Review: Trigger Warning Should Be Much Stronger
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 17, 2013
I'm giving this book three stars because the writing was decent, the characters consistent, and the plot ... well, plotty. I do, however, have commentary to add to that rating that I hope might help future readers.Please note that what follows is my own experience offered as a data point for others, not necessarily a recommendation in any direction. Readers enjoy different things, after all.I had some doubts in the first two books about why Michaela stays with Lara and allows the wolves to treat her the way they do, but her decisions are consistent with her character even if I find them unfortunate. Early in this book, however, I was beginning to become increasingly angry with the wolves for their actions and then with Michaela for allowing it. By a third of the way through, I was upset enough that I wasn't sure I wanted to continue. Halfway through, I started to cry - and not in a good, cathartic way. By 60% I was hoping that something terrible befell the wolves. All the wolves. I was briefly reassured when it took as if Michaela might leave, but when it became clear that the status quo would continue, I turned off all my emotions and finished the book only to be certain that there were no surprises. By the end of the book I had decided that I can no longer trust this author.I had assumed that the 'traumatic issues from Michaela's past' mentioned in this book's description involved rape or abuse, which are not triggers for me. Indeed, her traumatic past was heart-wrenching but not overly intense. The scenes from the bride ransom, however, were so brutal in my eyes that they verged on what I consider torture porn. Part of it was psychological - Michaela was rendered powerless in the ways that we have seen before cause a bad reaction, but much more so. In addition, she was physically hurt, and at least three of the 'punishments' could have caused permanent harm or death. And consider that there were actions taken by people who purported to love here, even as they were inflicting pain.I am not, generally speaking, what you would call a sensitive reader. I like to read fairly intense Dominance/submission stories. If you look at some of my other reviews, you'll even find a few that represent positive data points for stories that other readers have considered brutal. But this book ... this book did me in.As I said, just a data point.