Shay

I was excited about this book because I left a fundamentalist religion myself last year.

The prose was really interesting and often very beautiful (except toward the end where the author had run out of words to describe sex).

Also the word “fat” was used to describe body parts (a lot) in ways that just didn't feel... sexy. “His fat lips.” “His fat hands.” You get the idea. I always got thrown off when Enoch was physically being described. Fat lips. Small eyes. Huge shoulders. Like a wall. Fat hands. Small eyes. Huge chest. Massive form. Hunched over to kiss her. His knees cracked. His back cracked. Those small eyes. Every time he was described I was a little turned off. Physically he just got more clownish with every scene.

And I didn't get The Point of this book.

They had sex as teenagers, she was cast out, they get back together later, they're the only two who are happy, everyone else is upset that they're together. But we're supposed to believe it will be Happily Ever After even though he's staying in the church?

It was just... sad. And unrealistic.

And the sex scenes were kind of odd. I got really annoyed with him getting off every time and her not ever getting there except a couple of times.

I'll probably update this review when I've processed it a bit more. But for now I just feel let down. It wasn't really about a faith crisis from either character. It wasn't really about changing or growing. It was just about the main leads' supposed chemistry.

Wow. Just wow. The author's tortured relationship with his father seems so petty in the face of all his father suffered. But his father's persecution during WWII informs many of his “quirks” and the reasons for strife between them. It's very sad but very important that people understand how horrific this time period was.

The characterization of the different races/ethnicities/religions as different animals helps the reader see at once which “side” a person is on—down to some nice wearing masks to pretend they're not Jewish.

Much of what we know about concentration camps comes from Auschwitz—it's one of the few camps where some people came out alive. Vladek's account of his time there confirms what we know and provides more depth and understanding.

A must-read for anyone and everyone.

This book is not good and I'll tell you why. Nesta's presented as a character with serious trauma and her coping methods are sex, music, and alcohol.

Surprise! She starts having sex with Cassian. Now, the sex scenes are disgusting and borderline savage (and not presented as romantic at all). But ya girl could get down with the kinks IF Cassian wasn't basically abusing her by taking advantage of her vulnerability and one of her only coping mechanisms. This is presented as romantic because Cassian is so head-over-heels for her that he can't keep it in his pants long enough for her to have a little character growth.

Add on to this the fact that Nesta is horrible to literally everyone and this book becomes unreadable. She literally is not given a single redeeming quality and her behavior crosses the line from “Kind of nasty but wounded” to “I don't care about anyone and I'm going to hurt everyone no matter what.” There is not enough character development within the first half of this book to bother with reading the second half. Don't waste your money and just stick to the first three books.

This was a beautiful book that made me think deeply about the importance of loving relationships and the different forms love can take. It was a quick read and once I was into it, I couldn't put it down.

It would be amazing if this book could be translated in to English and other languages for others to enjoy.

I enjoyed this book. I'm definitely one for more flowery scene-building, but even though the descriptions were relatively sparse, I had a picture in my mind of how everything should look.

First, Ildiko. She was awesome. Patient, kind, smart, and sassy. She kept me going.

Brishen was sweet and strong. I really enjoyed watching them fall in love. There was no angst between them. Honesty, friendship, then love. It was a nice change from typical drama-filled romance.

There were several copy-editing issues with the Kindle edition, but I was able to look past them.

The book probably should have have a glossary because how on Earth are we supposed to pronounce “hercegesé?” In my mind, I just replaced it with the word “duchess” because muddling though it every time (and it is in there a gratuitous amount) was too annoying.

Overall, this was a good, fun, short read. I'd recommend it if you like fantasy romance.