

alyssadorn's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.5

I read this in one sitting— I couldn’t stay away!! The angst, the pining, the anguish!This book made me feel, and by the second chapter I was captivated by the characters and wanted to know everything about them and what would happen next. The longing and sorrow and passion and intrigue were so visceral! I felt bereft just reading about their past while knowing how their present looks, sorrowful about the FMC’s past and family, intrigued by what betrayal they kept referencing, enraptured by the story of how they met and fell in love, compelled by their clear pining and worry over each other even through their anger— and moreover I felt these things because I truly felt that both of them were justified in their emotions— their anger and longing and sorrow and everything. I couldn’t fully blame either and I felt for them both.

The book is different from most historical romance— it almost seems more fantasy-like in its high stakes and how it reminds me of Throne of Glass with such a vicious FMC with a past sprinkled with trauma and devastation, but it also has an MMC so down bad I was obsessed with their dynamic together— very black cat/ golden retriever but with nuance. The writing style is also incredibly evocative; the author so clearly and subtly SHOWS readers what the characters are doing and feeling even when those feelings might not be clear to the characters themselves yet.

I also really liked how the story switches between now (1891) and 8 years before to allow readers to unravel the mystery of the main characters’ relationship as well as their individual pasts. We are allowed to see through both of their eyes not only with the anger and complications of the present, but also the pining and emotional intensity of their first meeting (and some really top-notch banter), and then see how the edges of past and present emotions blur. I found myself trying to guess how and when they would learn certain revelations about each other!

The sheer number of coincidences was a bit unbelievable, especially having the prologue and first chapter back to back each featuring the FMC running into a man she thought was dead, but I liked that the author addresses the oddity by having the FMC not believe it either at first, and then the coincidences do play into the themes of fate more and more as the book continues so it makes more sense in the broader context of the story. And I actually grew to like the coincidences because it made their lives and their fates feel so intertwined that it heightened the intrigue and dramatic suspense when we as an audience knew something that they did not about just how connected they are.

I really love the visceral nature of the descriptions, too; “a hard, swift stare that made her feel as if someone had pushed her head underwater” and I immediately felt the “what had Leighton Atwood said to [his fiancé]? Every woman before you was a wrong woman” 😭

And “he looked at Catherine now. Pain suffused her, pain that had nothing to do with her injury— pain complicated with a twist of pleasure, like a drop of blood whirling and expanding in a glass of water.”

The depth of their feeling is described in a way that truly shows us how they feel; for example, “[she] would fade from mind, long enough for him to almost believe that she no longer mattered to him. To almost cease turning sharply in the street when a dark-haired woman of similar figure and gait passed by.”

I also love a book with a badass FMC who can easily kill a man but has made mistakes in her past and who has felt true devastation. Combine that with her running into the man who caused the devastation, who she thought was dead, who betrayed her and who she regrets killing, who now very clearly hates her, and it’s a recipe for a book I’m going to love.

And the way he’s pained to see the fire has gone out of her eyes!! 😭😭🙌🙌🙌 so good.

The moment I realized how down bad I was for the MMC was a moment showing how down bad he was for the FMC— The way he’s depicted in the past as revering her and how he recognized and loved her strength, recounting the one time she was hurt as “the first and only time he had ever had the care of someone stronger than himself” and that “he had been driven with the need to see her restored to her former glory” Gahhh too good. It’s so clear he can’t stop caring about her even as he tries to hate her (“was she injured? Was that why she had looked so fragile?”)— the author competently and subtly shows everything he’s feeling when even he does not yet recognize those feelings, at the same time as showing how good of a man he is and how in awe of her he was (and you better believe I love a man who worships at his lover’s feet). He would beg to have her knife at his throat and I love it.

I also really loved the queer representation; even if it was dead side characters’ plot, it still felt lovely and sorrowful and so important to the main characters’ lives and plots.

Lines that made me FEEL:

“You want someone to look after you?” “Sometimes,” she said, her heart thudding.

SO REAL!!

“She was the singular focus of all his unfulfilled desires.” 🥵🥵🥵

Oof these lines are making me feel things!! “He regarded her not as a mere girl, but as if she were his Rubicon, a boundary that, once crossed, would alter history.”

“I am already yours. Forever.” 😭😭😭

(On each time she sees him alive): “The same shock, the same searing happiness, then, the same throat-constricting realization that, dead or alive, he remained lost to her.”

“For a moment it felt as if they stood on two sides of the Milky Way, separated by all the stars in the sky but without any flock of magpies to bridge the distance between them” 😭😭😭

and the way that line is between the quote about love that’s on the wedding invitation and what he told her 8 years before— “I am already yours. Forever.” ??? Devastating. 😭

His amazement at her wanting to marry him is so cute

“And still you looked for me?” “And still I looked for you.”

“He and my father are together in death, as they could not be in life.” 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Content Warnings

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? No

5.0

This was a reread for me, and, again, a five-star reading experience. Sherry Thomas excels in using dual timeline/time slips to slowly reveal character backstory and heighten the suspense, and this dual timeline is particularly devastating. This story of two unlikely people brought together by circumstance is explicitly a fated romance, and with its lightly fantastical wuxia elements and chi-based magic, the world feels soft around the edges in a way that fits such a sweeping story of star-crossed spies and unearthly villains. This hits so many of my favorite beats - second-chance romance, hidden identity, on-page declarations of fidelity, and the list goes on (and on). I highly recommend reading both installments in this duology, and honestly they can be read in any order (The Hidden Blade is a prequel to this story and shows our two characters as they grow up and their paths begin to merge). Please note content warnings on this one - I have included additional detail for one potentially triggering scene.

Content Warnings

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

heydebigale's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

I loved this duology SO much. I’d definitely recommend reading The Hidden Blade first.

This is an friends-to-enemies-to-lovers second chance romance with elements of magical realism due to the martial arts written in the style of the wuxia genre.

This book is fairly violent so definitely check content warnings.

I love nearly everything Sherry Thomas writes, but this is my favorite yet.

Notes: takes place in north-western, China and London, England. Catherine/Ying-Ying is Chinese and Leighton is English.

Content Warnings

bookfortbuilder's review

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adventurous fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

megloveswords12's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

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