Bruising Love by Adara Wolf

Bruising Love Reviews

• 
  JAN

  Tricky to rate this one.
  I found Jay's character impressive. The author did an amazing job developing Jay, the years of abuse, his fears, his guilt, his addiction to pain, how reckless all that shaped him as a person.
  But that was that. Unfortunately, neither the other characters nor the storyline reached the same level.
• 
  Linh

  Intense, toxic, and insanely captivating! 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
  
  If you're looking for a book to serve as your moral compass or a source of fluffy comfort, look away! But do save Bruising Love for those dark rainy days when your mind craves somethin' twisted and depraved. Adara Wolf is truly the queen of writing dark love stories of fucked up characters that are somehow just perfect for each other, in their own terribly messed up way.
  
  Check out the blurb if you'd like to know more of what this book about. But here's something you won't find in the description: Jay is honestly the most exquisite hardcore pain slut I've ever had the pleasure of reading. And if you think that's messed up, wait till you see how Taku acts at the end of the book. Have I mentioned these two are a match made in heaven? Wait, hah, I meant hell.
  
  Trigger warnings: if you have issues with reading drug abuse, sexual molestation, or blood/gore; I would advise practicing extreme caution. This is probably not the book for you if those are your triggers.
• 
  Michi

  I have so many emotions with this book. First and foremost, mind your trigger warnings because this book will throw them at you left and right.
  
  I fell in love with both characters. I love that there’s nothing held back and the reality of the situation is what it is - and that different people have different ways to cope.
  
  If you’re looking for dark and gritty with no apologies made - buy this book immediately.
• 
  hiyeon

  I just wanted to say this is by far my most favorite book of all time. It says its a long book but it felt so short to me. At 20% i just kept thinking omg i dont want this to end i dont want this to end.
  Jay just broke me. I felt so close to him and his emotions and heartbreak. I did not go into thinking this book would turn out the way this did. The blurb does no justice. Just be warned this book has a lot of triggers
  Jay is a young man in need of pain. This is not just a bdsm book about pain play. It has it yes but there is so much more deeper meaning to it. You can understand and feel why Jay needs the pain. His life has been falling apart since he was 14 years old and there is no escape for him. Until he meets a man who can not only give him what he wants but understands him. Their scenes are explosive and so meaningful. I am not so much of a bdsm reader anymore but i have read a ton of it but I’ve never read one with a backstory like this. I just could not believe some of the hurt and pain that was festering inside Jay. You could feel his emotions and why he needs the pain to feel alive, to be distracted, to have anything to feel real in the moment. Maybe i felt such a connection to him because of my own life but it just felt all too real and raw to me.
  The book was just raw. it was gritty. it was beautiful. I couldn’t imagine living the way he did feeling so trapped, so violated. Until he meets the yakuza Takuya.
  First of all, i am absolutely in love with Takuya how he gives zero fucks and hes so gangster. If you know anything about yakuza its not about the nitty gritty part of it more like hes trying to get a deal going with a big corporation but he is yakuza all the same. He does have that amazing beautiful hand made tattoos on his back of a dragon that intertwines to his hips. IT IS SO HOT!!!!! I LOVE YAKUZA TATTOOS!!!!!!
  I just cannot stress enough how much this book made an impact on me. I feel like it ruined other books for me. Adara Wolf is not afraid of writing what she wants. She is not afraid of showing us how horrible life could be. We live in this messed up world with our heads in the sand. There is child sex trafficking going on in america and imagine those poorer countries? There is molestation of children. There are rapes and horrible shit going on. Do we think about any of that? Are we doing anything to bring awareness to this? Are any of the rich people who can do literally anything they want like buy children doing anything to help these problems???? I just find it appalling that we live in 2021 and here we are with so much money in america and not addressing the real problems of the world. Yes military is important, yes research is important. But u know whats most important? protecting the young minds of innocent children.
  Adara wolf makes me think of these things. I havent read a book before that made me really think hard about society as a whole.
  In no way is there sex trafficking in this book or anything about the rant i just put in there. but i wrote that because its more like how we put it out of our heads and it doesnt exist that pisses me off.
  This book is will break ur heart, fill it with pain and love at the same time, transport u into a world that is so amazing i cant put it into words that fill how i feel about this book!!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!!!!!!! Thank u Adara Wolf for not being afraid for sharing ur world with us for bringing awareness to those who need. I have been having the worst few days but this made me forget about it and everything melted away. I loved it so much!!!!
• 
  the kevin (on brainrot hiatus)

  4.5 stars
  
  This was strangely romantic, and unapologetically violent. Perfection.
  
  The characters were well developed, with their own unique motivations and behavior that came from their backgrounds (also well detailed, without being overwhelming to the story) - everything fit together seamlessly, from their POV monologue to their reactions, to what we see from the other characters POV.
  
  The violence was A+. Casual, unapologetic, just there. Part of the world, part of their lives, unremarkable. Exactly what I want to see. I did like how Jay’s reaction to his fathers death was done - he was inured to certain kinds of violence, but a death is very different. Well done.
  
  This was such a wonderfully unhealthy romance, with little traditional romance. But they fit together so well. The ending was absolutely perfect for the story and characters.
• 
  Kazza

  4.5 Stars
  Yeah, this is dark-dark. Definitely not pseudo-dark. Beware triggers. I have them on the blog. You can avoid them if you prefer (don't look at tags) or you can know if that's your preference.
  
  
  
  Bruising Love delivers -
  
  Two atypical MCs
  A raw and gritty relationship, I'm being kind/gentle using those words
  No pretending to be anything other than what it is, a potentially triggering, dark read
  
  If you want to know more I suggest you check out the blog review but it's certainly not for everyone.
  
  
• 
  Jenny (Nyxie)

  Tags: Japanese mob, abusive father, masochist / sadist, our issues line up perfectly
  
  This was good. Casual unflinching violence, very direct writing. If I could have one wish it would be approx 15% more comfort amongst all the hurt. Would recommend but definitely mind the CWs, there are a lot.
• 
  Elin

  I love Adara Wolf's brand of attraction, love and obsession.
  Nothing in this book is healthy, no relationship or friendship, that's what makes it so intense to read.
  Which again made it perfect when I was in the mood for something dark.
  
  I'm sure this whole book is going to be a trigger for some.
  It's not romantic or sweet. It's co-dependency at best and a HFN.
• 
  Szidi ☼

  What. The. Fuck.
  
  Oh, my god!!!!! This book was perfectly deliciously dark and oh, well, I enjoyed the fuck out of it. It was so, so good. I love how Adara writes dark stories, it's always an emotional damage for me LOL.
  A pain addicted young guy who suffers daily because of his father. He craves pain, but not thad kind that his dad is giving him... Oh god, those scenes, I was both sad and mad. Child abouse is always a tricky topic, but I think Adara handled it really well. It wasn't on page abuse all the time (but there were one or two scenes).
  
  And on the other hand we have Takuya, a member of a yakuza, who likes giving pain and playing dirty and dark. These two were just the perfect match for each other. Their story started as a one-night stand, than it got more and more.
  
  Loved reading this book and loved the deeper part of the story too. Both the emotional and physical stuffs were really great and the ending just wow. My jaw is still on the floor. Brilliant.
  
  I wouldn't call it a dark romance though, it was dark, yes, but not a romance for me. Dark erotica, yes. I couldn't find the romance ascpect of it. Don't get me wrong, loved the story and Takuya and Jay were really great, but I think they weren't in love.
  
  Anyway, HIGHLY RECOMMEND and one of my favorite read this year that's for sure!
• 
  Sanne92

  Nope.
  DNF @ 60%
  
  For those who enjoy a sad and very painful - not in a good/hot way - story, no character development, and a lot of repetitive fucking and self-harm.
  
  Also, neither MC has any redeeming, likeable, or interesting qualities.
• 
  Reading Addict

  This book was... fucked up. But it was absolutely riveting. One of the darkest books I've read in many years. The tone was comparable to slavefic, which I haven't read since I was a teen. But the gore was... a lot lmao. These characters were so toxic and damaged. When Katu kills the asshole in front of Jay, it was basically his love letter to Jay. This was the most non romantic book I've ever read that seems to have a HEA. I'd def entertain reading more from the author because the character building was masterful.
• 
  Adaline

  3.5
  
  It’s a difficult book to rate to be honest. One one hand I loved how unapologetic the MCs where about violence. It felt right for who they are. Jay was also a fascinating character. His background is not for the faint of heart and so much of it affects who he is today.
  
  So pleasantly relieved that he was not fixed with “magic dick”
  
  The ending is very fitting for the characters but I would have loved a bit more of them together
• 
  Light

  Too brutal. zero romance
• 
  Amos24601

  What an intense ride
  
  I wasn’t sure exactly what I was signing up for with this book. I was pleasantly surprised by the depths that this book went to. Definitely heed any and all trigger warnings before jumping in.
  
  Jay’s was a hard story to read. It seemed that there were no breaks for him no matter what he did. So he decides to go with the flow and seeks to mess things up for himself before anyone else can do it for him. Taku gives him exactly what he needs: pain. Taku is an expert at it and Jay drinks it up in the biggest gulps possible.
  
  There was so much going on throughout this story, from Taku’s impending pharma deal to Jay and his father and Jay and his friend Becca. I can’t even say that underneath all of that there’s a love story, because I wouldn’t call Jay and Taku’s story that. Still, I was fascinated by the relationship that did develop.
  
  The ending is where it kinda of lost a little shine for me. It felt a little too tidy, sort of like a gift wrapped with a pretty bow. With how messy the whole book was, it seemed that the ending should have been a little messier as well.
  
  Still, this was a highly enjoyable and extremely dark book. I really enjoyed it and would have read a lot more about Taku and Jay.
• 
  Peewee Peeper

  I really enjoyed this book. A. Wolf makes no excuse for how the characters act, which I deeply appreciated. However, while Jay is so human with desires, fears and flaws, Satoh gives the feeling of a kind of robot most of the time. It seems he simply endures the situation but doesn't seem driven (apart from satisfying his boss out of fear). Even hurting Jay is more like a convenient opportunity than something he really enjoys. The other characters were more or less clichés, but that didn't bother me all in all. As for the plot itself, it's pretty forgettable and is not what is important.
• 
  Robin L

  This book was a four or five star read for me up until the point where the “big misunderstanding” began. The tension was so wretched up for me waiting to see the yakusa guys reaction, but it was more of a none reaction. I felt that the level of fear and danger was much higher in the earlier parts of the book. At the point where things should have really gone crazy I felt that they became rather tame and then petered out to a nothing burger ending.
• 
  Jean Wanjiru

  This book was dark, and I liked every bit of it.
  I loved how the author doesn't try and change what the characters have grown to become, that Jay continues to be comfortable in the way of life he has adapted even when the danger is wiped out.
  This is my first Andara Wolf read but I am definitely going to get her other books.
• 
  Pamela Raglin

  Jay's a Mess
  
  Pain and violence and sex. A drug addicted best and only friend. A boss who punches. A mom...well, there's a lot going on in Jay's life and none of it's good.
  But it makes for a really good story.
• 
  Freakazoid

  Exactly what I look for out of a book, mc with brutal upbringing and another mc that's a perfect match. Violence and rape galore, needless to say this book isn't for everyone but it's certainly for me. You just feel bad for poor Jay throughout the whole book
• 
  Carolina

  not gonna lie, that was very twisted and dark.
• 
  J. Taylor

  2.5
• 
  Nina

  This was so F*ed up and I was F*ing here for it🙋🏻‍♀️
  It was twisted and I somehow enjoyed it so much!
• 
  J.L.

  Absolutely deserves every content warning given at the beginning of the book, but compelling and oddly sweet despite (or perhaps because) of them.
• 
  JD

  3.5