This is part of my Historical Romance Taste Test and yeah, I just can't get behind this hero and therefore I can't get behind them being aDNFed at 30%
This is part of my Historical Romance Taste Test and yeah, I just can't get behind this hero and therefore I can't get behind them being a couple so what's the point of reading on.
I just don't see how I can have a hero who tells us that he never lets himself think about the heroine because she's too "pure" but also he knows he can't marry someone like her, he needs someone more staid and responsible, but then finds out she's not pure and well... in that case I CAN fuck her can't I (no, he doesn't intend to marry her still). Not to mention how he always assumes the worst and even when he finds out the truth responds by interrogating her, pressing her, and acting like she's the gd villain. I don't want him to get the girl (or her to be stuck with him) I want to give him a swift kick in the nuts.
So. This is not to my taste and I'm unlikely to like how Bateman writes heroes. Shame because I really liked this heroine... but I want my mmc protective and adoring, not whatever shame kink is going on here....more
I picked this up as part of my What Do I Enjoy reading experiment where I'm reading a series of historical fiction (amongst other genres) to see what I picked this up as part of my What Do I Enjoy reading experiment where I'm reading a series of historical fiction (amongst other genres) to see what I do and don't like within the genre and which authors I want to read more of.
I DNF'd this book at the 60-65% mark.
I really like Alexandra's actual writing and I was super interested in her characters (I really enjoy (or, at least I think I do) historicasl with modern sensibilities and heroines who rebel against society's expectations) but the execution didn't work for me from the beginning. I say this as someone who reads and enjoys smutty novellas - when they are contemporaries, but this book jumped right into the sexual focus and language way too quickly. From the outset our hero is talking about how he can't go with Margo because he'd have to withstand watching her tits jiggle through the whole carriage ride and I think my heart nope'd out of the book at that point.
What I'm taking from this is that part of the point of a historical (for me) is that it is NOT immediately sexual (otherwise why is this not just a contemporary? This could have been written with only minor set and outfit changes as a contemporary and been just as (or more) believable and worked even better). I want my historical characters to get to know each others personalities and I want all my romances to have characters who share intimate moments that are not sexual. None of that really happened here.
And, I think there was a way Vasti could have written that "tits jiggling" line so that it conveyed that exact concept but did it in a much more interesting way that said a lot more about all the feelings our hero has (and has been hiding) for our heroine. It didn't need to be dumped, it just needed to be done better.
Both characters are constantly thinking of the other in sexual terms from the outset and any time it felt like we might learn something else they like about the other person it just goes back to sex. When they finally DID have sex the scene was well written, enjoyable even, but where I think Vasti's intent was to increase the sexual tension with all the sexual talk up to then, what it actually did was remove any sense of sexual tension and made the really well written scene land a little flat. I also think the feeling of freshness and modernity due to her sense of sexual liberation we were supposed to read Margo as having lost something because the hero kept thinking in exactly the same way. Where as a buttoned up hero who wasn't dwelling on how much he wanted to bang her the whole gd time would have made Margo seem that much more what Vasti was aiming for.
While all this annoyed me the writing was good, the sex scene didn't make me uncomfortable and I liked the characters, so I was willing to keep reading through all that. But when we discover the picnic Margo's sister was just having, start talking about maybe she fell into the water or is injured, are literally within 10 mins of where ever she is, but instead of desperately looking for her we pause to fuck... I was out. Like what? This was so urgent that Margo risked her safety and reputation and future stability (because unmarriageable) but now that her sister is clearly right there meh, why bother when there's dick.
No.
I liked Vasti's writing and I'm sure this will work for a lot of people, but it didn't work for me. And I guess that's good, I now have more clarity about what I do and don't like in historicals. One down, 12 more to go....more
This one starts with a questionable consent scene and that a big nope for me. The writing was good and I was super interested in the set up, but I jusThis one starts with a questionable consent scene and that a big nope for me. The writing was good and I was super interested in the set up, but I just can't do non-con whether there was never consent or whether it was removed part way through - to me flipping someone over, holding them under you and continuing sex is non-con. I'm sure other will be totally fine with this and I'm sure the book is well written. It just doesn't work for me....more
Ugh I *hate* to do this because there are so few books by autistic people for autistic people and I want us to have a lot more of that, but I had to DUgh I *hate* to do this because there are so few books by autistic people for autistic people and I want us to have a lot more of that, but I had to DNF this book.
The first chapter is full of highlights and notes because: yeah, me too... but I'd given up reading by Chapter 3 and when I tried to go back after a 6+ month break I couldn't even finish chapter four. The book just felt like I was slogging through mud. I tend to really enjoy memoirs, but to make them work you still need to use narrative devices like build up and release of tension, comedic relief, foreshadowing, creating a narrative thread etc... and this lacks any of that. It's written in a kind of monotone voice with no highs and lows or break up of the - what is inevitably going to be difficult/traumatic reminders for the rest of us adult diagnosed autistics who struggled through all this - tension and weight. It made the reading feel like work with no relief - so as much as I can see myself here I had to stop. ...more
DNF so I don't like to officially rate it, but if I had to rate it: 2.5 stars
I am genuinely disappointed to not be loving this book - I was so lookingDNF so I don't like to officially rate it, but if I had to rate it: 2.5 stars
I am genuinely disappointed to not be loving this book - I was so looking forward to it - a queer (sapphic even) murder mystery with an interesting premise (dating apps!) that is described as being a character based story rather than a fast paced thriller. Everything about this has my name all over it.
In the end, I just couldn't keep reading because I found the main character so distracting and immature that I'd get pulled out of the narrative over and over again. The *constant* references to Inspector Yuan (multiple times in every chapter), just the absolutely ridiculous and infantile thinking process (she knows her suspect wouldn't be able to behave normally in front of his family like he did before the murder, the guilt from the murder would seep out into everything he does and she'd notice the changes - and she knows this because that's how all the perpetrators behave in the Inspector Yuan books so obviously that's how it is in reality). If this was a YA book with a 16-17 year old investigator I'd totally buy this personality and roll with it as an intentional part of the story, but in this... I just couldn't take this seriously as a 20-something adults thinking and decision making.
I got to about 40% into the book, and while I'm super interested in the solution to the mystery I just kept getting so annoyed so often I was forcing my way through chapters and finally just decided to let myself stop reading. It showed a lot of promise, and was a creative idea, so I'd probably give another book by the author a try. I really hate DNFing (I generally get pressured into it by my husband because I'm complaining every time I read the book), but it is what it is....more
I was so looking forward to this novella but instead I ended up DNF'ing at the 70% point.
Here's the thing. This is a 45 page novella. If you are writI was so looking forward to this novella but instead I ended up DNF'ing at the 70% point.
Here's the thing. This is a 45 page novella. If you are writing something so short and tight, you probably need to lean into one direction: An emotional romance where two people develop a strong connection and have one great sex scene OR A very smutty novella that ends on "I like you let's see where this goes" note. ) Exceptions being MCs who are evolving an already established relationship. This book simply couldn't make up it's mind what it was here to provide, and as a result none of the angles worked.
The whole time I was reading it I was thinking of it as a Wham Bam and Thank You Ma'am book.The connection happened too fast and wasn't believable. The sex scenes were perfunctory and distinctly not sexy. And the conflict... let's just say if a guy I'd known for three days said or did any of the things Cade did here there'd be a Wham and a Bam and the end of that story. That's the point where I stopped reading.
The frustrating thing was that the beginning of the book read like Cruz could write something that I'd really enjoy. But this was not that - exclusively because 45 pages was not enough space to get everything done that she set out to do. (I do believe that she could have made something better had she made this a 150pg novella... I'd be interested to know why she didn't.)...more
I'm not rating this because I did not finish it. This was my first Mariana Zapata and I'm unlikely to pick up another. I stopped reading at 2 hours leI'm not rating this because I did not finish it. This was my first Mariana Zapata and I'm unlikely to pick up another. I stopped reading at 2 hours left into a 14 hour audio book when, just past the final slow burn getting together the conflict for the plot was put into play. I stopped because the conflict and Rhodes (immediate) response made me so angry.
First, because Aurora did nothing wrong. Second, because the whole response seemed SO outside of both guys' character it was like she decided *this* is what the conflict would be a fuck it if it makes sense. Third, Rhodes demanding that information be given to him when they weren't even dating is an abuse red flag, it's not info owed a brand new boyfriend and it's certainly not info owed a friend. The whole thing made me SO mad that despite telling myself over and over *for months* that there's only 2 hours left I just can't bring myself to read it. I'm intentionally not spoiling anything here so I can't really delve into WHY this made me so mad or why it has abuse red flags but I'm aware that these are things that really won't bother a LOT of people but simply don't work for me.
And this is exactly why I probably won't read anymore MZ. Because she writes very long slow burns where the conflict comes so deeply into the story that I feel angry and frustrated to have invested so much time in reading this book only to have such a lazy and shitty break up conflict. As this is my first MZ book, I have no frame of reference if this is a good example of her typical 3rd Act Conflicts or not so I'd rather just avoid them.
Really 1.5 stars - I really want to say this was 2 stars, but I just can't convince myself to finish this book and I'm so disappointed about that, so Really 1.5 stars - I really want to say this was 2 stars, but I just can't convince myself to finish this book and I'm so disappointed about that, so it clearly can't get another star.
I really wanted to enjoy this book. The writing was quirky and funny and so easy to slide into, the characters were fun and unique and I just really loved getting to meet all of them. Well. Almost all of them.
I'm not sure where it happened, but somewhere after the first few chapters I feel like I got baited and switched. Quinn started out this big friendly guy who seemed to honestly be into Janie and her quirks, who was genuinely interested in her ramblings and in her and then... then Penny Reid decided that controlling and domineering could make a whole personality (and apparently a desirable one?) and that jealousy and ignoring consent were sexy. (FYI none of those things is sexy.)
I got to the scene in the ballpark and had two thoughts. 1. Clearly Janie is jumping from one abusive relationship, and before she can learn that that was abusive and really process that reality, she's being pulled into another. Because yes. I *totally* felt like I was reading the beginning of an abusive relationship full of love bombing, boundary pushes to see what he can get away with, gaslighting and generally trying to keep her confused. and 2. I feel like Penny Reid forgot that she was giving us a quirky, geeky romance and partway through started writing a cozy version of 50 Shades.
Don't get me wrong. People are allowed to be into 50 Shades style stuff, and I'm betting some cozy versions of that would have a solid audience. You are even allowed to think non-consent stuff is sexy I suppose, but then that kind of content should be made clear in the descriptions and reviews of the book. Like just tell me: Dude is hot, controlling and jealous if that's your turn on you'll love this book so that I can quietly nope out and stop wasting everyone's time.
I was honestly sad about this because I just can not - will not - read "warm up abuse" (what else do we call that) as if it's romantic, but I really, really wanted the fun quirky romance the first few chapters promised. The thing is, maybe Reid's other books could deliver on that promise, but I don't think I can trust her to not pull this kind of bait and switch again.
It's about time that we stop normalizing abusive and controlling behaviours in romance novels. That shit gets women killed....more
I don't feel comfortable giving this book a star rating as I'm DNF'ing it at 50 pages in.
I don't DNF many books, but this is a library book which neeI don't feel comfortable giving this book a star rating as I'm DNF'ing it at 50 pages in.
I don't DNF many books, but this is a library book which needs to be returned in 4 days and I just don't like this book enough to force myself to finish it in a short time span, which is why I'm not rating it, I'm not sure I can say it's terrible, per say, but I'm not enjoying it.
The problem is that while the book begins by putting the main character in a potentially interesting situation (she has no job, no home, is sleeping on her brother's couch and doing grunt work just to get by) the author neglected to give the main character any kind of personality. All I really know about her 7 chapters into the book is that she really loves her mattress, despises the couch she is now sleeping on, and she's ok with having friends with questionable morals. These things do not a personality form. Compared to something like the The Kiss QuotientKissing Quotient or the The Marriage ClockMarriage Clock where the very first chapter gives us a clear picture of the character's personality and quirks which will become relevant later all we know about *goes to look up this character's name because I've forgotten it since stopping reading 20 minutes ago* Clara is that she's having a hard luck situation and it's depressing her.
Caspian Tiddleswich who plays in that Poirot show for BBC is clearly meant to be Benedict Cumberbatch (so says my husband, I just think Caspian's name is trying too hard) - and also, who exactly is he playing in Poirot? Does Heacock not know anything about Poirot? Pretty sure I can't think of a single ongoing part in a Poirot book that would cast a "strangely good looking" 40-something. I know. I know. I'm being overly anal about this, but Agatha Christie is my thing and so this annoys me.
Also, is it just me or is it weird that Clara's best friend describes two different men as "reptilian" in a three page span? Apparently Tiddleswich is "All sexy in a weird lizard man kind of way." (p.46) and Jared Leto (why are there some real actors/shows mixed with fake ones modelled after real ones? Does Benedict Cumberbatch also exist in this universe or does Tiddleswich replace him? I know, I'm being anal again) is described as "reptilian-looking" (p. 48) which in his case seems to be a turn off. I can not think of a time my friends or I have ever used a reptile as a reference for male looks but this character does it twice in a row. Weird.
The primary reason I'm not finishing this book is because the beginning is taking way too long, I don't care a single whit about the main character and I can't see how Clara is going to meet Tiddleswich and get the ball rolling on the story in a believable way. So I'm moving on to something I'm more excited to read....more
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