Melanie
That was a disappointement following the first book. Honestly, it didn't even feel like the same author to me.
Mega yawn unfortunately. Great ideas, poor execution, poor interactions.
This started out so well but it reached a point like in all MC books where I couldn't take the “old lady aka saintlike” woman vs all “the club whores” mentality. The misoginy is really terrible in these stories, I'm not sure what appeals to women writer. Is it because they self insert and it's a way for them to feel supremely good about themselves? Ugh, anyway, this was written pretty okay so if you don't mind that aspect in your stories, this should be right up your alley!
I'll give Amy Daws another try but I had a lot of second hand embarassement trying to read this which is wild considering everything I read...
I wished I had cared more for this. I think it was a little too teenage-ish in writing while trying to be very adult-y in content and I always have trouble with these books that toe the line.
Boring on so many levels.
The 180 of the male character was too much. I do enjoy a playboy turned serious lover when meeting the one trope but this wasn't just really well done. I like that Olivia had her hang ups but I don't think the progression between the characters was too natural because of how Carter's character was handled.
This had all the flaws of the first one, even moreso. This series is just not for me, I often roll my eyes at college characters because they're like so far from college characters but I can also often keep reading and enjoy a book. This does not work here, the premise is not dark, it's crazy and misogynistic to a fault.
I'm trying a lot of things lately that do nothing for me. I think I'm just going to go back to safe authors. I like the idea of this but the execution was so stupid. I hate when characters just do stupid things that ruin their lives and especially when they keep on making stupid decisions even years later.
This was all over the place for me.
This whole series is just weird. I like the concept but there are too many genres crammed into one. It's like the author is trying to sell me a romance but all I read is “unhinged, unhinged, unhinged”.
Like I thought, I liked the idea but I think I just wasn't in the mood for this. Maybe I'll revisit this series later on when I'm in the mood for unadjusted characters.
So much wrongness. I have no issues with doormat/brainwashed FMC that go on a journey of self discovery but that was seriously “bleh” on a lot of levels.
I feel terrible saying this but I kinda hoped the tentacles would get to come and play way earlier... hides
It's not terrible. But it's also so boring. I've endured as long as I could.
That just got to be too much for my taste. It's fucked up so go for it if you're into really fucked up kinky sex.
I'm actually proud of myself for sticking with this for so long. It's not badly written per se but when the book opens on the line of ‘Diego Leoni pounded into the woman's pussy' and then he keeps going with “She was a whore to the core”, you know you're in for a ride.
Look, I don't mind dark, morally grey, or fucked up heroes/anti heroes. I don't even mind when the hero is a manwhore at the start but there's finesse and then, there's this.
The entire story is a big pile of poop and feels almost like taking advantage of a disability. I was really into the idea of this novel because there's not enough depiction of disabilities/handicaps in main characters but this was just too sleazy even for my taste.
I wish I didn't have to DNF this. The writing alone should save it. I've read some of Nikki Sloane's Blindfold Club and she knows how to write. But the beginning of this story was fucked up in a lot of ways. I know she mentions it in the blurb but I do have to double down on what she says, guys. This is a love story that starts with rape. I don't care how it's spinned afterwards or how the characters may explain it : it is rape, plain and simple. I don't know how the story moves on, but jumping to the ending to check and reading about the characters being together, I'm just.... no, no, hell no. . Weirdly, I'm sure I've read more fucked up things but there was something about the characters that made this way too.... sleazy.
That said, Nikki Sloane has done other works that I absolutely appreciate so I just really want to make it clear that she DOES warn about the content of the book so you cannot get into it saying you weren't forewarned.
WHY ? Just help me understand (actually don't, I don't need to).
On a very PERSONAL opinion, this was quite rubbish. I think I hated it even more than Sylvia Day's Crossfire which is saying a lot. The dramatic contrast of the virgin almost saintlike heroine and the badboy billionaire that doesn't take no for an answer was just.... too much, especially with a naive writing that added no depth to these characters.
Hard pass.
I know I almost went to the end of the book but.... I knew I wasn't going to stick with +6 books of this.
First of all, most girls, apart from the main character, are “whores or bitches”. How can a woman write so much hatred towards her own gender? I don't mind female villains or layered female characters because for fuck's sake, women are not either snow white or the evil witch but when 80% of female characters are as quoted above, something's seriously wrong with your capacity to create a compelling story without resorting to ridiculous schemes.
Second of all, the sharing is like crazy. How many guys can one woman actually satisfy? How can she not be sore like all the time? That???s stupid. All around, there's just too much anger between characters and weird shit going on for me to enjoy.
First, let me start by saying two things : Penelope Ward is hit or miss for me so I'm not prejudiced against her work at all. When she's great, she's great. Other times....
Second of all, I have no issues with the stepsibling kink, which I actually enjoy a lot.
That said, this was all over the place with barely endearing characters. I get that we're not supposed to root for Elec at first and that things are supposed to unravel but he was such a little piece of shit, and Greta just lapped it all up. Which, even he, the devil, says that she ought to have more self respect. There's nothing cute or beautiful about the way she lets herself go every time he's around. It's one of the worst “making him change because you love him” story I've ever seen. Also, how old are these kids supposed to be? They smoke, they drink, they talk about sex like they've been going at it for the past hundred years. NOPE NOPE NOPE.
Considering the summary, I was expecting out of this world sexy but I honestly have my doubts about Sylvia Day writing sexy. I have liked none of her books so far, her characters are insipid and her writing, especially sex scenes, leave a lot to be desired. It's a lot of grunting and swooning and a pattern repeated about ten times before anything seems to change.
I think I'm just going to put her in the “do not go there” list.
Present tense? Check. Worst thoughts or stream of consciousness you'll ever read? Check. Stupid characters? Check check check. Just don't go there ,okay? sorry I'm sure you're a lovely person Tessa Sloan
What a terrible narration style. It goes straight into it, with the stupidest character interactions ever and terrible narration. When you jump into a story straight up like this, you have to have a seriously strong premise and strong characters that will carry you through the beginning. You just don't care about characters in the beginning, you don't know them. So you can't bring the drama and the sexy in the span of a page. Especially when characters are doormats. It does NOT work.