Solidly young adult. It's dark, but still YA. If this hadn't been labeled as adult on Goodreads and pushed as such on TikTok I might not have wasted my time with it. Probably should have stopped reading when I was slogging through the second part. I'm not at all motivated to keep reading this series, which is a bummer because the first part was very good. Impressive premise and scope from the author but this needed more editing and shaping. As it is this is somewhat over-hyped.
The plot is mostly just a vehicle to get from one sex scene to the next. Characters feel very juvenile. There are wolf shapeshifters but no knotting. And the dystopian elements are either not fleshed out or don't go far enough in my opinion. I kept waiting for the horrifying secret eugenics plot, but there was none. This could stand to have some major editing removing some of the video game playing and adding world building.
Contains spoilers
Alana suffers from an acute case of dumb bitchitis, which clearly infected me because there's no other reason for me to have not DNF this all the times I considered it.
My Turn has a choose-your-own-ending option: one with a HEA and one without. The only reason I finished this was to see what happened to Jayce. I would accept 1 of 2 outcomes for this murdering rapist. He would either need to end up dead or in prison for consecutive life sentences. Neither of those things happened, so in my opinion there was definitely no happy ending.
I don't consider this dark romance; just dark. This is a straight horror novel. There's no morally grey. No person in their right mind could ever like Jayce, including readers. This character had a straight coal black heart and moral code. Terrorizing, raping, and branding the female lead is never romantic.
I was unfortunately and very unpleasantly introduced to this shit-stain through far too many videos and clips of his beyond repugnant views concerning women, birth control, sexual assault, and victim blaming. This piece of shit creep asserts that women who take birth control are basically asking for sex because he can't comprehend in his back-assed smooth excuse for a brain any other reason someone might use birth control. He plainly blames women for being raped, calling them “stunningly unsophisticated”, because he thinks we don't know how to say “no” correctly. The only thing this waste of space is concerned with is a man's hurt feelings. Send this turd directly into the sun, no expense spared.
But what do you MEAN he's a 9 foot tall gator lizard looking alien and the cover is some buff blue human guy?!
I thought Alien Exile was pretty great. Then again, I did skip the first 4 books in this series because they didn't sound interesting enough. I certainly wasn't confused or like I was missing anything though.
When you think this is going to be just a lighthearted funny romance and then you end up crying for the characters. But don't worry, there is a happy ending.
I likely wouldn't have even come across this book if it hadn't been nominated for the 2024 Choice Awards but I managed to finish it just in time to vote for it in opening rounds over the handful of others I read.
The premise caught my eye because I've lived through my own version of a dating “curse”. I had quite a streak where the next girl my exes would date would get pregnant. It even rubbed off on a couple guys I friend-zoned and never even dated. Really helped solidify my belief that birth control of all forms should be handed out like candy and we all need universal healthcare.
Written by a millennial woman for other millennial women. I would know; references felt targeted. The writing is mildly pretentious a handful of times and the book, with the entire premise of I'm-sad-you're-sad-let's-be-sad-together, isn't really worth adapting into a movie imo.
The female lead is an early to mid (I swear an editor missed an age consistency) 30's children's librarian who dowdily looks the part and seems to never wear makeup. We also get a smattering of adorkableness, I'm-not-like-other-girls, a huge dose of negative self-esteem, along with trust, and daddy issues. What a bundle of joy she is (sarcasm). I don't know how, but somehow, she's still “sexy”.
Her male romantic love interest is again, somehow handsome through his potheaded bearded scruffiness and self-confidence issues which stem from slowly revealed family baggage and drama (not trying to give away too much here). His personality is a massive improvement from hers and at least got me to finish this.
If you're in an airport bookstore and the pickings are slim this should do for a flight. Otherwise, life is short read something else unless you're great at skimming.
Easily my least favorite in the series so far. Maketes is great. Loved seeing his violent side. Ace not so much. She was kind of a bitch to him for far too long. Even behind his back.
As much as I want the next book I hope the author takes more time with it than what Echoes of the Tide seemed to get.
DNF at 38%
Flock: Spotting a Fuckboy for Dummies
This steaming pile of crap triggered some PTSD and made me feel nonstop rage making me remember all the shitty boys who ever pursued me or I was dumb enough to date. Literally every character sucks. They're all assholes or stupid af. Sean is one constant red flag after another. He is everything I do not want in a man in reality or my books. I've dated my fair share of Sean's. He can go get hit by a bus. Rapey creep. Fuck off and die.
Where's the line to slap some sense into Cecelia? I tried so hard to give her some leeway since she is so young and dumb with the most oblivious parents on the planet. I just feel mad on her behalf and sorry for her. My dad would have taken Sean by the back of his neck and told him if he came sniffing around again he'd be eating his own teeth.
If a boy breaks your personal belongings kick him to the curb.
If a boy has terrible friends, he's just as terrible. Pun intended, birds of a feather flock together.
If a boy doesn't defend you, news flash, he doesn't really like you. He's not worth any more of your time.
The ratings are high sooo the low reviews have gotta be from a bunch of people who aren't on masktok and have no sense of humor. Like they just don't get it. Lights Out is hilarious. It knows exactly what it is and it's good at it. Who doesn't want a golden retriever book boyfriend who's funny af and hot as hell with a little bit of kink? And don't compare this to Haunting Adeline (barf). Josh and Aly are actually mildly complex characters. They're just the right kind of mess and it's great.
It's fitting I read this on the first day of autumn because spooky season thirst traps have been on my fyp for a month already and it's time to officially kick off fall ya'll! Now excuse me I have to go watch 14 more death eater toks and cry over a Dramione fanfic.
✅ Monsters/aliens who don't ever look humanoid
✅ Protective, feral, and badass towards anyone who hurts his love
✅ Is actually just a sweet ball of fluff on the inside
Thank you Poppy Rhys for not writing ridiculously sized peen that'll send someone to the hospital. And also, no breeding. I'm so tired of that. Just be together. Be happy.
Someone give me directions to planet Incutan... for science.
I HATE this. Cara is an idiot. Tov is a giant asshole. Merrik is just a pretty face half asshole half just along for the ride. My whole life is filled with misogynistic dicks so I certainly don't want them in my free time.
I love alien abduction romance or erotica books. That's rough, better make the best of it. But omg if someone told me I'd actually been abducted as a child and my name changed you'd best believe it would take me more than the 2.6 seconds to process and accept, if ever, that it takes Cara. Little miss can't even remember which direction she came through a door. You mix stupid and Stockholm syndrome and you get this girl.
When the author isn't info dumping to the point of confusion Tov is just bossing Cara around. Re-abducted off Earth, entire life upended, doesn't know a thing about the alien culture or customs she supposedly comes from. Does he seem to care about her or any of this at all? Nope! She's just expected to take her clothes off and follow every order. There's not even a hint of sweet gooey center to this jerk. Book boyfriends these men are not.
There's a scene where Tov and Merrik finish with Cara and Merrik puts her to bed while telling her they'll bring back food. Then they just leave her to cry. You want aftercare? You're not getting it in this book. You want communication, a shred of equality, or respect between characters? It's not here. I kept thinking of Merrik as a lump of a pretty face who's just barely there.
73% of the way in Tov struggles to understand why Cara hadn't realized that they love her and these dingdongs have the nerve to mention she didn't know how to use the mind link between them or understand it's significance. Of course she didn't understand because neither of you bother to talk to her and we're 3 quarters of the way through this shit! I'm just as surprised as she is that you love her because you sure don't act like it.
This is NOT how I like my BDSM erotica or romance. And I'm not even shelving this as romance because calling it that is a joke.
It's been years and the blurb and genres are still misleading. This is erotica veering into BDSM like spanking, anal, power play, and primal/animal play. This isn't dark romance. There's almost no romance at all actually until the last 10% of the book. None of the characters are really obsessive/possessive or even morally grey. Trauma and violence doesn't automatically mean dark romance. If you're looking for that from the title and the blurb it's not here. Instead we get a paranormal mystery thriller plot to get us from one sex scene to the next. It's really unfortunate that this wasn't a romance to keep me more invested. I was never really hit with any big emotional impact. I had the mystery figured out 45% of the way in. The twist is revealed at about 88% which is also when the more romantic stuff starts up but there's barely a love story to get choked up over. If this had been tackled differently I probably would have cried over these characters. Instead I mostly watched them have somewhat rough sex while calling each other bunny, lion, sir, and master a few too many times. This isn't a bad read, it just wasn't genre melded together, presented, or sold the right way for me.
DNF 61.8% because if I wanted to read slower than molasses in winter slow burn YA I would. I'm pissed off the covers in this series are stupid cute but I hate that this attempts to be so meta it feels like satire. I think I'm being generous with 1 star for the covers and another for the only time I laughed.
Damien... please just kill annoyingly saccharine sweet naive no personality Amma to get your talisman back and then go on your adventure with your big bad self.