Katherine
Okay, so here are my views.
(1) The Toby/Harry plot twist at the end was predictable for me because ever since the beginning, I realised Harry had a special role because they kept bringing him up from time to time when they absolutely didn't have to. Like they wanted us to remember him. When it was revealed that he was the son that died 20 years ago, I was pretty sure that he will be brought in the plot sooner or later now. The letter to Xander was henceforth, not a surprise. It was surprising that the letter was addressed to Xander though.
(2) Why is no one talking about Xander's character development arc? He went from being the invisible bubbly brother to an accomplice in the masterplan. That's huge.
(3) Suspecting Skye had actually missed my mind. So, her letting in Drake was a surprise even though it just made me disappointed.
(4) It might be too soon, I know, but GRAYSON OVER JAMESON any day!!!!! Grayson is the morally gray guy who chose the new girl over his family! Why does everyone have this wrong? Jameson was using her. Just because she is attracted to him and the entire story is from her pov doesn't mean the guy she likes is the guy that is good for her. That being said, I liked that she did try going to Grayson. Why can't they be together?
(5) Avery is smart but dumb. I just don't understand why she has to keep pining over the brothers when she has bigger issues at hand
(6) I hate that we were made to doubt Libby for even a second but I get where that came from. Also, Libby is kind of a pushover, so. SHIPPING NASH AND LIBBY!!!!
(7) Not a fan of Emily or Thea or Rebecca. Or the Laughlins. Actually hate Emily.
“Sing, Muse, he said, and I have sung.I have sung of armies and I have sung of men.I have sung of gods and monsters, I have sung of stories and lies.I have sung of death and of life, of joy and of pain.I have sung of life after death.And I have sung of the women, the women in the shadows. I have sung of the forgotten, the ignored, the untold. I have picked up the old stories and I have shaken them until the hidden women appear in plain sight. I have celebrated them in song because they have waited long enough. Just as I promised him: this was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of all of them. A war does not ignore half the people whose lives it touches. So why do we?They have waited to have their story told, and I will make them wait no longer. If the poet refuses the song I have offered him, I will take it away and leave him silent. He has sung before: he may not want it and does not need it. But the story will be told. Their story will be told, no matter how long it takes. I am ageless, undying: time does not matter to me. All that matters is the telling.Sing, Muse, he said.Well, do you hear me? I have sung.”
This book is precious to me AND I want to throw it down a cliff. I'm still contrasted with this.
“In the background, the master of ceremonies. Overseeing it all, orchestrating the show. He had put the clowns in the act, so many of them. He had put Willow on a tightrope with no net beneath her. He had made me half damaged and half wild. But... but, he had given me a beautiful lion tamer with eyes as deep as forever, and Willow friends who wanted to catch her if she fell, and he had made me brave enough to love them both once upon a time. How did I make sense of that? How could I understand him when I couldn't understand any of the show he had cast me in? Was he kind or was he cruel? I didn't know. It seemed an impossible question to answer.”
Okay, I take back what I said. This book is so so so so good. Somehow, when I am hearing about it in first person, I find myself relating more to what he must've been through and that makes all the difference.
I love everything they grew through and where it ultimately led them. I love what they made of the shitty hand of cards they were dealt and eventually won the game with. Mesmerising.
Storytime! I LOVED AND ADORED ARCHER'S VOICE BY THE AUTHOR FROM THE SAME SERIES and that's why I started the entire series. From the beginning. But I can see how this one is kind of an earlier work. Archer's voice seems better constructed and has more to the plot.
A younger version of me would've loved this and devoured it. Right now, I feel conflicted.
I like the characters a lot and they're definitely cute together, there's no denying that . It's just that the storyline is suspiciously too much like that of Cheistian Grey from 50 Shades of Grey and i had come to hating that movie series after a long period of consideration. Liking this conflicts my views. And I am not sure if I was that invested in the book.So, I will continue with the series till atleast reaching Archer's voice. The reread has been long overdue.
“Srce moje.” My heart.
It's not that I didn't love this, I just happened to be more invested and engaged in the previous books more than this one and so, couldn't give it a complete 5 stars.I loved it more than I expected to in the beginning. I wasn't a fan of Vuk from what I had seen of him in the previous books.
That being said, this book was a great cross between Archer's Voice by Mia Sheridan and Twisted Lies by Ana Huang. I loved it.
Not the best book of the series but it was still great!!
“I love you. Three words, uttered countless times by countless people over the centuries. Yet coming from her, they had the power to bring me to my knees.”
On and on, the man is such a green flag, it made me sure he was fictional. I mean, he's not questionable at all.
The quotes weren't groundbreaking or anything but they still hit hard. I think the context might have played role but all the things they said, were music to my ears.
He deserved better so she became better: that's their trope, Castillo.
The Fish was such an underappreciated character too😂😂
Loved the cameos from the previous books, obviously and the Twisted series too. I found myself feasting even on the namedropping like I had been starved for years.
That being said, I loved this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Unexpectedly, if I may add.
If “grovelling and pining” was a book, it would be this. So much tension and so much begging. I absolutely loved it.
It was just so heartbreaking and romantic at the same time. It kind of felt like therapy.
Like, it broke my heart and healed it again. It had that effect that made me want to recalibrate all my standards and expectations. A near-perfection.
Sidenote: I loved the Twisted series cameos.
What can I say? Seeing how much I loved Twisted Games, it was inevitable I loved this too.
The similarities between the first two books in both the series are too strong to be ignored.
I loved this so goddamn much! And cherry on top were the cameos by Alex and Ava Volkov!!!!!!!!!! Christian had never disappeared as such; but having them again was like having a heartbeat back in my dying heart.
Bad example but please try to understand what I am saying!! I loved it without them too but having them just made it 5 stars.
Unexpectedly and yet to no shock, I really liked it.
The whole groveling and pining and yearing nad the tension and the patience and determination. Everything Dante did, I loved it.
It is also not lost on me that his name was Dante. The series has seven books based on the seven sins.
The main theme is Dante's Inferno and the seven sins. I love this!!!!!!!!!!!!
The chemistry between the mmc and fmc is so bland, it may as well be nonexistent. It was okay at first, but the ending left me really bitter. Like what was with all the apologising Katie kept doing till the very end, never once standing up for herself?! What was with all the broody-even-and-especially-with-your-girl, idc energy of Hutch?! What was wrong with Cole? I got him but I hated him too much anyways.
After the song of Achilles, I wasn't honestly expecting it to be great. I just wanted it to be okay enough to just allow me to not get into a reading slump. But I kept waiting for it to get better, I finished the whole thing and it still didn't get any better. I hated it. Absolutely hated it.
This book is never really gonna leave my head, is it?I would give it a thousand stars and many more. Enough stars to make a path full of constellations for Patroclus to walk on when he goes to the underground to meet Aristos Achaion, the true one. I am not a poet but just let me rant because i am heartbroken.
The way my heart broke and my soul wept with this book? You would have been scared if you saw me cry over this book. It started with a high pitched shrill, got to low continuous sobbing to gut wrenching bellowing cries. I want to be buried with this book. It will forever be with me, as long as I shall live.
Rating: 4.5⭐️ out of 5⭐️
-0.5 stars because that would be an injustice to the Windsor series by Catharina Maura. But had I read this next year, it would've been a 5⭐️ read.
It had me giggling and shouting and throwing my feet up in the air and smiling and I ate it up.
It was 129 chapters but most of them were not even half a page and I still finished it under 2 days.
This is the prime example of a new writer improving over a series. The first book sucked. But it kept getting better over each book and this one was level with everything else I have read and loved. It was fucked up and dark and intense and I loved it.
I swear the series gets better if you just go throw it. But the references from previous books are important in this one and those inside jokes was the best part of it all.
The main relationship made me swoon more often than not and I am definitely going to talk about uit in my therapy. That is, when I can afford it.
She loves him but he drugged her and married her to get into her brother's mafia group. But he punched said brother in the face because she told him how he was not exactly the brother he should've been in the past.
She wanted to be loved and have a family; so he swapped her birth control with fakes and made sure his family was hers too.
The first book kind of sucked but the second book was better and this one is better than the second.
This book is definitely better than the first one. So I think it was not Jack Calihan guy at fault because this was him too. Nero was good in theory, tbh. My experience was just ruined because of the whole voice thing.
I love that King did everything without her having to ask him to.
He made her a home studio with everything she could've asked for and idc how he knew what she wanted. Let's ignore that part.He broke the hand of the man who touched her with ill intentions and warned him to leave the state despite being the mayor's brother. When the guy didn't leave, he killed him.He killed the man who tried to kill her with his bare hands.He gave her the wedding of her dreams and made it better as a surprise for her.
I'm being generous with the rating. It wasn't bad per say but the writing was terrible and plot was not great pace-wise. It kept pendulating between ‘too slow' and ‘too fast, could've been milked a little more' for me.
The characters weren't loveable enough. I liked the 5 chapters worth of bodyguard more than the two main characters who were there for the other 82-83 chapters.
It was timepass level of reading. Would've absolutely hated it if I was reading it seriously.
I would also like to mention that the Windsors series by Catharina Maura might have spoiled me for other dark romances. I kept comparing this to those without intending to.
THIS IS A LONG ASS RANT BECAUSE OVER A WEEK AND I STILL HAVE MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT THIS ONE!!!!!!!!
So, I am going to dissect everything. Stay or leave, your call.
One, I was way too invested in the series, in the characters, in the constant politics and power dynamics to hate this book. I didn't see a way that would've been possible.
The plot was questionable in this one though. I personally think it could've been better.
Absolutely hated this for Mak. I kept waiting for him to pop throughout the plot and when he did, utter disappointment. The whole relationship buildup in Powerful made me think he would get more coverage in the storyline then he actually did and I am disappointed at that.
Like when I read Powerful and Reckless, I had my own theories of what would happen. I thought Kai had to be the Enforcer because he was the only one of his kind and that made him powerful like no one else. With Mak, I thought he would learn and train hard and challenge the crown to avenge Adena and if he won, he could be the Enforcer and make sure nothing like what happened to Adena happens to anyone ever again. Not find another love interest for sure, but I atleast saw potential for friendship between him and Paedyn. I never thought he would come at her like this after they met and mourned Adena, to say the very least. Hated that for him. And he almost died for nothing. Like, he could've gotten a few chapters from his pov too, you know? He was more important than fucking Kitt! Kai hated being the Enforcer anyways.
Coming to Kitt, I absolutely hated the guy since maybe the second book. I was so pissed at him. But I also understood where he came from. But he was being dumb. So, I had a love hate relationship with him in book two. In this one though, I hated him. Utterly despicable. I still think Pae could've just replaced him and become the only ruler, like the queen of Izram. The throne was making Kitt crazy and Pae could've helped the people. This would've been a good way to keep them both ALIVE.
Coming to “them”, could no one intercept the wedding before it ended? It's near incest. Did they HAVE to get married? Was that absolutely necessary? It was disgusting.
Kai deserves the world and more and I am happy atleast he got Pae and they are happy together and have a daughter and he is the ruler and they opened trade and everything was well. I'm so happy for my man. Why name a girl “Kit” though? Minor inconvenience to me.
Also, whatever happened to Lenny? He deserved to be in the storyline, have a few of his pov characters, a love interest (preferably Ellie), and to be in the epilogue. He could've walked Pae down the aisle in her wedding with Kai, the actual one.
Ellie getting a few pov chapters where she judged Pae and Kai, would've been interesting. Could've been funny.
Pae was ‘ehh' this whole book. Someone she was better in the previous books and I missed that version of her. I don't know, this might be a personal bias. I liked her better with Kai. Her pulling the dagger on him every two pages was the highlight of my week. And i missed that in this book. She pulled the dagger, what, like five times in total?!
Also, who were the people waiting patiently with Kitt in the afterlife? Was it his parents? Was it Pae's parents? Was it Kai's parents? Was it Adena and Mak? WHO WERE THEY?!
Also, who was Kai's father?! They never said that, did they?
I just am happy(?) and disappointed in this book at the same time.
The series was great. Love/Hate the ending though. The whole last book, now that I am thinking about it, was actually kind of blah.
I agree I was laughing and giggling throughout the whole thing and I loved Josh more than I let on, that Aly was kind of inspiring as a badass individual but for the amount of trauma I faced during the graphic sex parts alone and what it might say about my mental state if- and I am not saying that I did- but if- I liked it with that. (PS: I didn't skip one word of the whole text)
DO NOT READ THIS SERIES!!I WANT TO GATEKEEP THIS SERIES SO BADLY BUT THEN AGAIN, I NEED A TROOP OF MY OWN TO DISCUSS AND FANGIRL ABOUT THIS OVER. SO, PLEASE READ IT ASAP.THIS IS MY 6 STAR, GOD TIER DARK ROMANCE SERIES AND I AM PRETTY SURE IT IS GOING TO BE MY ROMANCE EMPIRE TOO. I CANNOT SEEM TO BE ABLE TO STOP THINKING ABOUT IT AND I AM NOT PLANNING TO ANY TIME SOON.
While this one particularly was borderline fucked up, it was way worse in my head. And I loved it nonetheless.
The man being obsessed with his woman for years😭😭
The grovelling, pining and the yearning🤌🏻🤌🏻
Top tier for a reason. I'm in a slump now.
Nothing is gonna top this and I don't want to read if it's not gonna be as good.😭😭
I love and adore this series with everything I am. And I will cherish it like it is my baby. For as long as I breathe.
“A million years and a day, if that's what it takes.”
Do you need me to say anything?6 STARS, OBVIOUSLY.It was on the Kenji Kishimoto of the Windsors. Traumatising backstory? Check. Justified fuckedness? Check. Golden retriever energy? Check. Carries his heart on his sleeve? Check. “Do not mess with him or his loved ones if you want to see light of the day”? Check. Found family? Check, check, check.
I love Lexington and I love Raya. It was strange how conflicted the book made me feel whenever I sided with anyone. I should've known then that I was supposed to love both of them equally and that I did. Eventually.
I am not going to overlook the way found family and family over anything tropes are done so wonderfully in this series. Especially the part where everyone including the matriarch just lose their shit when harm befalls on their newest member. They demolish anyone and everyone who is to blame and I EAT THAT UP LIKE I WAS STARVED FOR YEARS.
I hope you read it and I hope you read it NOW. You are missing out.
6 STARS TIERED BOOK, HANDS DOWN
I love this book so ferociously. Despite not getting much of Zane in the previous books, I wasn't surprised to love him the way I did. By the time I was halfway into the book, my heart was beating for that man. ABSOLUTELY LOVED HIM.
The only thing, is that, it is one of those books that makes you question if you should love it as much as you do because it's so close to the actual reality, you would be psychotic to. It's problematic like that. I can see the story happening in real life but not the love story part of it.
I'm oddly conflicted nonetheless and that's what took me so long to write the review but I wrote it because my feelings hadn't changed meanwhile.
Also, THE PLOT TWISTS?! WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCKITY-FUCK, CATHARINA??!! Loved them all!!!!!!!!!!
It's kind of like Final Offer by Lauren Asher. It reminded me of that at certain points but it's different. The storyline. Tropes are similar sometimes.