Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

A Court This Cruel and Lovely by Stacia Stark

26 reviews

hapalyn's review

adventurous funny tense slow-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

Were there some cliche plot points? Yes. BUT-

The way I loved the adventure and build up to a bigger plotline, and I really enjoyed the found family aspect with the "mercenaries". The FMC is intelligent and I love the heart of gold she has! I also really enjoy the magic she possesses, it's really unique compared to other fantasy FMCs I've read lately! 

A couple of reveals lined up to be a little too coincidental for me, but I think the enjoyment I experienced throughout the read made up for the lack of believability in some areas (and, well it's fantasy so it's not necessarily believable anyways). The twist with the MMC had me intrigued because while I somewhat expected it, I think part of me didn't want to at the same time. I'm very interested to see the resolution between FMC AND MMC, but I'm not looking forward to reading 500 pages to get there... lol. 

I will be continuing with this series and enjoying the different characters!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Death of parent, and Vomit

For fire injury: there are people executed by being burned alive For rape/sexual assault: there's implications of side characters being rapists, and there is an attempted sexual assault/rape + attempted murder of FMC towards the first half of the book

she is not assaulted and kills the guy

For murder: couple of different deaths by beheading, stabbing, pushed into a river, etc.

carol_marie's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Grief

elntastic's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

The story was very gripping and entertaining, maintaining quite a fast pace throughout the story. I really liked the FMC. The MC is definitely a dark/grey character with questionable morals, but he didn’t cross any lines for me (yet).  I also loved the dynamic and slow burn between the FMC and the MC. 
However; the story was definitely nothing new. Everything that happened was more or less foreseeable. The world-building wasn’t very detailed.

The seemingly „good“ king who saved his people turns out to be an evil man who uses his folk? Heard that before. The MC is not who she thought he was? Read that before. She has to make a bargain with him after learning the truth about him? Def read that before. She has powers that were somehow hidden from her her entire life? Read that many many times. So all in all, nothing in this book felt new to me.  

It’s definitely a good story but if you’re looking for something new/different, you won’t find it here. This book feels like a lot of other books I have read before. There were so many parts where I saw direct similarities to other stories. If you’re looking for something different and new I’d suggest reading Carissa Broadbents books or Beck Michael’s „Guardians if the Maiden“ series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts

knottygeek's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The first half with the mercenary group was great and I loved it. The second half of the hook felt like a lot of almost too convenient things were put into place for the FMC. The end got predictable as well as some of the ending plot twists. Overall though wasn't a bad read and I plan on reading the next in the series asap.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Murder, Religious bigotry, Classism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Confinement, Suicide attempt, Blood, Torture, and Child death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Medical content

dxisymitch's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Genocide, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Grief, Confinement, War, and Injury/Injury detail

empire_of_sun_and_nightmares's review against another edition

adventurous 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? N/A

2.75

Bought as a cheap audiobook. It was fast paced. But otherwise just ok. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

altarbunny's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Super enticing read. I loved the fact that when the love interest separated the MC actually performed and executed a plan. The romance was definitely in the back burner until about 80% of the way through the book. My biggest peeve was that the clothing descriptions lacked and what I imagined(especially court attire) was impossible to execute some scenes in. I loved the dialogue and the plot and was kept on the edge of my seat for most of the book. People who enjoy series like ACOTAR would likely love this, although I wish a different title would have been chosen. I get that they’re trying to get Maas readers, but the court scenes was less than 50% of the book, and I feel like this book could easily stand on its own against ACOTAR. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Death, Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual assault

unboundbooklover's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent, Gore, and Grief

fannehsm's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Minor: Murder

saltyotter6's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who liked ACOTAR. While the Main Male isn't up to ACOTAR standards, I liked the world building and plot a lot. It has a good amount of foreshadowing if you want to look deeper into things. I'll definitely be reading the rest of this series!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault