Pretty disappointed, not gonna lie. I've been so disappointed by a lot of adult rom-coms this year. Is it me or them? *le sigh*Pretty disappointed, not gonna lie. I've been so disappointed by a lot of adult rom-coms this year. Is it me or them? *le sigh*...more
If it doesn't involve a car accident and a whole lot of suspension of disbelief, is it even a Colleen Hoover novel?If it doesn't involve a car accident and a whole lot of suspension of disbelief, is it even a Colleen Hoover novel?...more
To start this off on the bright side, this was the 30th book that I read in 2021, which allowed me to complete my Goodreads goal of 30 books! Hurray! When I marked this book as read on the Goodreads app, it set off cute little confetti on my screen. Moving on to my feelings on the book, I was very disappointed by this. I honestly already strongly suspected that this book was going to gravely disappoint me, but I just can’t help myself sometimes. After the third book in this series, I vowed that I wasn’t going to pick another one up in the future, but again, I just can’t help myself.
The biggest reason why I decided to read this book is because I missed Cam and Avery, and I was specifically in the mood to read something just like Wait for You because that is my favourite new adult book ever. Fortunately, Cam and Avery, as well as Jase and Tessa who I also adore, made appearances in the story. Unfortunately, this book was nothing like Wait for You, and I didn't enjoy the plot or main characters at all.
The mystery/thriller aspect of this book certainly intrigued me, but the romance was definitely the forefront of the novel. As a big romance fan, I wouldn’t normally be complaining about this, but in this case, the actual plot of the story was completely pushed aside for the romance until the last 80 or so pages of the book. The mystery had a lot of potential, but it was undeveloped and very underwhelming. It was stupid, and the final plot twist was such a letdown.
Miscommunication is the absolute worst trope in existence; you cannot argue with me on this one. This book is filled with unnecessary complications because of the characters’ inability to communicate with one another. One silly misunderstanding dragged this book out for much longer than necessary.
Jennifer L. Armentrout’s characters, especially her protagonists and love interests, are a big part of what keeps me coming back to her books. This story was an exception to well-developed, fun characters. Our main character, Roxy, was blander than a piece of toast. Her personality was absolutely nowhere to be seen, and I can certainly say the same for her love interest, Reece. Roxy also made a lot, and I seriously mean a lot, of terrible and stupid decisions throughout the course of this book. I lost count of the number of times that I felt like putting the book down simply because of how frustrated I was with her.
I hated the romance. Reece certainly wasn't anything to write home about. He kept calling Roxy ‘babe’, even before they were together, and it was weird and sounded awkward at times. The two of them had absolutely no chemistry, and their backstory wasn’t even cute or interesting.
I hope that I actually keep my vow to never pick up another book in this series in the future. ...more
Think the movie The Vow, except make it smutty and just not as good in general. Oh, and don't forget to throw in a melodramatic and underdeveloped mystery.
I was stuck trying to pick out my next read, and I actually started the first chapter or two of a few different books, but I was not in the mood for any of them. Then, I woke up the next morning to find an email containing this book from The Romance Read Club of the Month, and I decided to give it a go. It was precisely what I needed…..Until I passed the halfway point of the book. It started to go a little bit downhill from there.
I was pleasantly surprised by the first half of the book. The mystery aspect intrigued me, I liked all of the characters that we were introduced to, and I liked the direction that the romance waa going in. It seemed like it was going to be a good old slow-burn with hints of second-chance romance and a little hate-to-love in the mix. Unfortunately, out of nowhere, Clem and Ed just decided that they were going to be a couple again and give it another try. The build up to that moment was going so well, and then the momentum was killed by the two of them coming together too soon and randomly.
I was so excited for Ed and Clem to finally give in to their feelings for each other, but their romance made me cringe more than anything else. The way that they spoke to each other was so hilarious sometimes, but it definitely was not intended to be that way. I wish I had saved some of the quotes that made me laugh. Also, Ed started to constantly call Clem 'baby' and it irritated the heck out of me. Pet names are cute when used in moderation, not when the same one is tagged onto the end of nearly every single sentence out of your mouth. The conflicts in their romance were also kind of ridiculous and absolutely pointless to the overall story, if you ask me. Furthermore, I couldn't get behind the set-up for the book in which Clem had dumped Ed shortly before getting attacked and losing her memory. We didn't really get the whole story unfortunately, but it sounded weird and a little stupid. The romance was also much more smutty and detailed than I had been anticipating because only the second half of the book was this way, but I ended up skimming through a few parts of the book because it was just not up my alley.
This book really seemed like it was going to duck its way out of the trap of New Adult romance thrillers that are essentially smut and some extremely melodramatic and unrealistic stalking/attacks/murderer on the loose. This story had a solid buildup and I really liked where it was going, but even that was not good enough to withstand that NA romantic thriller curse. Before I knew it, our protagonist Clementine was clearly being targeted, and yet no one seemed to be reacting properly. Instead, Clem and Ed couldn't get their hands off of each other. If you're going to do a romance and a thriller all in one, BALANCE is the key. You can't just have smut with some random criminal attacks scattered here and there, but that's honestly what so many of these types of books do! This story actually reminded me a lot of Stay With Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout, which I had the exact same issue with. They have great potential, and then they totally waste it. The romance was weak, and the mystery was even weaker.
The end, oh God, the end was so cringey. Within the last 10% or so of the story, we had the climax, and then everything was wrapped up in an unbelievably neat package. Everything came together so perfectly that it was honestly laughable. The dialogue in these scenes were also very strange and cringe-worthy.
I wish the entire book was as good as the first half was, but it was still entertaining. ...more
If you need me, I’ll be obsessively binging the rest of Tarryn Fisher’s books.
The writing style was absolutely magnificent. I was immediately sucked into the story, and I was enthralled by the writing the entire way through. I was not expecting there to be a dual timeline, but it was a pleasant surprise.
The story itself was surprisingly emotional. There were a couple of plot points that were very unexpected, but extremely hard hitting. Some moments nearly had tears pricking my eyes, but I could not look away from the story.
Isaac, Isaac, Isaac. Tarryn Fisher has such a way of creating irresistible, yet incredibly flawed characters. Isaac was caring, sweet, and amazing, but was also a little bit morally ambiguous at times. Prime example:(view spoiler)[He was married and had a baby on the way with his wife, but he still had feelings for Senna and acted upon them while they were in the cabin together. It was difficult to sort out how I felt about that because if you’re trapped with somebody that you care about, and you will most likely never escape/end up dying there with them, how wrong is it really to become romantically involved with them? But at the same time, cheating is cheating, so how can I condone that? How would his wife feel to know what was going on? But on the other hand, if Isaac and Senna were going to be trapped there for the rest of their lives and being with each other was the only thing that could bring them any happiness, plus he was never going to see his wife again (not by his choice), is that still completely wrong? I don’t know!! But I do know that I was rooting for their relationship to work out while they were trapped together. (hide spoiler)] I had been so curious about how Isaac and Senna knew each other, but the reality of their situation was the farthest thing from what I could have expected.
My only serious issue with the book was the climax and reveal of “the zookeeper”. I was so invested and intrigued by the mystery aspect, but I was left a little bit disappointed by the final reveal. The clues were all very interesting. I’m still not entirely sure I fully understand the motive behind the whole thing considering the extreme lengths that they had to go to to get this cabin all set up, plus leave the clues. I seemed too complicated for what it was supposed to be.
I picked this up on a whim, not really sure what to expect, but I am so very glad that I did! This will certainly not be my last Tarryn Fisher read!...more
I purchased this book on a whim when I saw it for a great price on Book Outlet a few years ago, simply because I was intrigued by the synopsis and I liked the cover. It sat on my shelf for a few years, until I finally decided to give it a go, and I’m really pleased that I finally did! I honestly don’t entirely know what I was expecting out of this, but it was somehow different, and I enjoyed it!
A large part of this book was set/based around a video store, and it evoked the nostalgia of visiting the video store to rent movies and video games. There used to be a video store in my town that would give out free rentals for the summer for each A on a report card that children would bring in from the school year. Those visits to the store to pick out all the different movies to watch and video games to try on my Wii were so much fun, and this book put me in the mood to go to one of those stores again!! Unfortunately, I don’t think those stores even exist anymore.
There was also a really cool (for me) part in which Zach was telling Addie about his pet fish, and he says, "We actually started out with him and another fish - a yellow molly called Molly. But Goldie ate him within, like, six hours of both of them being brought home." This was super exciting for me because when I was really young, I had a yellow pet fish, Sunshine, which I think may have been a molly. Unfortunately, we got him on the same day as my sister's fish, and apparently the two types of fish we got don’t get along well. My sister’s fish nibbled on Sunshine’s fins until he died within a week! I was devastated. It’s honestly become one of my go-to childhood stories, but I’ve never heard of this happening with anybody else, fictional or real-life!
The romance in this book is really interesting and unique. (view spoiler)[I cannot think of another story I’ve read in which one main character falls in love with another character who is still in love with their ex. This is not in any way a creative or new idea, and it’s actually very realistic, but I don’t think it’s something that is explored often in romances. Maybe that’s because we’re so used to having happy endings that most writers don’t go the route of creating a romance between two characters just to have one of them going back to their old partner. Regardless, it made this story stand out a little bit from a lot of the others that I’ve read recently, and it’s a topic that I’d like to see in other books in the future (so please send your recommendations my way). (hide spoiler)]
I had two main issues with this book: I didn’t think that the characters were fleshed out enough. I understand that Addie’s character was supposed to have gaps, so to speak, since she was missing vital parts of her memory, but I still felt like she could have been rounded out a little better, and there were other characters who didn’t have as much dimension as I would have liked. This was especially true in the case of Addie’s supposed best friend, Katie, who she honestly didn’t seem that close with. I had a hard time believing that the two of them were best friends for such a long time, and I don’t think we saw enough of Katie to really understand her character or relationship with Addie. She wasn’t present for most of the ‘Before’ parts of the story because she was at camp, and she was absent in a great deal of ‘After’ chapters as well. I don’t think we ever got a complete explanation for Addie’s hallucination of Zach. I’m still not sure of why she started seeing him, why it started at that time, or how he seemed much more real/solid than a hallucination. She could touch him, and I may not remember this correctly, but I think he also caught her or helped her from falling once?? Or did he give her his jacket when she was cold? I can’t quite remember the details, but sometimes the scenes between Addie and memory Zach seemed like more than just imagination, and I would have liked a better explanation for it.
On a totally random, different note, I really liked this quote that the doctor said toward the end of the book: “Sometimes I’ll think about her, wonder if she looks the same. What she did after college, whether she ever thinks about me, wonders about me.” His voice gets fainter and fainter. “Where she is right now.” He pauses. “And what she’s done with her piece of my heart.”
This story reminded me a little bit of The Program trilogy by Suzanne Young. I read that series so long ago, but it was based around the idea of suicide becoming an epidemic for teenagers, so The Program was created to erase negative memories of teenagers who were depressed or suicidal. The whole premise of removing certain memories was really similar in both of these stories, except The Program is more of a dystopian novel, while Everyone We’ve Been was more of a contemporary with dystopian elements.
Overall, it was a solid book and a nice change of pace from my other recent reads. ...more
I’d gasp, except he can’t possibly be right. Can he? Also, gasping is for damsels, and I’m a gangster.
All I can even say is ‘wow’! I think I went into this with kind of low expectations because the synopsis seemed vague, and it’s been on my TBR for so long that I honestly forgot what this book was supposed to be about. I am also not too familiar with Tarryn Fisher’s writing aside from her Never, Never series with Colleen Hoover, which I did enjoy when I read it a few years ago. But my gosh, was this ever a fantastically pleasant surprise!
This book read very much like a thriller, an aspect that I adored. It was very well written, and the story quickly drew me in. It was an intense, wild ride from beginning to end. The very first chapter was so enticing, and I simply could not stop reading. I actually read this book mostly in one night as I was curled up in bed trying to fend off the side effects of my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. It was the perfect distraction!
This novel was one of the strangest that I think I’ve ever read, and I’m at a loss at how to adequately describe it or my feelings upon completing it. The best words I can use to describe it are enthralling and unique. It is absolutely incomparable to anything else that I’ve ever read before, but I loved that quality.
I was obsessed with the writing style. Helena’s narration was fresh and entertaining.
The plot was interesting, and again, very original. I went in a very different direction than I had expected it to, but it was fine. For the first half or so of the book, I really thought that there was going to be some type of magic realism element. I wondered if Kit had somehow created the dream and put it in Helena’s mind in an attempt to make her fall in love with him… or something like that. But I guess it really was just a regular dream? There were some situations in the story that seemed a little bit too far-fetched or dramatic, such as Helena coincidentally becoming roommates with Kit’s ex-girlfriend.
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This is one of those stories where you are deeply rooting for a character, even when you know that sometimes you shouldn’t be. Helena made some, um, questionable decisions throughout the course of the book. Even still, I couldn’t help myself from hanging off the edge of my seat in anticipation while cheering Helena on and keeping my fingers crossed that Helena and Kit would end up together somehow. I was satisfied with the ending.
I am definitely adding this to my list of underrated books, and I will certainly be picking up more of Tarryn Fisher’s books in the future!
If you are looking for a quick, addictive, stand-out novel, I would highly recommend picking this one up!
Don’t be upset that you can’t attain constant happiness. It’s the quickest way to feel like a failure in life. If each of our lives represented a page in a book, happiness would be the punctuation. It breaks up the parts that are too long. It closes off some things, divides others. But it’s brief—showing up when it’s needed and filling tired paragraphs with breaks. Being content is a more attainable constant state....more
This book took me forever to read, and although it had a decent start, it only went downhill from there.
The biggest reason why I wanted to read this book was because the synopsis reminded me of the show Spinning Out, which I really enjoyed! The main storyline of that show follows a figure skater who is recovering from an injury, but then partners with a male figure skater to do pairs skating, even though the two of them do not get along. But, you guessed it, they fall in love, and my gosh, was the romance ever fantastic. Unfortunately, I can not say the same about the romance in From Lukov With Love, or any aspect of the book, really.
I did not at all enjoy the writing style. It was overly wordy, which made the book drag on. The author would frequently use odd descriptions or very random fun facts/anecdotes about characters instead of writing their names, especially in between dialogue. For example: He’s out with his friends,” the redheaded woman who had given birth to me, explained quickly. “Don’t even pretend. You used to always come home talking about him,” the five-foot-seven-inch man who had always been a perfect balance between a supportive older brother and an annoying pain in the ass with boundary issues claimed." I found this to be extremely weird and at times disruptive to the story.
Jasmine was honestly a rather unlikable character and her inner monologue was painfully boring. She often whined and complained, or at least thought about the same issues over, and over, and over again. This was another issue that caused the book to drag on for me.
Typically, I love a good slow-burn romance. I heard some people complain about this romance being too slow, but I wasn’t concerned about it because I like it when the characters take their time falling in love. This book, however, was on a whole ‘nother level. The romance literally did not even start until the last couple of chapters. The lead up to the romance was nothing special either. I thought that their relationship was kind of one-sided in the sense that Ivan would put in effort to do nice things for Jasmine, such as take care of her while she was sick, help her babysit, and give her rides, but she never put in effort to help him. I aso found Ivan to be kind of possessive which drove me nuts. There was one part in particular in which Ivan found out that Jasmine had been receiving some creepy mail and messages on social media, and he completely flipped out, not because he was upset on Jasmine’s behalf, but because how dare she not tell him! How is that fair? She is under no obligation to share that type of information with you just because you’re her skating partner! It was later revealed that Ivan had also gone behind Jasmine’s back to call somebody in her life and tell them to stay away from her before Ivan was even partners or friends with Jasmine. I understand the gesture, but I thought that he was overstepping a boundary, and it’s something that would have made me personally uncomfortable. I despise the trope of guys staying away from a girl because another guy threatened anyone that went near her just because “she’s too good for them” or some similar excuse. It’s gross and possessive, even when well-intentioned. I was also very excited to read this book because I had heard that it included that ever-so wonderful trope of one of the characters caring for the other when they were sick. It was true that there was a part of the book like this, but it was not nearly as cute as I had hoped it would be.
I was having a lot of fun with this book while Jasmine and Ivan were enemies. It was funny and entertaining, but as they began becoming friends, I started to lose interest. Their banter lost its charm and humour as it became repetitive, and it became kind of boring. I was also kind of uncomfortable with some of the “jokes” between the two of them, such as Ivan constantly calling Jasmine ‘Meatball’. Jasmine thought he was making fun of her weight with that nickname, and I waited for the entire book for it to be revealed that she was mistaken and the name ‘Meatball” had an entirely different, sweet origin story, because there is absolutely no way that she would have a romance with a man who continues to mock her weight in such as incredibly mean way. But nope, he made fun of her weight throughout the whole book, and everyone seemed to brush it off like it was no big deal; meanwhile, I thought that it was a huge, terrible deal.
I must say, the cover of this book is not well-suited to the story, in my opinion. Perhaps it’s because I’ve grown accustomed to the much overdone colorful, cartoon style adult rom-com covers, but this cover is bland for what is supposed to be a comedic story. I had actually seen this book flying around Goodreads for quite some time, but I never bothered to read the synopsis because I totally judged the book by its cover and assumed that it would be a boring chick-lit… although I wasn’t really wrong, was I?...more
This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021, but it was such a letdown.
For me, this book began as a 4-star read, maybe even 5 stars. I liked the pacing and the characters, and I loved when weird things began happening. As soon as the plot twist was explained, it immediately went down to 3 stars. Throughout the second half or so of the book, I didn’t like the direction that it was going in, and it dropped down to 2.5 stars. By the last chapter, it barely scratched the surface of 2 stars.
The concept was really fun, but the events did not play out in the way that I would have hoped. When you begin to really think about the storyline, it feels like there are way too many loopholes. I cannot wrap my head around my idea that Jess never once even questioned her life and certain situations in her town. It’s ridiculous to me that she suddenly began to notice all the weird things, such as how many people in town seemed to be the same person like a substitute teacher, a cashier, etc. There were so many weird little things like this, as well as a lot of situations that happened to work out a little bit too perfectly, such as Jess being able to follow her sister's clues to escape. Again, it’s just beyond me how she managed to live a complete lie with everyone other than her parents as actors on a set, and she never had even an inkling of suspicion about ANYTHING. And then this actor on the show who has been playing one of her best friends for her whole life, gives up the information and explains everything to her so quickly, literally destroying the whole secret that these actors have been working to keep for 17 years. What is actually even weirder than all of that, was Jess’s reaction to what should have been shocking and horrifying news. She took it incredibly well, in my opinion, which felt too unrealistic.
I found the fact that this book is marketed as a thriller to be very misleading. It felt like a thriller initially, but the second half of the novel felt more like a dystopian action story, a genre that I’m not the biggest fan of. Furthermore, the futuristic world was underdeveloped, and it honestly probably would have been better if it took place in present day.
The romance just ain’t it. It was rushed and forced, and it did nothing but increase my dislike for this story. I really liked the romance with Tyler at the beginning of the book. He had me swooning, but then nothing came out of it and he was traded in for a terribly boring guy.
I hated the ending. I understand now that this is the first book in a series, so the cliffhanger was intentional, but that does not make me like it any less unsatisfying. I will certainly not be picking up the rest of this series at any point in the future. ...more
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this book as a whole, but it didn’t quite reach my expectations as I hoped it would.
I really enjoyed the writing style of this book. It was engaging and entertaining as it alternated between Zach and Reuben’s point of view, and both of them had distinct and likeable voices. I also had a great time learning about their bandmates, Angel and Jon, although I definitely would have liked the opportunity to get to know them even more. The dynamic between the four bandmates was fun to read about, but there wasn’t enough of it. I wish we had gotten a clearer picture of the band’s history and even their style of music.
I must admit that I enjoyed the first half of this book more than the second half. From the first couple of chapters, I was so sure that I was going to love this book! However, the focus began to shift from the romance to other plot points. I liked the romance, but I found it to be a little bit underdeveloped. I felt that the story was beginning to drag on in the second half. It became very repetitive with miscommunication between Zach and Reuben, which is my least favourite trope ever, and discussion about how Chorus was controlling the band. I think the book could have been cut down a little bit, or even better, we could have gotten a few more fun/cute scenes between Rebeun and Zach, or all four of the bandmates.
I was expecting this story to have light-hearted and fluffy vibes, but it had a more serious tone. There were some subplots about really serious issues that I feel could have been handled better. It seemed that Zach was struggling with an eating disorder, or at least had some symptoms of one, but this was not really delved into the way that I hoped it would be. Because it was never addressed properly, I honestly feel like Zach’s disordered eating was somewhat normalized, and it could potentially be very harmful to the reader. There was also a character struggling with addiction, which ended up being kind of glossed over.
This book provided some interesting commentary on the music industry. I am curious to know how much of it is accurate to the experiences of members of real boy bands in terms of management controlling their every move. If it’s true, it’s very sad. This aspect of the story reminded me a little bit of the book Bootleg Stardust by Glenn Dixon, but I much, much, much preferred this book and the way the the subject was handled in If This Gets Out compared to that one. On that, I think I’m coming to learn that I’m just not a huge fan of most books I’ve read about musicians. With the expectation of Kill the Boy Band, a satirical comedy about fandom culture and boy bands, as well as Daisy Jones and the Six, an utter masterpiece, I have been really disappointed by books heavily revolving around music.
If you’re looking for a story about the pressures of the music industry or a decent romance between two boys, this one may be for you! ...more
Cute, cute, cute, cute, cute! And, oh, did I mention cute? I'm sad that this series is over. It was fun! I will admit that I found the story a little biCute, cute, cute, cute, cute! And, oh, did I mention cute? I'm sad that this series is over. It was fun! I will admit that I found the story a little bit hard to follow at times, which is a problem I also had with the first installment. With even more characters being added this time, it could get confusing. Regardless, the main characters are lovable, the romance is sweet, the art style is lovely, and as a whole, the series is heartwarming and absolutely charming. ...more
This trilogy was definitely a fun binge-read, but it was not without its flaws.
This instalment jumped right into things two years after the events of the second book, which I was not a fan of. I hate that we just completely skipped over the process of Jeremiah and Belly getting together and everything else that happened in the last two years. To me, it usually feels like a way of cheating out on actually writing the story properly, and it cheapens the book for me. I had this issue repeatedly throughout this trilogy, though this was the worst instance, but that’s just my opinion.
The main plot of this book is preparing for a wedding, and the only reason the wedding is even happening is because Jeremhiah needed to prove his love and loyalty after sort of cheating on Belly. The whole situation had Ross/Rachel vibes to to it: [image]
The entire time, you know that this wedding is not going to happen, so half the book just seems totally pointless. Belly is still incredibly immature in this book, so it’s kind of weird to read about her planning her wedding, as it is very much like reading about a child planning a wedding.
Don’t even get me started on what a frustrating, immature, ridiculous mess everything with Conrad was! He was driving me nuts! At one point, Conrad said, “He was marrying my girl” and I was genuinely struck speechless. Your girl? YOUR GIRL? You mean “your girl” that you knew was in love with you for ages and you repeatedly treated like crap? “Your girl” who you already had multiple chances with but never acted upon them correctly? “Your girl” who you constantly claim you have no interest in? She doesn’t sound like your girl to me! All of Conrad’s excuses for how he treated Belly in the past were ridiculous and totally unjustifiable!
I wasn’t overly fond of Jeremiah in the first two books, but I didn’t have anything against him either. He seemed sweet and nice, but this book totally just turned that upside down. From cheating on her and stealing her french fries, to his annoying frat friends and being late for things, Jeremiah was suddenly just the worst. Of course it’s understandable that being in a relationship with someone you were previously friends with, the dynamic of your relationship changes and you may discover things about them that you don’t necessarily like. I think that can be okay, but some of the situations and little details in the book seemed a little over the top. The worst part is that you know that the only reason his character changes so drastically is to give Belly a good enough excuse to switch back to Team Conrad, yet again.
The ending of this book was honestly the biggest cop out that I have ever read. I am honestly in disbelief that they ended it this way. (view spoiler)[How did the family react (parents and Steven)? What did they do with all of the stuff they ordered for the wedding? Did they still all sit down and eat together? How and why did Conrad start mailing Belly letters? What were the events that led up to them getting back together? How did Jeremiah and Conrad mend their relationship (Jeremhiah said that he never wanted to see Conrad again, but he attended Belly and Conrad’s wedding)? What kind of relationship did Belly and Jeremiah have following these events? What did Belly do after college? I have a multitude of unanswered questions!!! (hide spoiler)]
As many complaints as I did have with this book, I did enjoy my time reading this series over the past few days. They were quick and light! I am a little bit sad that it’s over now. They were a fun and entertaining distraction from the real world (which, for the most part, is currently a bit of a mess), and I will miss that aspect of this trilogy. ...more
To say that I am a fan of Greek mythology, would be a complete understatement, just like if I were to say, “this was terrible,” or “I regret picking this book up”. I’ve heard so many raving reviews for this story and I was really excited to read my first Hades and Persephone retelling. This was also my first fantasy novel in a while, so I was extra enthusiastic to dive into this. Unfortunately, it disappointed me in every possible way. I caught myself wondering if I was even reading the same book as everyone else.
Each and every single character in this book is flat, lifeless, and oh so annoying. Not a single one of them had any personality or dimension. Persephone was supposed to made out to be so caring about others, and trying to make a change in the world, and blah, blah, blah, but she was infuriatingly insufferable. She acted like she was a take-no-crap independent woman, but all of that disappears as soon as she is within a 100 foot radius of Hades. She was also ignorant, stupid, rude, and arrogant. She never listened to anyone, she made incredibly stupid decisions and assumptions, and her thought process was confusing, such as they way she thought about Hades, her concerns about the contract, and her thoughts about her mother. None of the gods were interesting enough to be notable, including Hades himself who was a main character. Hermes was probably the most exciting character in the story, but even his character fell short. Other side characters, like her roommate, Lexa, were honestly just a waste of ink on the page. In other books with Greek mythology, I love seeing the reimaginings of different gods and places, such as Olympus or the Underworld. For example, in Covenant by Jennifer L. Armentrout (one of my all-time favourite series), the gods are radiant and practically flying off the pages; Apollo, for example, is a super memorable and wonderful character in the series. In the Percy Jackson series, the different gods and creatures we encounter are lively and fascinating, such as Ares. Both of these series also had really creative and distinct imaginings of the Underworld and Olympus, which I loved! In this novel, the world building and descriptions of settings were very weak. I was stoked to visit the Underworld, but it was un-atmospheric and underwhelming, as were all of the other settings, such as Hades’ night club. The integration of Greek mythology was very incohesive and vague at times. The writing style in general, including the dialogue, was dull and uninteresting. However, I am not overly fond of the third person in books, so that probably added to my dislike of the writing.
People have raved about the romance and sexual tension in this story, but, um, where is it???? They had zero chemistry or emotional connection whatsoever. It was insta-love with denial of their feelings for each other, followed by a series of unnecessary and increasingly idiotic plot points to tear them apart. (view spoiler)[ The reveal of the bet between Aphrodite and Hades at the end was so dumb and frustrating. It is, in my opinion, a painfully overused and silly trope, and it was just the cherry on top of this disastrous sundae. (hide spoiler)]
The plot of this book got totally lost. We had a very unclear storyline with too many random subplots thrown in to keep track of, which added very little, if anything to the story. We had blackmailing and betrayal, a controlling mother, school and job drama, becoming famous, jealousy of Hades' assistant, some random stuff with Aphrodite, fate, new friends in the Underworld, etc etc etc. The story was being pulled in so many different directions that it hardly even made sense sometimes. It felt like this story was trying to accomplish so much, but it ended up doing very little. I was honestly really bored throughout the book and I considered DNFing it countless times; I wish I had done so the first time I had considered it within the first quarter of the story, because this was a complete waste of my time.
I was excited to see Persephone’s efforts to create life in the underworld (and I thought this would be the main plot of the story, with her falling in love with Hades along the way), but instead she makes one pathetic attempt at planting a garden and then spends the rest of her time getting it on with Hades and fretting over her newspaper job. Maybe instead of worrying about becoming a journalist, you should concern yourself with this contract that you claim is very serious and worrisome, and yet you continue to do NOTHING about. The way that Persephone gained her powers was so ridiculous!! The second that she made love with Hades, she was suddenly capable of using her powers. Hades claimed that all she needed to activate them was to believe in herself, but that it actually even more stupid. Like, she just suddenly knows how to make vines shoot out of things, and she can control them to be strong enough to break glass or restrain people, not to mention the fact that she can also turn humans into plants now? Now, imagine if instead, she slowly discovered her powers and learnt how to control them. Perhaps they would grow too powerful and she’d have to learn how to manage them from getting out of her control. Image the scenes where Hades can help her practice and they can learn her capabilities together. Persephone would discover Hades' gentle, caring side through this process, and Hades would fall in love with Persephone’s strength and perseverance. It would have been considerably more fun, cute, and exciting than that embarrassing scene of them baking together. Oh, it could have been so good (assuming a multitude of other changes were made along with this one).
Furthermore, this book was in dire need of further editing/proofreading. I lost count of how many times ‘breath’ and ‘breathe’ were mixed up.
If you’re looking for a great story involving Greek mythology, I beg of you, do not pick this one up. Instead, go for Covenant by Jennifer L. Armentrout if you’re in the mood for a fun, creative, addictive, and thoroughly entertaining series with a phenomenal cast of characters and an even better romance, or Percy Jackson for a hilarious, suspenseful adventure with a group of fun, diverse characters.
If you know of a solid Persephone/Hades retelling, please send your recommendations my way, because I would love one!...more
This installment was not much better than the first book in the series, but I do enjoy how quick, easy, addictive, and summery these books are. They’re a great distraction, and I love how fast I am able to finish them.
I like the title of this one! Prior to reading the series, I had assumed that the "you" in the title was referring to a romance, perhaps a break-up? In actuality, "you" is Susannah, and I really liked that. I would have liked this book to dive into the grief of losing her a little bit more, but I liked some of the parts that touched upon it.
The love triangle frustrated the heck out of me. I really do not understand why Conrad behaves in the way that he does. I feel like I'm always waiting for an explanation of his awful behavior, but I never get it. Instead, we see a random, relatively sweet moment, and then he goes right back to being his cranky and rude self. I also feel like I'm still waiting for an explanation as to why Belly likes him at all.
I was hoping that Belly would have matured a little bit by now, but that was not the case. She still acted like a child and could be very self-centered. Her drama with her friend Taylor annoyed me in the first book, but it was even worse this time around. I honestly don't know what it even adds to the story. Belly reminds me a bit of Bella Swan from Twilight. Like Bella, Belly has no personality, she does not have any interests or hobbies, she is not passionate about anything, and she is painfully boring/bland/uninteresting, and yet, there are multiple boys falling over themselves for her. And of course, she cannot make up her mind as to which of the boys she likes. To top it all off, they share the similar names Isabella/Isabel, but I would rather be called Bella than Belly as a nickname. The way that Belly sort of jumps between the two boys feels wrong to me, but the way that Conrad and Jeremiah treat the situation is also kind of weird.
Something that was different about this book was the addition of some short chapters in Jeremiah’s point of view. I’m honestly not sure how I felt about it. They were very unexpected, but I don’t know how much they really added to the story. It was also kind of weird how short and sporadic they were.
The ending of this book was very frustrating. Similarly to The Summer I Turned Pretty, the ending felt rushed, and it was left a little too open-ended for my taste. However, I suppose it did encourage me to pick up the thirds book immediately, which was probably the point. This series does make for a really great binge read!! ...more
Thank you so much to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press Wednesday Books for providing me with a copy of an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I was ready for this book to shatter my heart into a hundred pieces, but it didn’t so much as crack it. The general idea of the plot was genius, and it had the potential to be phenomenal. I couldn’t have possibly been more excited to receive an ARC of this book. It had a promising opening, but it only went downhill from there. The characters fell flat, the storytelling was all over the place, and I was left with a plethora of unanswered questions. As a whole, this book lacked emotion and depth, resulting in a very mediocre story.
I felt like I didn’t get to know Sam enough to be mourning his death along with Julie, and that was necessary to create an emotional, dynamic story. He was a likeable character, but I didn’t feel any connection to him. I also struggled to find the chemistry in his relationship with Julie. It got better toward the end of the book when we were getting increasingly more flashback scenes with the two of them, but for myself personally, they came too late in the narrative to build a true emotional tie. It was difficult to fully grasp Julie’s feelings when she was missing Sam when I knew so little about her relationship with him in the first place. I so dearly wanted to feel invested in their relationship, but it just wasn’t working for me. Actually, I think that the best way to describe it is that I felt sympathy for her, meaning that I understood her grief, but I struggled to empathize with her, which is to say that I did not personally feel emotional or share any of her feelings. I believe that empathy between the reader and the characters is what it takes to build a powerful and moving story. There were some scenes, such as when they honoured Sam in the field, that I liked, but I needed more of that emotional connection there to really love them.
Julie was not an unlikeable character per say, but she certainly is not my favourite protagonist. I understand and sympathize with the fact that she was grieving Sam’s death, but she was self-centered and mean to her friends at times. I don’t think that there was any ill intent behind her actions, but they could still be hurtful, and that is not an excuse. The cast of side characters fell flat to me, unfortunately. I was interested in learning more about them, but I felt that we weren't given enough opportunity.
I can’t get past the fact that neither Julie nor we, as the readers, got any sort of explanation about anything. Where was Sam? How was he calling Julie? How did he know or have any idea of when or why their connection would break? Why were they running out of time for their connection? I was left with a multitude of unanswered questions, which was incredibly frustrating. And honestly, I don’t understand why the characters in the book were not frustrated by it. On top of that, I was concerned by how calm everybody involved in the phone calls with Sam were. Maybe I could initially excuse Julie because she was deeply grieving and perhaps in shock, but she was totally chill about it for the entire book. And to make matters worse, the other people who she got involved in the situation seemed to hardly think twice about it. I mean, you are literally talking to a dead person on the phone… WHY AREN’T YOU FREAKING OUT?
Something I did like about the story was learning about Sam's Japanese culture. I love learning about different cultures, and it was really well incorporated into the story.
The cover of this book is gorgeous. The illustrations of the characters are breath-taking, the colour combination is beautiful, and the cherry blossoms are a lovely touch. If only the story was as beautiful inside as it is on the outside.
March 2021: Ahh I just got approved for an ARC of this and I could not be more excited!!...more
Daniella (Reading With Daniella)
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