this was SUCH a disappointment in a novel, there was so much potential in this idea and could’ve been such an interesting commeso that was…. a book….
this was SUCH a disappointment in a novel, there was so much potential in this idea and could’ve been such an interesting commentary on two aspects of society.
1. being the fact that women are often disregarded after a certain age
2. being the extreme lack of privacy celebrities like Taylor Swift and One Direction experience from their fans and the paparazzi
however the first argument fell completely apart when we’re talking about a 40-year-old woman dating a 20 year old and the second there was just “oh they only know the idea of you” without much substance. arguably this book could’ve done SO much if let’s say we aged both up, Solène being between 45-50 and Hayes being between 25-30, still the same age difference, just more appropriate and more effective with the “older women aren’t seen in society” with less of the weird almost illegal talk
As far as the second point i would’ve just liked to see more of the “oh i know you” from fans or even Isabelle and her friends with Hayes or the fans waiting outside or actual conversations from Hayes to Solène about the effects of this life instead of the “oh just ignore them” bc genuinely how do you expect someone who was an ordinary person to suddenly just ignore it???
last point, there was just TOO many times i had to side eye the pages because what the actually hell?? i have to many highlights of them saying suspicious things regarding minors im so sorry
anyway im excited for the movie i think (and i have hope) that it’s going to be better ...more
**spoiler alert** Here it is, the review everyone has been waiting for. I'm going to start this off with the fact I was going to rate this book 2.5 st**spoiler alert** Here it is, the review everyone has been waiting for. I'm going to start this off with the fact I was going to rate this book 2.5 stars, however I've changed it to being a pure 2 star book, all because of the last like 5% of the book. this was such a disappointment for me because I was so excited for this book, but it just fell so fucking flat.
One of my biggest issues with this book was the formatting of the chapters. There were so many unnecessary page breaks within each chapter that I was about to throw my kindle out of a window. I've read all of her other books, so I KNOW she can use transition sentences and phrases, so tell me why in place of those, it would be a page break instead? Like please just say "the room was silent after ruhn finished telling us x,y,z" why do a page break? it makes no sense. It was also jarring when there would be page breaks where we would go from Bryce's pov in prythian to someone else in Midgard which was just jarring, leave Bryce and her pov alone in its own chapter because jumping between worlds in one is just too much, especially in the scenes when she was getting the information from Selene under the prison. I think it would've been much more comprehensive if she had left that gaining of information to a few chapters by themselves, maybe a chapter of anyone on Midgard in between, rather than getting itty bitty pieces of information and jumping between worlds and povs so much. Then, along with those random page breaks we have awkward chapter breaks where some of them felt off? There were a few times where it seemed like she wanted to do that thing where you leave off on this super shocking ending which can work super well, but then pick up at the same scene on the next page, leaving it feeling like the last chapter had just been unfinished. I don't know which of her editors, I know she has them, read this and said "yes Sarah! such a good job! lets print it!" because it in fact was absolute trash. The amount of jumping around in this novel just ended up making the story feel like there was SO much going on, that nothing was going on.
I also feel like SJM sat down everyone at Bloomsbury, and said to them "you know all of that character development that was done in HOEAB and HOSAB? well get this... we're going to throw that all away!" because what the actual fuck were these characters? Bryce was just a bitch the whole time, Orion was a mopey little dog following Bryce around no matter what, not having a thought to himself, don't even get me started on Ithan, because tell me why every time his friends ask him to do one thing or depending on him to help save people, he just bails? every single fucking time and I never wanted to strangle a chapter more than I wanted to strangle him throughout this entire book. not to mention the amount of times SJM made her contradictions about her characters. I mean Ithan saying that Hypaxia was not trust worthy with her necromancy powers because of what happened the trying to summon his brother but then turning around 2 chapters later saying "Oh my god, I love Hypaxia" like UH??? The same thing happened with Bryce and Orion, they would argue but suddenly two pages later she was sitting on his lap with no conversation about the argument. Their relationship in this book made me feel like I was reading the latest news on the newest pr Hollywood relationship and it was actually atrocious. The majority of this book was just them having sex, thinking about having sex, arguing, or saying "I love you ...more
one of the worst written books i’ve ever fucking read. i felt like i was reading a book written by a fourteen year old who just found out they could wone of the worst written books i’ve ever fucking read. i felt like i was reading a book written by a fourteen year old who just found out they could write smut on wattpad and wanted to give it a try.
i still can’t get over that the phrase “blow my load” was written unironically in an actually sex scene in this fucking book.
also i thought it was so fucking weird that only the white characters were described explicitly by race and also right after they were introduced. katee i don’t need to know that the nurse is a tall white man. that’s unneeded information thank you very much....more
**spoiler alert** Good god I don't even know where to start. I would first like to say that as an avid lover of any book with "villain" in the title I**spoiler alert** Good god I don't even know where to start. I would first like to say that as an avid lover of any book with "villain" in the title I have good authority to speak on this and say that Trystan (idk if thats even how you spell his name) was the worst "villain" I've ever read about. When I heard that this book was marketed as a mix between the office and Ella enchanted, I was expecting this villain to be giving Megamind or Gru, but instead for most of the book all I got was just some guy who had a vendetta against the king... like okay and??? The fact that she didn't give us his backstory and the reason he was the notorious villain before page 323, aka 10 pages before the end of the book, was a huge mistake. I fully believe that I would've been more invested in the downfall of the King had I known the reason Trystan was so against him. I also would've liked to see more actual "evil" actions because there was only the mention of torture, some heads hanging from the ceiling, and a scene where he broke a dudes arm, but my guy breaking the arm gave more "feyre fell down a hole and broke her arm :/" and not "rhysand in the court of nightmares breaking a man's arm for calling feyre a whore". essentially, and I hate that I'm saying this, I needed more Rhysand energy in here, and I know what y'all read so I know y'all know what energy I'm talking about. Going back to the "he's just some guy" statement, I wanted him grumpier, there was essentially no grump except when he was hosting a one man pity party for himself because he had feelings :( and like yea dude, you're literally just some guy. where's your persona? literally, because I don't understand where the civilians would've heard about him and called him a villain. give me civilian lore from the eyes of a teenage girl about why he's the villain and maybe then I'll agree that he's a morally grey villain.
Now that I wrote an essay on the villain alone, I will continue on to Evie. I hated her as a character, I'm going to say it. She was just there and she wasn't smart, she wasn't dumb, she just existed. All I knew about her was that her dad was ill, she left school to take care of her family, and she was a personality hire. She was portrayed as this somewhat innocent person who had first believed that The Villain was a bad guy, that she had morals of what was right and what was wrong, but Trystan promising her to not torture anyone and one look at his fucking thighs and she was hanging heads in the entry way for him??? not only was I confused, but where's the angst of fighting with the morality of having to work for the villain to help your family? and I know that y'all are gonna say "but meredith this was a cozy fantasy :/" yea I know, I'm not saying this angst had to go on for a long time but Evie and the Villain joking together after this fight of morality and her finding that understanding of why Trystan was the Villain after all would've hit so much harder. also Evie, girl, why the fuck are you wearing stilettos?? you walk in a forest everyday to go to work and everyone keeps saying how clumsy you are??? wear a chunky heel for gods sakes.
now that I think I'm done ripping apart the main characters, let me get into ripping apart the story. I also hated that. for this part I will use bullet points.
- Why the hell did it jump from the prologue into being five months later? I feel like we missed a few crucial moments of Evie building relationships amongst the other people in the office. Like why the fuck do you not like Rebecka? I get why she doesn't like you, she wants your job, but what did she do to you??
- What the fuck was up with the magic system? it was never explained, I'm literally still confused. there are three things that I have gathered about the system: 1. It may be genetic??? 2. There are gods that threw down power??? 3. It just randomly awakens one day and only sometimes a magic person can sense it before??? there were no clear answers to any of these and I still don't know how Trystan's magic worked which I think would've been a helpful explanation.
- The romance was not it for me. There was just like nothing there. When I have a romance I like seeing WHY the two people like each other for other reasons than just being pretty, or having a great laugh/the ability to make you laugh. this is where the building of the relationship wouldve been great to see from those five missing months.
- this isn't that serious but the line "I'm. His. Fucking. Assistant." really just pissed me off because you're telling me that you have a last line before you cut some man's throat, the throat of a man who literally assaulted you and tried to BUY you, and the last thing you say to him is that youre an assistant? was that supposed to make me cheer? I just.. maybe it's because I have Aelin in my head telling Maeve that she was a god before she "unleashed herself" but girlie, Evie, you could do better.
- The last thing that really ground my gears was the author on TikTok alluding to there being any semblance of smut in this book in multiple videos and there was genuinely zero. the closest thing to smut was alluding to Trystan having a boner whenever Evie hugged him or something. Like listen, I get that you're trying to attract the TikTok girlie pops, and that the majority read smut or fantasy that has smut in it, but if you know that you're book doesn't have any smut in it, don't try a market to them, it's okay, there are other people who will enjoy this book! It's just not for them! But it weird when you try and gain this audience through deception... it's not like you can allude to this and magically edit the book after its been mass printed.
I would like to end this scathing review off with that I genuinely believe that this book had so much potential in it and the idea for it was fantastic. It needed help with the characters mostly and their relationship. I also believe that had this book been YA I personally would have found it so good. I just think this book was trying to hard to be a TikTok star when not every book written know has to be catered to Booktok. ...more
**spoiler alert** one of these stars is ONLY for Jaiden Johal. He deserves literally everything I love that man.
now on to what we're all really here **spoiler alert** one of these stars is ONLY for Jaiden Johal. He deserves literally everything I love that man.
now on to what we're all really here for. this is now on my list of most hated romances. I brought out my computer to write my review because I knew that I would be able to write it better.
to start off, for like the first 40% I thought there was a good chance I was gonna give this book 4 stars. the vibes were there, the writing was pretty good, was there a plot? not really but I was having fun and thats all that matters right? but it was all ruined when the third act breakup happened less than halfway through the book because what the actual fuck?
It only got worse when everything that happened in the last 60% of the book should've happened before the got into a relationship. having her hate him but him having to help her PRACTICE? girl I would be living if that happened. this book had such the potential to be a fantastic enemies to lovers romance but you're telling me she hated him for a chapter and then started calling the first time they had sex "hate sex"??? Anastasia, girl, please stop being delusional. Also what the hell was up with the epilogue? SHE WAS PREGNANT? if Hannah Grace had stuck with the whole "I want to adopt and not have my own children because I was adopted" thing that they had talked about when they were in Colorado???? I would've been okay with a baby showing up in the epilogue. Like I get that there was the explanation of her nervous puking made her puke up her birth control, but like, that could've just not happened, this is a full work of fiction, how about we stick to the small amount of plot there was please.
genuinely, the only issue with this book was the plot. the writing, the characters, all of it was fantastic, the plot was just SO backwards. JJ and the hockey boys made these 430 pages bearable.
i feel like i can speak my truth on here now bc the author event for this book is over, but this book genuinely offended my eyes and combined with godi feel like i can speak my truth on here now bc the author event for this book is over, but this book genuinely offended my eyes and combined with god forsaken Skandar has put me into a reading slump. just like with Skandar, there is too many things wrong with this book to fully list them out, but i will make it short and sweet <3. the characters were boring, i felt like i read the same chapter over and over again, it was insanely predictable, and even though i knew what was going to happen, it still didn’t fit the story. also why make a book called “beware the woman” about how women should have control over their own bodies and how that fears the men, but just make the main character be gaslit the whole time and do nothing about it? this was a far cry from the statement this author wanted to make and i’m now embarrassed to say that i was actually excited for this book when i saw it.
also who the fuck names the main characters Jed and Jacy what are those names? ...more
i feel like a round of applause is in order, for i have finally finished this burning pile of garbage.
there is genuinely too many things wrong with ti feel like a round of applause is in order, for i have finally finished this burning pile of garbage.
there is genuinely too many things wrong with this book for me to fully list them out, but in short it felt unfinished, the writing felt as if the author thought 13 year olds were stupid, and the world building/magic system explanations were essentially nonexistent leaving a lot of questions that arose that can’t be answered. i hate this book and i feel sorry for anyone who so much as picks it up to read the synopsis. ...more
**spoiler alert** i hated this book so much i don’t even know where to start, so i’m simply going to make a list of why i thought this book was atroci**spoiler alert** i hated this book so much i don’t even know where to start, so i’m simply going to make a list of why i thought this book was atrocious:
- the writing: ik it’s someone’s cup of tea but it was just not it for me, it felt like i was reading a book for a 13 year old but it was marketed towards adults
- the idea that every single man this girl came in contact with was a misogynist without even having a conversation with them, it happened a few times and it genuinely pissed me off, you can say you hate all men, but at least give them a chance before you say they’re misogynistic, there are good men out there.
- Bee compared the social power of a man to the size of his dick multiple times and i didn’t mesh with that i found that really weird
- the whole basis of the “enemies to lovers” it wasn’t enemies to lovers it was miscommunication (i consulted with a enemies to lovers specialist), but Ali Hazelwood just kept playing it off as if it was actually enemies to lovers
- to bounce off my last point, there was absolutely no need for Bee to bring up how much Levi “hated” her in every conversation, when she wouldn’t even give him a chance to explain himself
- again to bounce off the enemies to lovers, the whole basis of it? that Levi had trouble communicating his feelings and bc of that he didn’t say that Bee was pretty once and she decided that he hated her
- also why the fuck was there a villain reveal in the last 20 pages? that was absolutely atrocious and unneeded, there fully could’ve been a reveal that Guy had fucked with the presentation and her twitter account without it going all 007 spy movie on us that was doing too much, and it wasn’t even done well
there’s probably more that i have issues with, but i gotta go to class and i don’t have time to genuinely sit down and think of this book anymore it’s taken up too much of my time already :/ ...more
listen, i was really excited for this book, but it just didn’t hit. i felt more chemistry between Chani and Ollie becoming besties than i felt betweenlisten, i was really excited for this book, but it just didn’t hit. i felt more chemistry between Chani and Ollie becoming besties than i felt between Chani and Gabe. i think it would’ve been done better if it was focused more on the parasocial relationships between the fan and the celebrity ...more
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