This is a 3-3.5 star review for me.

The dark romance part didn’t bother me but the drugging without consent part gave me a major ick. I feel like it had a lotttt of potential with the “secret society” but it honestly felt like that part was lost in the story.

Will I continue the series? Likely because I’m ready to be hurt again

Everything the reviews promised it would be- dark and spicy with a few twists. I loved that it had an actual ending even though it’s technically part of a series.

Overall great dark romance, not repetitive, amazing plot.

this book was absolute horseshit. the plot was a zero. the characters were a zero. wheres the development? they literally fuck 24/7, dont talk, and suddenly are getting married? dont even get me started on the weak villain in this book. blake is absolutely insufferable. she tries to stand up for herself, and in doing so, she becomes someone elses bitch. this girl is tossed around and she does not care. shes so embarrassing to me. like how can u be so sex deprived. U CAN LIVE WITHOUT IT. acting like a damn starved beast lord please. it is making me physically sick. every.single.chapter. is just sex. wheres the plot? i could not find it. ryat was the most confusing character ever to me. possessive and for what reason? where did the falling in love happen bc i didnt see any conversation between these two because i didnt see anything happen other than what was between the sheets. every chapter it got so repetitive and boring. this book is a plague to society. and i knew that it would be smutty and i dont mind that but i just want a plot to go with it. and this book was absolutely boring me out of my mind. save your time and dont read it, HA did it better!!

HAWT & HEAVY 🌶️ Read those trigger warnings prior to reading. This is a DARK romance with some gruesome scenes, but an interesting secret society. I agree the book could of been 100 pages shorter, things were quite repetitive. I noticed at the end I was skimming the pages with all spice scenes just because… well there’s a lot of it and it didn’t add any to the plot. Starts off incredibly interesting, MMC is great but kinda goes soft at the end and drifts from his character I think. I still enjoyed reading though!

This book could’ve definitely been 250 pages less if it focused on the plot more. It was 85% smut, 15% plot. I just skipped over most of it thinking how does the author keep coming up with new smut scenes?? The plot was very interesting once it got to it (the last 100 pages)

For the first 200 pages I started to worry that it was just going to be 600 pages of Ryat having sex with Blakely in different ways, but then the actual storyline started to unfold and it had way more twists & turns than originally expected. It left me numerous times eager to start the next chapter and not wanting to put the book down

The MMC is extremely morally grey and if any of this stuff actually happened in real life it would be a no from me but there’s something different about it happening in a book- Ryat is now in my top 10 book boyfriends

I can't unread. <3

Some of the chapters were a little repetitive. Won’t be reading the rest of the series but glad i read this one

I’m slightly embarrassed to rate this book 4.5 stars. Honestly my biggest beef was the name of the main character cause in my head it reads as “Rat”. It was hot tho I feel like I’ve discovered some things about myself tho lol. Also the storyline was fucking crazy.

craziest book i’ve read so far

Surprisingly, this ended up being more enjoyable than expected. Definitely dark, wasn't super into it at the beginning but I ended up finishing it in two sittings so that's gotta say something. Happy to say I'm gonna read the other two now

My Review (May contain spoilers, fair warning upon reading this review, please be responsible)

The Ritual is a book that I have been meaning to read for quite some time. This is a book that I honestly was more terrified to read than anything else. I knew it was one of those crazy dark romances that I really needed to have the correct mindset to truly enjoy, and I can tell you that this book is completely bat crazy but I fell hard for it. This will have some crazy moments within in, and it won't be an easy read. But while I was completely hooked into this one, I completely recognize how WILD this book is. What the LORDS go through....I do not understand this level of crazy lol

However, I couldn't help but becoming hooked into this story. I wanted to become so immersed within it. It is very heavy on the sexual interactions though, so much so I found myself skipping through those parts. I did love how the plot develops in this one. I enjoyed the forbidden themes to the romance at times, and seeing them overcome the circumstances and to overcome it to be together was quite superb to see. The only thing missing in the story was we didn't see the heroine's initiation so I was really hoping for that. But the epilogue was beyond heartfelt even though I think her birth mother is CRAZY lol

Overall I had a blast with this book and eager to see the other LORDS get their stories.

If I meet either of these two in real life- I’m punching them both in the fucking throat.

This was possibly the first book I’ve read where I was like “ok this isn’t for me but I appreciate it anyway”, I feel like this is what haunting Adeline wanted to be

😐 maybe it’s not my thing but the CNC without really any conversations regarding safety and convent gave me the ick. There was so much smut and spice that after a bit I just read them like it wasn’t interesting it got really boring fast😐 maybe if there was less smut and more detail on the plot I would like it better

very good! very captivating. i loved the love and bond between ryat and blake. always kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat. it’s also so hot 🫠🥵 excited for the rest of the series

600 pages without any real character development. Not a favourite.

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier was entirely amazing for people who enjoy the darker side of life and love. The plot twist after plot twist had me non-stop reading this book. I don’t think I’ll ever forget about Ryat.

My thoughts at the end of the book just prove myself that I have toughened way too much😂😂

It was dark but not that dark to me ? lol anyway just check the TWs first

I haven’t read such a spicy book in so long and boy was it a rollercoaster. I am aware that this book is to be read for it spice and that is why it’s rating is so high for me. I do feel like it was too long. The main reason I say that is because it felt like we were trying to put too many things in here when it should have focused on one thing. They all felt like plot lines for an entire book but was so abridged that there needed to be more added. It felt like it started something finished a couple of chapters later. Have an intermission with some spicy scenes and pick up with a whole new plot line until we hit that intermission again. It was weird to have so much which is why it felt like it took so long for me to read. It felt like I was reading multiple books in one. But obviously the spice made the book, i really like the beginning of the book too but once that halfway mark was passed it got to be way too chaotic. I did like the build for Tyson’s book but I think he is the third book so I don’t know what will be the second book will consist of the whole idea is intriguing and I wonder if it’ll accomplish what I think this one fell flat with.

read the TW I read them & I was still a little traumatized but Ryats affection helped with the TW. I don’t think I’ll continue with the LORD world though.

Didn’t think I’d find a sex scene as equally fucked as Haunting Adeline but here we are.

(those who know, know.)

I hate the way his name is spelt.

I cant even wrap my head around what i just read....