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my rating |
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| B096VXMT3H
| 3.98
| 43,585
| Jun 07, 2021
| Sep 2022
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liked it
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3.25* This novel was light and easy-to-read, exactly what I was looking for on a Saturday morning with nothing on my schedule. I really liked Beth as o 3.25* This novel was light and easy-to-read, exactly what I was looking for on a Saturday morning with nothing on my schedule. I really liked Beth as our FMC. She was sweet and supportive. She was willing to make personal sacrifices to help the boys with their new little bundle of joy and, later on, I loved that she took a stand and went to bat for them (Sebastian in particular). She accepted the boys for who they were and didn’t get frustrated when their sole focus wasn’t on her. She has a tragic past and severe abandonment issues to contend with though, so jumping that hurdle during the novel was rough. My one point of contention is the fact that she refused to say “I love you” to her foster-brother for YEARS and YEARS. And yet, after a very short time period, she’s willing to say it to the guys. There was something about that that seemed fake and disingenuous to me. It’s something I’m willing to forgive, but I thought that was silly. Jack was the boy that initially caught Beth’s eye. He’s sweet and nerdy, with a smile to die for. I loved Jack and Beth’s interactions with one another – especially initially where they’re dealing with the baby crisis. As the story goes on, Jack disappears a bit more, when he becomes hyper-focused on his game launch. He puts his game before everything else, which I hated to see and, while the author tries to redeem this choice, I wish there had been a bit more development here. Still though, Jack was always sweet and lovable. Cyrus was the flirty one of the group. At first, he’s hard to take seriously as a real contender as a ‘relationship guy.’ Cyrus is a self-admitted walking one-night-stand, but that’s largely because he hasn’t found a girl that will accept his career choice as a stripper. While Cyrus didn’t start out as my favorite of the group (that was Jack), he quickly stepped into that role, hands down. Cyrus and Beth seemed to develop the biggest (and most realistic) connection and I absolutely loved them together. Cyrus was so much more than what he was given credit for in the beginning. He became the most sweet, thoughtful, caring one of the group, putting Beth first. I absolutely adored him. The only minor issue I had with Cyrus at all came at the very end in the Epilogue chapter where he gave up his career – despite all of the drama surrounding his dancing. It felt like a cop-out after only 18 months. Sebastian was the serious businessman. He was a workaholic with his full-time career and all of the work he was doing to help Jack and his game. While Sebastian could come across as more cold and ‘monstrous,’ underneath he had a heart of gold. Sebastian never became my favorite throughout this novel, but he quickly won a place at the table once you understand why he is the way he is. However, the characters never really came across as being ready to be in a relationship with one another. There were so many issues that they were all individually facing, had known each other (all the boys + Beth) for such a short period of time, and weren’t realistically given the time needed to form such a “strong” emotional connection (despite the author trying to rush and force this), that it was clear that they were jumping the gun. To be frank, on the boys’ side, it felt like they were largely just trauma-bonding from the sheer panic of having a baby dropped on their doorstep and Beth being their lifeline for the situation (whereas Beth was just along for the ride). Cyrus and Beth did come the closest in forming something that felt more ‘real,’ but since the attention of the book wasn’t just about the two of them (and there were 2 other men involved), their relationship didn’t quite reach the momentum I was hoping for – even if it was close. Although there wasn’t quite the character growth/connection that I had longed for, the smut was really good. I definitely had to fan my cheeks a time or two and I was here for it. I liked the fact that Beth could be with the boys individually or as a group and it was still good. This is a romance novel and the focus of the book is spent on that, regardless of all of the issues each character was facing. However, since each person seemed to be ‘going through it’ in their own way, I do wish there had been a little bit more plot development with their storylines. Instead, it felt like Beth/the baby (or with Beth – the boys/the baby) were the resolution to all of the problems. It didn’t matter that Seb’s parents had shipped him away and made him feel like a monster, he now had Beth. It didn’t matter that Cyrus’ family had disowned him and didn’t want anything to do with him anymore, he now had Beth. It didn’t matter that Jack’s family made him feel inferior because of his lack of athleticism nor did the drama revolving around Jack’s game hold a candle to the fact that Beth was now there. It didn’t matter that Beth was desperate for a job, had severe abandonment issues, and was rejected by her mom/grandma, she now had the boys. Their problems, their insecurities, their worries, their grief – all it was it became a non-issue, they had their love connection. Taking a step back from the plot, you can see the frustration this may cause. They never processed their emotions or dealt with their traumas at an individual level, despite the apparent need for each person contend with some major baggage. This doesn’t even really touch on Cami’s baby-mama or custody (everything gets wrapped up in a nice little bow where Cami is concerned). Instead (and despite how much this contributes to some drama in the novel), the book’s attention is only on the romance. I love a good romance so this didn’t bother me (and, despite what I just said, I’m not really complaining about it). It’s just something to be aware of as you dive in. In fact, my one big complaint about the story was the incredibly cringey and cheesy Epilogue chapter. While I liked some aspects of it (like Beth being able to officially become Cami’s “mom”), the marriage proposal made me grimace. There’s a bonus chapter available if you sign up for the author’s newsletter and I’ll be honest and say that how the story ended in the Epilogue didn’t leave me aching for more – especially if I have to sign up for something to get it. Nevertheless, the writing made this novel fly by and I found it hard to put the book down. It’s a heartwarming story that I had a lot of fun reading and it was just what I was looking for on a lazy day off. It’s definitely one I could come back to. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 20, 2024
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Jul 21, 2024
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Sep 16, 2024
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| B0B9HXQF34
| 3.77
| 1,840
| Oct 04, 2022
| Oct 04, 2022
|
liked it
|
3.25* If you choose to dive in with this novel, go in with the right expectations, something I was thankfully able to have. This will ONLY be good if y 3.25* If you choose to dive in with this novel, go in with the right expectations, something I was thankfully able to have. This will ONLY be good if you’re looking for something short (since this is a 148 page novella) and if you’re looking for something that is almost pure spice. At the time I picked up this book, that’s exactly what I was in the mood for and my rating (and how much I enjoyed this book) is based purely on that, with those expectations in mind. It’s a ‘fun’ factor ranking. If you’re looking for a good plot, not only is this book simply not long enough for anything very ‘real’ to develop, but what’s there (outside of the spice) isn’t very good to begin with. The entire foundation of this story (much less anything that happens as the novella goes on) is pretty flimsy and couldn’t hold up under a lot of scrutiny. What twists or revelations there were occurred in a very abrupt manner without a lot of build-up or transition as well. Unsurprisingly, everything within this book feels rushed and there’s little growth, development, or progression happening within the plot or the characters/their relationship. Similarly, there’s not a lot going on with the world. Little nuggets of information are dropped here and there, but there’s a lot left unexplored and unexplained. You’re basically just asked to sit back, relax, and to enjoy the ride without asking too many questions. Again, this would typically be something I’d be jumping on the author for pretty hard, but since I was well-aware of this going into the book, sitting back and relaxing into whatever the author was putting in front of me, was exactly what I found myself doing. But listen, come for the smut with this book. If that’s all you’re here for, then you may find yourself enjoying it too. If you’re expecting a little something more from this novel, you’re going to be pretty disappointed. While not quite an insta-love trope (at least for our heroine, Stheno), it wasn’t far behind. I’d almost argue that Gregor was instantly hit by Cupid’s arrow though. Nevertheless, they did have a fun dynamic and seemed to constantly be making each other laugh, which was a nice touch. They have good chemistry and that helped create some combustably steamy scenes. I loved the spice contained within this story. It was one of the things I was looking forward to (based on some of the reviews I’d read) and I wasn’t disappointed. The only minor question I have with anything that occurred between Stheno and Gregor was the stone “member” situation. I just can’t picture this being very comfortable – all I can visualize is rough edges that scrape and scratch. That’s not exactly what I’d call a dream situation. Other than that though, it was all good. To be honest, I’m ignoring a lot of the typical things I could complain about within my rating/review. Like I mentioned, it’s all about your expectations when reading this short story and I was well-prepared. I wasn’t taken by surprise by the length or the questionable plot/world-building. I went in for the spice and spice is what I got, which was pretty enjoyable. Maybe I’m just feeling generous, but I had a good time with this quick and easy read, so that’s what my rating reflects. One semi-complaint I had was that there were a lot of hints and innuendos where it’d be easy to see the series covering those characters (like with Medusa/Perseus or with Euryale’s story, for example). However, this series is one written by completely different authors and those open-ended questions or loose ends may go unanswered because none of the other books are about any of the characters listed within this novel (they’re certainly not the heroes/heroines of any of the other novels). I’m not a fan when a series has been written in that manner and don’t know how many more books of this I’ll actually read. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 21, 2024
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Jun 22, 2024
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Sep 16, 2024
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| B0B36FKPS8
| 4.06
| 412,527
| Oct 18, 2022
| Oct 20, 2022
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it was amazing
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4.5* While I admit that I was looking forward to this book, the bar of my expectations wasn’t set high. Ana Huang has recently seemed to explode on soc 4.5* While I admit that I was looking forward to this book, the bar of my expectations wasn’t set high. Ana Huang has recently seemed to explode on social media with her Twisted series (in particular) and there’s been a lot of hype surrounding her work. And yet of late, I’ve so often been disappointed by the “hyped” novels. I’m even trying to stop listening (and therefore, letting the noise influence me) quite as much. So, while I hoped for a fun romance novel to get me through my day and an interesting new author to try, I wasn’t expecting to be swept off of my feet. I really liked Vivian. She was kind, compassionate, and persistent. She overlooked Dante’s bad attitude and slowly broke down his walls because of her patience and inner beauty. I also loved that she was a real career-woman when she didn’t have to be, and I liked seeing her succeed on her own. Vivian has become a successful event planner without Dante’s help or the backing of his name. That doesn’t seem to be typical and I appreciated getting to see a heroine stand on her own two feet. The only thing I didn’t like about her/her family situation was how much she’d let her parents have a say in her life (and how much she’d given up because of them). The idea that her parents were “family” and that, because of the life they’d given her growing up, somehow resulted in her parents being able to dictate her clothing, makeup, career, and partner choices was mind-boggling. Vivian states multiple times that she was terrified of being disowned (because her father held that over her head if she didn’t do exactly what he wanted her to). She made comments that getting disowned for the money wasn’t what troubled her, but having to walk away from the people that she loved was unthinkable. And, in some ways, I get it. Losing your family in that way would be heartbreaking. But I also can’t imagine a world where being controlled so completely by people that “love” you are in any way the type of people you should stay so loyal to. Now, I admit, that there’s a reference or two thrown in that this is a cultural difference within Asian communities, so this is something I’m not a part of and may not be able to fully understand all of the dynamics within. Still though (from my own perspective), I was dying for Vivian to grow a backbone and stand up to her parents. I was so thankful to see that she did this – AND she did this with Zero expectation that she’d end up with Dante (i.e. it wasn’t about a guy, it was about her and finding her own voice). Dante was a dreamboat. This was certainly a grumpy / sunshine trope and Dante took that very seriously. Even by the end, he didn’t seem to be the biggest fan of smiling (much less laughing). And yet, I couldn’t get enough of him. Although I think I personally come across as more ‘bubbly’ as a whole, I found Dante to be extremely relatable. His focus on revenge and his ability to hold a grudge felt wholly believable to me. I also loved watching Dante go through so much growth throughout this book. For someone who was completely closed off to the idea of liking Vivian (much less falling for her), watching him slowly but surely take the plunge was perfection. I even loved the fact that their relationship would take one step forward and then two steps back at times. Here again, the believability factor was top-notch. It was such a realistic love story (which I’m the biggest sucker for). Along those same lines, when Dante messes up, he grovels to get Vivian back. In a lot of romance novels, the groveling a man has to do when he’s made some major mistakes feels largely glossed over. He may apologize once, shoot a wink or a smile her way, and magically, the incident is forgotten and forgiven. That is NOT what happens in this book. Yes, the boy still gets the girl by the end, but they had to re-build the trust they’d had between them. Vivian didn’t fall back into his arms after one apology, or two, or three. It took time. Vivian gave him that time, but it wasn’t a magical fix. Their reconciliation never felt rushed. I LOVED how the author handled this entire situation. The romance was slow-burning throughout the story’s entirety. As I mentioned, only baby steps are ever made between the couple until both of them look up one day and realize they’re in love. How the story evolved (and the timeline that this book takes place in) was yet another point for the believability of the entire story. Additionally, the sexual tension between the characters was on point. Later on, there are several enjoyably smutty scenes that could keep readers occupied as well, but this is not a book with sex happening every other scene. The spice was really well done. The plot is really tied up with the romance. It revolved around the couple being in an arranged match and Dante seeking escape and retribution for having Vivian’s dad force his hand. Because I enjoyed their story together so much, it’s not surprising that I was on board with the plot as well. The writing style is probably something that surprised me the most. I’m not sure if I just haven’t picked the most well-written pieces of literature lately or what, but I was immediately hooked by this story. This was a novel I couldn’t put down. In fact, there was one point when I closed the book and set it on my end table trying to slow myself down and not zoom through the book too quickly. It was something I wanted to savor. Now, I’m not sure that really happened, because 10 minutes later, I’d grabbed to book back up and knocked out the last remaining 100 pages the same day I’d picked it up, but hey, I tried - and that’s not something I do very often. I think my biggest complaint about the novel revolves around a few REALLY cheesy lines at the very end. (And really, this is very nitpicky and not much of a complaint at all.) The lines weren’t so over the top that it erased my enjoyment of the book, and thankfully, didn’t last long, but they did make me cringe. (One such line is included within the synopsis of the novel – or at least it is on my physical hard copy version. ”She was my North Star, the brightest jewel in my sky.”…Ugh. However, if that’s not too upsetting for you, then you’re good to go.) While not cheesy (but still kind of along similar lines), I hated not getting the translations for what Dante said when he was speaking in Italian (something I think should always be included if you’re going to write a book in English but sprinkle a few random [insert language here] comments by one of the characters. This book was the pick-me-up I needed. I loved the story and I look forward to reading more from the author. It was addictive. Looking at other reviews, some readers feel like Huang has been repetitive in her works, so this may not be an author to read back-to-back, but as for my first foray into the author’s works, I greatly enjoyed it and I highly recommend. Merged review: 4.5* While I admit that I was looking forward to this book, the bar of my expectations wasn’t set high. Ana Huang has recently seemed to explode on social media with her Twisted series (in particular) and there’s been a lot of hype surrounding her work. And yet of late, I’ve so often been disappointed by the “hyped” novels. I’m even trying to stop listening (and therefore, letting the noise influence me) quite as much. So, while I hoped for a fun romance novel to get me through my day and an interesting new author to try, I wasn’t expecting to be swept off of my feet. I really liked Vivian. She was kind, compassionate, and persistent. She overlooked Dante’s bad attitude and slowly broke down his walls because of her patience and inner beauty. I also loved that she was a real career-woman when she didn’t have to be, and I liked seeing her succeed on her own. Vivian has become a successful event planner without Dante’s help or the backing of his name. That doesn’t seem to be typical and I appreciated getting to see a heroine stand on her own two feet. The only thing I didn’t like about her/her family situation was how much she’d let her parents have a say in her life (and how much she’d given up because of them). The idea that her parents were “family” and that, because of the life they’d given her growing up, somehow resulted in her parents being able to dictate her clothing, makeup, career, and partner choices was mind-boggling. Vivian states multiple times that she was terrified of being disowned (because her father held that over her head if she didn’t do exactly what he wanted her to). She made comments that getting disowned for the money wasn’t what troubled her, but having to walk away from the people that she loved was unthinkable. And, in some ways, I get it. Losing your family in that way would be heartbreaking. But I also can’t imagine a world where being controlled so completely by people that “love” you are in any way the type of people you should stay so loyal to. Now, I admit, that there’s a reference or two thrown in that this is a cultural difference within Asian communities, so this is something I’m not a part of and may not be able to fully understand all of the dynamics within. Still though (from my own perspective), I was dying for Vivian to grow a backbone and stand up to her parents. I was so thankful to see that she did this – AND she did this with Zero expectation that she’d end up with Dante (i.e. it wasn’t about a guy, it was about her and finding her own voice). Dante was a dreamboat. This was certainly a grumpy / sunshine trope and Dante took that very seriously. Even by the end, he didn’t seem to be the biggest fan of smiling (much less laughing). And yet, I couldn’t get enough of him. Although I think I personally come across as more ‘bubbly’ as a whole, I found Dante to be extremely relatable. His focus on revenge and his ability to hold a grudge felt wholly believable to me. I also loved watching Dante go through so much growth throughout this book. For someone who was completely closed off to the idea of liking Vivian (much less falling for her), watching him slowly but surely take the plunge was perfection. I even loved the fact that their relationship would take one step forward and then two steps back at times. Here again, the believability factor was top-notch. It was such a realistic love story (which I’m the biggest sucker for). Along those same lines, when Dante messes up, he grovels to get Vivian back. In a lot of romance novels, the groveling a man has to do when he’s made some major mistakes feels largely glossed over. He may apologize once, shoot a wink or a smile her way, and magically, the incident is forgotten and forgiven. That is NOT what happens in this book. Yes, the boy still gets the girl by the end, but they had to re-build the trust they’d had between them. Vivian didn’t fall back into his arms after one apology, or two, or three. It took time. Vivian gave him that time, but it wasn’t a magical fix. Their reconciliation never felt rushed. I LOVED how the author handled this entire situation. The romance was slow-burning throughout the story’s entirety. As I mentioned, only baby steps are ever made between the couple until both of them look up one day and realize they’re in love. How the story evolved (and the timeline that this book takes place in) was yet another point for the believability of the entire story. Additionally, the sexual tension between the characters was on point. Later on, there are several enjoyably smutty scenes that could keep readers occupied as well, but this is not a book with sex happening every other scene. The spice was really well done. The plot is really tied up with the romance. It revolved around the couple being in an arranged match and Dante seeking escape and retribution for having Vivian’s dad force his hand. Because I enjoyed their story together so much, it’s not surprising that I was on board with the plot as well. The writing style is probably something that surprised me the most. I’m not sure if I just haven’t picked the most well-written pieces of literature lately or what, but I was immediately hooked by this story. This was a novel I couldn’t put down. In fact, there was one point when I closed the book and set it on my end table trying to slow myself down and not zoom through the book too quickly. It was something I wanted to savor. Now, I’m not sure that really happened, because 10 minutes later, I’d grabbed to book back up and knocked out the last remaining 100 pages the same day I’d picked it up, but hey, I tried - and that’s not something I do very often. I think my biggest complaint about the novel revolves around a few REALLY cheesy lines at the very end. (And really, this is very nitpicky and not much of a complaint at all.) The lines weren’t so over the top that it erased my enjoyment of the book, and thankfully, didn’t last long, but they did make me cringe. (One such line is included within the synopsis of the novel – or at least it is on my physical hard copy version. ”She was my North Star, the brightest jewel in my sky.”…Ugh. However, if that’s not too upsetting for you, then you’re good to go.) While not cheesy (but still kind of along similar lines), I hated not getting the translations for what Dante said when he was speaking in Italian (something I think should always be included if you’re going to write a book in English but sprinkle a few random [insert language here] comments by one of the characters. This book was the pick-me-up I needed. I loved the story and I look forward to reading more from the author. It was addictive. Looking at other reviews, some readers feel like Huang has been repetitive in her works, so this may not be an author to read back-to-back, but as for my first foray into the author’s works, I greatly enjoyed it and I highly recommend. Merged review: 4.5* While I admit that I was looking forward to this book, the bar of my expectations wasn’t set high. Ana Huang has recently seemed to explode on social media with her Twisted series (in particular) and there’s been a lot of hype surrounding her work. And yet of late, I’ve so often been disappointed by the “hyped” novels. I’m even trying to stop listening (and therefore, letting the noise influence me) quite as much. So, while I hoped for a fun romance novel to get me through my day and an interesting new author to try, I wasn’t expecting to be swept off of my feet. I really liked Vivian. She was kind, compassionate, and persistent. She overlooked Dante’s bad attitude and slowly broke down his walls because of her patience and inner beauty. I also loved that she was a real career-woman when she didn’t have to be, and I liked seeing her succeed on her own. Vivian has become a successful event planner without Dante’s help or the backing of his name. That doesn’t seem to be typical and I appreciated getting to see a heroine stand on her own two feet. The only thing I didn’t like about her/her family situation was how much she’d let her parents have a say in her life (and how much she’d given up because of them). The idea that her parents were “family” and that, because of the life they’d given her growing up, somehow resulted in her parents being able to dictate her clothing, makeup, career, and partner choices was mind-boggling. Vivian states multiple times that she was terrified of being disowned (because her father held that over her head if she didn’t do exactly what he wanted her to). She made comments that getting disowned for the money wasn’t what troubled her, but having to walk away from the people that she loved was unthinkable. And, in some ways, I get it. Losing your family in that way would be heartbreaking. But I also can’t imagine a world where being controlled so completely by people that “love” you are in any way the type of people you should stay so loyal to. Now, I admit, that there’s a reference or two thrown in that this is a cultural difference within Asian communities, so this is something I’m not a part of and may not be able to fully understand all of the dynamics within. Still though (from my own perspective), I was dying for Vivian to grow a backbone and stand up to her parents. I was so thankful to see that she did this – AND she did this with Zero expectation that she’d end up with Dante (i.e. it wasn’t about a guy, it was about her and finding her own voice). Dante was a dreamboat. This was certainly a grumpy / sunshine trope and Dante took that very seriously. Even by the end, he didn’t seem to be the biggest fan of smiling (much less laughing). And yet, I couldn’t get enough of him. Although I think I personally come across as more ‘bubbly’ as a whole, I found Dante to be extremely relatable. His focus on revenge and his ability to hold a grudge felt wholly believable to me. I also loved watching Dante go through so much growth throughout this book. For someone who was completely closed off to the idea of liking Vivian (much less falling for her), watching him slowly but surely take the plunge was perfection. I even loved the fact that their relationship would take one step forward and then two steps back at times. Here again, the believability factor was top-notch. It was such a realistic love story (which I’m the biggest sucker for). Along those same lines, when Dante messes up, he grovels to get Vivian back. In a lot of romance novels, the groveling a man has to do when he’s made some major mistakes feels largely glossed over. He may apologize once, shoot a wink or a smile her way, and magically, the incident is forgotten and forgiven. That is NOT what happens in this book. Yes, the boy still gets the girl by the end, but they had to re-build the trust they’d had between them. Vivian didn’t fall back into his arms after one apology, or two, or three. It took time. Vivian gave him that time, but it wasn’t a magical fix. Their reconciliation never felt rushed. I LOVED how the author handled this entire situation. The romance was slow-burning throughout the story’s entirety. As I mentioned, only baby steps are ever made between the couple until both of them look up one day and realize they’re in love. How the story evolved (and the timeline that this book takes place in) was yet another point for the believability of the entire story. Additionally, the sexual tension between the characters was on point. Later on, there are several enjoyably smutty scenes that could keep readers occupied as well, but this is not a book with sex happening every other scene. The spice was really well done. The plot is really tied up with the romance. It revolved around the couple being in an arranged match and Dante seeking escape and retribution for having Vivian’s dad force his hand. Because I enjoyed their story together so much, it’s not surprising that I was on board with the plot as well. The writing style is probably something that surprised me the most. I’m not sure if I just haven’t picked the most well-written pieces of literature lately or what, but I was immediately hooked by this story. This was a novel I couldn’t put down. In fact, there was one point when I closed the book and set it on my end table trying to slow myself down and not zoom through the book too quickly. It was something I wanted to savor. Now, I’m not sure that really happened, because 10 minutes later, I’d grabbed to book back up and knocked out the last remaining 100 pages the same day I’d picked it up, but hey, I tried - and that’s not something I do very often. I think my biggest complaint about the novel revolves around a few REALLY cheesy l ...more |
Notes are private!
|
3
|
Feb 13, 2024
not set
not set
|
Feb 13, 2024
not set
not set
|
Aug 07, 2024
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| 9798860265776
| B0CH2FZ3BC
| 3.86
| 6,251
| unknown
| Sep 04, 2023
|
it was ok
|
2* Am I the only one who seems to be noticing a trend with series of late where the first book starts off really well, but the further into the series 2* Am I the only one who seems to be noticing a trend with series of late where the first book starts off really well, but the further into the series you get, the worse the story becomes? If not, the Oxford Legacy series is certainly a good example of this phenomenon happening. Despite beginning this novel toward the end of March, right after I’d finished reading book #2, I didn’t get very far within the story before I wanted to put the novel down…and wasn’t too awful excited to pick it back up again. Each novel within the series has been fast-paced and easy-to-read. They haven’t taken up much of my time and I knew that it’d only take a few short hours to finish this book, but I had zero motivation to do so. The main issue was that I was just so utterly bored by the story. The looming villains have been obvious to me since the beginning and, while I wasn’t completely anticipating how the truth came out, I wasn’t exactly shocked by it either. For example, finding out that everyone had a tape of them “proving their loyalty” felt like a tired plot device that I’ve seen in every ‘rich-and-powerful’ takedown narrative ever. And yes, this trope can still be fun and exciting, but the author has to be skilled enough to handle it well. Unfortunately, Sloane didn’t. But this was just the tip of the iceberg. I found the entire novel a bit cringey – not just the climactic conclusion where all of the secrets finally come to light. To be frank, I think the plot could’ve been contained within 1 book (or 2 at the most). It didn’t need to be a trilogy. One of the things that captured me about this series from the beginning was the relationship between Tessa and Saint. I know I’ve had my issues with the characters, but I was still invested in their relationship working and I’d found some of the spice (especially as the couple drifted out into their public spaces) fun and steamy. But even this aspect let me down throughout this story. There was a lot of spice, but it wasn’t really anything new from what we’ve seen before, so even that wasn’t nearly as exciting as it had been in previous novels. It was still good, but a bit ‘old hat’ at this point too. To add to that, it also felt unrealistic at times. For example, both Tessa and Saint get shot at one point within this book. But despite their pain, bruises, or bandages, they still can’t keep their hands off of each other for more than 5 minutes. I know they had the Ashford company to take down and Wren’s attack to still solve, but the amount of time these two spend thinking only about sex pretty much consisted of about half of the novel. It just lacked some believability with everything else going on (especially as things seem to get even more high-stakes). Since Saint first met Tessa, he’s been fully committed to her (something I had questioned before). It doesn’t matter that she wants to accuse his friends of raping/attacking her sister and cripple his relationships with the people he’s known his whole life. Nor does it matter in this novel when more and more evidence against his family is coming to light and Saint will need to burn down his legacy and destroy his relationship with his parents and brother. The truth – and Tessa, of course – are the only things that matter. I’ve always found the believability of this to be questionable at best and completely implausible (and perhaps laughable) at worst. But Saint has stuck by Tessa’s side through the ups and downs of this entire investigation. His whole-hearted devotion to her feels fake beyond belief. Regardless of the issues he’s had with his parents especially, he still loves them. And initially, he’s still largely willing to ‘do his duty’ to his family and the company to make his parents proud. I’m not saying that Saint couldn’t have turned his back on his family as the evidence grew, but this didn’t even feel like a hard decision for him. There was a line repeated within the novel about doing what’s right over what is easy. But Saint made the “right” decision feel “easy,” which I don’t think should’ve been the case. There was no disbelief that his family could’ve stooped to the levels they did, there was no empathy or compassion when it came to tearing apart their lives (whether they deserved it or not), there was no regret or grief that it had come to this. The ease with which Saint tore apart the world he’d grown up in lacked emotion of any kind and that made it feel unrealistic in the extreme (even if he’d done the “right” thing in the end anyway). I also hated Wren’s appearance (and role) throughout this novel. While I think I mentioned that her being alive wasn’t a surprise at the end of book #2, getting to know her a bit in Seal My Fate (book #3) certainly didn’t endear her to me in any way. She felt like a poorly-realized plot device the entire way through and was deadweight to a storyline that didn’t really need to her survive in the first place (other than to make Tessa happy). By the end, it felt like everything had been tied up into a nice little bow. While I love loose strings getting wrapped up like everyone else, sometimes these strings need to make sense. So, as an example, the fact that Saint lost ZERO money when the Ashford company collapsed (because of course he’d fully pulled his entire inheritance out of the Ashford Pharmaceuticals stock years ago and placed it in his friends’ company instead), I couldn’t help but scoff and roll my eyes. The fact that Saint (and therefore Tessa) continue to be filthy rich, able to live lavish and grandiose lifestyles by the end, shouldn’t be a surprise really, but good gosh it feels dumb. Additionally, I think I complained about this before, but the editing within this book was atrocious. There were so many mistakes, which I think stood out even more once I stopped enjoying how the story was playing out. This wasn’t a terrible novel, but I was less than impressed by the end. Like I said, I became bored with the story and it was easy to put down and forget about completely. The plot (throughout the series) was drug out so much more than it needed to be and honestly, the spice was better in the prior novels. This book was okay, but certainly not something I’d want to come back to. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 24, 2024
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Apr 20, 2024
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Jun 12, 2024
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Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 9798860255722
| B0CH25MFXW
| 3.91
| 7,735
| unknown
| Sep 04, 2023
|
liked it
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2.75 Something happened between Cross My Heart (book #1) and Break My Rules (book #2) and it was so disappointing. I absolutely hate it when books in a 2.75 Something happened between Cross My Heart (book #1) and Break My Rules (book #2) and it was so disappointing. I absolutely hate it when books in a series feel like the general quality of the storyline goes downhill after the success of the first novel, and that’s exactly what happened here. From beginning to end, Tessa’s behavior and actions became more and more unhinged in her search for answers regarding her sister while also becoming all the more unrealistic and believable as well. I had to put this book down so many times simply because Tessa was acting too crazy to stomach and Saint was basically just along for the ride on her crazy train. There were parts of the novel that I still enjoyed and largely, I’m invested enough in the characters and plotline to want to find out what’s going to happen next (and what crazy exploits Saint and Tessa will get up to). But book #3 is going to be starting at a disadvantage, plain and simple. Tessa felt like a nightmare within this novel from the very beginning. From the very first page, we jump right back into the story from the moment that book #1 had ended (when Tessa sees Saint’s tattoo). With Tessa panicking in a corner somewhere, she failed to use a single God-given brain cell for days (which was aggravating) and she treated Saint really poorly in the meantime (punishing him for something he doesn’t have any part of). And this is just the beginning. The rest of the novel consists of Tessa displaying an unrelenting attitude, regardless of whose life she destroys or whose feelings she hurts to get her answers. Despite assurity that Saint is in her corner and will help her find the truth, she ignores his opinion and advice on how to approach people in HIS world and, even though she promises Saint that she’ll talk to him and that they’ll be in this together, she goes back on her promise time and time again. Tessa didn’t give a crap about Saint. She didn’t care if she hurt him, stomped on his relationships, or burned his world to the ground. She couldn’t show him an ounce of empathy even when he was going along with everything she wanted and she had all of the support in the world from him. Her complete disregard of him – much less anyone else – made me dislike her so much. Her focus on revenge made her stupid and sloppy and it just was hard to watch. It’s almost spiteful, but I was happy when she didn’t find answers by the end of her interrogations solely because she was being such a jerk about it the entire time. I like Saint, but there was something about his “sure, you can walk all over me” attitude that made him come across as weak within this novel. I love a good ride-or-die relationship between a hero and heroine, but I also think it needs to feel reciprocal. Tessa never gave the impression that that was the case for her at all. Instead, Saint took the stance that he’d support Tessa though anything and everything – even going along with her attempt at kidnapping, drugging, and torturing one of his closest friends. With a friend like Saint, who needs enemies? Saint is obsessed with Tessa and unfortunately, as I stated in my review of book #1, there’s not much of a foundation for it. Sure, the couple spend more time together in this book, but the level of loyalty that Saint is exhibiting based solely on a poor girl’s faulty and patched-together memories? This is beyond idiotic. Saint staying with Tessa by the end felt like a joke. The romance – when Tessa isn’t zeroed in on a new target to take down – is really what’s kept this series alive for me. Regardless of the fact that I think the couples’ feelings toward one another (Saint’s feelings in particular) have developed too fast for the level of utter dedication and blind devotion that’s on display here, I like them together and I’ve enjoyed their relationship progression (fast of not) when it hasn’t focused on Wren. I also can’t complain about the spice, which is typically pretty enjoyable. Compared to book #1, there was less “adventurous” rendezvous (which I missed), but I’m hoping for more in book #3. I wish the plot had at least pretended to display some plausibility. Instead, we’re left with moments, both big and small, that leave countless holes in the story and bring to question what’s happening around the characters. I’ve mentioned a couple (the drugging of Max was one of the worst), but some others include things like: When Tessa initially thinks Saint is the one who had something to do with Wren’s kidnapping, she goes back to her apartment to stay. While there, she takes a shower and has clothes to change into even though all of her clothing/items had been moved to Saint’s in the first book. OR Tessa knowing to bring her swimsuit when she spontaneously went to visit Saint in London for the day (so her and Annabelle could have a spa day that hadn’t been planned). All the holes in the plot – whether they mattered greatly or not – started to add up and have me questioning even the appearance of authenticity made by the author to keep her story in line. Instead, the novel was chaotic and got weird and crazy while the characters made stupid and incomprehensible decisions. Very little felt “real” anymore (or had the possibility of feeling realistic) within the world. Tessa may have been willing to burn down Wren’s attackers’ world, but instead, the author was the one burning down the very world she created. Despite the evidence, I had a feeling from book #1 that Wren might still be alive. I think little hints had been dropped along the way, so the fact that – surprise, surprise – Wren shows up at Saints back door as the cliff-hanger ending, kind of made me roll my eyes instead of gasp in shock. I’m interested to find out Wren’s justifications for faking her death and putting her family through such misery, but more than my interest, I’m annoyed. You remember the unhinged behavior I mentioned regarding Tessa earlier? In light of the fact that her sister never committed suicide because of her “attacker” makes Tessa’s actions that much worse. Tessa (and Wren) still deserve answers about what happened to Wren that night (if what Wren remembers is even true), but the dogged persistence, tracklessly bulldozing into other peoples’ personal affairs, and the fact that Tessa has potentially destroyed (or at least damaged/put on the line) Saint’s friendships without much thought or care, make Tessa a villain too. She may not be at the same level as someone who drugs (ope, no wait, she did that), kidnaps (wait…she did that too), or possibly sexually assaults someone, but she’s become a monster in this process as well. She’s not an innocent victim of circumstance anymore. She’s been heartless and cold, especially when it comes to Saint and his feelings/friendships and I’m less sympathetic to her cause (even if it’s still a good one). Tessa has made me so incredibly frustrated and disappointed throughout this story and now it feels like so much of her driving pursuit was for nothing (even if that’s not wholly true). (view spoiler)[Plus, how much does anyone want to bet that Saint’s brother is at least one of the people involved in the attack against Wren? I could always be wrong, of course, but if I’m right, that setup felt way too obvious (hide spoiler)] This series has been tagged as a dark academia/secret societies novel. Imagine my surprise then, when we spend 90% of this book off of the college campus (usually in London) and we even end up marking off the secret society as an overall “suspect” for what happened to Wren (narrowing down on 4 individual potential targets throughout this novel instead). Blackhorn society becomes yesterday’s news and we basically don’t hear about them again. Plus, as the book comes to a close, Tessa has decided to drop out of Oxford altogether, so there goes the “academia” setting. But the academia/secret societies plotline was a huge draw to the story, and I liked that being a focus. The dismissal of this setting, the vibes, and general trope is disappointing. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 22, 2024
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Mar 23, 2024
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Jun 11, 2024
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Paperback
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| B0CFK9SM87
| 3.84
| 11,360
| unknown
| Sep 07, 2023
|
really liked it
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3.5* To be completely candid, I didn’t know what I was going to be getting myself into when I purchased this book. I saw a little mini promotion for th 3.5* To be completely candid, I didn’t know what I was going to be getting myself into when I purchased this book. I saw a little mini promotion for the novel on TikTok and thought, “Eh, why not?” But, when I took a look at the reviews on Goodreads, I was surprised by how many 1 star and DNF ratings I was confronted with on the first page (despite the 3.8 star overall rating). I’ve taken the bait on books based on the social media hooks too many times over the past couple years and even though I knew I was potentially falling into a trap yet again, I couldn’t help it; I was intrigued. However, it’s crazy how fast I got completely sucked into the storyline. It’s a fun, exciting, and fast-paced read contained mainly within the atmospheric and historic Oxford campus. There’s a mystery to be solved, clues to find, leads to follow, secret societies to uncover, and an attacker’s life to burn to the ground. Plus, there’s a gorgeous and distracting professor as well as some out-of-the-box parties to attend. Mix all of that up, and it was hard not be drawn in to the story. Tessa is the grief-stricken sister out for justice and revenge on the person she blames for the loss of her sister’s life, she just needs to find him. Even though she’s in the enviable position of being in Oxford, she’s not here for school; she’s on a mission for Wren and it’s hard not to like Tessa for her determination to find the truth. She was a character I enjoyed. Saint is more of a mystery to me (but I could honestly just be reading into that). When we’re first introduced to him, he’s quite the man about town with a reputation to boot. Known for his wild sexual exploits and his interest in the easy pickings of the students on campus, he’s certainly a man of the world. The mystery of Saint revolves around his fixation on Tessa (which was a little baffling) and his willingness to include her, bring her to parties she has no real business attending (like parties even fiancés and spouses struggle to get approval to attend), and his motivations in turning his back on the secret society (and the world, in general) that he’s a part of. It has me interested to learn more – even if the reasons/motivations won’t be groundbreaking. There wasn’t a ton of build when it came to the sexual tension between our characters. Tessa works hard at keeping her distance as much as she can when she has a tempting professor pursuing her so aggressively, so it’s Saint, in particular, that seems to fall for our girl first. While I enjoyed this, I do think it happened a bit fast. His level of interest and obsession with her didn’t feel genuine for the brief exchanges they had made. The two had chemistry, no doubt. I loved that, but “feelings” (admitted or not) happened too quickly. A good example of this would be the fact that Saint demands Tessa move in with him after one night of passion. (Yes, there were extenuating reasons for this, but when Saint thought that having Tessa there in his apartment felt “right,” I cringed inside). Regardless of all the fun they’d had, they just didn’t know each other enough for the emotional connection that became present too quickly. One thing I didn’t love about them was that both characters seemed to have their minds in the gutter at all times. When one of them was near the other, neither one could stop salivating at the thought of doing dirty things to the other. It made me want to prompt the heroine, in particular, about keeping her priorities straight. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the banter between them and the spice and dirty talk were a lot of fun. Tessa and Saint didn’t know how to start their relationship at the ground level and work their way up. They seemed to immediately dive into a more kinky side of things, but it was certainly entertaining and steamy. Additionally, I loved the fact that Tessa calls Saint out for manipulating her and using sex against her. Even though I’ve seen this scene play out in other novels before, heroine’s never seem to take issue with it after the fact. I was ecstatic that Tessa did and ripped into Saint for it. It would’ve been even better (albeit unsatisfying for Tessa) if she’d walked away from him instead and/or refused to give into what Saint wanted, but I’ll take what I can get. Calling it out is a huge step toward making progress and I was thrilled and impressed that this happened. I liked that the plot didn’t get lost within the story either. Sure, Tessa got distracted at times by the glitz and glamor of the wealthy, not to mention the charms of Saint himself, but there was always something to bring us back around to focusing on the real reason she’s there: to find the truth about what happened to Wren. Funnily enough, I’m right in the middle of a similar series in regards to a grieving sister who lost their sibling under suspicious circumstances and someone is to blame – but who? In the other series, one of the things I’ve complained about is how much and how often the heroine is getting side-tracked by her love interests or schoolwork when I just want her to focus on what she came to the school to accomplish. While I might have had that same complaint throughout this novel as well, the fact that Tessa does a better job in this book than my other heroine does in hers, makes me a lot more forgiving. I do think that Tessa lets herself become just a bit too distracted by Saint throughout this novel (especially when she doesn’t know him well and is kind of using him to gain access to the parties/friends she’s investigating), but like I said, in comparison, this wasn’t bad. It helps that I’m invested in the progression of her and Saint’s relationship, the glimpses into how the other half live, and the colored friendships she’s making with the people she either suspects or believes is connected to someone she suspects. Tessa had two roommates in her campus housing. And look, if you’ve ever had strangers as roommates, you probably know that you might get some really amazing ones that you can be genuine friends with, some that you simply co-exist with and stay out of each others’ hair, and some that practically become your mortal enemies. I’ve had my fair share of this entire mix. Jia and Kris (Tessa’s new roommates) started out okay. They seemed friendly and tried to draw Tessa into a friendship with them. But honestly, this entire setup was weird. Jia and Kris’ relationship between the two of them already seemed established (which is slightly odd – if they’d been at Oxford longer, wouldn’t they have expanded their circle to include another one of their friends in their roommate trio? – but otherwise, fine) but how Jia and Kris treated Tessa (and her them) was something that did throw me. Despite Tessa only just arriving, there didn’t seem to be any ‘getting to know you’ stage with her roommates. It was like we jumped into the middle of Tessa’s relationship with them as well, where they’d met and formed a connection without us, as readers, present (even though we meet Tessa in at her Orientation). We never got to see a good introduction between them and Tessa. As the book goes on though, the relationship between Tessa and her roommates take a drastic and confusing turn. Even though they had encouraged Tessa to ‘have a little fun’ with her drool-worthy professor, when Tessa starts spending more time with Saint, they (but Jia especially) becomes suddenly hostile, bitter, and mean. Their 180 degree turn against Tessa because of her relationship with Saint didn’t make a lot of sense and we never got an explanation from either of them about why they hated Saint (or Tessa’s relationship with him) so much, other than to make comments about how him and his friends are rich snobs who will never understand what it’s like to be middle class and worry about money. This didn’t seem like a good enough reason to be so resentful of Tessa’s circumstances since their personal insults turned toward Tessa as well (and not just Saint/his friends). Because of this, the only 2 non-rich friends Tessa had, turned against her. I didn’t like this plot device because it felt like it was being used solely to push Tessa into Saint (and his friends’) arms – despite the fact that Tessa wasn’t convinced that she could really trust any of them. At the end of the day, how her friendships have played out so far don’t scream ‘realistic’ to me. Another plot point I disliked was the fact that Tessa gets into OXFORD without having the academics to back it up. She gets a really suspicious scholarship that I didn’t buy at all. Plus, she had less than a year to switch gears from her former laid back, easy going lifestyle to planning to sneak into one of the most prestigious colleges to hunt someone down. Tessa faked her way in, but we don’t know how – and especially don’t know how it could’ve been accomplished so quickly (in the grand scheme of things). The set up was fun, don’t get me wrong, but questionable as all get out. There are a lot of plot holes in general really. But ultimately, it was still a good time. Was the surprise reveal at the very end predictable? Yes and no. I had suspected that Saint either had (or knew who had) the same tattoo that Wren had drawn, but with Tessa immediately knocking Saint out of the running for the person who hurt her sister (since he wasn’t in town a year ago) not to mention the fact that she had seen him naked – or semi-naked – a few times before this and hadn’t noticed the tattoo, I wasn’t quite expecting it to suddenly show up right as this book comes to a cliffhanger close. So ultimately, it was kind of surprising, kinda not. I am glad that this presents a new lead for Tessa in her search for her sister’s attacker though. I was worried for a minute there that she was going to give up the chase. While I wasn’t enthralled with how this book ended, I’m still really interested to see what happens next. This book had some questionable setup, to be sure, but still ended up being a highly enjoyable read. I’m invested in the mystery of who attacked Wren, who reached out to Tessa to give her the clues at the masquerade party, and where her romance with Saint will go from here. I can’t wait to dive in to book #2. As a weird side note, the term “tow-head” was used several times throughout this novel. I had to look up this term since it’s not in my personal vocabulary (which basically just means light blond or tousled hair) and I think it was used a little excessively when the author could’ve just stated the meaning instead. It felt unnecessary, right? Am I the only one here? There were some other grammatical issues/errors as well, but not enough to distract me too much from the story. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 20, 2024
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Mar 21, 2024
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Mar 28, 2024
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0593200462
| 9780593200469
| 0593200462
| 3.78
| 14,407
| Dec 06, 2022
| Dec 06, 2022
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did not like it
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1.25* So, let me start out this review by admitting that this was my first book within the Well Met series. I saw this ‘romance novel’ on sale and grab 1.25* So, let me start out this review by admitting that this was my first book within the Well Met series. I saw this ‘romance novel’ on sale and grabbed it up without doing a whole lot of research. As I’ve skimmed through several reviews by other readers, I think it’s important to note that most of the people who’ve liked this book and rated it highly have been with the series from the beginning, whereas I’m wholly new. With that being said, I don’t know that I missed out on much. I haven’t even really checked out the synopses of the first three novels, but I know at least two of them involve 4 of the side characters that play significant roles within this novel. So, if you loved the characters of prior novels, then getting to see them again (while at the same time, hoping that you fall in love with Dex and Lulu along their journey) might be fun. The problem for me was that I didn’t like anything about this book. I disliked the characters (both Dex and Lulu), the plot, the writing style, and even the environment of the Renaissance Faire (something I thought I would have a really fun time with). From start to finish, this book was not for me. On the day we meet Lulu, she ends up quitting her job as an attorney because she’s never going to be allowed to make partner at her law firm. Through Stacey’s good will (basically), she’s adopted into their group and Lulu puts her life on pause while she ‘runs away and joins the Faire.’ Throughout this novel, Lulu tries to unplug from her life, find herself, and make connections with others. She’s on a journey to figuring out who she wants to be and what she wants to do. But something about Lulu rubbed me wrong from the start. Declan (Dex) is a bit more of an enigma. Although he wasn’t necessarily a terrible character, we also don’t really get to know him much throughout the novel. This story is told solely from Lulu’s perspective and I think that hurt the novel especially since Lulu was so busy helping the fortune tellers during the weekend and Dex was busy working on his music and/or they were never really alone during any other time throughout the week. Because of that, there’s very little about Dex that we know. He has his moments of being kind (like when he brings Lulu coffee) and we know he can be smart and thoughtful (like when he makes surprise arrangements for Michele to come and visit Todd), but Dex is such a background person. I think Stacey is in the novel more than he is and not all of what we see from Dex is exactly flattering either (like the fact that he’s a manwhore who’s slept with just about every single girl working at the Faire). Him flirting and coming on to Lulu after all of the flirting and innuendo that happened between other characters felt slimy (because we know for a fact that he’s spent his time in someone else’s bed). He didn’t stop sleeping with other women just because Lulu walked into his life and caught his eye. In fact, it’s pretty clear he just wanted to sleep with her in the beginning anyway – not form a connection. I love the ‘bachelor reformed’ trope, but we only saw this happen in a really broad overview way. We didn’t really get to watch Dex go through any personal growth or change. In fact, it’s almost like he wakes up one day and has suddenly caught feelings where maybe, just maybe, Lulu can hold his attention for longer that the 5 seconds any other girl ever has. Similarly, Dex complains that no one has ever wanted him for more than just his body anyway. No one has ever been able to see the fact that he can be smart and business-minded. Not one girl has ever wanted him to stay after sex and cuddle with her or form a relationship with him. His boo-hoo comments didn’t garner any sympathy for him – mainly because I didn’t believe a single word of it. He’s a 31 year old man who practically has girls throwing their panties at him during shows. No, I don’t believe that none of the girls have wanted a relationship – I believe that he didn’t want one and ran from them whenever possible. Dex wanted to ‘have fun,’ sleep around, and be a Lothario and then is upset when he has the reputation he does; when people assume he doesn't care for too much chitchat after sex. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. While we see Dex fix his sights on Lulu and see his focus remain on her as the book goes on, Dex had a lot of growing up to do before I felt like he was really ready to enter into a committed relationship with someone. Dex and Lulu spend so little time together that a friendship between them couldn’t even develop, much less a romantic relationship. Don’t be fooled, this is not a romance novel. In fact, I think this book focuses more on Lulu’s growth and pivot regarding her career while, at the same time, letting her hair down while she works and forms connections within the Ren Fair circuit. We don't see a relationship between two people bloom and grow, we see a woman who's escaped her high-pressure job and is basically going through a mid-life crisis. Where was the love story in all of this? ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 09, 2024
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Mar 09, 2024
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Mar 26, 2024
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1538704390
| 9781538704394
| 1538704390
| 4.32
| 464,745
| Apr 11, 2023
| Apr 11, 2023
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it was amazing
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4.5* I read Part of Your World (book #1) within the past year and I didn’t really like it. It read like a Hallmark movie (which I hated) and I was not 4.5* I read Part of Your World (book #1) within the past year and I didn’t really like it. It read like a Hallmark movie (which I hated) and I was not looking forward to reading book #2. In fact, the only reason I did so was because Yours Truly (book #2) was what my sister had recommended in the first place (with the caveat that I needed to read Part of Your World first). She claimed that Yours Truly would be so much better than its predecessor and I finally gave it a go, despite my reservations. Perhaps because my expectations were so low to begin with, immediately loving this book took me completely by surprise. Jacob is the biggest sweetheart and cinnamon roll you could ever ask for. He’s observant, kind, thoughtful, caring, considerate, and understanding. He’s also the most selfless person on the planet, because without knowing Brianna’s brother, Benny, at all he’s willing to donate a kidney to him and give Benny another chance at life. This man could not have been more precious and utterly lovable. He knows where his weakness lay and has figured out a way to manage his anxiety in a healthy way too (although this doesn’t completely make his anxiety go away depending on the situation he’s put in). He makes you want to protect him from the world. I don’t think a character could be much more perfect than Jacob Maddox. We had met Brianna in book #1, so she was a character I remembered and she didn’t disappoint. Bri is hurting over the pain of her divorce and she’s heartbroken about the state her brother is in. She takes Benny’s burdens on as her own, despite being weary and laden down with so much of her own. I loved seeing how self-sacrificing Bri could be because I think it really highlighted and showcased the depth of her love for her family. She can be a little fiery, which made her personality fun and helped to shield Jacob during overwhelming social situations. However, I really hated Bri’s “pettiness.” At first, her payback for her husband cheating on her was built up too much. For example, Zander makes a comment about not wanting to get on Bri’s “bad side” and Bri consistently talks about how petty she can be throughout the novel as well. However, we don’t find out what Bri actually did to her ex until much later on and her revenge fell pretty flat. I don’t know what I was expecting, but shoving glitter everywhere and unscrewing lightbulbs just didn’t cut it. Her revenge may have been considered petty, but it was also really childish. It felt like a high school prank, not something a woman in her 30’s would do to her husband. It was just too immature for me and I couldn’t help but scoff at her antics. I adored the back-and-forth letters that kickstarted Brianna and Jacob’s relationship. Jacob was so sincere and heartwarming that I was practically swooning from the get-go. Bri’s letters tended to be more lighthearted and fun. I loved that this not only helped establish rapport and trust between the characters, but that each characters’ letter-writing style was distinctive. Bri and Jacob’s relationship together was simply perfection. They fit together like two puzzle pieces, each lending support to each other’s weaknesses and bringing out one another’s strengths. I couldn’t get enough of the respect and understanding that Bri showed Jacob. I loved that she went to bat for him and stood up for him against his family and his ex. But I also loved the patience and persistence Jacob showed to Bri, helping her trust in someone again and slowly open herself up to the potential of what their relationship could be. Watching them grow together was an absolute joy. Not every novel needs to be filled with smut, but there is only 1 (rather abrupt) scene with any spice. This novel is a bit of a slow burn, so to have this be the only thing we get not only up until that point but largely throughout the remainder of the novel, was a little disappointing. I was hoping for bit more here, although I still think that the author wrote such a good story that it wasn’t very missed either. Weirdly, I really enjoyed all of the hard topics contained within this book. The author addressed issues like anxiety, depression, miscarriage, divorce, kidney failure/organ transplants, and infidelity. This made the novel feel complex, layered with heavy and confusing emotions, and full of depth while also somehow retaining a humorous and romcom feel throughout a lot of the novel. I don’t think I could stop smiling throughout most of this book or laughing out loud at their fake dating antics. It was well done. The miscommunication trope is the absolute worst. It tends to occur over something really dumb or go on for waaayyy too long because the characters downright refuse to have a conversation about anything. It drives me insane. And yet, this novel managed to do what few others seem to accomplish and Jimenez made it feel real and relatable. I could see this same “miscommunication” occurring between any couple, especially if one (or both) individuals had been hurt before (and are scared to be vulnerable). I love when an author can take something I’m unsure about or not a fan of altogether and spin it in a way that makes sense and is believable within the plot. I don’t like miscommunication, but it’s not a trope I shun. Unfortunately, authors who use this as a plot device will have more of an uphill batter to win me over when it occurs (but I’m not closed off to having my mind changed completely). But when they get it right, *chef’s kiss.* Jimenez got it right. However, speaking of tropes that need to be avoided more often, a ‘surprise pregnancy’ is among that list. The carelessness of these two doctors was a bit outrageous and really frustrating. To make matters worse, I don’t think any relationship is ready for kids so soon. Sure, people may be able to make it work, but I’ve never heard that that situation was “ideal,” either. I know that this is what prompted Bri to panic, withdraw, and push Jacob away (before they were able to talk and take steps to process Bri’s past trauma), but I still don’t love this as a plot convenience. Bri and Jacob faced a battle together centering around fear and vulnerability. You’re rooting for them throughout, but I adored the way they came together in the end (even though I do think it’s a bit convenient for all of Jacob’s innermost thoughts about Bri to be written down, which in turn, is the very thing that assuages all of her fears). Regardless, I was so invested and in love with this couple, and I was thrilled that it worked out so well in the end. With that being said though, I do think the last couple chapters (but especially the epilogue) got a smidge too cheesy for my tastes. It had me wanting to reel in the author and keep her from ruining a good thing by having a sickly sweet ending versus the sweet ending I had come to expect. (Plus, I hated the fact that he changed his last name for her. I’m fine with her not changing her last name for him, but doing the opposite wasn’t the solution. It was like the principle that Bri had stood on about not changing her name disappeared and didn’t matter when it came to someone else and I think you either stand firm in your principles or your argument crashes and burns. If it wasn’t right for her, why would it be right for Jacob?) I also don’t think Amy was a redeemable character at all despite how much Jacob seemed to excuse her behavior. She was really lacking in character and was described as someone entirely selfish and self-centered. She didn’t have any insight or empathy for Jacob’s struggles managing his anxiety and treats him really poorly (even making “digs” toward him when she’s moved on with Jacob’s brother - which is a betrayal in and of itself). Plus, she never even really apologizes, which makes the entire situation worse. The author worked hard to shift our perspective into forgiving her for her past with Jacob, but by that point, I couldn’t go back and was firmly set in my dislike and distain for her. This was such a good book and something I definitely feel like I could come back to as a comfort read. I’m so thankful I didn’t stop at Part of Your World (book #1) like I was tempted to do. I would’ve really missed out on this gem if I had. ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Feb 28, 2024
not set
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Feb 29, 2024
not set
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Mar 23, 2024
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Paperback
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| 006302747X
| 9780063027473
| 006302747X
| 3.49
| 211,505
| Sep 28, 2021
| Sep 28, 2021
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liked it
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2.5* I picked up this book because I was in the mood for some lighthearted fluffy romance. I love chasing that perfect boy-meets-girl story and The Ex 2.5* I picked up this book because I was in the mood for some lighthearted fluffy romance. I love chasing that perfect boy-meets-girl story and The Ex Hex, with it’s amusing premise, seemed like just the book to try. I know I’ve said it before, but I’m a sucker for realism and believability within a novel. You can sell me on anything (dragons, vampires, witches, magical powers, monsters, etc.) but you have to make the story, world, and characters feel real. I’m ready to be drawn into whatever the author can conjure up, but if there’s not a believability factor interwoven within the pages of the novel, you’ll lose me. Largely, I think that this was the main issue that I had with the book overall. There was no depth built into the story. While I liked the characters, I haven’t walked away from this book feeling like I really know the characters. But more than just the characters, everything seemed to stay at a very superficial level, including the magic system/the witchy town and college, the character development, and the plot. Nothing within this book had a lot of complexity or layers to it. Rhys and Vivienne were fine, but as a couple, they felt a bit thrown together. I don’t think that they had the greatest chemistry or connection between the two of them and, since this gets commented on multiple times, I too, wasn’t convinced that they were a good fit. Rhys was the reckless, optimistic, and never-takes-anything-seriously dreamer. He was labeled as the “Fool” and as these aspects of his personality get highlighted over and over again, he seemed to be less and less of a good match for Vivienne, our practical, steady, dependable counterpart. It’s repeatedly mentioned that Rhys and Vivienne are complete opposites and that they ‘just don’t work’ together. They might be attracted to one another, but regarding a long-term relationship, I don’t really see them lasting. I think this is said too much to persuade me that “love can conquer all” and that they’ll suddenly be a good fit by the end. The author seemed to expect me to set aside all of the work she’d done to showcase their incompatibility and be hooked by their love story. Without any further development, without growth from the characters, insight into what makes them similar, or even why their differences compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses, there really isn’t a lot to work with to make me suddenly change my mind (no matter how much the characters seem to want to be together). The plot felt a bit far-fetched, especially as we discover more about who actually cursed Rhys and what they need to do to fix it. There seemed to be so many little plot holes within the story and major leaps of random growth without explanation. One example of this would be the fact that Vivienne is scared of her magic and barely uses it to re-heat her tea, much less anything more complicated. Not only does this not make sense (since she was raised with her aunt and cousin, who use magic all of the time) but, when it comes time for Vivi to break out some MAJOR magic – stuff her aunt wouldn’t even do – this seems to give her no trouble at all. It felt like there were hints within the novel that Vivi was somehow ‘special’ or ‘different’ than most witches in regards to her power, but as soon as that hint was dropped, it was like the author took 2 steps back from that assertion and played it off like a hint hadn’t been thrown at all. It was honestly a bit confusing. Either way, it felt haphazard and mildly contradictory. Additionally, the book loses a bit of steam halfway through. It tries to make a come back for the climax, but it was only semi-successful and it was honestly a little frustrating to watch the curse go from fairly harmless magic fritzes to DESTRUCTION OF THE TOWN AND DEATH OF THE PENHALLOW. It was zero to sixty in .2 seconds, which was a bit startling and puzzling. In regards to spice, this book has some, but it also feels like any of those juicy bits are rushed and glossed over. It’s not that there’s no explicit language thrown around, but like the other hints the author was dropping, she’d throw us a bone only to back off from it almost immediately. At the end of the day, while the spice wasn’t “bad,” it wasn’t exactly “good” either. I know I’ve complained about this novel, but despite the issues I had, this book did largely fit the bill for what I was looking for today. It was a cute, light, and fluffy romcom that was a feel-good read when all was said and done. While not particularly memorable (and I’m not sure if it’d be something I’d ever read again), I didn’t have a bad time perusing this book either, so I wouldn’t count it as a total loss. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 28, 2024
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Feb 28, 2024
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Mar 13, 2024
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Paperback
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| B0CD9R4LB2
| 3.86
| 5,992
| unknown
| Sep 15, 2023
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liked it
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2.75* This was a fun and easy read. Overall, it was pretty enjoyable and, since this is only the author’s debut, I’m excited to see how her writing wil 2.75* This was a fun and easy read. Overall, it was pretty enjoyable and, since this is only the author’s debut, I’m excited to see how her writing will evolve in the future. This biggest issue with this novel was how surface-level it stayed throughout its entirety. The boys seemed to fall in love (to an obsessive and excessive extent) instantly (and her with them). The problem was that this completely lacked any foundation and, even by the end, not only do I not feel like I know the characters very well, but I also don’t think they know each other well. The plot felt incredibly rushed and Dani HAD to fall in love with each of the guys (and them with her) at the exact same time. There was no build, no real sexual tension, and none of the relationships stood on anything that felt solid. It’s a house of cards just waiting for one good push. Unfortunately, all around, this story had little depth to it. It was so fast-paced that we really miss the subtle growth and changes the characters make along the way. Nothing (the characters, the world, or the plot) felt fleshed-out and there was little substance to the story. Danielle is the star of the show with 3 men falling over themselves to please her, but it’s hard to pinpoint why they’re so instantly captivated. Dani wasn’t someone I disliked, but she wasn’t someone I was very impressed by either. At first, she’s nerdy and shy. I enjoyed her personality. I hate to say that as she gained confidence, I liked her less, but that’s also kind of accurate. I think it was the way in which this happened, the lack of a visible transition, and her opposing personalities in bed vs out of it. Nathan is the grumpy billionaire and the owner of the Chicago Racketeers Hockey Team. At 41, Nathan felt a bit old for 24 year old Dani, and it gave me the ick when I thought about it, but wasn’t so awful that I hated Nathan being a part of the group. I did like the fact that Nathan goes through some growth in this novel. He’s the one that has to make the most changes to make the group work, which is hard for him. It was nice seeing him struggle a bit, but I also felt like his full 180 degree change of heart happened a bit too quickly and easily. He was basically on board after their first night together as a group, and I don’t think that would’ve fully erased all of his reservations. All around (and not just with Nathan), there’s a lot of character development that seems to occur off-page. Things are implied and not shown, so it kept the book at a very superficial-feeling level. Crew was the fun-loving, easy-going, and extremely cocky hockey star. At 22, he’s a bit younger than Dani, but he felt like he fit her personality the most. He had golden retriever energy, which made him adorable as well. Dani and Crew have a shared past since Dani is best friends, roommates, and a business partner with Crew’s sister. They’ve known each other for years and Crew has been infatuated with her for quite some time. While I loved the hint of their shared history, I don’t think this novel gave us enough here. Crew never seemed to “know” Dani more than the other guys, even though that should’ve been the case. Crew almost immediately has an “in” with Dani that the other 2 don’t possess because of their history and shared relationship with his sister/Crew’s parents. And yet, this never really comes into play or is brought up in any real sense. As a side note, Crew’s sister, Luna, is not only on-board with Dani dating and screwing her brother, but she’s also on-board and cheers Dani on regarding Nathan and Michael as well. I’m not saying all ‘why-choose’ romance novels are the most believable to begin with, but this felt extremely unrealistic. I couldn’t imagine being thrilled if this was happening with my siblings. Instead, I’d get pretty protective of them – not get excited that my friend was sleeping with my sibling AND others. I hated that they didn’t have a realistic conversation about this and instead, Luna was basically just like, “Get it girl! You deserve this!” Uhhh…no. The final man to round out our foursome is Michael, the Racketeers Team doctor. He’s kind, laid-back, and the ultimate mediator between Crew and Nathan (who seem to have the most differences within the group). Michael is the sweetheart. At 35, Michael felt the most well-rounded and mature in a lot of ways and he’s the cinnamon roll of the group. Unfortunately, I think Michael was the one who got the short end of the stick the most when it came to Danielle and, since he was probably my favorite of the group, that made me really sad. The only thing I didn’t like about Michael was that he called Dani “Cookie,” which made me cringe. I admit that I liked the fact that their group chat was entitled “Cookie & Co.,” which was cute, but otherwise, Ew. The smut within this novel was okay. Honestly, I expected something a bit more and wasn’t wholly satisfied with what I got. I hated the fact that Michael and Dani never really got any alone time together (even though the other 2 guys did) before they made a rule about only being together as a group. Plus, I think there were some conflicting personalities in the bedroom that didn’t quite click. Nathan is the best example of this. He’s controlling and domineering inside and outside of bed. This is evident in Dani and Nathan’s first time together. However, as soon as the group is involved, this has to be toned down significantly or turned off completely. Nathan isn’t the “boss” of Michael and Crew and, while they might occasionally go along with one of his suggestions, they’re not under Nathan’s thrall the same way Dani is and they’ve made it clear Nathan isn’t in charge in the bedroom – that role belongs to Dani. Similarly, on one hand, I loved that the boys were all whole-heartedly committed to pleasing Dani and making the relationship all about her. On the other hand, that never felt like a true “relationship” both with Dani and each guy individually nor as an entire group. Having a relationship totally revolve around one party isn’t sustainable and will eventually make the other party (or parties, in this case) resentful that their “needs” don’t hold the same significance that Dani’s does. It was great that they wanted to work out the kinks in their group dynamic because of Dani, but certain comments made it feel like Dani was the only person that really mattered, and that kind of sucked for the guys. While this is a very character-driven novel, I also hated the fact that Dani’s bookstore side-plot gets abandoned to the extent that it does. At the beginning of the novel, she complains that the bookstore makes no money, but as she gets more and more wrapped up in the guys, she never seems to be at work. Her bookstore felt forgotten and brushed under the rug. Additionally, I hated Dani’s writing. The names were bad enough, but it wasn’t a good time having to read her excerpts and I wish Michael had been a bit more critical to help her improve. It also was contradictory when one moment, she states that she doesn’t share her writing with anyone, and the next, not only has Michael read her work (and given her pointers), but she’s letting her bff read her work as well. The novel wasn’t consistent. I knew going into this book that this was part of a series. However, the book ended in a way that made the story of the characters (Dani, Nathan, Crew, and Michael) feel pretty wrapped up. I honestly expected that the other books in the series would contain side characters (like Dani’s friend and her potential hookup with one of the other hockey players and his roommate). Right before I started writing this review, I read the synopsis of book #2 and then book #3 and then book #4 because I was so taken aback by the fact that their story together is absolutely NOT completed. While I don’t hate this idea, I do think the author should’ve ended her novel in a way that made me want to jump right into the following novel (or even hint that a next novel for the group even existed), not leave me believing that the story was fully finished (while we moved on to other people for the duration of the rest of the series). This series was one I had planned on potentially coming back to…eventually…maybe? Regardless, I didn’t think there was any rush and it was definitely put on the back burner in my mind. Now, I may have to re-arrange my priorities but Puck One Night Stands (book #1) ended so prettily that it’s hard to dredge up the excitement and anticipation going into book #2 that I feel like I’d have in a normal series. I want more from the group, but I also kind of don’t. I think the world-building and development within this novel was lacking and, while I’d like to know more, I’m not so sure I want to stick through 3 additional books if they’re set up the same way. I’ll have to think on this. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 10, 2024
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Feb 11, 2024
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Mar 13, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| B0B2M2S89S
| 3.55
| 6,923
| Feb 04, 2021
| Aug 27, 2022
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it was ok
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1.75* For every novel you read, you’ll get an introduction to the main character and, when there are multiple POV’s, this will mean multiple introducti 1.75* For every novel you read, you’ll get an introduction to the main character and, when there are multiple POV’s, this will mean multiple introductions, where we’ll get some insight and background into each individual person, their thoughts/impressions, personalities, trauma’s, hiccups in their life, and whatever other interesting info the author feels like we need to know. Without that introduction, you don’t have a book and you can’t tell a story. But some introductions are vastly different (or better than) others and I think our initial meetings with the characters in Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic (book #3) are a great example of that. Perhaps it was my own expectations for what I would get out of this novel, but I was not anticipating our eventual lovebirds not even meeting each other until 34% of the way into the book. 34%. I feel like I need to say it again because for a romance novel, that’s a really long time for our characters to not shake hands (metaphorically speaking, since their actual handshake got botched). The lengthy time we had to wait for our characters to sit down at a table together, in combination with the heavy-handed and repetitive plot foreshadowing, had me feeling bored with the story before it even really began. It was obvious from the very beginning that Moriah was going to give up her “dream” of being a mother (at least for now), drop everything, and go traveling with Lowell. It was also evident that Lowell was going to get his job back and somehow be able to move back to Tokyo and his apartment. There weren’t any surprising twists or turns with this one, regardless of the waffling either character did at certain points or the conflicted thoughts they each had. I read Sweet Berries (book #2) just a couple days ago and in it, the author warns that her timeline isn’t quite linear. In reading the book, this was something I didn’t really notice and it certainly never stuck out to me. In the ‘Author’s Note’ for this novel we receive no such warning and, despite the fact that it wouldn’t have stopped me from reading this book, the non-linear timeline and switching POV’s stood out terribly. As Moriah’s chapter would end, we’d go back in time to get Lowell’s impressions. To some extent, I appreciate what the author was trying to do here and there were certainly moments (like their first meeting with one another and the impressions both of them walked away with) that I was happy to have their differing points of view. However, what resulted as this continued throughout the book was a mishmash of moments thrown together that ended up feeling sloppy. I didn’t like having to go back at the start of each new chapter to “catch up” on the other person’s perspective. There were things about Moriah that I really liked. At first, I loved how real it felt when Moriah’s friend announced her pregnancy and the feelings that Moriah experienced because of it – her grief for herself and co-occurring joy for her friend. It felt believable, and I immediately settled into the supposition that I was really going to like her. I also liked that Moriah had a therapist that she sought out when she was conflicted during this novel. I’m glad that she was working through her issues and trauma from her past relationship, which was admirable to see. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that her likability factor lasted very long. While I liked that she was trying to rock it as an independent woman chasing her dream on her own, as I learned more about her reasoning, I became less impressed. When Moriah met Lowell, I was also frustrated by her fixation on his smile/his ability to make her laugh. This isn’t a bad thing to want in a partner (and probably something pretty relatable for most girls I know), but it felt like this was the ONLY thing Moriah valued in Lowell or looked for. It never felt like she was actually trying to get to know him; she was in love with the idea of being able to laugh with him (something she hadn’t had with her ex). Even if I could forgive or gloss over why she “fell in love” with Lowell, I hated her dishonesty when it came to the Breeding Clinic. On one hand, I’m glad that she made the decision to start taking birth control when she was no longer certain she wanted a baby, but she never talked to the Clinic about her feelings or with Lowell. Instead, she used him for sex and laugher, which doesn’t scream “relationship” or “love” to me. Plus, her feelings regarding having a baby didn’t make sense when all she talked about (when she wasn’t thinking about Lowell or a baby) was traveling the world. (Again, the foreshadowing was strong and obvious here, but a bit over the top). It was clear that she shouldn’t be thinking about having a baby if she wanted to have all of those other life experiences she’d missed out on when she’d gotten married. I wanted to shake her because this was so frustrating to watch. Moriah never won me over completely but it was Lowell that was the biggest disappointment of all. He was very “Woe is me!” throughout the entire length of the novel. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a “hero” be so self-pitying. He never once stopped boo-hooing about his “middle-child” syndrome and how no one gave him any attention. He blamed his family (especially his brothers) for not reaching out to him when he was the one that didn’t answer their calls. He couldn’t shut up about how lonely and forgotten he was (even though he was doing nothing to change it). He was an insecure brat that proudly proclaimed how immature and “baby-like” he was (repeatedly stating that if Moriah wanted a baby, she could just baby him because he was like a 5 year old). It didn’t matter that he was funny, occasionally charming, or supposedly good-looking, Lowell was off-putting. All he did was whine, cry, and complain and he was hard to stomach at least half the time. He refused to grow up and that made him hard to respect, admire, or be attracted to his more favorable personality traits because all I wanted to do was slap some sense into him (something his parents clearly didn’t do enough of when he was younger). Him getting a HFN ending was baffling because I don’t know how another reasonable adult (like Moriah) could like him enough to want to drop everything for him. That HFN ending was also unsatisfying. I hated that Lowell threw down an ultimatum but so much more than that, I hated that Moriah’s own career just seemed to disappear off the face of the planet. There was no discussion about what she was going to do or how she was going to maintain a business when she was traveling everywhere with Lowell. It was pushed under the rug and only Lowell’s career was focused on, which I hated. There’s quite a bit of spice within this novel and I don’t want to say that it was bad, but it was also a bit lackluster. I just wasn’t very impressed with how the spice was written and, to be honest, I got a little bored with it as well. Part of this may have something to do with us getting some repetitive smut scenes from both Moriah and Lowell’s POV (so getting one and then later taking a step back in time again to get the other). Each POV may have had something to add to the moment, but because one scene may not be wholly together within one location in the book, it always felt a bit off balance. Even when this didn’t occur, there was something a lot less exciting about this novel than what we’d been graced with in Morning Glory Milking Farm, (book #1) and Sweet Berries (book #2) (in addition to the 1.5 novel). As a side note, I didn’t really love the “good boy” comments. With Moriah being a couple years older and Lowell’s self-admitted immaturity, despite his actual age, it felt like Moriah was robbing the cradle with a man 15 years her junior whenever she said this, not the 2 years Lowell actually was. It made me wince a bit every time it was thrown out there. I also wasn’t completely sold on their chemistry together. Moriah thought he was funny, and Lowell had a sympathetic ear to listen to him, but otherwise, I didn’t see a lot of commonalities or tension between them. While I didn’t hate the plot and I really appreciated the representation that occurred with Moriah (and her friends’) infertility issues, I really disliked Moriah’s continued baby obsession now that she’s no longer tied to her incompatible husband. When Moriah married her lizardman, they both knew going into it that their biology’s didn’t align and it would be extremely difficult (if not impossible) for them to get pregnant without help. So, now that they’ve been divorced for 2 years, I’m still not sure I fully understand Moriah’s thought process and insistence with getting pregnant. She didn’t have any infertility issues and there shouldn’t have been a problem for her if she’d just tried to form a new relationship and try with someone else. Her actions and obsession with getting pregnant (especially when she doesn’t really have any infertility issues to begin with) don’t make sense to me. It was also frustrating that Moriah was basically so obsessed with getting pregnant because, during her marriage, she felt alone and wanted to feel a connection to someone. She basically wanted to have a baby to “save” their marriage and cure her loneliness and, while this happens every day in real life, it’s a horrible way to bring a child into the world. When her and her husband divorced, Moriah’s obsession with having a baby simply continued and she never stopped to really think about her life or examine her options. She still felt alone and disconnected in her community, so a baby was the obvious solution. I hated that. It made her reasoning and her struggles with “infertility” so much less noble or empathetic. Lowell going to the Breeding Clinic was just as bad – just in a different way. The only reason he was a participant was because he was bored, he was lonely, and he was horny. He was excited to get his rocks off and even ‘give someone his knot’ (which he’d never done before). Essentially, this meant he didn’t have to take any sexual precautions because the whole point of him participating was to get his partner pregnant and there were zero strings attached for him if that happened. I get it, not everyone who goes to a similar clinic has altruistic reasons, but this is just another example of Lowell coming across as immature and looking for the easiest way out with the least amount of effort put in. This novel was easy to put down and not nearly as exciting as some of Nacosta’s other works have been. Although I still plan on continuing the series with the next couple, this book did not hit its mark and I’m disappointed with the outcome. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 07, 2024
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Feb 08, 2024
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Mar 13, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| B09SF8TWJL
| 3.71
| 11,484
| Jun 01, 2022
| Jun 01, 2022
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really liked it
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3.5* At the very beginning of the novel, before the story has even started, the author makes a comment that this has “pure cotton candy” vibes. Based o 3.5* At the very beginning of the novel, before the story has even started, the author makes a comment that this has “pure cotton candy” vibes. Based on her description and warning, I wondered if it may be too sweet for me, especially after reading another book with slightly darker tones. But I knew I loved this author and I was still on a high from A Blue Ribbon Romance (book #1.5), so I was more than happy to give this book a go. In a lot of ways, the author was correct. This spun-sugar sweetness is cute and gentle and fluffy. It’s a feel-good read without a doubt, but it wasn’t overflowing with so much sweetness that it became sickly-sweet (and therefore unenjoyable). There are still challenges and hurdles the characters have to overcome and for a story that starts out with a ‘here for a good time, not a long time’ mentality, it stayed that way throughout a larger portion than you’d probably assume. I absolutely loved Merrick. He was adorably shy, awkward, and nerdy in the best possible way. But more than Merrick himself, I loved that Grace adored all of those things about him. She was attracted to his dorky personality quirks, which not only highlighted Merrick and how cute he was, but it made Grace so much more attractive as a character as well. She was utterly and completely charmed by him, which made us fall for him too. While I love stories where our protagonists are hard-core and tough, there’s definitely something to be said about the gentle and fairly unassuming nature of someone who may not immediately catch your eye, be intimidating/imposing, or have muscles galore. Merrick was passionate about his job and was a bit of a know-it-all, but even that somehow made you love him. He was eye-catching in a completely different way than most of the heroes I’ve read about lately and it was a refreshing change of pace. I liked Grace as a character and I enjoyed how she pushed the story along (because without her choices, her and Merrick probably wouldn’t have ever met). However, I didn’t like how fixated she was on sex. It was an obsession, but one that seemed so casual and nonchalant within her world that it could practically be dismissed. Her sex-drive was insane, and she seemed to think of little else. In all honesty, it made me want to encourage her to get her hormones checked because somethin' just ain’t right. It felt mildly uncomfortable. This wasn’t a huge issue, and was easily forgivable, but it did result in me raising an eyebrow or two at different points within the story. This book had some wonderful (and interesting) spice but I wouldn’t call it overly “romantic,” which I think is where my opinion would veer from the ‘Author’s Note’ at the beginning. In fact, we don’t get a full admission of feelings until some of the very last lines of the story. So, while this novel can still be deemed “sweet,” it may not be in the way you were expecting (or it certainly wasn’t from my perspective, anyway). For both Grace and Merrick, I loved the little things that made my heart ache. Grace had been married before and still wasn’t fully over the abuse she’d undergone with her ex (the gaslighting, complaints, and insults that she endured). Her struggle to be vulnerable and share her experiences made you want to hug her. Merrick, on the other hand, had been ignored his whole life. He wasn’t used to being thought of (by humans especially) and was never included. His ill-fitting lab coat could break your heart. Even though this novel is relatively short, it added a bit of depth to the characters and their real-world, semi-relatable life experiences. This was a lighthearted read with low angst. While I liked Violet in MGMF a bit more than Grace in Sweet Berries (book #2), Merrick more than made up for it with his lovely and adorable personality. These books have a really predominant ‘likability’ factor to them that I can’t get enough of. I really enjoyed this second addition to the Cambric Creek series and can’t wait to read more. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 05, 2024
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Feb 06, 2024
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Mar 13, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| B0BWXNXMCF
| 3.86
| 4,118
| Jul 11, 2023
| Jul 14, 2023
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really liked it
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3.5* This is the sequel I didn’t know I needed. I think Morning Glory Milking Farm (book #1) was one of the first “monster romance” novels I’d ever rea 3.5* This is the sequel I didn’t know I needed. I think Morning Glory Milking Farm (book #1) was one of the first “monster romance” novels I’d ever read. I rated it 3 stars (meaning I liked the book) but should honestly probably go back and increase the rating a little bit because it’s a novel I’ve gone back to multiple times to re-read (or skim to get to the good parts, anyway). Whether it’s simply because it was my first monster romance or whether there’s genuinely just something special about the book/world/story/writing style, it’s been a novel that’s stuck with me over time and has a fond place in my heart. C.M. Nascosta and her Cambric Creek series was one I wanted to come back to but hadn’t kept solid track of. So, when I pulled up the series on Goodreads, imagine my surprise when an absolute gem was waiting to be discovered. I’m pretty sure I squealed like a little girl when I saw A Blue Ribbon Romance (book #1.5) – the same story as the Milking Farm but told from Rourke’s POV – amongst the other novels in the series. I was over the moon and couldn’t wait to dive in, immediately running to Amazon to purchase the ebook. Recently, I read a similar novel told from the MMC’s POV that (after having the FMC’s viewpoint in the first book), frankly, didn’t add much to the original story and wasn’t really worth the read. So, despite being a little apprehensive to dive it, I had zero self-control when it came to jumping back into what has become a beloved story. And I can’t express enough how wonderful this book was. It surpassed my expectations (which I’d tried to keep fairly low regardless of my hopeful excitement) and was simply a joy to read. It’s a short, sweet, and heartwarming story with some delicious spice – just like its predecessor. If you liked Morning Glory Milking Farm (book #1), I think this will be an easy novel to fall in love with as well and, unlike my similar experience, this story was well worth re-reading from a different perspective. I’ve seen some complaints that this novel is repetitive (perhaps compared to the first book?) and, while there’s definitely some overlap (because it is, in fact, the same story), I never found this to be an issue. In fact, there was so much more depth that this novel contributed to the world of Minotaurs and Cambric Creek in general, not to mention Rourke’s distinct outlook and personality that’s so present, that I’m a bit surprised by the criticism. When we’re first introduced to Rourke in this book, he wasn’t a character that immediately won me over (despite my love for him regarding the story overall). He’s meeting too many milking technicians and has too many fantasies that don’t revolve around Violet (who you know we’re waiting for him to meet) to make him as endearing as I knew he would later become. However, I loved the realism this provided. It felt more authentic and, even though I didn’t love it, I’m such a sucker for realism within my stories that I also kinda did. I was already wholly in love with Rourke and Violet’s love story, so re-reading how they met and the story of them coming together as a couple from Rourke’s POV was almost as wonderful the second time around as it had been the first. However, one thing I didn’t love as much was the fact that, although Rourke obsesses over Violet and becomes interested in her, most of his thoughts are very sexual in nature. There wasn’t a lot of reason for him to like her beyond physical attraction and how talented her hands were – or at least not much else that he thought about. The fantasies were fun, but I wanted a bit more romance on his side and how much he came to like her as a person vs just how attracted to her he was. That was probably the biggest disappointment of this book. I will admit that some scenes seemed to drop you into dates or situations in a rushed or unexpected way as well. I would frequently try to remember what happened in MGMF and the timeline of events to keep things straight. If this was going to be its own separate novel, it needed to be written in a way that made sense and I think the author could’ve done a slightly better job with that. It was just a little messy. Lurielle and Kash were my least favorite couple of the Girls Weekend series even though I still liked them. While Kash has come across as a jerk before, this trend just continued within this series. I disliked the fact that Lurielle compared Kash and Rourke so much (stating that they were practically the same person) and I honestly wish they (but Kash in particular) had been in this novel a little bit less. (No, they don’t take up a ton of page-space, but what they did inhabit was a bit too excessive for my tastes.) Nascosta’s novels frequently seem to have some grammatical errors or editing issues, and that trend continues with this novel. A few times, it was very eye-catching and took me out of the story, but I also had an expectation of what I was getting myself into with this book, so I wasn’t as put off by it as I may have normally been. It was still worth the read! This is a very cute addition to the series. It may not be wholly “necessary,” but it was very much appreciated and I’m so glad I got to read this novel. It was heartwarming and precious, and it’s made me excited to read more from this series. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 03, 2024
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Feb 04, 2024
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Mar 13, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| 0593549376
| 9780593549377
| 0593549376
| 3.66
| 59,804
| Dec 04, 2023
| Dec 05, 2023
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it was ok
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2.25* You may think based on my “okay-ish” rating, that I didn’t like this book. And, while I certainly had a few issues later on, that simply wasn’t t 2.25* You may think based on my “okay-ish” rating, that I didn’t like this book. And, while I certainly had a few issues later on, that simply wasn’t the case. I freely admit that this was (largely) a really fun novel to read and I enjoyed it. So, what happened? Well, I could easily say, “It’s not you, it’s me” and it wouldn’t be totally inaccurate (maybe not wholly accurate either, but it wouldn’t be wrong). Where this book took a nosedive was the plot (especially when it reached a certain point) because it lost me completely toward the end. I was simply over the whole mess. But I think I’m getting ahead of myself. I enjoyed the setup of this story. Being a shifter was normal within the world and no one really thought too much about it one way or another (except, apparently, when it comes to alphas sometimes, but hey, whatever). Both Noah and Mackenzie are doctors working at the same hospital. They know of each other, but they haven’t really exchanged too many words between them since Mackenzie came on board over a year prior. Both characters were charming and lovable, and they made a really fantastic pair. In fact, the entire romance was light, fluffy, and low-stakes. Noah and Mackenzie were head over heels for each other right from the start. I like the ‘fake-dating’ trope and was sucked into their romance pretty quickly. Nevertheless, while this made their relationship cute and endearing, there wasn’t a lot of build-up or tension. The smut happens pretty quickly and the characters never really had to “work” for anything within their relationship. Everything was roses. This was something I loved and hated all at once. There should’ve been a little more development between the characters and their relationship should’ve unfolded more slowly instead of feeling like the novel was rushing toward the finish line. This may not have been the deepest novel of all time, but regardless, I was still having fun reading this book…. However, it was obvious that the book was leading up to the 2nd act break-up and this is where the novel started to lose me. I know that this is a common plot outline within the romance genre. And what’s more, it’s not that I altogether hate this plot convenience on principle. But what I do hate is feeling like I’m reading the same formula over-and-over again. I had just finished a novel that has this same blueprint and I’m currently reading a secondary romance novel where (you’ll never guess it), but the author is using the exact same outline too to create her story. As this novel was building to the 2nd act, so was the other novel at the same time. You can imagine then, that this methodology felt old, used, and downright exhausting. As I could see us climbing to this point, I started to dread picking up this novel (and the other romance book too, for that matter), which is never a good sign. When I’m having to force myself to pick up and finish a book, it’s not encouraging and it makes reading a drag instead of a fun, delightful, and adventurous escape. I can only take so much 2nd act nonsense in a row. I think that if I had read this book in between a couple of fantasy novels (for example), I probably would’ve been fine here. No guarantees, of course, but where I hadn’t minded it in the romance novel I’d just completed, it’s clearly become a real issue in the two subsequent books, so I can only assume. Either way, I hit a wall at the 80% mark and it was not easy to overcome. I was annoyed and frustrated throughout the entire thing. But let’s talk about what the last half of the novel was building up to as well. I won’t claim to be well-versed in shifter romance and the omegaverse sector and I’m not sure how much that may or may not have played into my perception of the workplace drama that was unfolding. We have a character (the “villain” of the story, if you will) who’s jealousy and entitlement has pushed him into trying to dig up dirt on his more-successful (but much younger and therefore less deserving) peer. Dennis wants to push Noah out of his job through any means necessary. Not only does Dennis find out some information by riffling through Noah’s desk for some personal medical information (how did he get the key to his office, I wonder?), but he later tries to blackmail Noah into leaving his position while he threatens to go to the board with the ‘hot gossip’ that Noah and Mack aren’t actually mated. Obviously, this caused a few issues (Noah resigning and accepting another post and him making the decision to break up with Mackenzie to save her career) but it was all overblown, the information used (and its significance) felt exaggerated, and put simply, the drama that ensued was just cringeworthy. I was rolling my eyes at everything that was playing out and I was left feeling ridiculously unimpressed. I’m not sure how many more eye-rolls I could’ve gotten away with before my eyes were permanently stuck that way by the end of the book. Additionally, I hated the epilogue. There were some hints and build-up to Noah and Mackenzie actually mating, but do we get to see that? Nope, we get an off-hand comment about it in one of the very last lines of the book. Instead, we spend the short Epilogue chapter focused on Mackenzie’s grandma and Noah’s mom meeting for the first time (which never felt like a big deal to begin with) and was even more aggravating when you think about the fact that WE never even got to see Mack introduced to Noah’s mom (which should’ve been the first – and bigger – step). The ending was just one large disappointment after another. It felt unfinished and like the ending had been rushed and thrown together at the last minute. I was left with a taste of mediocracy in my mouth that was hard to wash out. At the end of the day, I thought that the construction of the novel was poorly handled. The drama was unbelievable and the relationship (and the depth of feeling the two start to experience for one another) felt rushed. Hitting the wall toward the end wore off the shine of any rose-colored glasses I’d had on and, despite how light and cute most of the novel is, I don’t know that this is a story I’d particularly want to come back to (unless it’s just to skim for the good parts). ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 07, 2024
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Jan 10, 2024
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Mar 07, 2024
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Paperback
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| B08XQXX94V
| 4.40
| 7,290
| Apr 25, 2022
| Apr 25, 2022
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it was ok
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1.5* I didn’t give the first novel of this series a high rating and even admitted in my review that I didn’t have a lot of hope for this book. But, wit 1.5* I didn’t give the first novel of this series a high rating and even admitted in my review that I didn’t have a lot of hope for this book. But, with the cliff-hanger that we were left with at the end of book #1, I was invested enough to continue the story to find out what was going to happen next. Let me be frank though, and say that this novel isn’t good. Now, if you loved the first book, then you’ll love this one too, but as for me, I already had so many issues going into this novel, that it had an uphill mountain to climb and this book wasn’t up to the challenge in turning the series around. I didn’t like the characters (especially Brooklyn and Niall) within the previous novel because of how immature they both seemed. And, while it’s not exactly a surprise that that continues throughout this book, it certainly didn’t make it easier to stomach. I loathed the incorrect and childish language Brooklyn consistently used (such as “ding gone” vs ding dong, “I’m the gingerbread clam” instead of man, “as snug as a bug in a jug” vs rug, “cat who got the dream” instead of cream - to name a only a few examples). Were the authors trying to make her seem cute or girlish or innocent? If so, they failed miserably. Brooklyn wasn’t endearing in any way, she felt stupid. Since I read the duology back-to-back, it probably made it even worse (but is no less true since this is a recurring theme for both novels). I got sick of the characters quickly and was probably ready for the book to conclude ¾ of the way in (which isn’t a good sign). Although I wasn’t exactly surprised by this plot device (I distinctly remember the same thing being used in the Kings of Quarantine series), I also disliked the fact that Niall and Brooklyn get married. I suppose in a way, it made sense. These two crazies were the main characters throughout the book (regardless of the fact that 2 other men also inhabited a place within Brooklyn’s harem), so why not, right? However, marriage dramatically shifts the power dynamic amongst the group. Niall and Brooklyn are husband and wife which is on a different level than saying Brooklyn and Mateo or Brooklyn and Jack are lovers. She took Niall’s last name, not theirs. Regardless of any justifiable reasoning behind this choice (which, by the way, was largely the same reasoning as the KoQ series – only it didn’t work this time), the group dynamic is unequal the second you do this. Niall has more of a claim on Brooklyn (and her on him) than any of the others have on her. And clearly, Niall knows this too and takes full advantage whenever he can. He’s in charge, he’s the leader, when he says jump, the other 2 men are expected to say ‘how high?’ I just hate how much this unbalances the group. Even though Mateo was one of the more mature characters by far throughout book #1, I wasn’t his biggest fan either (although I suppose he at least gave us a little bit of a break from the utter nonsense and chaos that was going on). Mateo was a major player within the prior novel and he was the one who’d gotten the furthest with our heroine by far. I think because he had had his 10 minutes of fame in the limelight within book #1, the authors didn’t really prioritize him much going into book #2. We still had several chapters in his POV and he was always there with the group, but he faded into the background too much within this novel for me to notice much about his presence or what he was contributing to the group. He blended in and felt largely forgotten. Jack was only present during 2 chapters within book #1 and he never got his own POV. That changes significantly within this novel as Jack gets swept up in the wake of destruction Brooklyn and her harem leave behind everywhere they go. We start off this novel within the psychiatric facility where Jack has been and Brooklyn was taken back to as her men try to break her out and Jack tries to save her. I didn’t hate Jack, but with his quiet demeanor and one-word responses, his presence isn’t very loud throughout this novel either. He did add something unique to the group dynamic since he was a ‘good little soldier’ who liked to take orders (both in bed and outside of it), but here again, he seemed to fade more into the background while Niall and Brooklyn with their loud, in-your-face personalities stole the show. Since he wasn’t present at all within book 1 of 2 in this duology, I think he could honestly have been left out. This would’ve allowed more space for Mateo (who was already a big player before this book started) and neither one of them probably would’ve felt quite so secondary to the “real” stars of the show. Not even the smut met my expectations. We didn’t get a ton in the prior novel (especially for the length of the book). With Jack also being added to the picture and such a heavy dose of Alpha-male testosterone floating around, I was expecting sparks to fly. I’m not saying there’s no smut within this novel, but there’s very little of it and it’s largely unimpressive as a whole. They weren’t even really all together as a group until the epilogue chapters. This book fell flat. Unlike its predecessor, I started to skim this novel (especially when Brooklyn or Niall were going off on a random tangent about something nonsensical and unrelated to anything happening around them), but I can’t say those were the only scenes I started to skip through by the end. This novel should’ve been about 200 pages (or more) shorter than it was. There was no need to drag out the plot so much with such immature and flighty drivel as I had to sit through. It was also really, really repetitive (or certainly felt that way). So much of it was nonsense, that the nonsense blended together every time Brooklyn or Niall went down a twisted rabbit hole. Towards the end, it also became a bit cringy to read. I think I had a sneer on my face more often than not and I had a hard time holding back the countless eye-rolls I was making. The authors did the same thing in the Kings of Quarantine prequel series, but they really need to learn what an epilogue is and how it should be used. There were FIVE epilogue chapters (two weeks later, six months later, seven years after that, another 10 years after that, AND another 2 years after that). Brooklyn is turning 40 years old in the last chapter, which means Niall and Mateo are 50/51. While their ages by the end of the book, wouldn’t have been terrible, the fact that we had a never-ending stream of epilogue flash-forward moments was absolutely ridiculous. It’s not an epilogue at that point. Now, I know there’s something to be said about getting to see how your characters’ lives play out several years into the future, but there also comes a point when you need to stop. Having the 2-weeks later moment (with Nial killing his father) and the last chapter would’ve been fine. The rest was unneeded and unwanted. There’s nothing vital within them – it’s the gang acting exactly as crazy and psychotic as ever. I hated how it just kept going on and on without end. It was more than just the never-ending flash-forward moments that hurt this book toward the end though. While I would never claim that the plot of the novel/series has been very top-tier to begin with, I hated the little “twists” and conclusion/building climax to the story a few chapters prior to the start of the five-chapter ending. I hated the fact that Carmen (Mateo’s cousin) seemed to swoop in from out of nowhere to save the day and help their problems with the cartel disappear, I hated the fact that during her murder-spree of the Russian mafia, Anastasia wasn’t killed (and it never seemed like it had even been discussed that she should be taken out along with her father despite her repeated threats and cunning, snake-like demeanor), I hated the fact that Anastasia sets our little band of psychos up and tries to kill Brooklyn and steal her former fiancé back, and I hated that Niall’s father had been a part of that entire coup setup even though once someone became an “O’Brian” they were supposed to be “family” (and have the protection of the family). In both the Kings of Quarantine series as well as this one, this was built up as the ONE RULE that was never crossed, but he tried to back-peddle and make another deal with the Russians (who’d just had all of their leaders killed off anyway). Nothing about that choice makes sense. The plot just really seemed to take a nose-dive and I hated that these “problems” all got tied up in nice little bows. While this may be a nice thought, it lacked any and all believability. Truthfully, I have no idea how this book has received so many 4 and 5 star reviews. This is a duology I regret reading and could’ve done without (especially after the KoQ series and how disappointing that turned out). ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 28, 2023
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Dec 29, 2023
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Feb 20, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| B0BDHXLLTG
| 3.93
| 85,740
| Oct 25, 2022
| Oct 25, 2022
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it was ok
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1.5* Do you want a summary of this book? I feel like I can easily do that in 3 sentences: “What was I thinking?,” “How stupid am I?,” and “I f*@ked up. 1.5* Do you want a summary of this book? I feel like I can easily do that in 3 sentences: “What was I thinking?,” “How stupid am I?,” and “I f*@ked up.” Now, those sentences may not make a lot of sense out of context and may not appear to go into much detail about the heroine, the hero, the plot, or the romance. And yet, these quotes say it all. After all, the heroine has these lines on repeat so that I heard each and every one of them at least once if not 20 times within each chapter (and no, I’m exaggerating). Abbie questions her stupidity so frequently, that by the halfway point in the novel, I was not only convinced that she was, in fact, completely brain dead but I knew that she was a terrible person who had become the thing she hated most: a user. I loathed Abbie. Her “attempts” to tell Damien the truth were absolutely pathetic and she didn’t really try at all. Each attempt was weak as all get-out and so incredibly lame. I hated how led she was by her bff Cam and Cam’s own personal trauma with men. But really, I just hated Abbie’s entire character. She held Richard to a standard and expectation without looking in the mirror and seeing herself for how she was truly acting. She was such a hypocrite. What’s more, is that I’m infuriated by the person Abbie could have been and the growth she could have displayed. Abbie was emotionally abused by her ex-boyfriend, Richard, and when Richard breaks up with her, that begins Abbie’s plan for revenge. But the abuse – and the mental toll that takes on you – wasn’t composed well. The writing didn’t allow for much depth here and we’re told about Abbie’s trauma more than we’re shown it/the effect it can have. When Richard breaks up with Abbie, Abbie is able to immediately see ALL of the ways in which Richard tore her down and made her change over the years. The rose-colored glasses were thrown off in an instant without Abbie having to work on finding that insight (or finding how this has all impacted her). It almost felt clinical in a way. Then, when Abbie was feeling insecure or she had to re-wrap her mind around not being scared to be herself, all it took was one word from Damien and Abbie was practically “cured.” All of the pieces Richard had torn to shreds, stomped on, and thrown out with the garbage to mold Abbie into the woman he wanted her to be, magically get made “whole” with one kind, caring, or compassionate word from Damien. I hated how the abusive relationship between Abbie and Richard was written and how quickly Abbie was able to get over it and move on. Abbie and Damien only dated for 2 months before the big Christmas Party, but she was able to work through most of her trauma by the end of Thanksgiving (when her and Richard only broke up on Halloween). There was a flippancy to the abuse that Abbie had suffered – not in words, but again, in how quickly her abusive past was managed now that she was no longer under Richard’s thumb. Something about this just didn’t hit right or ring true in an authentic manner. I’ve seen abuse get written well. I’ve cried my eyes out because of how a character was treated and what toll that took on them. I understand that this was supposed to be a lighter Christmas romance story, but I crave believability within my novels. You can sell me on outlandish worlds, plots, or characters, but you have to make it seem real within the world and context of the story. This book did NOT do that for me. Abbie is also supposed to be this “sunshine” character that’s determined to never wear another color besides pink. Here again, the author didn’t sell me. First of all, Abbie had just gotten out of an abusive relationship where her uniqueness and light had been smothered and dimmed; she became less so that he could be more. This may not equate to Abbie being a witch now that she’s free of that relationship, but she also has a journey to go on to finding herself again. She never struck me as “sunshine-y.” She was mildly defeated with bursts of fire, but again, she was having to go on a journey. She could’ve become a “sunshine” person [again?] along the way, but that shouldn’t have been how Damien described her on their first date. Secondly, I really disliked the pink obsession. I know some people have them (I know of a guy who wears green everyday) but this just felt like some weird mix between Legally Blonde and Barbie (who can both pull off other colors even if they do love pink). Something about this just felt overly dramatized and played up. “Pink” became a personality trait, not a color that she loved. Abbie didn’t grow much throughout this story either. She has severe attachment issues. In fact, she overlooked so many glaring red flags with Richard solely because she wanted to convince herself (and him) that they were perfect for one another. Later on, during their Thanksgiving celebration, Abbie admits to Damien that she wants to find someone who will be consumed by thoughts of her, like she can be of him. She wants someone to become her entire world, and frankly, her obsession. Instead of exploring this or working through her views on love and attachment, she (quickly) hops from one obsession (Richard) to another (Damien). She doesn’t display a lot of development. Speaking of overlooking red flags, I’m so confused about exactly how Abbie was able to ignore so many red flags with Richard. Abbie has some inner monologue (repeatedly) where she thinks very highly of her ability to read someone’s face (because you “have to” to be able to do that to do makeup or something?). She’s able to “read” Damian’s minute facial expressions to get a read on what he’s thinking/feeling. But where was this discernment with Richard?? Richard was filled with contempt, derision, and dismissiveness when it came to Abbie. He was bloated on his own self-importance while tearing everyone else around him down. He never took responsibility or cared about anyone else around him. How did Abbie “misread” that for so long? I could understand being a bit blinded by it toward the end of a long relationship when you’ve had to deal with it or ignore it for a long time, but how/why did she ignore the signs in the beginning? If she was as good at reading people as she repeatedly made assertions about, how did she miss it or why did she dismiss how he was treating her? Make it make sense. “Revenge” is in the title of the novel, so it’s no surprise that Abbie is seeking revenge on her ex throughout this book. But, the little things her and her friends did to make Richard’s life a bit more trying all felt really immature. I don’t know what I was expecting from this, but it was like I was back in junior high or high school. The “revenge” aspect just wasn’t satisfying and I think her idea that it would all come together at the Christmas Party and Richard would finally see what he’d lost, was really freakin’ dumb. She didn’t want to make him jealous or win him back…she just wanted him to what? Say “Oh, shucks! I could’ve married that girl” even though Richard NEVER liked Abbie for who she was (especially in a pink dress and glitter)?? Seriously, what was she thinking? Damien was fine as a love interest and “hero” of the story. I can’t tell how much that opinion is skewed though – I was mainly focused on hating Abbie. Compared to Richard, Damien was sweet, thoughtful, and compassionate. He really worked to make Abbie comfortable in her own skin and he didn’t shoot her down for her passions and interests. Apparently being a lawyer means that you also have to be good at reading people to do your job (which isn’t all that true – I’m related to a lawyer) and of course, Damien thinks highly of himself when it comes to being able to read people too. Because of his super-power, he’s able to read Abbie immediately and he’s always redirecting her when she’s overthinking something or becoming too self-conscious. It felt a bit fake. Additionally, their relationship together was just insta-lust. Damien says that Abbie is “mine” several times during their very first date. He seemed to dive in head-first into total (and irrational) obsession with a girl he didn’t know at all and only wanted to have a bit of fun with. Feelings get involved too soon and there wasn’t enough of that delicious tension between characters. He starts calling her ‘my soulmate/other half’ after the first date as well. There was something a bit icky about how quickly their relationship took off. “Baby” and “honey” certainly aren’t the worst pet names I’ve ever heard (and are honestly fairly standard). I’m not sure if it was me just getting weird about the use of these pet names or if it was just started waayyy to early (something that, again, comes out during their first date) causing me to hate it from the start and recoil every subsequent time it gets thrown into the conversation, but either way, I was not a fan. By the 75% mark of this novel I was over it. I hated everything that was happening (or getting ready to happen) along with the characters themselves – mainly Abbie, but Damien wasn’t such a good character that he made up for it. Everything past this point was just cringey to me. I couldn’t wait to finish the novel and be done with the book. This isn’t a holiday romance I’d recommend. How this novel blew up the way it did, I don’t really understand. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 17, 2023
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Dec 18, 2023
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Dec 21, 2023
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Kindle Edition
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| 3.93
| 181,640
| Jun 28, 2022
| Jun 28, 2022
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liked it
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2.5* Have you ever seen the movie Just Like Heaven starring Reece Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo? If not, The Dead Romantics has a really similar over-ar 2.5* Have you ever seen the movie Just Like Heaven starring Reece Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo? If not, The Dead Romantics has a really similar over-arching concept: Reece’s character from the movie is in a coma from (you’ll never guess) a car accident. She becomes a “ghost” that only Mark’s character can see. As they work to try to get Reece to move on into the “light” (since they both think she’s dead too), the two of them fall in love…but wait! She’s still alive! And the ‘happily ever after’ can now commence. There’s more to the story (and this is a move I absolutely love), but I’m mentioning it because despite the little details that make each story unique from one another, this movie is the only thing I could think about while reading this book. From the beginning, I knew Ben wasn’t dead. I knew he was simply in a coma and would eventually wake up. I knew that Ben would, at first, think that his time with Florence was a dream but would put the puzzle pieces together in the end and that the love they’d found while he was a ghost could play out for real now that he’s back in his body. Look, I know that this is a romance…and there aren’t many (if any?) good romance novels where the couple doesn’t end up together in the end. You probably can’t say that the ending of a romance is much of a “surprise.” I get it. But within a romance, I want to be taken on a journey where (yes) they find one another and fall in love. I want to believe the story unfolding and fall in love myself with the couple along the way. And yet, within this novel, there was nothing that surprised me, excited me, or made me believe in them. The concept of the ghostliness of Ben and only Florence’s ability to see/talk to him felt unoriginal. Like I said, I couldn’t stop thinking about a 2005 movie where this exact same thing happened and the similarities were all I could see. I didn’t fall in love with these characters and, at the end of the day, Florence and Ben felt too dissimilar with his reserve and control, and her chaotic, messy, and haphazard personality quirks. I never found myself believing in their love story. (Which is sad, because I so badly want to believe in a couples’ story every time I open a romance novel.) I will say that I think this was largely impacted by the author’s writing style, something I didn’t particularly care for. In a way, her writing style felt like I was reading Florence bottled up on the page. It was a bit odd and weird, and quirky (but I wouldn’t necessarily call that a good thing in this case). Either way, I don’t think it helped me like the characters or the overarching premise. Florence was the main protagonist of this novel and the only POV we have. Florence seemed determined to wallow and have a pity-party for herself each and every day well before she gets the devastating news of her father’s death. She wasn’t processing her emotions or even seeking recompense for her stories. To add to this, Florence was chaos personified. She was eccentric and strange, but more than that, she was unprofessional and had zero time-management skills. Her lack of organization, task completion, and focus throughout the novel drove me nuts and made her really difficult for me to relate to. She’s not someone I’d want to be friends with, work with, or even know…which makes falling in love with her character a bit difficult. Benji wasn’t what I expected (unfortunately) and I don’t think his character made a lot of sense. Benji’s comments would often make it feel like the author was trying to shove his character into a mold solely to better fit and connect with her heroine. He was a blank slate who’s only purpose was to be there for Florence. He was there as a shoulder to cry on and used as an emotional support crutch. He was very secondary to Florence’s character and his life, interests, and past didn’t seem to matter. I never got to know who he was. Plus, when he would open his mouth, sometimes he'd say strange things that didn’t seem to fit his personality and they usually felt questionably corny. The relationship between Florence and Benji had almost no foundation. There was so much going on with Florence, like the fact that she still had a book to finish (which she was struggling with because ‘romance is dead’) and her dad had just passed away. She not only has to return to the hometown she had felt chased out of 10 years ago, but she had to deal with all of her father’s ridiculously strange funeral requests. She’s in pain and grieving throughout this entire novel (she’s grieving the recent loss of her dad, but she’s also still grieving over her failed relationship with her ex-boyfriend and how he used her/her family’s stories to get ahead in his career). The romance was background noise to the grief Florence was going through. Their “love story” (if you can call it that) wasn’t sweet or fun or steamy. It wasn’t bursting with hope or adventure or excitement. It just felt like the author had included 2 characters she saw together and (whether they really seemed to fit together or not), she was going to make them fit. There was no chemistry, pull, or tension present at all and they felt disconnected. The plot was more concerned with the funeral and not on the couple. (As a side note, I didn’t like the views regarding the afterlife either. Thankfully, it didn’t contribute a lot to the story, but it was mentioned a few times.) The humor sprinkled throughout this novel fell flat more often than not as well. There were bad jokes and even worse puns. The humor was awkward. I think I laughed once during this book. Humor is subjective and I wasn’t expecting much of it anyway in a book entitled The Dead Romantics, but it was unsatisfying and cheesy. Part of why this book didn’t work as well as one might hope was because it was so stinking repetitive. The author re-phrased or re-used lines within this novel on repeat to really drive the point home. Except that sometimes, the point really didn’t need to be driven home…like the fact that Florence’s small town has a dog for a mayor (which was probably stated 30+ times). Another big part of the recurring plotline involved the fact that Florence’s ex, Lee, stole the stories from her childhood to create his own gothic best-seller. Even though Florence found out about her boyfriends betrayal a year ago, there are suddenly posters everywhere promoting this book like nobody’s business. But is it just me, or did this entire premises not make a lot of sense? I have seen books get promoted before but usually, if they’re getting the kind of pre-release hype that a novel like Lee’s was getting (the signs, billboards, conversations, and any other form of promotion you can think of), the author is established and well-known. They’re famous – or have recently become so – because of the book they just produced. But with Lee, this seemed to be his debut work. So, without any prior acclaim, he got a million-dollar book deal that shoves his book down everyone’s throats before it’s hit the market? I’m not in the publishing industry, but this seems questionable, right? At the very least, it took some of the believability factor away (which is saying something since this book involves an ability to see ghosts). Regardless, this novel wasn’t bad, but it did get a bit boring. There were large sections that I wish had been used to focus more on the romance unfolding within this romance novel and had cut back on the silly repetitiveness that kept occurring. There were moments where the story took a whimsical turn (ex: ”She knew she would see a ghost when the crows came”), which I loved, but the whimsy that would randomly appear in some scenes was not consistent throughout the entire book. It seemed to be relegated to only a few sprinkled lines throughout the novel. It’s unfortunate that the writing style didn’t display this same lyrical style throughout the entirety of the book because when those lines happened, I could see so much potential for the story. It was a let-down every time. Based on the author’s writing style alone, I don’t think she’s the storyteller for me. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 15, 2023
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Dec 16, 2023
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Dec 20, 2023
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Paperback
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| B0BHL1JX9P
| 3.77
| 71,649
| Feb 02, 2023
| Feb 02, 2023
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it was ok
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2.25* There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed and had a lot of fun with…but there were so many other issues with the novel that simply didn 2.25* There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed and had a lot of fun with…but there were so many other issues with the novel that simply didn’t make any sense and it was hard to come to terms with all of the missing pieces. This is a contemporary story set in modern-day NYC (mainly). With contemporary novels, I think authors tend to find the world-building rather easy because there’s not much of a world they need to build. When you have familiar languages, 9-5 jobs, cultures, landscapes, cities, clothing, food, and all of the other real-world crossovers, there may not be much they feel the need to get creative with (and can therefore – hopefully – spend their time focusing on their characters, plot, and development). It’s one thing that’s largely off of their plate, which is all well-and-good. However, I think that that also ups the ante a bit for everything else. The standard becomes just a little bit higher for the characters, character relationships/growth/development, and plot to be well-done. So, when something falls flat, it stands out all the more. From the very beginning of this novel, this book was severely lacking context and background. When we’re first introduced to Beckham, he propositions Margo into an enticing arrangement to act like his fake fiancé for one year. To make this work, Margo will be “promoted” to a “coffee girl” (i.e. secretary #2 for Beck) despite the fact that she’s a graphic designer. It doesn’t even matter that her boss seemed to suck, Margo was an artist doing something related to art. As a “promoted” secretary within Beck’s Cyber Security Company, she does none of that – and the only thing she can look forward to to get back into her field is a promised interview (and interview alone) from one of her heroes within the art world. Even though it pushed the plot forward and forced our couple into close proximity during working hours (not to mention time at Beck’s penthouse), it felt highly questionable. Beck and Margo have a smidgen of history and the book mainly focuses on the fact that for 3 years, Margo dated Beck’s younger brother, Carter. Despite the repetitiveness of both characters bringing this up, this isn’t exactly where their story truly begins (something we don’t learn until much later within the novel). Instead, the night that Margo and Carter first met at a bar, Beck saw her first. The only reason Carter had any interest in Margo at all was because he had noticed that Beck couldn’t take his eyes off of her, so he made a play and stepped in first. But here’s the thing, from the moment Beck saw her, it was insta-love. It was already veering in that direction when Beck and Margo officially meet at the family’s vacation home about a year and a half into Margo and Carter dating, but Beck’s obsession with Margo began well before that. And, regardless of where you start with their story – whether it was the bar where Beck first laid eyes on her or the lake house where there seemed to be a spark and instant connection between them – their relationship had no foundation to it whatsoever. It was built on absolutely nothing. They don’t talk much, largely avoided one another at the house, and regardless of some supposed chemistry they seemed to share, their relationship foundation was nothing more than sand. Beck’s obsession with Margo is borderline creepy. If this novel had been written just a little bit differently, we’d be dealing with a stalker. When Margo found out that Carter was cheating on her and they break up, it doesn’t take long for Beck to start reaching out to her. Margo ignores his calls (believing he’s just trying to talk to her to get her to take Carter back). So, because he couldn’t reach her via phone, Beck instead takes the next logical step in forcing someone to talk to you: he buys the company Margo works for and becomes her supervisor. Talk about a dramatic leap… When Beck calls her into his office and lays down his proposal that she act like his fake fiancé (for some questionable reasons), Margo mentions Carter and how weird this situation would end up being. And yet, Margo dated Carter – that is a fact within this novel. So, someone explain to me why, when Margo has a completely reasonable response to Beck’s suggestion and some valid concerns, especially with their complicated past, Beck lashes out with a line like: “Say his name again, and I’ll bend you right over this table and f--- you until the only name you can say is mine. You’ll be so full of me you won’t even remember who you were thinking about before.” He was mad about the past Margo had with his brother and he wanted her to forget Carter ever existed. But how appropriate was this to say to his new subordinate? How appropriate was this to say to his potential FAKE fiancé? His reaction seemed incredibly over-the-top and aggressive (maybe even threatening?) for what Margo said. Now, I will admit that Margo wasn’t bothered by this comment at all. She was panting after him too, so it couldn’t have really delighted her more. Regardless, they don’t know each other AT ALL, have only just re-met after over a year (plus) of not even seeing one another, and Beck is her boss to boot. How this story played out just didn’t make sense. The entire relationship between Beck and Margo felt rushed. The author did try to skip ahead at a certain point within the timeline (probably to make it seem a little more believable), but I’m not sure it was successful. She only skipped ahead about 3 weeks, so where the story picks back up, Beck and Margo have been living/working together for all of 1 whole month. I also don’t think it was very believable for Beck to be quite as open and honest about his emotions as he was. If he was trying to ‘play it cool,’ he failed. If that was his plan, he could’ve chosen to reveal the depth of his emotions a little more slowly. Instead, anytime Margo asks him a question, Beck is wholly honest about how he feels about her. There was no hiding what he thought. His honestly with his feelings all throughout the novel then, seem to be in opposition of the lies he told regarding the reporter. Why he tries to lie when he gets found out didn’t add up (although to be frank, I hated the whole storyline here anyway). The conflict that occurs toward the end of the novel felt ridiculous. Carter, the reporter, and everything that unfolds was wackadoodle. It was like the author felt like some kind of conflict was needed for a third act breakup and second-chance redemption but it was so silly, I was just rolling my eyes the entire time. Mostly, I realize that I’ve complained about Beck throughout this review but I would be remiss if I didn’t say that Margo wasn’t much better. I think Beck’s full-on obsession overshadowed how dumb Margo could be so, by the end, she faded into the background more (at least in terms of glaring issues). Having a billionaire be completely obsessed with you may not be bad thing (I don’t think I’d hate it lol), I just wish the premise of the story was a bit more thought-out and seemed more reasonable than the ultimate end result. I know I’ve grumbled a lot about this book throughout my review. Despite everything I said, I didn’t have a terrible time reading this book and overall, I found it to be a short, sweet, and generally fun read with some nice spice. The book could have used some tweaking here and there, but it kept me engaged throughout the entire novel and I read it very quickly. It may not be a literary masterpiece, but it was still something I could curl up for a few hours with and enjoy. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 02, 2023
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Dec 03, 2023
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Dec 20, 2023
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Kindle Edition
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| 1393906648
| 9781393906643
| 1393906648
| 3.85
| 33,633
| May 15, 2019
| Apr 12, 2023
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really liked it
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3.5* My expectations for this novel weren’t extremely high. I think I had received a copy of this book in one of the ‘stuff your kindle days’ promotion 3.5* My expectations for this novel weren’t extremely high. I think I had received a copy of this book in one of the ‘stuff your kindle days’ promotions and, while I was hopeful that I would enjoy this, I kept the bar pretty low to not be disappointed (like I have been several times). There were a few minor things I didn’t love about the story, but overall, this was such a cute read! It kept me hooked to the pages, I liked the main characters (even when they were doing something aggravating), and I cheered for the couple and the love story that was unfolding before my eyes. I really enjoyed the chemistry between Eli and Violet (our protagonists). The constant bickering made them seem like an old married couple and their banter often made me laugh. The one downside to this was that their back-and-forth could often come across as a bit harsh for the situation that was presented. Their reactions and the animosity between them felt a little too extreme. This is especially true when you consider how long it’s been since the they have seen each other and how much both of them have changed within that decade. For them to still be competitive with one another, would be fine. I love a good competition and competition can bring out the best and worst in people. It can produce tension-infused scenes (not to mention some fun smack-talk/banter), a build-up of anticipation, and a climactic victor. However, Eli and Violet seemed to want to go for each other’s throats again almost immediately. Neither one seemed willing to recognize that the other person had changed nor were they willing to back down from their knee-jerk response of making what could’ve been a more fun, lighthearted, and teasing competition into something intense (like wishing for the other person’s downfall). The knob got turned up to 10 with one new glance at their playground nemesis. Plus, their rivalry seemed so silly and immature to begin with. It had basically been a fight to see who could beat who in schoolwork when they were kids, and then one of them retaliating by throwing a temper tantrum and being mean (like spreading false rumors about the other person). To have this translate into the same feelings as adults with time and perspective (you’d think) on their side, just didn’t add up well. It lacked believability and credibility to me. Nevertheless, when Eli and Violet started to work together, there was no denying the sparks that flew. It made it so clear that the at-odds enmity between them could so easily lead to a solid friendship (and relationship) instead – if either of them had been mature enough to really be adults when they met again. Still though, when they came together, it was an explosion and I really enjoyed it. While I will admit that the friends-with-benefits trope sort of worked here, I’ll also state that it was aggravating to watch two people that would so obviously be such a good couple deny their feelings for one another. The second that it gets suggested that friends-with-benefits is what they should become, they should’ve jumped into a relationship instead. (And if they hadn’t been so blind and filled with past animosity toward one another, that’s exactly what they could’ve done). Despite some of the unnecessary drama, I do think that their relationship evolved and grew organically from how the author set the couple up to be. I liked that each of them genuinely did NOT want a relationship with the other person (even after starting their ‘with benefits’ relationship) and how those feelings only slowly changed over time. The story does stall a little over mid-way through when they’re both clearly in love but they’re having a hard time overcoming their history and admitting their feelings. In spite of this though, I really enjoyed this book and this couple. The smut within this novel was also well-done. It had the perfect amount of spice. It was a lot of fun and well worth it. All in all, the romance in this story was definitely worth reading. However, the epilogue was more of a disappointment. I wanted their relationship to end in an even happier place than just a ‘yep, we’re still dating’ moment. I foresaw a proposal in this chapter and I’m sad I didn’t get it. The side plot was just okay. Eli and Violet are both working at a wedding venue but throughout their busy season, there’s a co-worker trying to sabotage each of them so that they’ll get in trouble with the boss (allowing Martin, their co-worker, to win the prize money instead). Although I’m glad that this plotline helped to push our couple together, I also struggled to believe some of the things that happened. Not only did Martin sabotage them repeatedly, but neither of them reported any issues, the security team didn’t catch Martin (even though there are cameras everywhere), Martin was able to delete recorded sessions, he broke into Eli’s phone (who doesn’t have a password on their phone nowadays???), and the boss didn’t even question how/why he received a risqué photo of Violet nor was he concerned about it. How Martin was able to get away with his tricks for so long without anyone seeing him, reporting him, or catching him on camera just didn’t ring true and felt a bit ridiculous and cartoonish at times. Additionally, this story needed some better editing. Unfortunately, when these mistakes and editing errors occurred, it took me out of the story as I was mentally making corrections in my head. This book has certainly sparked my curiosity for what happens to the other Loveless brothers and I’d be interested in reading book #2 with Daniel’s story. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 14, 2023
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Nov 15, 2023
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Dec 20, 2023
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ebook
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| B0B23XSVLY
| 4.17
| 1,064
| Apr 15, 2023
| Apr 15, 2023
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liked it
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2.75* This is the second book this week that I’m feeling pretty disenchanted by. Once again, my reading choice has resulted in a book that was bland an 2.75* This is the second book this week that I’m feeling pretty disenchanted by. Once again, my reading choice has resulted in a book that was bland and lackluster as the second novel of a series. What happened? Where was the magic and fun of the first novel? We had all of the same ingredients: a Void-touched Marsh girl, 3 monsters, a mystery, and at least 1 evil person trying to kill the heroine. And yet somehow, the accumulation of all the right bits and pieces couldn’t come together to create nearly the same outcome. Elle was hard for me to fully root for. I think part of this was her questionable lack of sense. When Elle felt that trouble was lurking and her gut told her to run, Elle went investigating – repeatedly. It felt like a wonder in and of itself that Elle was still alive just in general, because she certainly wasn’t making choices that would help her cause. Admittedly, this ended up working out for her over and over again (perhaps feeding into the invincibility illusion?), but I don’t think we’re starting off on the right foot when our heroine appears to lack the good sense God gave her. Another factor that annoyed me about Elle was how fearful she was – and apparently always had been – because of her ‘healing hands.’ This gift/curse was something that Elle had hidden from everyone (including her mom, which didn’t make a lot of sense to me). Elle was scared to touch anyone for fear of healing them and then being found out and shipped away to become a lab rat. While her fears as an adult were more understandable, the fact that she’d had these same fears as a child and no one noticed or connected the dots (again, including the people that were closest to her) never made a lot of sense. It really shouldn’t be much of a surprise (based on book #1) that the author didn’t really build and develop her world very much. There was little depth or complexity to it and we (as readers) only come to understand the bare basic necessities – enough for it to kinda, sorta make sense (especially if we don’t look too closely). While this was certainly a complaint for the first book, I think this is even more frustrating by the second (because now, the author had the opportunity to build it up a little bit more) and she didn’t take it. An example of this would be with Toth the Moth. This moth-man was the only monster variation from the characters we were introduced to in the prior story. And yet, by the end of the novel, not only did I feel like I didn’t really know Toth as an individual, but we also spent so little time with him as a monster, it was almost pointless for him to be in the story (which was really sad because he’s the first monster we’re introduced to and it started out really well. I had liked him and been intrigued by him). As much as I enjoyed the harem getting together, the relationships that were developed between Elle and her monsters was quick, insta-lovey, and really underdeveloped. Their relationship had an almost non-existent foundation built before they were exchanging ‘I love you’s’ to one another. Weirdly, they each faded into the background (although this seems to occur more with Toth than with Kiraxis and Drazen). The smut wasn’t bad. It was fairly similar to the prior novel and there wasn’t a lot of variation, even with a different type of monster thrown in this time. I enjoyed it, but I don’t think it was quite up to snuff compared to its predecessor. Additionally, I’m still really confused about the Void and how it looks. There’s no sunlight, only the light of stars there. When I picture it, I picture it being very dark and fairly grim (with glimpses of light – so almost an Avatar-esque feel when things light up). Regardless, it’s still very gloomy because all of the monsters experience pain and a loss of sight when exposed to sunlight or any bright light (including a fire – which isn’t all that bright). Both Juno and Elle have described it as very beautiful but in contrast, they begin to disdain their own world and the light it has. People experience symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (making them depressed) in the winter because there’s less daylight. I can’t imagine that living in a dark world 24/7 would be any different. The fact that they so willingly want to make the Void their permanent home and forsake light of all kinds (flashlights, fires, electric lighting, and sunlight) seems questionable. The monsters may be able to see better in the darkness, but humans can see better with light. To give it up almost completely seems no small thing (and yet, there’s a very flippant attitude with this by both girls). I think this is another part where the realism is lacking and the author could’ve done more with the world – or at least had our characters have a thought or two about having to give that up to live in the Void. I also saw the ending coming (where Mary was the biggest villain/threat instead of Joseph). Not only was this big “reveal” not all that surprising, but Elle’s supposed search into uncovering who the Hunter was and stopping that person from hurting/killing monsters was a joke. Elle was too busy hiding, sleeping, crying, and screwing her monsters than actually figuring out who the Hunter was. I was irritated by her (and the monsters’) poor priorities. Elle forgot her mission. And, what’s worse, is that she saw 2 young adults who’ve been groomed by cult leaders and did nothing to even try to help them. At one point, she was basically like, “well, they’re adults [at 18], so they can make their own choices” but the kids had been taken and groomed from like 11 years old (or so). Willow even makes a comment later on about the fact that she’s sleeping with Joseph (someone who was around Elle’s mother’s age – so around 40ish). This was a man Willow has grown up with, with Joseph acting like a father-figure (not to mention authority-figure)…so yeah, they were both technical adults, but Elle also kind of leaves them in their toxic cult when she’s the only one there to offer help. If they refused, that would’ve been one thing, but Elle just leaves them in the cold. I also HATED Mary’s villain monologue at the end of the novel. Even though Elle calls this nonsense out, Mary continues to talk and talk and talk as she spills all of her past secrets and plans as the sun goes down and the stars come out (meaning Elle’s monsters can come to her rescue). It was cheesy and ridiculous. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. We also find out through this that Mary killed Elle’s mom through a curse (and that it wasn’t cancer after all). This is barely mentioned/discussed in depth but again lacked believability. I’m not saying I’d be completely against reading any further books in the series – which we may or may not get (as this was only hinted at as a possibility when this novel wrapped up and there are no further books as of now), but I’m also not sure that I’ll keep my eye on these books to come back to if the story really does continue. This novel wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great, and I’m simply not as impressed as I had been by the end of book 1. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 10, 2023
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Nov 11, 2023
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Dec 20, 2023
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Kindle Edition
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my rating |
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| 3.98
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liked it
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Jul 21, 2024
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Sep 16, 2024
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| 3.77
|
liked it
|
Jun 22, 2024
|
Sep 16, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.06
|
it was amazing
|
Feb 13, 2024
not set
not set
|
Aug 07, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.86
|
it was ok
|
Apr 20, 2024
|
Jun 12, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.91
|
liked it
|
Mar 23, 2024
|
Jun 11, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.84
|
really liked it
|
Mar 21, 2024
|
Mar 28, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.78
|
did not like it
|
Mar 09, 2024
|
Mar 26, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.32
|
it was amazing
|
Feb 29, 2024
not set
|
Mar 23, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.49
|
liked it
|
Feb 28, 2024
|
Mar 13, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.86
|
liked it
|
Feb 11, 2024
|
Mar 13, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.55
|
it was ok
|
Feb 08, 2024
|
Mar 13, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.71
|
really liked it
|
Feb 06, 2024
|
Mar 13, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.86
|
really liked it
|
Feb 04, 2024
|
Mar 13, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.66
|
it was ok
|
Jan 10, 2024
|
Mar 07, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.40
|
it was ok
|
Dec 29, 2023
|
Feb 20, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.93
|
it was ok
|
Dec 18, 2023
|
Dec 21, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 3.93
|
liked it
|
Dec 16, 2023
|
Dec 20, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 3.77
|
it was ok
|
Dec 03, 2023
|
Dec 20, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 3.85
|
really liked it
|
Nov 15, 2023
|
Dec 20, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.17
|
liked it
|
Nov 11, 2023
|
Dec 20, 2023
|
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