Enemies

3.5 so I'm rounding up. Tijan has a way of messing with my emotions. I really feel her heroines, even though I've not experienced the horrors many of her characters have. Her writing just puts in you the character's head. That is amazing to me.

I thought there were lots of flaws in the setup/explanation of the “feud,” and hanging out with NFL players seemed too far out for me. I also generally don't care for Alpha males, but this worked for me.

Finally, I liked that the housemates adopted Dusty by the end. I like mean b!tches that can actually have a heart. Too cliche? Probably. Def entertaining.

3.5 stars.

I keep looking for another version of the Fallen Crest series and I really need to stop.

I enjoyed this standalone (I'm assuming) and the characters were decently written. That being said, there was nothing special about this storyline, it had a lot of repetitive events and ultimately ended predictably. It felt very half-hearted and this is coming from someone who has read the author's other works and her sense of nuance to character relationships is one of my favorite aspects of her writing. Sadly, I did not see any of that here. I don't even want to say there was potential for more because the characters felt very boxed into their roles and character traits that nothing they did would be unpredictable or surprising. It's very easy to see what they would do in each and every one of the situations that arises in the book, to the point that it felt formulaic.

This was me trying out the author one more time because of all the hype around this book. I gotta tell you, I have no idea how to rate it.
I was H O O K E D. It is a really entertaining read. Then I realized I was almost done with it and was super confused. I felt like not a lot happened in the book. I wasn't sure how the romance grew, because by the time I realized I was close to the end, I thought they were just starting to be okay and maybe something would grow.

It's also difficult to know if I really like Dusty's character because for the majority of the book she has a concussion. Sooooo I can't blame her for not communicating or answering people when most the book she's dealing with stuff and isn't 100% okay (hell not even 50%). How anyone came to like her, I have no idea since any bonding time between her and friends or housemates seems to be off page.

There are also some moments in the book that had me feeling awkward–not feeling great about the romance. There is an unnecessary lie that pissed me off and ruined the rest of the book for me and then Stone asking a woman who her man is, then when she's confused he repeats the question by asking who her handler is. I had such a “WTF?!” moment there. And pretty much no one batted an eye???? And the way people just let Stone come in and make decisions for Dusty left and right... it as weird.
Don't get me wrong, I'm down for an ‘alpha male' book here and there and at first it was cool how helpful and take charge he was, but then.... I don't know, I just thought people would have told him no or double-checked things with Dusty too. It didn't get to the point where he was controlling her life though, so I appreciate that.

For the majority of the book, I couldn't put it down. I thought I was understanding the hype. The mysteries had me gripped and curious and I was liking Dusty. Everything changed at about the 70% marker for me.
So, I'm giving it a “my feelings are still v. confused” 3 stars.