The Ritual by Shantel Tessier
Synopsis:
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.
My Review:
I’ve rewritten this review more times than I can count, not because the
story was confusing, but because every time I tried to explain the nature of
dark romance, it felt unfair to reduce the author’s work to a genre label. So
instead, like always, I’ll tell you what I felt.
I genuinely liked this book. The world these
characters come from, the brutal shaping of their families, the shadows they
were raised in…it all made sense in a way that was almost frightening. And yet,
that truth only made the story more compelling. I went in knowing the subjects
would be dark, knowing I’d have to wade into the deep end with no lifeline.
Trigger warnings, at this point, read more like a menu I’ve memorized, things I
know will challenge me, but that I still willingly walk toward.
Because not every love story is gentle. Not
every love story glitters. Some of them require you to claw through trauma and
crawl through your own scars before you ever glimpse the thin, trembling line
of light waiting at the end.
And that’s exactly what this book gave me: the
feeling of discovering someone, unexpected, unconventional, who sees you fully,
shadows and all, and loves you without flinching. Someone who doesn’t judge the
pieces of you the world said were too much or too strange. That kind of
acceptance is its own kind of magic, the kind that feels like the safest place
in the world.
Was this book roses and sunshine? Not even
close. It felt more like driving down a fog-drenched mountain road in the
middle of a storm, terrifying, breathtaking, and impossible to look away from.
If you’re searching for a story with a happy
ending, this one has it. But be warned: you’ll have to walk through fire, and
maybe someone else’s blood, to reach it.
But honestly? Nothing worth having ever comes easy.
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