Nani
The Markov brothers have a grip on my heart and I have no regrets! This series just got better and better as it went on. Ronan - a mafia man that plays candy crush?! What else do you need in life??
Can't compare this series with other dark or mafia romances, so I feel like I might have shot myself in the foot by starting with this series. But if this is the standard, I have no regrets!
This was my first venture into Dark AND Mafia Romance, and let me just say, this did not dissapoint.
Who would've thought it was a mafia man I needed to read all along... I'm here for it all! Nico Russo, the man that you are, the obsession is real - blowing up a gas station because the owner touched her! I'm sat!!
I really debated on what rating to give this book. How do you rate a book where the world building is enchanting, but the plot is flat as can be?! It just doesn't make sense.
The actual circus has to be one of the most enticing places ever described. Honestly, felt like I was there and wanted to visit in reality (that's how well it was described). But that was all I liked about this book.
Everything else just fell flat. The characters - didn't have any love for the main characters at all, couldn't care less what happened to them in the end. The plot - in trying to create this magical world, it just ended overcomplicating a plot, that in the end I still didn't understand (maybe I'm stupid, but what was the whole point of the magical competition?). Also, trying to follow this story with all the time jumping made my head hurt.
All in all, I geuss I'm lucky I fell in love with the actual circus, because there wasn't much else going on of interest.
The hype didn't match expectations for me personally. Don't get me wrong, the book is good.. but it's not this life altering, mind shattering story that it is for everyone else.
Definitely an interesting take on the fantasy genre with the concept of the heist, but I just thought this book took way too long, and lost me at several points with the plot. It was more character driven than I thought it woud be.
That being said, the characters are interesting enough for me to want to finish this duology, and the ending was quite good in setting up for the next book.
Remind me again why this is considered a classic?
Having studied through the British education system, my reference of classic literature were the literary greats: Shakespeare, Dickens, the Brontë sisters, the list goes on and on... so I guess I'd always been curious as to what the perceived 'classics' were on the other side of the Atlantic. Thought I'd give it a shot with Catcher in the Rye, knowing this was studied in schools. And maybe that was my problem. I maybe would have given this a higher rating if I'd read this whilst being in my early teens.
Will definitely give other American classics a go, but this was nothing special.
It took me too long to get into this book. Do I think the beginning of this book was necessary? yes, but at the same time, it took way too long to get the story started. Once it did though, it was a beautiful story, heartbreaking but a classic. I enjoyed the book most of the way through, but it was the ending that absolutely sealed it for me.
I'm sort of at odds with this book, it had so much potential. fantasy romance set in a persian mythology world... yes please! The execution, slightly lacking.
I have to say the world building and characters, I loved. I just felt like there were many points where it could have gone more in depth, and as a result, most of the story just felt lacking, especially the first half. The plot in the second half was much better, but it just took so long to get there, I'm not sure the payoff was worth it.
The romance sprinkled throughout was great to read, but I think I'm realising the insta love trope is not a favourite of mine. I can still enjoy reading it, enjoy the passion and the one liners (that are inspired), I just feel like there needs to be more substance to a romance, than.. oh I'm now irrevocably, completely in love.. because she's beautiful and I can't live without her - vice versa, for it to be an epic romance. It's a personal preference, but there just needs to be more, before I can believe that you're so madly in love with a character, without actually knowing anything about them.
Also, the way the book was written, made me feel stupid half the time. Felt like the author had grabbed a thesaurus for every other word, tying to make the story feel more mythical, or I don't know what her intention was. It just made for a struggle to read at times, especially with such a slow plot.
Overall, credit where it's due. Even though it was a slow plot and hard to understand at times, this story had characters and a world that definitely piqued my interest, and has tons of potential for future books in this series.
Yh this series seems like it's just not for me. It's definitely not the worst thing I've read, but after 9 books I would like to see some character progress from Becky, and it just seems like she was the exact same person from the first book, ridiculously self absorbed but somehow not as funny as in the beginning, so it just ends up falling flat. Giving 2 stars just because it is a little festive and I guess the story came to some sort of conclusion, which is what I was most curious about. Not sure if I'll pick this series back up at a later date, seeing as I stopped halfway and skipped to the end. As of now, I'm not even the slightest bit curious about anything that happens in the middle books.
Enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would. The story just took you along on this journey, and it was so easy to follow. Almost wished I got the deeper meaning of this story, as I still feel like I read stories like this to superficially, and not grasping all the life lessons it tries to portray. Or maybe, it's better to read like I did, and just enjoy the story for what it is.
This is around where I got up to last time I read this series. Find it increasingly frustrating to sympathise with Becky when she puts herself in situations that could so easily be avoided if she spoke up. I'm all for light heartedness and a joke here and there, but at what point does the main character actually learn from the same mistake she makes in every book, instead of reacting the same way over and over again... I just don't know if I can continue this, at least for now, or I might just skip to the end.
Only on the 2nd book, and I'm starting to remember why I left this series halfway through. It's not that it's bad, it's just.. how many times can the FMC do the same things over and over again, and never learn. The books are funny and easy to read, I just don't know if it's enough to make up for the same recycled plot.