A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

Title: The Ritual

Author: Shantel Tessier

Genre: Erotica, BDSM, Academic, College, Contemporary, Adult, Suspense, Kinky, Didn't Finish

Warning: Sexual Assault, Depravity, Stalker, Taboo, Dub-Con

Date Started: January 6th, 2023

Date Finished: January 7th, 2023

Status: DNF @ 35%

Rating: N/A

Sypnosis: THE CHOSEN ONE

I vow. You vow. We vow.

Barrington University is home of the Lords, a secret society that requires their blood in payment. They are above all—the most powerful men in the world. They devote their lives to violence in exchange for power. And during their senior year, they are offered a chosen one.

People think growing up with money is freeing, but I promise you, it’s not. My entire life has been planned out for me. I never got the chance to do what I wanted until Ryat Alexander Archer came along and gave me an option for a better life. He offered me what no one else ever had—freedom.

I chose to be his. He made me believe that anyway, but it was just another lie. A way that the Lords manipulate you into doing what they want.

After being sucked into the dark, twisted world of the Lords, I embraced my new role and allowed Ryat to parade me around like the trophy I was to him. But like all things, what started out as a game soon became a fight for survival. And the only way out was death.

Review: This was a book I had seen off the smutty books and booktok hashtags up on Tik Tok. These had been great reviews and a lot of the creators were singing the praises of this book.

Oh! It will be a great read, they said.

You will enjoy it, they said.

This is my first DNF of the new year. I could not stand either character. Both are toxic and both really annoyed the shit out of me. I love dark romances. They are one of my favorite genres but this one just made me want to bang my head on the desk. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to bother writing a review despite not finishing it.

This entire book made me lose brain cells and I am still trying to figure out if the author just made Blakely stupid and horny on purpose or if this was just an experiment to see how many times we would facepalm throughout the book each time her nipples hardened or her pussy was wet.

And please don't get me started on Ryat. This guy was a psycho and a stalker. The things he did for the LORDs just made me - I don't know how to explain it. Maybe a complete turn-off? I get that the author wanted him to be appealing to the women that would enjoy being the center of attention of this type of psycho but yeah just no for me.