Okay, maybe I shouldn't have been expecting anything after the Halloween novella, because this was even worse. The writing style didn't improve, and IOkay, maybe I shouldn't have been expecting anything after the Halloween novella, because this was even worse. The writing style didn't improve, and I felt so disgusted by what I was reading, something that hasn't happened in a while.
Also, bisexual doesn't mean gay!!!! The character literally said he's bisexual, but then Maddox and Ivy kept calling him gay again and again and invalidating that he's also attracted to women. And that bit about (view spoiler)[the new girlfriend, saying he's attracted to her because she's trans and hasn't had surgery (hide spoiler)] rubbed me the wrong way too.
And listen, I really wanted both this and Welcome to Carnage to be my types of books, land on my favourites shelf and all that, but they just weren't for me, and neither is this author clearly. So we'll part ways here....more
I am so sorry but this was terrible. I thought I'd be able to give it at least 2 stars but I can't name a single thing I liked about it.
The premise soI am so sorry but this was terrible. I thought I'd be able to give it at least 2 stars but I can't name a single thing I liked about it.
The premise sounded really fun which was why I picked it up in the first place, but the execution left much to be desired.
Right from the get go, I knew the writing was going to be a problem for me, I hated it. And listen, I rarely read writing so bad that it gets to such strong levels of dislike and I definitely wasn't expecting to encounter it in a Christmas book, but here we are.
It's a novella so the characters being developed isn't a requirement, but they were so annoying. Foster at the start being like "well I don't care if you're giving birth, I'm not letting you in my house sorry" was hilarious but for all the wrong reasons.
He would constantly flip flop between believing Ginger and then believing Albert who he knew was not a good person, and he'd let Albert get into his head too much too easily. On top, he left Ginger alone with him while he went to look for a horse. She could've been assaulted or kidnapped, even with the storm outside.
And I love horses, I'd never want anything to happen to one out in the cold, but surely you could've tied Albert up or something if you really gotta go??
The romance tried, I'll give it that, but Foster's distrust and both his and Ginger's constant repetition of "oh I'm so dumb of course he/she doesn't actually like me" didn't make for a sweet one.
Even near the very ending they were doing the same thing, it didn't feel like they made any progress in their relationship despite Albert finally being out of the picture. Like no, the other person DOES NOT hate you, shut up and kiss already, gosh.
Another thing that bugged me is that this is supposed to be a historical romance (I believe), but it felt hella contemporary, just minus cellphones. So much so that I wasn't sure which shelf to put it on until I checked the anthology this book also appeared in and deduced that it was meant to be a historical western.
So really I'm just disappointed. I don't know if I'll be giving this author another chance in the future or not....more
First off, the main reason why I decided to read this series is Stella from Knight's Ridge Empire. She appears somewhere in here and I'm determined toFirst off, the main reason why I decided to read this series is Stella from Knight's Ridge Empire. She appears somewhere in here and I'm determined to find her. Unfortunately she didn't show up in this one.
I can't believe that the same author who wrote that wrote this too, because this was so bad. As bad as a fanfic written by a preteen girl 10 years ago. Whenever I mention fanfics like this I feel like I need to say I love them to death, but if you've been reading them for years you know exactly the ones I mean.
Amalie is not like other girls, which would be fine if we weren't reminded of that all the damn time. Not just by Amalie herself, but also Jake.
Jake is the hero villain of the story, with no redeeming qualities. Not one.
Both of them judge other girls (mostly cheerleaders) for being sluts and dressing and acting in certain ways, and the only thing that's making Amalie different is that she didn't start off by throwing herself at Jake, likely because he had a misplaced hatred for her from the get go.
Amalie however is a complete doormat, she lets Jake do whatever he wants because he's hot. He will hurt her, lie about her, lie to her, spread a doctored photo of her through the school, insult her, talk shit about other girls and hurt THEM and Amalie will still act like it's all normal and still want to be with him (because she sees something in him or whatever).
Jake calls her a whore so many times, but when Amalie is like ok I'm a whore what now, Jake gets upset and says "don't call yourself that"???? But it's okay for you to keep calling her that??? Make it make sense.
And the whole time there's this nice guy, Shane, looking out for her, but Amalie won't have it. He's just not doing it for her. Which is funny, because I thought they had really good chemistry, but the author wanted her with Jake so bad that their attraction to one another felt forced.
I have to mention something about Shane which is kind of spoilery, but there was a party and Amalie got her drink spiked and of course Jake wants to believe it's Shane because he doesn't like him. But Shane's never shown any sort of behaviour like that to make me believe that it was him.
The worst part is that WE DONT LEARN WHO IT WAS BY THE END!!!! If I, God forbid, ever had my drink spiked I'd want to know who it was, wouldn't you? Especially if I had to attend school with those people for two whole years. The person that did it could just be lying in wait to do it again, or is doing it to other girls...
I guess the answer depends on if Shane has a book in the series or not. If he does then I'm assuming that it wasn't him, and if he doesn't then it must've been him?
Now, both Amalie and Jake have sad backgrounds, but the difference is Jake hates everything and wants to burn the world down, and Amalie is just sad, and the victim of a lunatic (Jake).
Amalie's parents died just recently, and there's a suspicion that it wasn't an accident and even knowing this Jake still bullies her because, get this, SHE REMINDS HIM OF HIS MOTHER who left him.
And the super duper weird thing is that thoughts about his mother are often tied to his thoughts about Amalie, who he desires. He's got mommy issues to go around.
Literally, he will be thinking about his mother and how much he hates her and then a few seconds later about Amalie sucking his dick while thinking about how much she reminds him of his mother...TRY AND TELL ME THAT AIN'T WEIRD.
By the end Jake is "redeemed" when he finally shares his sob story with Amalie, but he doesn't change. Neither does Amalie. They're just publicly together now, but the same asshole behaviour continues.
If it wasn't for Stella I'm not sure if I'd continue this series. I think the next book is about Amalie's one and only friend and Jake's best friend. Both of those characters seemed alright in this one so hopefully the next book won't be this bad. It CAN'T be this bad. Jake is the worst....more
There's nothing I hate more than books with unique premises that get ruined by the "hero" (and someone else, later in the book) ASSAULTING THE HEROINEThere's nothing I hate more than books with unique premises that get ruined by the "hero" (and someone else, later in the book) ASSAULTING THE HEROINE.
Worse even, there was no warning that these things happen. You just jump into a cool shark shifter story where they've been protecting a secret submarine for generations, and then BAM! ASSAULT.
The way this book dropped ratings from five to one is interesting to me though. At some points I thought it couldn't get worse, surely the rating would stop changing, but no, it got worse every time.
The second biggest crime (the first, obviously being the assaults) is that the background story has so much potential, but as soon as Mason and Shiloh meet it turns into him telling her what to do, and when she said no HE DID NOT STOP. NOT ONCE.
He just proceeded to do whatever the hell he wanted to do to her, even when she cried, even when she said stop and no again, he has to get his way and that's that. And then poor Shiloh gets confused because he keeps telling her that she likes his abuse and assaults, she just doesn't know it yet. So she keeps coming back to him (not that he gives her a choice, he always finds her).
Also, Mason growls and purrs. Do with that information what you will.
I am just so angry and so tired of authors writing rape/assault as romantic. You can write alpha males without that, you know. It's really not hard.
If I had a physical copy of this book, then I'd throw it off a cliff. I mean it. Maybe somewhere near shark infested waters, it seems appropriate....more
Another heroine who finds rape hot, wonderful. Mind you, it's only in the context of the "hero" and her maybe possibly eventually definitely having seAnother heroine who finds rape hot, wonderful. Mind you, it's only in the context of the "hero" and her maybe possibly eventually definitely having sex at that point but???
There's a scene where he tells her to pick out a book, any book because he read them all, close her eyes and read a random part and he'll guess what the book is.
This is what happens:
My mouth ran dry as I began to read a scene which described a woman named Beauty being woken by her prince, but not simply with a kiss. He fucked her, deep, taking her virginity even as she came back from the depths of her sleeping curse.
And then she gets aroused, starts fantasising about Cashel doing it to her, and says consent wouldn't be needed because he has hers already or something along those lines. Baby, that Stockholm syndrome is strong, break free of it.
She could've picked ANY BOOK, and this is what she picks. This was a conscious choice and a completely ridiculous one at that. I'm not sure what's worse, that the book exists in real life or that the heroine found it hot. Both are bad, whatever.
LUCKILY, nobody rapes her in this book, not the hero or anyone else, but it does get kinda close. And she has enough sense not to find it hot there, good job Olivia.
Aside from that, this book gave me nothing. Not one thing. WHERE'S THE CHEMISTRY? THE PASSION? I really can't see why he wanted her so badly that he had to go and kidnap her and then acted on-and-off towards her while she was trapped.
The ending is a cliffhanger as expected, and it was an okay one as far as cliffhangers go. I liked it actually, I hope it stays that way (I know it won't, but I can dream).
Sorry Noah, I really wanted to meet you and see who you are in this universe, but I don't think I can continue with this series. See you in The Mate Games....more
I'll be honest and say that this book has never appealed to me and I had no plans on reading it until I saw some of my friends talking about the seconI'll be honest and say that this book has never appealed to me and I had no plans on reading it until I saw some of my friends talking about the second movie on Twitter. It got me curious and I thought why not?
For maybe an hour or two I even considered ordering a physical copy because, SURELY, it couldn't be that bad...well, it was that bad and I'm so glad I didn't do it. I wouldn't know what to do with the book afterwards.
So, I knew what I was getting into from the blurb, but I don't think it's quite an accurate description of everything that's inside.
And for a while at the start I thought that I might end up liking this, oh how wrong I was.
Basically the villain hero has been dreaming of the heroine for years, and then he bumps into her in real life and can't believe she's real.
I love the soulmates trope, and this sounds like prime soulmate trope material, doesn't it? WRONG! The only reason the dreams are even in the book, is to attempt to paint Massimo's kidnapping of Laura in a better light.
Like, oh he's so sweet, he has such noble intentions, nobody but Laura would do so he had to kidnap her, but he would never hurt her because she's his angel.
Except he does hurt her, repeatedly.
He keeps saying over and over again that she's free and he won't keep her there by force, but he'll harm her family if she leaves. He says he won't touch her without her consent because consent is sooooo important, and then goes and does the opposite.
She tells him no, she tells him to stop and he doesn't until she cries. And she only cried twice in their early days so you can imagine how much he got away with before she even had time to shed a tear.
He also lies to her about birth control, and it's an absolutely fucked up lie. And yeah, I'm going to spoil it in the next paragraph because readers need to know that this happens so they can avoid the book if it's triggering for them, so if you don't want to be spoiled skip to the paragraph after that one. Okay? Okay.
LAST CHANCE TO SKIP THE SPOILERS!
He tells her that he had birth control implanted into her arm while she was unconscious. This turns out to not be true, but it's actually a tracker instead which let's him know where she is at all times for her "safety". On top of that he planned to get her pregnant so she'd be forced to stay with him, and because the birth control wasn't real she actually does end up pregnant.
SPOILERS OVER.
He also loves to grab her by the throat, I think it's the most repeated action in the whole book. I was planning on counting every single time that happened, just to illustrate my point, but I unfortunately deleted my ebook after finishing it so we'll have to proceed without the count. Boo.
Another thing that got repeated to oblivion is Massimo glaring, looking angry/furious, or looking at Laura with "animalistic" eyes/passion.
I get that the author was trying to do something but didn't know how, and now we got this mess. I haven't seen the movie(s) but I'm praying they switched everything up because THIS WAS SO BAD!
And what I listed up top isn't even a third of it. But I don't feel like writing a full essay about this book. I'm sure other reviewers already picked everything problematic about this apart so I don't need to do it too.
If you feel like reading this...don't. It's just boring for a supposed thriller. Nothing of interest happens at any point. But if you really want to then go ahead I guess, but check out the top reviews first.
P. S. Laura is an alcoholic. Don't try to tell me she isn't. She takes every single opportunity to drink, even while kidnapped, like??? Common sense: nonexistent. YOU'D THINK SHE'D WANT TO BE CLEAR HEADED IN THIS TERRIBLE SITUATION, BUT NO.
I have 0 sympathy for alcoholic characters (except Harry Hole), so Laura was doomed from the start. I tried to like her despite that, but it didn't work. Massimo is still leagues worse though, no doubt about it....more
I really only picked this up because it was short, free, and seemed mildly interesting.
Not long into the story, I wanted to dnf, but I already loggedI really only picked this up because it was short, free, and seemed mildly interesting.
Not long into the story, I wanted to dnf, but I already logged it on Goodreads so I decided to finish it. And yeah, it's as terrible as it sounds. My bad for expecting substance in something like this, won't happen again.
The thing is, I've read good RH books before, and I've read amazing novellas too. Not everyone can make those things work together, so I won't dissect it, but why oh why did the whole book have to be so bland? There was no point to any of it.
Some scenes sounded very young to me, based on how they were written which also rubbed me the wrong way. I felt like I was reading a very specific kind of fanfic (you know the kind, when teens with no romantic/sexual experience try to write a smutty fic), and that's fine WHEN I'M READING FANFICTION, but not in an actual book.
I was bored, simple as that. I don't think other books by either author will be on my radar in the future....more
This is a book I should've dnf-ed at the very beginning, because the writing was boring me to no end. But I thought it would get better when DNF @ 59%
This is a book I should've dnf-ed at the very beginning, because the writing was boring me to no end. But I thought it would get better when the story got going...and it didn't.
There's a lot of repetition, the characters are just there and I really didn't like anything about this. Actually no, the premise was interesting and I liked that until I got to the execution.
Also, this is an UPDATED edition? If that's so, then I don't even want to know what the original version was like....more
WELL. This was an absolute mess, I don't even know where to begin.
Sometime in late October/early November I found out Through My Window was DNF @ 40%
WELL. This was an absolute mess, I don't even know where to begin.
Sometime in late October/early November I found out Through My Window was going to be a movie and I thought I'd go and check it out on Wattpad since it wasn't out in book form yet.
I soon regretted that decision, because it was so terrible that I couldn't even get through the first chapter. I figured maybe the official published version would be better so I waited until it was out. My friends, I was wrong.
Sure, there's no huge translation errors, and I did manage to get further into it this time because it's been polished, but...the story? That's just as bad as it was originally (even worse actually, now that I properly met the characters).
One of the comps for this book is After which is one of the bigger reasons why I got curious about it in the first place.
I genuinely likeAfter (feel free to judge me on that front, I don't mind) and all of its trashiness. But Through My Window could never be After. It can try, but it won't succeed.
The only similarities between them are that the love interest is a jerk with a lip ring and some tattoos. That's it.
So what's this book about you ask?
It's about a girl who's been stalking her neighbour ever since they were kids and has never exchanged a single word with him despite living next door for years.
The first time they do speak, it turns out he's been stealing her WiFi by hacking into her computer. And this begins their incredibly annoying will-they-won't-they "love story".
What really bugged me about this (other than the stalking, which was only ever joked about), is that the two main characters can't have a normal conversation that doesn't involve kissing or doing something sexual (literally the fifth or so time they talk, they're having full-blown sex, and before that...let's not get into it, just trust me).
Racquel says time and time again that she has self respect, she's seen her mother suffer because of her father's infidelity, she won't let herself fall for a guy who only wants sex. Good for you Racquel! If only you stuck to your principles.
Ares told her upfront that he wasn't a relationship person, but Racquel never listened and every time something sexual happens between them Ares is extremely cold (and he treats her horribly in general), and Racquel feels used. She leaves, she feels like shit, then Ares does a random act of kindness and it's all sunshine and rainbows again.
This escalates further and further and at this point you're thinking okay, this isn't a classic love story, it's a toxic one. But can it be a good toxic story? Unfortunately it can't.
There's no depth to the characters, no point to any of their actions. Everything is so shallow that I'm wondering how I even made it that far.
But guess what, Ares isn't the only boy orbiting around Racquel, oh no. There's two more boys who are very desperate for her attention, one being her best guy friend, and the other a boy she saved from bullies once.
I'd say the second is a bit less desperate and makes a big show of his affections, but the first is just sad because you know he doesn't stand a chance next to the Greek God (Racquel's nickname for Ares...I wish I was joking).
So yeah, I hated this. Maybe I could've pushed through the whole thing, but why would I? I doubt my opinion would change, if anything I'd probably be even more annoyed if I had to suffer through any more of this book.
The only good thing about this was Apolo. He's the youngest brother and a sweetheart. If he'd been the love interest maybe this would've been a good book.
Also, the title. Racquel's mother is a nurse and as a result she's never home so her daughter does what she wants and Ares uses a ladder to climb into her room. If you were curious about that, now you know.
Maybe the movie will be better? I don't have high hopes....more
This book was recommended to me by a twitter friend through that "12 months, 12 books recommended by 12 friendYou know what? I'm dnfing, I don't care.
This book was recommended to me by a twitter friend through that "12 months, 12 books recommended by 12 friends" thing and I'm sorry, but I gotta dnf.
It's not just because of the rape scene OF A CHILD at the start, but mainly because of that. It happens literally as soon as you open the book, and it doesn't give you any time to recover from it.
Aside from that, I kept trying to like it or to care about what's happening with the characters, but I just couldn't. So I'm saving my sanity....more
I feel terrible for saying this, but wow, this was bad.
This is only my second CoHo book, and I thought it would be better than the first one (Slammed)I feel terrible for saying this, but wow, this was bad.
This is only my second CoHo book, and I thought it would be better than the first one (Slammed) since November is my birth month, my birthday was a few days ago and I figured maybe good reading luck would follow me this month...but no.
It might be too early to say this, but I've figured out what my problem is with the CoHo books I've read so far.
The beginning seems promising, the characters likable and then it goes down and it never stops.
I loved the first chapter, especially when Ben showed up. I thought he would be an amazing love interest, one that I'd remember for a long time. And then his PoV started.
For all the maturity Ben shows in chapter one, he downgrades in every single chapter after. The only good thing about this is that I could believe he was also eighteen because of how annoying being in his head was.
When I look back, even that first scene with him could be considered creepy, but it's honestly not the worst. He's just terrible. I hate Ben, there, I said it.
Ben doesn't respect boundaries and has a way of pushing Fallon into doing things she doesn't want to do.
It's one thing to consider a girl beautiful and want her to love herself as much as you (insta) love her, and another to keep taking off her clothes when she says no, and demanding she wears something she's not comfortable wearing while telling EVERYONE in the near vicinity that you want to know what kind of panties she has on.
There was a lot of that in the book and I won't waste my time noting all of it here. I'm just disappointed.
And no CoHo, I didn't miss that Pad-Thai-and-Sushi-are-almost-the-same-thing-because-they're-both-Asian-food line either. That was just??? No.
As for the whole concept of the book, where they're only allowed to meet once a year, on November 9th, I'm going to have to say WHY DIDN'T YOU EXECUTE IT CORRECTLY?!
And by that I mean, this could've been a brilliant long distance love story (main character shittiness aside). It could've been romantic. It could've been painful. But instead it was just meh. Worse than meh really, no-meh, no nothing.
It began to feel ridiculous when they realised they loved each other, but decided to be stupid and make up unbelievable reasons as to why this particular November 9th isn't a good day to say fuck it and stay together. No, they HAD to go all the way to the 5th (and 6th) November 9th because if it wasn't for that the book would be over in nine minutes. See what I did there?
And then there's Ben's book and the plot twist within. The book didn't feel like a book at all, unless if he was literally writing it as it happened, but okay, let's say Benny boy has a good memory, it was still so annoying.
I understand why that manuscript was left for last, I do. But at that point there was nothing in the world that could redeem Ben after what he's done that I simply didn't care if he had a tragic back story of his own.
And yeah the twist...adding another cherry onto the already very large very unbelievable event pile. That felt lazy. There was no real conflict so something shocking had to be introduced I suppose.
I even considered giving this two stars, but after writing my review I don't think I can. There's not a single thing I liked except for the pacing. Can you even like that on its own? I don't know.
One thing I do know for sure, is that I'm glad that I didn't cave and buy a physical copy of this book just because it has November in the title. I consider that a small fortune in misfortune....more
Ugly Love may have failed in everything it tried to do, but it succeeded in one thing - it made me feel absolutely nothing at all which is quite the aUgly Love may have failed in everything it tried to do, but it succeeded in one thing - it made me feel absolutely nothing at all which is quite the accomplishment.
This is one of Colleen Hoover's most popular books (I don't see why), but the reason I really wanted to check it out was that scene where (view spoiler)[Miles calls Tate by Rachel's name while he's inside of her (hide spoiler)]. I saw it on Twitter and it piqued my curiosity.
Because of that, it wasn't a surprise to me so it didn't hurt, but I'd like to think that I would have at least felt something had I not known it was going to happen.
The whole book was boring. Not boring enough to dnf, but pretty darn close. Miles was awful, Tate was just there, and Rachel? The way Miles spoke about her in his chapters I almost assumed he'd be with her again. And you know what? He should've.
I don't care about Rachel (cool that she's found happiness though), I don't care about Miles, and I don't care about Tate - BUT, she does deserve better than what Miles gave her.
The Miles chapters are the worst part of the book. They take up too much time and space, and only the very last one is necessary. In that one Tate finally finds out why Miles is so ~ broken ~.
If we really needed a Rachel backstory, it could've been a prequel novella. In this one we should've seen how Miles was dealing with his growing feelings for Tate.
What I also don't like is that Tate could've been any other girl and the story wouldn't change. It doesn't feel special, like it's the Miles & Tate story. No, it's just the Miles & first random girl he got sexually attracted to a bit too much to stay celibate story. And that's that....more
This book was definitely not for me. I hated everything about it, the writing style, the pacing, the story, the characters, the chapter length...I wonThis book was definitely not for me. I hated everything about it, the writing style, the pacing, the story, the characters, the chapter length...I won't even judge the sexism or other issues because of the year it was published, I'll just stick to general book stuff.
The storyline was simple and boring. I would've quit this book based on that alone if I could (bookclub read).
The chapter length is also something I want to point out before I move on to characters. It was alright at first, and then they started to get longer and that's part of the reason why I hated it so much. I think I could've dealt with the boredom easier if the chapters were all short.
Now characters, until we learned how old Rek was I thought he was a teenager, and no matter what he did I still kept seeing him as such. Maybe he would've been fine on his own, but adding Virae to the mix just made it worse.
She's supposed to be a strong independent warrior who would go into battle alone if need be, but as soon as she meets Rek, it's like she forgets who she is and starts depending on him to save her.
And then there's the insta-love. I don't mind this trope as much as people usually do. Unfortunately, Legend didn't make it work. They exchanged 5-10 words and then BOOM in love.
Let's not even mention Rek being creepy and kissing Virae while she was unconscious and before they even had a non-arguement scene...
As far as other characters go, I didn't hate Serbitar and Ulric. I quite liked them. (view spoiler)[But they died. And weren't brought back. But Virae was??? Unjust. (hide spoiler)] The rest eh.
I don't have much else to say. Luckily, the book was short overall so I didn't waste too many hours on it.
The only reason why it gets an extra star is for the axe name. Snaga means strength in Serbian, so that was clever. ...more
What I thought this was going to be: a dark Romeo and Juliet retelling.
What it actually was: explicit kidnapping, torture and rape with no Romeo or JWhat I thought this was going to be: a dark Romeo and Juliet retelling.
What it actually was: explicit kidnapping, torture and rape with no Romeo or Juliet in sight.
The only thing they retained from the original story is their last names. In a way this is a good thing, because the book is terrible, no need to ruin Shakespeare further.
Juliet Avery doesn't read like a 25 year old heroine at all. She's spoiled and bratty, as one would suspect and even, dare I say, likable at the beginning. That quickly changes the longer we're in her head.
But I did feel for her, when it seemed like everything was going wrong with her crazy father who wanted to marry her off to her dead sister's fiancé, she had to break up with her 8 year (violent) boyfriend and deal with learning her eggs have been harvested (oddly enough, not the worst thing that happens in the book).
The point where it really goes wrong is her kidnapping. Is kidnapping meant to be nice? No, of course not. But if this was meant to be a romantic story (as it's marketed) then you can't write it like this. You just can't.
There's no reason why the rape happened, it doesn't add to the plot and it's really explicit. And disgusting. And plain wrong. It's romanticised in a way and I am not here for that shit. Also there's no warning.
Apart from the themes mentioned above, there's also suicide which wasn't handled well. Is that a surprise? At this point, no.
The relationship between Avery and Rome is barely mentioned until they're put in a specific situation together which doesn't match the blurb. And even then it's nothing special, no sparks, nothing.
I'm supposed to feel the hate that Rome is feeling towards her and all I felt was emptiness. Her family ruined his? Sent him to prison for something he didn't do? So what? Who cares? Not me.
I think it says a lot that I'm more interested in Avery's father than either of the main leads. He was written decently at least. And Will wasn't too bad all things considered, I at least strongly disliked him.
We got a random P.O.V. from an FBI agent somewhere in the middle maybe, he also didn't seem experienced and his P.O.V. wasn't needed, especially when we didn't see him before.
This book is a huge disappointment. I expected so much from it. Within the first three chapters I even thought I'd read book two, but now I won't. And I suggest you don't either unless if this is your kind of thing, then by all means, go ahead. ...more
Let me start off by saying that I had no idea this book even existed, until it became a suggestion for the book club I'm in.
Judging by the blurb alonLet me start off by saying that I had no idea this book even existed, until it became a suggestion for the book club I'm in.
Judging by the blurb alone, this is a book that I never would have picked up on my own, and you know what? I would've been right.
I comfortably could've gone my whole life without reading a single word, would've saved myself so much time.
But, it was the main monthly read so I decided to give it a chance. And so began my struggle with The Black Prism.
There's multiple POVs in this story and every single one of them is boring.
For a time, the son's (Kip's) POV was the most interesting even though I cared little for him as a character. He just had the most stuff going on and had actual development throughout the course of the book.
Everyone else? God save me.
I did like two characters, Ironfist and Lord Omnichrome. Both fit the profile of characters I'm usually drawn to so it's not a surprise. The sad part is they're barely in the book.
Ironfist appears earlier and is a sort of guardian figure to Kip, like a big strong uncle. But he's always in the background.
And Lord Omnichrome comes into the story near the end. I won't spoil anything about him but just know that he finally brought some colour into this dreadful world.
Are those two characters enough to get me to continue the series? As much as I love them, unfortunately not.
This book has a lot of problems. Stating the most obvious one first, the length.
This book is wayyyy too long for what it brings to the table. I found myself skimming a lot, half due to the disinterest in the story/world and half due to the boring characters. The one thing it has going for it are the short chapters.
The worldbuilding and the magic system were okay...different, but I just didn't care to learn more about it or to understand what's going on. The book failed to engage me.
There was one big plot twist that should've impacted me but didn't. Actually, there were two. The other is at the end and I predicted that one. Yay me.
And then we have the sexism. Even though I read more male than female authors on average, I have yet to see one write women this badly. Were there no women editors/publishers who read this? And if yes, how they thought it was okay is beyond me.
I'll give a few examples that really stood out to me, but rest assured, there's plenty more where that came from.
“Isn’t that the class with the girl always spilling out of her top? Lana? Ana?” It was one thing when women pursued Gavin, but that girl had been throwing herself at him since she was fourteen.
“Your ass looks like a ten-year-old boy’s. Maybe it’s that dress. We’ll hope so. And your breasts. Your poor magnificent breasts. Where have they gone? They were bigger when you were fifteen! Your training ends now. I’ll allow you to resume dancing and riding when you no longer resemble a starved Dark Forest pygmy.”
On top of that we have descriptions of every woman's body (read: breasts), they're all curvy and male characters can't help but stare. There's unnecessary nudity scenes (for ritual purposes only, OF COURSE), and unnecessary flashing scenes that scream "fanservice" in an ecchi anime.
Just why? WHY?!
Overall, this book is a huge disappointment. I hate it so much, that it inspired me to create another shelf. I'll let you guess which one it is. ...more
I'm surprised I managed to make it even this far in, but I'm done, I can't do it anymore. I don't want to waste time on something that's cleaDNF @ 38%
I'm surprised I managed to make it even this far in, but I'm done, I can't do it anymore. I don't want to waste time on something that's clearly not getting better (I read spoilers for the ending and NO).
It was so freaking boring, it legit almost put me to sleep and I kinda wish it did because then I'd wake up and this book would be over and I wouldn't have had to listen to some of the scenes...
ANYWAY, PROTECT THE HORSE!!! WHAT WAS THAT SCENE EW. EW. EW. EW. EW. EW. EW. EWWWWWWWW. I don't think I'll be reading Jade West again. ...more
I started the audiobook today while cleaning and...the cleaning was a lot more interesting.
I had high-ish hopes for this book. I've been meaning to rI started the audiobook today while cleaning and...the cleaning was a lot more interesting.
I had high-ish hopes for this book. I've been meaning to read it and thought it would be nice background noise. Now I'm thinking it's more along the lines of "putting you to sleep" noise. Some of my friends have recommended it too. Sorry guys, but, I really didn't like this.
The story was boring, nothing was happening (and from the looks of things it stays that way until the end), I didn't like the characters or the writing style. The narrator didn't even make it better, the narration is as monotone as the book feels.
I refuse to spend time on things I find no joy in anymore so I'm choosing to dnf. ...more
If there was ever a book that embodied the word "annoying", it would definitely be this one.
Josh and Lucy act like elementary school childrenDNF @ 42%
If there was ever a book that embodied the word "annoying", it would definitely be this one.
Josh and Lucy act like elementary school children the entire time (or at least up until the point I got to). Worse even. THIS IS NOT WHAT I SIGNED UP FOR.
I hate their banter, I hate how boring they are, I hate the writing style...yeah I really didn't like this. Moving on.
I'm hoping that the movie will be better at telling this story. One of the few times you'll see me say something like this....more
