Lauren
Absolutely ate this up. I loved the character of Kade so much, and his internal monologue spoke to me on another level. My heart hurt for both of them so much. I wish l'd read this before reading Little Liar, because I was so confused that whole book without the background info on the characters. May have to read it again.
Oof, there's just something about a man who's incapable of feeling emotion except when it comes to THE ONE that just does it for me, and Leigh Rivers is clearly a fan as well. Poor baby Kade, I just love him so much.
I'd write a more in depth review, but I need to start reading the next book IMMEDIATELY so I must go.
My girl AA can WRITE! This series is such a dark little treasure. Character building is on point as usual, and I loved that we got more of Bram & Everleigh's story in this one- they both have such amazing arcs, their characters are so complex and I adore their relationship. I don't ever want this series to end.
THAT ENDING, good lord. This series is making me feel all sorts of things l'm not entirely comfortable with, and I'm into it. WHY DO I LOVE WEST?? What did this book do to me? Ugh and those scenes with Master Kunken? chef's kiss So deliciously revolting and genius. Honestly I love this author's brain.
Disclaimer: this series is erotic horror, not dark romance. This book in particular is more horror than erotic. But goddamn is it well done.
WOAH this book took me totally by surprise. It was absolutely not what I was expecting. Think Robin Hood meets the Fast & the Furious, but not terrible.
It's not as dark as my usual tastes, and if someone had given me an overview of the plot I probably would have passed, but IT's so GOOd and I'm totally hooked. I found myself laughing out loud or smiling to myself more than once. I'm so excited to read the rest of this series!! Ugh I love getting caught off guard like this so much.
I'm struggling to find the words to appropriately describe how much l adored this book. It caught me off guard; I didn't expect to fall in love with it quite as hard as I did. Everything was perfect- the playlist, the character building, the cameos, the tension, the spice, the banter, the jokes... Brynne Weaver pulled every single emotion out of me in this one; I sobbed for 5 straight chapters to the point I almost got sent home from work. I laughed through ugly tears. I raged and kicked my feet with glee. I was so invested in Fionn and Rose as a pairing, even though I hadn't been particularly drawn to them in previous books.
This might actually be my favorite book of the whole series. I never thought I would say that because I was so insanely in love with Butcher & Blackbird and didn't particularly care for Leather & Lark... it's close, but I felt so much more emotionally invested in this one. Such a good read.
So yea I'm finished already. I have raging ADHD, so that should tell you how much I loved this series. I heard this one was hard to get through, but I'm dead inside so I wasn't too bothered. If horrific sexual abuse is a trigger of yours maybe reconsider reading. If you can power through I promise it's worth it at the end. Zaddy outdoes himself, and the character development of Addie is gorgeous. I'm heartbroken this series is over- buying physical copies of both books so I can stare at them on my shelf and reminisce wistfully.
Almost DNF several times due to corny and inauthentic dialogue and poorly written, one dimensional characters- use of phrases like “penny for your thoughts” and and Dean's insistence on calling Cora “Corabelle” made it seem geriatric instead of the 20-something s they were supposed to be.
My biggest issue with the story was the unimaginative writing of the serial killer's character. He was presented as a generic fat ugly pervert, and was such a stereotype that he was literally described as a “Gacy look-alike”. The reader is expected to believe that this dude not only overpowered a woman and a muscular road worker simultaneously, but also that he was able to do this to 6 couples before them while at the same time making judgement errors like unchaining them for bathroom breaks. Okay so maybe I was a little disappointed that the serial killer didn't end up being the romantic interest (I'm already in therapy, thank you for asking), but at least try to make him a little interesting...
The PTSD the characters suffered afterwards was fairly believable, and was a redeeming feature of the book. The resulting turmoil in the relationship of the main characters admittedly made me ugly cry, so that was effective as well.
There's some useful information in here, but most of it is very dated and ableist... pretty much what you'd expect from a book written by an allistic clinician about autistics. There's a lot of description of the outward presentation of mainly autistic white boys, with very little insight into the internal autistic experience or any of the nuanced & less stereotypical presentations. If you are a parent/caregiver or clinician trying to learn about the authentic autistic experience, I recommend literature written by autistic authors. If you are autistic yourself, don't bother with this one.
Hannah Gadsby is my new hero. Their prose is so touching and hilarious at the same time, and they have a wonderfully relatable way of writing about their experiences. I wasn't familiar with Hannah prior to reading this memoir, but I kept seeing it recommended by autistic afab adults- as soon as I finished reading I immediately went to Netflix to watch all their standup specials.
The author speaks of autistic women as a monolith, with no account for unique experiences. She assumes that every autistic person experiences the world the same way she does, and writes the book as such. She also has some problematic ideas, such as “autistic people have supernatural powers” and “autism is caused by GI conditions and development”.
