This read like a Tiktok influencer wrote it. Or one of those cheesy click-bait short drama serials with bad acting put into book format (am DNF @ 40%
This read like a Tiktok influencer wrote it. Or one of those cheesy click-bait short drama serials with bad acting put into book format (am I the only one seeing those ads on Instagram?). I could handle cheesy but the writing is awful. All the pop culture references/world events dropped in here trying to make the characters sound educated did the exact opposite. Ex: Putin, Covid, Gen Z mentions, the hero is an older guy lusting for a 18 year old but "he's not like Epstein" y'all! ...more
How is this an Elsie Silver book? This didn't read or feel like her writing at all. I know this was her debut novel and compared to her Chestnut SprinHow is this an Elsie Silver book? This didn't read or feel like her writing at all. I know this was her debut novel and compared to her Chestnut Springs series, it showed. And I mean that in the nicest way possible but this was rough for me. To be honest had I read this book first before her recent offerings, I would never go near another book by her. That's how much this book turned me off. There was zero charm, zero charisma, zero humor, zero fun witty banter and absolutely zero chemistry between the leads. There's more "telling" than actual dialogue. Barely any plot. There was nothing likable about the hero Vaughn or heroine Billie who is as charming as a prickly cactus. Even the secondary characters weren't very likable or memorable (minus Violet). Violet Eaton and her hero Cole is the reason I wanted to go back and try this series since all her brothers got books in Chestnut Springs who I loved. Now I wish I followed my gut and just read Book 2. Cole was completely unlikable in this which was another disappointment. I didn't even like Mira the vet. Like I said, this didn't feel at all like a ES book. The only interesting character in this was the supposed villain Stefan Dalca.
The hero Vaughn Harding was so uninspiring and a complete pushover and doormat to the loud mouth, rude, mean, patronizing AF, unreasonable heroine Billie Black. Yes they got off on the wrong foot first meeting but the real asshole of this book is the heroine, Billie. Vaughn had his one petulant asshole moment in the beginning of the book but Billie takes the cake for being insufferable. The way this woman would constantly talk down to and belittle the hero just screamed toxic. I'm predicting a divorce in the future cause there's no way you can convince me these two are forever kind of love. She calls him stupid, bitch baby, spoiled brat, dumbass, prick, Mama's boy, idiot. Like....? And not in an affectionate way either. It was so unattractive and made me uncomfortable because it was so unwarranted. There's giving as good as you get and there's....this. It's not even light-hearted fun bantering which ES couples are usually known for. This was just fucking mean for no reason. The condescending way she would talk down to him was just awful. I didn't even like or care for the hero but I was like dude you can do better than this. I mean he's telling her about his childhood after losing his parents and his grandfather raising him alone and she sarcastically quips if he wants a sippy cup. ...more
This started out with strong potential. I loved the concept of single pregnant heroine working for her boss who slowly falls for her and her2.75 stars
This started out with strong potential. I loved the concept of single pregnant heroine working for her boss who slowly falls for her and her baby. I was expecting an office romance with a pregnancy trope that's slow burn but this quickly morphed into insta-lust/love fanfic smut halfway in where the supposedly emotionally detached hero is suddenly pouring out endearments and moving her into his house and buying her a whole new wardrobe and giving her money and fixing all her problems at the drop of a hat. It just didn't work for me. It's a nice fantasy but it's just not interesting or exciting. Especially when it's so instant. Office romance power dynamics usually don't bother me and I normally love that trope but the heroine pretty much going 'okey dokey' and going along with everything just made the whole story collapse like a cheap suitcase. It just became so one dimensional and shallow. Where's the conflict? The tension? When there's no agency or conflict then you lose me. I love a care-taking hero but he gives her everything from the very start and she happily goes along with it. The minute he said "once I put my dick in you, you are mine" I knew where this was heading. The assistant falling for her boss and having sex in his office and nobody raises a brow over it? Really? And I can't tell you how much I hate the endearment "sweetheart". It's like nails on a chalkboard and makes my skin crawl. ...more
This didn't work for me at all. The number of times I nearly DNF'd was too many. I probably should have but I've heard great things about this book anThis didn't work for me at all. The number of times I nearly DNF'd was too many. I probably should have but I've heard great things about this book and my goodreads friends love this so I kept going and dammit I'm trying to break this awful reading funk I've been in for 3 months now. ...more
Nope. I just can't. My first Kandi Steiner so maybe this was a case of bad book for me? But I just cannot stomach a heroine who aDNF @ 10%. No Rating.
Nope. I just can't. My first Kandi Steiner so maybe this was a case of bad book for me? But I just cannot stomach a heroine who acts like a messy immature 5 year old with zero boundaries and zero impulse control. She's *not like other girls* yet she says and does things that are so blatantly stupid, desperate and cringe. Goading your brother's hockey teammates by aggressively flirting and grinding up against them cause it's amusing fun? Grow the fuck up. I knew I was in trouble when the heroine is described as "skipping" through the party bus like a child and swinging on a stripper pole "like a primate swinging from a tree" (her words not mine) and bragging about how she learned a party trick of shotgunning beers in college to impress guys who challenged her cause she "wasn't good at anything else". Bless her. My entire body was cringing at this point.
I mean if this is what I'm getting for a heroine:
I’d met Trent while sharing a joint around a campfire in May, and then we’d hooked up in his van. I’d kind of just followed him around like a puppy dog since, mostly because I didn’t exactly know what else to do (.....)But he didn’t seem to mind having me around, and even though he told me he wasn’t looking for any kind of relationship, he got jealous when he saw other guys try to talk to me. He also showed me public displays of affection, bought me gifts, texted me all day every day, and made plans that included both of us. Felt very relationship-y to me, but what did I know.
No thank you ma'am.
This is where I point out that this is the same loser who breaks up with her a few months later and she's a complete emotional hysterical wreck over it to the point the hero offers to take her on a road trip to cheer her up. She's a flaming idiot.
And I'm just gonna leave this here as my final note as this scene was the final straw for me. This is what the heroine constitutes as "small talk".....
“Okay. How about this one. Imagine you have two miniature legs that are constantly kicking,” she said, illustrating the scenario with her index and middle finger. She pointed them down in an upside-down peace sign and wiggled them back and forth like they were walking legs. “Would you want them attached to your chin, or your gooch?” The laugh that barreled out of me was impossible to contain, and Grace smiled wider, moving the wiggling fingers under her chin before she popped them down in-between her legs in the most unattractive gesture I’d ever witnessed from a woman.
I should have taken the fact that this is a clean romance as my first red flag. I'm not knocking books with no sex, clean romance just isn't for me peI should have taken the fact that this is a clean romance as my first red flag. I'm not knocking books with no sex, clean romance just isn't for me personally. Or at least ones like this. But I have to say for a mail order bride story where the characters talk and think about sex 24/7 since first meeting but not show any sex in the end is a weird choice. And if it's gonna be a clean romance you gotta make it worth my while in other areas like emotional development, plot, and writing and it just wasn't happening in any of those areas either. You have a 24 year old virgin heroine who is a complete sensitive Mary Sue who is stuck in the dark ages with zero agency. Meredith doesn't own her own phone or even an email address and saying things like "his back assets" and "licentious woman". Which makes you question what decade this book was written in? It felt like my grandma wrote this. And the heroine is a rich socialite city girl which makes it even more implausible. Her tantrums were especially a sight to behold, if I never have to read the word "stomp" again I'll be happy. In the words of Meredith herself, Jumping Aunt Hannah! Whatever the hell that means. (Again, a city girl would be saying stuff like this? lol)...more
I couldn’t help but feel that her lips would be just out of place against my own: a rose petal against a chainsaw.
Too stupid for words. Th
I couldn’t help but feel that her lips would be just out of place against my own: a rose petal against a chainsaw.
Too stupid for words. This supposedly takes place in Ireland and all the characters are supposedly Irish but they don't sound like it at all. The accents are barely present and come and go throughout the book. You wouldn't even realize the heroine Kayleigh is Irish with the way she talks, she talks like an American with the exception of the word "fecking" on and off (she sometimes says "fucking" and other times "fecking", which is it author?) and when she calls the hero an "eejit" near the end. It's like the author didn't even try to do her research and just plopped these characters into a setting she wanted. The forbidden love aspect of this (which is the main reason I picked this book up) ended up being so silly, so ridiculous and thinly drawn. The heroine Kayleigh is dating the hero's brother Eoin for a few days who is a complete stranger to her (she meets him on the street after saving his life in a near hit and run and he's instantly smitten and asks her to dinner) who she has no feelings for but not wanting to break it off with him because she feels bad and loves his family so much after spending 2 days with them and it's the holidays. ...more
I quit. I can't do it. How bad was this? I removed all A.L. Jackson books from my TBR. The writing is atrocious. The dramatic tone is DNF @ 30%
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I quit. I can't do it. How bad was this? I removed all A.L. Jackson books from my TBR. The writing is atrocious. The dramatic tone is ridiculous. The heroine Paisley Day is supposed to be this spunky wild reckless firecracker but she came off too flighty, self-absorbed and childish. What drew me to this book was the found family trope, a hero raising a traumatized little girl on a sprawling ranch and the heroine is hired as her horse trainer. The heroine supposedly has bonded with the timid little girl Evelyn in a matter of 1 day and feels protective of her knowing she "needs" someone but we don't see that bonding, it happens in the background while the hero broods and watches from his upstairs office window like an idiot. I obviously didn't read the whole book but it felt like a lot more telling than showing and dragging out scenes. When the hero and heroine butt heads she quits on the spot the very first week and these two circle each other like scorned lovers after that and it made no sense. You are spitting mad and hurt at your boss because he was an asshole but you supposedly need this job so bad and you supposedly love the little girl but don't even bother telling her goodbye and quit just after a few days?..... It just wasn't doing it for me. When there's a kid involved in the story then you need to show that relationship. Everything was so instanuous but trying to play it off like it wasn't.
The writing tries so hard to come off deep when it does the exact opposite. The word "monster" is used 17 times, the word "demon" is used 18 times and the word "dark" is used 87 times in this book. This is a Contemporary Romance and unless the hero has some magical paranormal power there is no earthly reason why your hero should be talking about inner monster and demons so frequently and to this extent. Because 99.9% of the time, it turns out said "inner demons" are nothing but smoke and mirrors. Give your hero a complex that fucking translates to something or else he comes off looking like a corny jackass. I love me some brooding dark heroes but if the hero Caleb Greyson brooded any harder he would break something. I'm not saying his history isn't worth the mental angst but the way the author writes him it just makes it unbearable to empathize. Shoving a bunch of dramatic words into every sentence to try get your point across isn't necessary. The awkward clunky prose is so heavy handed that you can't pay attention to anything else. The stuff the hero would say/think was so ridiculously dramatic that it felt like he was yanked out of a Paranormal or Fantasy book and plopped into here:
Torment gripped me by the throat. A slither of vipers sent to slay.
I began to pace within the confines of that nonexistence, agitation a hurricane battering my insides. It was a wonder I was able to stop myself from barreling over to stop Paisley as she led Evelyn toward Mazzey.
The problem was, I couldn’t be trusted. I was as dangerous as any other monster roaming the streets.
He’d been summoned like the demon he was, called up from the pits where he roamed.
She held up two fingers, her little face squished in question, a face that sent a shock of pain lancinating through me so savagely I had to bite back the agony that wanted to rip free of my chest.
Loving someone today? After what I’d caused? Agony clawed at my throat, pacing like a caged animal searching for a way out.
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Impossible when I hungered for revenge. When the thirst for blood soaked me through. The oath that I would track down whoever was responsible, find him, and snuff out his life the way he’d done the others.
Rage and determination billowed through my bloodstream, and I brushed my thumb along the apple of her cheek, my insides quaking at the contact, at her sweet face that reminded me of every mistake I had made.
The sun had just burst over the horizon, and glittering darts of light speared through the window to pierce the night while the darkness inside me throbbed with the early morning call.
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Most believed it fun and games, but I knew full well there were plenty of twisted fucks on the hunt. The depraved. The ones consumed with the thrill of spilling blood. With the love of hearing someone scream.
For a beat, her eyes rounded in surprise before a crash of laughter clanged from her, harsh and grating, full of offense and disbelief.
Another sound of dubiety ripped from her pretty lips.
Frustration carved a canyon through my spirit.
This…this…dark angel who oozed controlled wickedness soaked in a vat of arrogance.
“Do you have any clue of the monsters lurking in the shadows of this world, Ms. Dae? The demons out there waiting to hurt the innocent and unaware? You need to be careful.”
You know when you try an author that everyone raves about with that one very popular overhyped book and it's an underwhelming fail, so you decide to tYou know when you try an author that everyone raves about with that one very popular overhyped book and it's an underwhelming fail, so you decide to try her again to see maybe if it was just a fluke and a case of a bad book for you? Welp, this was my attempt at that. And I can now say with 1000% clarity, Ali Hazelwood is not for me.
I snort at his wide-eyed I-didn’t-know-the-essay-was-due-today-and-my-dog-ate-it-anyway expression.
I laugh at his old-man-yells-at-a-cloud eye roll.
I am but a cornucopia of regret. Because we’re all bad bitches—till a scowling Were stands outside the bathroom door while we’re washing our hair.
If you are a Hazelwood fan who has loved all her books, then you will probably love this. If you are an Adult Paranormal Romance fan, then you probably won't. I fall in the latter category. I'm putting emphasis on 'adult' because this didn't feel or read like an adult PR for me and that falls heavily on the writing. For obvious reasons the blurb intrigued me and what pushed me to give this author another try. A Vampire heroine and Were Alpha hero thrown together in an arranged marriage to help broker peace between the two feuding species? Sign me up. I will give Ali credit for stepping out of her comfort zone and trying something different from what she normally writes. But this really felt like her STEM characters cosplaying as paranormal characters. The same fumbling tension, the same irreverent snarky awkward humor, same single-POV driven story with an oblivious heroine not realizing the hero is smitten with her, same poor communication and stilted awkward conversations.
I don’t consider myself a sensitive person. As a rule, I’m not opposed to people implying that I am a disappointment to my family and my species. But I do ask for one thing: that they keep that shit away from me.
The heroine Misery Lark has been used as collateral by her father who runs the Vampyre council since she was 8 years old. She was sent to live in human territory for 12 years as a trade off/peace treaty and returned back reviled by her own people and labeled as a traitor. She's had humans, Vampyres and Weres who have attempted to kill her. Because of this she returned to the human territory to live with her human best friend Serena until her Father summons her back to be collateral once again by marrying a Were, Lowe Moreland. Misery works in tech coding(?) in the human world, can't cry at all and finds everything either weird or gross and has the vocabulary of a med student. Words like "zygomatic" "ontological" "exsanguinate" and "phenotypes" are a mouthful and doesn't really fit with this setting or character who literally doesn't even understand her own species much less humans. It felt like Hazelwood's own voice coming through or just one of her STEM heroines talking. Why is your Vampyre heroine talking like a PhD student?
This friendship, or lack of enmity, appears to be highly rewarding to my dopaminergic system.
People who shared a placenta for nine months should not talk about this stuff.” Am I flushing? I am. “We’re dizygotic twins, which means that we never shared a placenta or an umbilical cord. A womb at best, really.”
“I could have poured triazolopyrimidines in your blood bags a million times over in the past twenty years.”
“You realize that’s not a sentence, right? Just a temporal subordinate clause.”
“Is it another Alpha thing? And your motor proteins are suuuuper dominant?”
This is a single POV book, all from the heroine's perspective and that's a big disadvantage. I really don't want to be in your heroine's head for 400 pages. Unless the writing is really good and engaging. And it's just not here. I'm not asking for mind blowing or deep shit, I just want a readable story and the readability factor with this author is very low. It's headache inducing. The limited narrative perspective doesn't really do the story or the hero here any favors. Lowe Moreland is the Alpha of his wolf pack, he's visually intimidating but has the demeanor of a golden retriever beneath the stoic face which at times is sweet and at other times falls short and left me wanting. I was expecting Rawr rawr rawr! instead I got soft puppy. I love softie cinnamon roll heroes just as much as the next person but I need some semblance of emotional insight or an edge of some kind to go along with it. I mean why have your hero reject the heroine at the 80% mark out of nowhere with no explanation or motive and just have him bashfully shrug his shoulders when the heroine realizes he lied to her? If you are gonna have your hero dump/reject the heroine with no warning then you need to give us a reason or motivation for it. The heroine nearly dies from poison and is unconscious for 5 days and the most we get from the hero when she wakes up is "My felicitations"........ ...more
I was a chaotic disaster, one he didn’t deserve to put up with.
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The hero Leo Hernandez deserved so much better. I did not r1.5 stars
I was a chaotic disaster, one he didn’t deserve to put up with.
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The hero Leo Hernandez deserved so much better. I did not read the previous books but all I know is this boy deserved so much better than this. I probably am the wrong reader for this series/author because I am not a fan of New Adult. The drama, characters and actions are usually incredibly frustrating, melodramatic and stupid. Here was pretty much that.
“It’s a lot easier for me to remind myself of all the reasons I hate him than it is to think of how he might have changed.”
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My biggest issue is I could not stand the heroine Mary Silver. She just wasn't my cup of tea. She felt more like cough syrup. This girl rubbed me the wrong way and I tried really hard to give her grace given her past history in high school and her own insecurities and sense of hurt. But lawd mercy, honest to g-d the way this girl would compartmentalize and misjudge things and never *ever* want to admit she is in the wrong was so miserable. Her insecurities gave her serious tunnel vision and sense of entitlement. I just couldn't deal with how she would process things and react to things. And I know this is more of personal taste bleeding through here but I also didn't love her lifestyle, choices she made and attitude suited for a moody 16 year old. The whole fully tattooed head to toe, pierced everywhere, gothic babe, wears no bra so the hero can oogle her pierced nipples (busty girls need support, my back was hurting just reading this!) smokes pot 24/7 and rolls her eyes at everything just isn't my thing. She's supposedly and I quote directly "a boss ass bitch!" but was really a "pick me choose me I'm not like other girls" walking bumper sticker.
I so desperately wanted to get high, but I didn’t have any edibles on hand, and I knew I couldn’t sneak a joint — not in my mother’s house. It didn’t matter if I walked down the street to smoke it, she’d find out.
"I wasn’t an angel — that much I could easily admit. I liked having a guy’s face between my legs for a night or railing me in the morning before breakfast. And most times, we didn’t talk enough for me to know if they were in a relationship or not.
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I normally love curvy thick heroines but I just wasn't feeling Mary at all. I mean bare feet on the dashboard of a car?! WHO RAISED YOU? ...more
Oh boy. I've heard Jessa Kane's books can be weird and wild, I knew beforehand and heard this is a lighter tamer sampli“Make me squeak louder, Daddy.”
Oh boy. I've heard Jessa Kane's books can be weird and wild, I knew beforehand and heard this is a lighter tamer sampling of her work and the blurb intrigued me. This started off cute and fun but oh man it quickly veered into WTF territory for me. For starters, this has Daddy kink. I've made a point of avoiding this kink in my reads for years and had I known it was in this novella I would have skipped it. And sometimes you come across something you swore off and it may change your mind. Welp I can now 100% confirm, it's still very much not my thing, it will never be my thing, not here or anywhere. I don't like Daddy kink, Sam-I-am. It will never be sexy in the bedroom and it weirds me the hell out. For me it's the same as if a guy yelled Yes, Mommy! in the throws of passion. See? Not sexy. ...more
I don't know what happened but this was a disappointing follow up to Broken French. I'm now kinda wishing I put up a review for that one just to compaI don't know what happened but this was a disappointing follow up to Broken French. I'm now kinda wishing I put up a review for that one just to compare. Oh well. This tried so hard yet showed so very little for it. I was so eager and excited to get my hands on brooding hunky bodyguard Evan and mysterious Andrea's story when a sequel was announced but what we got left me wanting unfortunately. Nothing happens in this. Literally. The romance was boring. The chemistry was non-existent, the dialogue was super cheesy and stilted and read almost like bad YA fanfic at times with the way these two acted. Are we sure this is the same Natasha Boyd who wrote Deep Blue Eternity? Cause it certainly didn’t feel that way. I don't mean that as a dig but more like genuine shock.
Both hero and heroine drove me insane with the constant internalizing in circles and repeating themselves ad nauseam. It almost felt like Boyd had nothing planned for the plot so she had her MC's working themselves up and talking in circles just to fill up the book. The heroine Andrea is written like a hormonal confused teenager, who says one thing yet does another. She's always misreading everything and going from 0 to 180 and then back again a few pages later like nothing happened and it gave me a headache. It made no sense. She's constantly misunderstanding the hero Evan and lashing out but then flirting and giggling with him 5 minutes later. I was confused. She kept saying her attraction to the hero was "situational" how she'll get over her crush and wanting space from him, yet when he says the same thing to her and wanting space she gets upset with him. You can say it but he can't? lol She goes to such lengths in not telling him her new address because she can't stand his hovering and doesn't believe she's in danger but the minute she finds out she is in fact in danger she blames him for not protecting her. ...more
Not for me. For what it's worth I liked the heroine Mae and I tried to hang in there for her because her backstory of growing up in a religioDNF @ 42%
Not for me. For what it's worth I liked the heroine Mae and I tried to hang in there for her because her backstory of growing up in a religious cult compound was very compelling but unfortunately the writing, the whole Motorcycle Club lifestyle and the hero ruined it for me. I've only ever read one MC series and it was by Laura Kaye and I enjoyed it and now I'm realizing because it was much more tame in the MC lingo and that's why it worked for me. The MC slang and club culture is grossly low rent and not sexy at all and I now understand why it's not a popular sub genre among romance readers. I totally get why now. All the women in this are referred to as "club sluts" or a "bitch". And I mean literally every woman including the heroine who is an outsider. The hero and his brothers call the heroine "pilgrim bitch" or "tiny bitch" or some other variation of bitch. The club members also have sex acts performed on them out in public or in front of other club members and tits and "pussies" are pulled out whenever they are demanded of it. It's not the sex acts that bothered me but more so how the women are passed around and treated like holes for the guys to stick their dicks in and talked to and treated like dogs that made my lip curl. Voyeurism and being sexually free is one thing but degradation is a whole other thing entirely and where my imagination stops. The only part I was familiar with prior to this was that all the MC guys sleep around and only when they commit to one woman does the lady get the honorific "old lady" title. How romantic. I just hated how the guys talked. My first red flag was the hero referring to a little girl as a "chick" in the prologue. He's 10 years old. :/
Fuckin' Kyler Willis; twenty-seven, model-perfect looks, tall, lean, straight blond hair that had bitch pussy creamin'.
She drank me in--every cut muscle, shredded arm, bulging vein, every inch of ink. She loved it, creamin' at what she saw.
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The hero Styx is the Hades Hangmen club president who has a speech impediment when he talks so he prefers to use ASL. I wanted to like him but I felt zero connection to him. That and he acts and reacts to things like a moody teenager. His reaction to everything is either "shit!" or "FUCK!", no variation in between. The depth was missing for me. Every time he's upset or needs a distraction he uses one of the club sluts to get off even after he's about to have sex with the heroine. I just found him so stereotypical and a complete idiot honestly. You find the frightened and very confused sexually abused heroine naked in your bedroom and you scream at her "what the fuck she's doing" yet wonder why she's terrified of you?? .....Maybe don't scream at her, you idiot? He knows she was raped but keeps yelling at her and wonders why she's confused and skittish around him. Like dude..seriously? Anybody home? Like I said he came off like a clueless teenager rather than a grown man. I don't mind jerk heroes but I need some kind of substance and nuance behind all the ragey screaming cause he's "A BAD ASS™️". I usually love character flaws like stammering but even that did nothing to save this guy for me. I need intelligence and none of these MC guys seemed to show it and they supposedly are arm dealers? Puh huh.
I was a shittin' goddamn expert in intimidation-my old man taught me well.
And speaking of which, in what world or universe is it even remotely realistic to write a woman who has been a victim of sexual abuse since the age of 10 being totally fine and willing to have sex just 1 MONTH after she escaped a cult? I mean 1 month? O_o The book jumps one month ahead so it's not like we even see her slowly adapting and healing in real time. I maybe could have swallowed it if the one month was shown to see that slow connection build up instead of skipped over. (This is where I point out that the hero didn't even spend time with her in that one month but foisted her off on one of his club brothers to take care of her. He barely spends time with her.) Mae was raped and sodomized by the elders in her cult for years. Her and her sisters were lashed and whipped and a fucking metal contraption was used to keep their legs apart while they were raped. They were brainwashed into thinking it's their punishment for "sinning". She has no concept of what normal sex is beyond violence and anal sodomy but you're telling me 1 month after her escape from 13 years of sexual abuse she's ready to go and dropping robe for the hero because he is so hawt and he makes her feel "safe"?......
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Of. all. the. damn. liiiiiies.
And the fact that the other woman who is in love with Styx since they were kids (view spoiler)[ends up dying right after Styx breaks it off with her so he can be with Mae (hide spoiler)] was kind of the last straw for me. She wasn't a jealous bitchy caricature that you usually expect in triangles, Lois is a club "slut" who was actually sweet to Mae and the club was all she had left so that bothered me. Styx always just used her for sex while she was in love with him and his lack of emotional reaction to her death beyond "damn" was the nail in the coffin. It just screamed let's get rid of the "other woman" in this equation (view spoiler)[ with a bullet between the eyes cause that's the only way to get rid of the competition since she's too nice. (hide spoiler)]...more
This started off strong. I thought I was going to discover a new old school HR favorite. Unfortunately, half way in I realized this was more2.75 stars
This started off strong. I thought I was going to discover a new old school HR favorite. Unfortunately, half way in I realized this was more campy medieval romantic comedy rather than dark Beauty and the Beast-inspired medieval romance. Or at least the writing style gave it that feel. Which is fine, and if you are fan of Amanda Quick and Julie Garwood then maybe this will work for you. But for me personally, it wasn't a good combination and very odd at times. When the plot stalls out and characters are doing the same thing over and over again and fumbling about and being hopelessly inept for laughs it's not very exciting or interesting. I needed the plot to move forward and stuff to happen after the 200 page mark. The last 100 pages took forever to get through. I lost count how many clouds of dust "tussles" happened with the hero stepping over grown men fighting in the mud like kids over a lady's favor. I felt the author spent more time trying to make a funny scene rather than focusing on her couple and the overall plot. Having your heroine choke on her own spit while kissing and getting the wind knocked out of her from aggressive back thumping just leaves something to be desired. Things are over exaggerated for a laugh. Her characters oddly started to take on a one-dimensional feel the deeper I got into the book. I've never seen characters regress into comical flat caricatures like they do here. I don't mind comedy in my HR but this felt more slapstick humor with a dark backdrop and it felt weirdly...odd.
This is my first Lynn Kurland book and I've been meaning to try her for some time. This definitely has dark elements with a blind cantankerous "The Dragon of Blackmour" hero and a shy timid heroine who has been badly abused by her father and pretty much given away to the hero in a marriage pact. I thought the hero Christopher was a sweet cinnamon roll with a snarky sense of humor and big soft spot for the heroine Gillian who is terrified of him for a good half of this story. I enjoyed seeing him try to get a rise out of the heroine and trying to put her at ease. That was probably the part I enjoyed the most. You need patience with how Kurland writes the timid mousy heroine who is so naive and helpless and bursts into tears at the drop of a hat whether she's terrified, upset or happy. I was intrigued at the beginning because I thought we were going to get a scrapy tomboy heroine who loves to fight (she owns a sword and practices with it since childhood) and we'd get to see her learn to stand up for herself and find her independence. We technically get that but 100 pages too late and with a looooooot of hand holding and "magic" potions to help her along the way. Gillian is terrified of her own shadow, doesn't like new-comers and men to the point she hides, believes her new husband is a warlock who is going to beat her and sacrifice her for a good half of this story. She turns to 3 witches for potions to give her beauty and courage. She believes what anyone tells her or overhears and takes it as fact and runs with it so you could well imagine the numerous misunderstandings that take place here. The number of times this girl attempts to run away or go to the witches to help her made things go from serious to just silly and ridiculous. Her inept naivety while at first made for some hilarious moments, the longer it went on the charm wore off for me and my patience was long gone. Gillian is a sweet girl who desperately wants to be loved and she's had a very difficult sheltered life but I would qualify her as TSTL with how Kurland wrote her.
Another thing that I found surprising was there was no sex scenes in this. I wasn't expecting this to be closed door considering all the heavy lifting Kurland does with all the sexual tension. I don't know if no sex is a thing of Ms. Kurland's or she was trying to be clever but it didn't work for me here because all the sexual tension and angst hinged on it. Considering Gillian is terrified of the marriage bed and believes babies are conceived through kissing and all the slow build up to get to the actual act....well let's just say I was expecting more than gasping, kissing and afterglow being shown. It felt like a blanket was being held up and you are trying to make out what's going on through hazy light behind the cloth or just listening through a closed door. ...more
This came very close to a DNF for me a few times. The last 40% saved this from being a complete dumpster fire shit show. Sweet, wise, mature2.75 stars
This came very close to a DNF for me a few times. The last 40% saved this from being a complete dumpster fire shit show. Sweet, wise, mature Auntie Arro from the previous book just disappeared and was body snatched and replaced instead with a childish, immature, spiteful, petty, belligerent, insecure woman who doesn't understand boundaries but expects it in return. 'No means no' goes both ways and I just didn't care for the narrative here.
This was a surefire plan for getting Mac to give in to his feelings for me. The bracelet told me he wanted to, but just in case he still had reservations, I wanted to make it as difficult as possible for him to say no.
Samantha Young's idea of "confident" assertive women kinda scares me. And if I never have to read another humiliating failed seduction attempt I will be happy. Surprising a man who you aren't in a relationship with by going to his house and getting naked is never a good idea. Throwing yourself bodily while naked at a man even after he says no is not heartbreaking, it's fucking awful and icky. PERIOD. Why do authors do this?? ...more
I'm rating this with an extreme curve for the last 20% alone. As for the rest of the story...
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I feel like the blurb is misleading. Cause the "reI'm rating this with an extreme curve for the last 20% alone. As for the rest of the story...
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I feel like the blurb is misleading. Cause the "realization" part takes too long to get to. That and I guess I was just expecting full on secret mutual pining between two friends. But that's not really what I got. This is a 275 page book where 190 pages of it the hero and heroine are with other people. The opening scene of the book is the heroine getting railed from behind by her dance partner. I should have taken that as my first red flag. I usually don't mind love triangle equations but this was a bit much even for me. It just went on for way waaay too long. The heroine Lily is hellbent on dating her douchehole sleazy dance partner who keeps using her as a bootycall and she's too stupidly oblivious and in denial to see it. It's unbearable to say the least because all her friends clearly see it and trying to gently warn her but she just keeps insisting on seeing it through and live out her fantasy cause Blane Baker has been her "dream man" since 15. Oh brother. A guy who can't even make her orgasm. ...more
For a book titled Love Scenes there isn't really much of that in here, it's more of a footnote than anything. This book kind of falls into the trap ofFor a book titled Love Scenes there isn't really much of that in here, it's more of a footnote than anything. This book kind of falls into the trap of misleading illustrated cover and title that makes you think you are going to get a cute light rom com CR. But that's not really what I got. I would say 40% of this book is romance, the other half reads more like Contemporary Fiction or Women's Fiction. As much as I love a story set in a Hollywood setting, the author spends too much time waxing poetic about the craft of acting and emoting and giving tedious play-by-plays of shooting scenes, the director's artistic vision, or telling readers in exact detail about a conversation that took place 11 years ago between two ex-wives about raising a child. This felt more like a family saga about the workings of filming a movie with your own family. A famous family where everyone is an actor/musician/producer/director in some variety including the father's 2 ex wives who both have a role in this film. There's nothing the Ford family can't do apparently. I found Sloane's family insufferable to be quite honest with the way Morrissey tried so hard to make them all so cool and "typical" new age Hollywood with everyone sounding so jaded but politically correct about everything including her 11 year old stepsister. I felt the writing took itself way too seriously and had a pretentious/self-important tone that was borderline eye-roll inducing. Especially with how the heroine talks about her craft and her prestigious Hollywood elite family and her ex-boyfriend who wrote a whole album about her. I mean, who listens obsessively to the album that your asshole ex writes about you? <_< Major eye roll.
For what it's worth I did warm up a bit to the romance between Sloane and Joseph--it took a while to get there-- just wish the connection and intimacy wasn't so behind closed doors/FTB especially in regards to shooting the love scene that the whole book is marketed around. I know the story is more than that but it felt like the actual romance was an afterthought. And I wanted an ILY from the heroine. Having your character say "that's what I love most about you" is not a love confession. ...more
How much did I enjoy this? 100 pages in and she used the word oxymoron 9 times. :/ I was planning to give this 2 stars but there was nothing en[image]
How much did I enjoy this? 100 pages in and she used the word oxymoron 9 times. :/ I was planning to give this 2 stars but there was nothing enjoyable about this for me unfortunately. The world building is very faint and what little rules there are Megan Frampton continuously breaks for illogical absurd scenes to push her contrived plot along. The self defense "teaching" scenes are barely there which felt pointless and didn't help the couple's lack of chemistry. How we go from fighting lessons to kissing "lessons" is laughable. There is no build up or tension. The whole point of the hero and heroine having fighting lessons was for them to get closer but we barely got any of that on the page. The two very brief sex scenes were awkwardly rushed through as well, one of which raised questions for this reader (like how the hell the bench scene was even physically possible with someone of Nash's over 6 foot stature? and no mention of the heroine's virginity?.....).
Anachronistic writing aside, the writing suffered from extreme repetition with constantly telling you things and explaining things that needed zero explanation. Which in the process made all the characters come off stupid, h/hr in particular. And they didn’t need much help in that regard. :/
The hero Nash is a blockhead who thinks with his fists first and brain last. I know what Frampton was trying to do with her stoic grumpy “grunting” hero who doesn't even speak in full sentences but the effort came off really awkward and gangly rather than sexy and brooding for me. He came off like a lumbering 17 year old rather than a man nearing his 30's. His internal voice was more petulant whining rather than brooding grump. He likes to talk with his fists and smash things. Literally. He just lumbers into rooms and smashes chairs for the hell of it. I'm usually into the towering gruff silent broody heroes but I need a little more gravitas to it and agency and a guy who isn't perpetually confused all the time. The whole "bad gene" trope was deployed here and it did the hero no favors. Our Duke hero just has nothing better to do than walk the streets looking for a fight to get his aggression out on people who deserved it so his loved ones don't get hurt. Seriously? It just carried a juvenile tone that I didn't care for. There have been very few books who have pulled this trope off well, and this one certainly did not. Because Nash has the emotional depth and range of Popeye. Or The Hulk. Take your pick. [image]
Nash stared at the wall for a few moments, trying to form some sort of opinion. He usually avoided having to choose things, because choosing things would mean that he cared about something, and the only things he wanted to care about were ensuring his father’s bastards were provided for, his ability to hit someone who deserved it, and his whiskey. Not in that order.
This pretty much describes the hero in a nutshell. Just multiply it by 500 x given how many times the author wants to remind us on every page what Nash is good at, what he's not good at and what his "purpose" is. And I'm sorry, 14+ bastard children all over London willy nilly? ...more
Extra points for nostalgia. The story is set in 1996 with an artist heroine trying to find herself while studying in Italy for the summer. Loved all tExtra points for nostalgia. The story is set in 1996 with an artist heroine trying to find herself while studying in Italy for the summer. Loved all the references to technology back then through emails, the 90's fashion, the music and just world events at the time. Ugh that was my era! But the writing was a little too flowery, dreamy and idealistic for me. Like (and this is completely just my own experience) I don't know any painter or artist who refers to themselves as a "prodigy" and their skill as "mesmerizing" especially one so young who is just starting off. Artists are their own toughest critics and never completely satisfied with their work. The heroine Harley at times sounded much older than her 22 years in how she viewed the world and talked about things. Her passionate monologues about life, love, politics and her art felt a bit much at times and took itself too seriously. If anything it really felt like the author's own personal mature voice and world views was bleeding through. This felt like someone stereotyping the "tortured artist" persona with no personal experience on the subject. At times it was too much and gave off special snowflake vibes. I mean who gets emotional over the Summer Olympics? lol
Also, why was anyone who was in their 30's described as having wrinkles?? Like oh you can tell this person is in their 30's cause they got crinkles around their eyes? ...more
This is supposedly a mafia romance but your couple's main "conflict" is getting dumped? Really? Another Saved By The Bell script cosplaying as a MafiaThis is supposedly a mafia romance but your couple's main "conflict" is getting dumped? Really? Another Saved By The Bell script cosplaying as a Mafia book. *sigh* For a mafia romance this was incredibly weak. The writing was weak. I could look the other way if I'm having a fun time. But a fun time this was not.
I didn't like the insta-love. You know the kind where your hero and heroine act like lovesick teenagers rather than adults. I didn't like the cheesy dialogue. This author seems to only know 2 verbs "spin" and "shimmy". It seemed she was attached to phrasing things a certain way and using it through the whole book. I didn't like how flat the characters came off, the heroine Aspen in particular. I didn't like how we got all this background story on the hero Maksim and his brothers but nothing on Aspen except she was married to a loser for 20 years who made her miserable. All we know is Maksim's very first impression of her from across a pool and how she looks "part Native American and part European" but nothing else. Uh...ok. I didn't like Aspen's girl squad who felt more like annoying obnoxious stereotypical filler characters rather than real people. I get wanting to follow a fantasy but who the fuck sets up their best friend with a random ass stranger who volunteers to have sex with her while blindfolded in a Vegas hotel room? Without her knowledge? Get out of here. I'm sorry but the pushy overbearing friends setting it up for her without her knowledge ruined the fantasy for me. *shrugs* I also didn't like that the 2 "bitchy" mean ex girlfriends were both women of color while everyone else is white and nice. Maksim's bitchy ex Jade felt more fleshed out and more layered than Aspen. I thought he had more chemistry in that one little scene with his ex-girlfriend than the precious snowflake heroine. Not awkward at all. ...more
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