Man, what a silly, silly book. I knew to expect it based on the first one, of course, but -- goodness, I think this one is even sillier. The plot is wMan, what a silly, silly book. I knew to expect it based on the first one, of course, but -- goodness, I think this one is even sillier. The plot is way flimsier and falls apart under scrutiny even more easily (so demons, what, hunt... one another?? And I can buy the whole My Inner Animal Who Is A Separate Entity From Me trope for shifters, even if I don't like it, but for a half-demon it feels SO contrived and bizarre -- like, that's literally just half of his parentage! it's not a separate aspect of him, it's half of who he is! -- and the solve for the hex was SO wildly anticlimactic and underexplained after so much buildup through the literal entire book as the ONLY obstacle to the romance), and it was genuinely hard to get a handle on Rose's character, though I did like what I saw when it managed to be consistent. But there was just SO much happening here -- Rose trying to figure out what she wants from her life, everything with the animal sanctuary, then the hunting, then Callie popping up with her work like 75% of the way in, Olive and Bax's book setup, Violet learning to be Prima, the stuff with their mom, Damian and his brother -- and then Rose and Damian's relationship still has to fit in amidst all of it. And it honestly gets shafted a little, even though it's a perfectly decent romance! Which is a bummer in what's ostensibly a romance novel.
Also, I simply hate all the weird cutesy slang adapted to the world. It's SO silly and brings the whole tone down considerably and makes it hard to take any part of it seriously -- like, your worldbuilding is already thin as tissue paper, don't give me even more reasons to take it apart!! So -- still mindless brain candy fluff, but not even as fun as the first one. But still nothing terribly offensive contained within and decently readable writing throughout, so -- I'll round up to three stars for now....more
This book was even more pulpy ridiculous nonsense than I anticipated, and -- man, I just wish a lot of these alternate reality books really reckoned wThis book was even more pulpy ridiculous nonsense than I anticipated, and -- man, I just wish a lot of these alternate reality books really reckoned with more of how significantly history and culture would change as a result of the changes they've made?? This REALLY doesn't want to account for what it would actually mean for America to have been a monarchy in any kind of real or weighty way; it just wants fluffy ridiculous royal romance, but set in the US, with modern-day American culture. Which, like... sure? I get it? But if you want to actually write a book with that premise, DO SO -- actually address what it would mean! Do some work to craft the world that exists as a result! Or just do some research on the UK if you want pulpy royal romance, or bring in a foreign prince or princess to the US or something! Or create an entire secondary world, even!! I am so tired of stories that are basically just Our World But Literally One Different Thing that want to explore that thing without actually creating the world that the thing would result in-- it frustrates me to no end. So once it became clear that that was where this was going, it was inevitable that I wasn't going to LOVE this book -- but I did get a decent amount of trash fluff enjoyment out of it nonetheless.
The Beatrice plot is pretty standard royal fare; I did find the Sam stuff fun and engaging, and I do want everything to turn out okay with her and her dude! I find it frustrating that we don't get a Jeff POV; it means it's hard to get a handle down on his characterization, what he's thinking and feeling, and thus hard to really get to know or even sympathize with him. I enjoy Nina, though due to aforementioned lack of Jeff POV it's hard to get to know and root for their relationship -- and Daphne, of course, is so terrible it's hard to even know where to start. Overall everyone is just... pretty caricature-y, and makes lots of terrible choices, and it makes it hard to fully root for or feel attached to any of them! Which I wasn't super expecting going in, of course, given -- you know -- the pulpy ridiculous nonsense, but there we go. Fun enough, if in an intensely trashy and half-baked way; I'll still read the sequel, because I Must Know What Happens, unfortunately....more
A lot of this is very silly (especially the little epilogue of pregnant America), but I have to be honest, I eat extracanonical shit up with a fuckingA lot of this is very silly (especially the little epilogue of pregnant America), but I have to be honest, I eat extracanonical shit up with a fucking spoon, so I still enjoyed it regardless. It's exactly the kind of thing I want from this universe: trashy, fluffy, utterly devoid of any actual meaningful content but somehow stupidly enjoyable nonetheless. What an absolutely ridiculous series that I nonetheless keep coming back to whenever I need more of that good good trash-fluff in my life, ha.
Practically speaking, in terms of the short stories, the only one that maybe hits four stars is Marlee's; I liked hearing from her and seeing how she and Carter fell in love and how Maxon ended up doing what he could to mitigate his father's cruelty. The others are all "meh" in their own special ways, ha; Amberly's is troubling because she loves Clarkson so much and he's clearly so terrible, Maxon's is really bland and I just HATE his first meeting with America so much, and Aspen's is obnoxious because Aspen himself is obnoxious, SORRY NOT SORRY. Lucy's story also really illustrates his obnoxiousness; she deserves better, tbh!! (As does Celeste, quite frankly; her scenes really just make me sad, at this point.) As I said, the little epilogue of pregnant America is REALLY ridiculous (they're so young for all of this!! fuck!!!), as is the little "where are they now" of the other Elite -- but again, I'm not in this series for any intellectual stimulating content, ha. They're fun and fluffy and absurd little extra pieces of story, and I like revisiting them for all their obvious flaws. It's a nice coda to the absurd trash fluff that is this franchise, before diving into the somehow more enjoyable sequel duology!...more
(Realistic rating: like, two stars on content and four stars on PURE ENJOYMENT. Definitely ranking on the latter here rather than any semblance of mer(Realistic rating: like, two stars on content and four stars on PURE ENJOYMENT. Definitely ranking on the latter here rather than any semblance of merit in the story itself. :"))
This book is absolute ridiculous absurd trashy FUN. It's almost totally free of substance, crams way too many characters with way too many coincidental connections together into far too short of a space to do a proper dive into the vast majority of them, drops plot threads that don't get picked back up again like they're candy, and embraces quite a few absurd gender essentialisms that are almost enough to make you throw the whole thing out the window. But BOY is it a delightful mindless fluffy read, one that made me laugh out loud several times, feel deeply for the few characters it doesn't completely shaft, and even cheer in breathless delight at the UNEXPECTED LESBIAN, HELL YES HELL YES, I WOULD ABSOLUTELY DIE FOR HER.
Does this book needlessly embrace an excess of gender stereotypes for no real reason? Does it introduce and drop characters so quickly it's hard to keep track of who's who? Does it flit from plot to plot so quickly you're in danger of getting whiplash? Does any single aspect of it make even the slightest bit of sense if stared at too closely? Did the answers to any of these clearly-rhetorical questions stop me from laughing aloud at the gloriously humorous writing, root for the characters I grew attached to, unironically enjoy the wildly unlikely contrivances and coincidences that made up the plot, and look forward to revisiting it again in the future? I mean, that question is clearly just as rhetorical as the rest. I'm not sure I would actually recommend this, but it is absolutely earning a treasured place on my (metaphorical) trash-fluff shelf....more
Fun fact: this book is the reason I have my trash fluff shelf! It's the ur-example of the kind of thing that fits on there just perfectly. :")
Let's geFun fact: this book is the reason I have my trash fluff shelf! It's the ur-example of the kind of thing that fits on there just perfectly. :")
Let's get this out of the way right off the bat: this is not a good book! It's not! It's a FUN book, a ridiculous escapist story that has a surprisingly successful romance at its core -- but it's trying to do way too much at once, attempting to make Deeper Points beneath fluffy trappings (which go way too deep to let any genuine point shine through), trying to make a compelling love triangle and compelling heroine (and totally failing both), and just not well-written across the board despite that. But it's enjoyable, like an excessively sugary pastry, and it's why every once in a while I do like to come back to it.
First, let's talk about the things I like about this, few and far between as they are: the premise is fun! Absolutely ridiculous and incredibly flimsy, but still fun. It's an enjoyable escapist fantasy as long as you don't question it at all, because it's purely made of tissue paper. But like, cute tissue paper! With a fun print! It's nice that America has a family she loves and genuine friendships, and I do like Marlee a lot. And perhaps what surprises me most of all every time I read this is that, at least in this book, the relationship between America and Maxon is genuinely realistic and genuinely heartwarming. It's clear what about her appeals to him, and it's really fun to watch his attraction to her grow as she obliviously thinks "oh, we're becoming such good friends!!" That friendship feels real, and the development of feelings between them are slow and grow in a very plausible way, and their first kiss(es) feel like a very real and very satisfying culmination of said feelings. It's unfortunate how much bullshit they get put through later on, because you truly see the possibility of something real and lasting between them here. Their foundations are really solid, and in a trash fluff book, that's no small thing for me.
... Buuuut unfortunately, EVERYTHING ELSE! :") First and foremost, America feels more like a caricature than a real person; there have by now been so many characters like her in YA lit, you can practically color her in by numbers, and you can predict almost everything she's going to do, and sometimes her dialogue and actions feel more like they're happening because they're supposed to than because it actually logically progresses in any way (her dialogue in her first meeting with Maxon feels especially stilted to me, and I can never get over that). Second, I just hate the stereotypical YA Overbearing Mom and Cool Dad; ever since I first noticed that trope, I can't stop noticing it, and it's especially bad here. Third, as I said, the worldbuilding is just... absolutely tissue-paper-thin; the entire concept of Dystopian USA As Strictly Class-Striated Monarchy Defined Primarily By Sexism just feels... agonizingly unrealistic and barely plausible, and both the How We Got Here and the actual implications of such a thing really hasn't been thought through in the least. (And I'm going to stop numbering these now as they occur to me more rapid-fire, ha.) Aspen is a real dick; him showing up and suddenly thinking everything's going to be okay between him and America when he dumped her without warning is just TERRIBLE and genuinely makes me permanently think way less of him. Celeste is an awful caricature of a villain (and pitting America against her is SO not-like-other-girls-y). And it just has to be mentioned that in the middle of everything else, the writing is just not very good (though it does make it a quick read!). So -- on the whole, as I said, it's very much the archetype of a trash-fluff read to me: the fluff is fluffy enough to be enjoyable, but the trash is trashy enough to make it impossible to like on any kind of deeper level....more
This book pretty much is what it is-- a sweet contemporary romance novel in a small town, full of people who care about one another and are constantlyThis book pretty much is what it is-- a sweet contemporary romance novel in a small town, full of people who care about one another and are constantly gossiping, a hero and heroine who keep finding reasons not to be together, but even more reasons to be drawn to one another, and the ever-so-unexpected (sigh) impetus of an unplanned pregnancy. It's a nice introduction to Fool's Gold, feeble attempts at actual plot aside, and I was surprised by how fond of it I was upon rereading; I mostly remembered it as cute but forgettable at first, but really, it's pretty good.
I like Charity, for the most part-- she's a great lens through which to first experience the town and a fun sort of everywoman as contrasted to Josh, and her story arc is great. Josh is surprisingly delightful-- he's a genuinely nice guy with very relatable demons, and it's great to see how he fits into the small town and how much everyone loves him. The chemistry between them was great, too, although the problems seemed VASTLY manufactured; it makes sense that Charity would be overwhelmed or concerned about the issues of dating a celebrity, but he really did not give her any indication he wouldn't be all in or that he was interested in being super famous again?? Everyone kept telling her she was being unreasonable and expecting him to read her mind without actually telling him what she wanted (and thinking that there was no chance he'd be on board??), and she was just... not listening, which was extremely frustrating. But the resolution was surprisingly satisfying (at least Charity admitted she was wrong!), although as always, I wish people in romance novels would wait like... at least a year before getting engaged?? You can't know someone well enough to marry them in only a few months, people!!
Things I didn't love: the attempts at actual plot (SO thin, especially the Robert thing-- it was blatantly obvious he'd done it), the ubiquitous unplanned pregnancy as plot device, the weird man-shortage thing (like, really? must we?), and, like I said, Charity's total frustrating obtuseness. (Also, this is a minor nitpick, but if someone in their very early twenties is writing their doctoral dissertation, they must be a goddamn genius because that means they've already done at least three years of their PhD program, PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH, SUSAN MALLERY.) But otherwise, like I said, it's lovely and it's sweet and it's fun, and it's a great first book of this often up-and-down series....more
(Realistic rating: it's real, REAL close to being five stars, and I'm tempted to round up just on sheer coziness and fondness alone, but the truth is (Realistic rating: it's real, REAL close to being five stars, and I'm tempted to round up just on sheer coziness and fondness alone, but the truth is I really don't love it quite as much as I do most of my other five-star books, and there are definitely things I wish had been focused on less, and it's still a little stressful in that secondhand embarrassment way Sophie Kinsella is so good at. So probably a true 4.5 here-- I'm just rounding down for those aspects.)
I love Sophie Kinsella's books in a fluffy mindless sort of way (every single narrator has pretty much the same voice, even though they're always pretty different sorts of people), and this one is by far my favorite. The voice feels the most real, the protagonist is the most likeable, and the situation is so gloriously tropey, I don't even know where to begin.
The premise is so good-- a very relatable heroine wakes up with the so-called perfect life, and slowly realizes it isn't so perfect after all, and the lengths that she went to to get it. Eric is a very love-to-hate-him kind of guy, while Jon is a great romantic lead (and the chemistry between him and Lexi is excellent). I loved seeing Lexi try so desperately to get her friends back, and fumbling through her relationships with her terrible mother and sister. There's definitely a fun sense of fantasy when reading books about very rich people, but I appreciate this one because there's also serious downsides to it, and not just a fun wish-fulfillment-y romp. And the ending is so, SO lovely and satisfying, it just makes me feel endlessly warm and cozy.
Downsides: as with all Sophie Kinsella books, there's secondhand embarrassment to a genuinely stressful degree, and a lot of conflict that just... doesn't get addressed, which I hate?? I know it's realistic, but still! Also, love stories in which one half of the couple has unresolved amnesia always make me a little uncomfortable; it seems so unbalanced and it's an uncomfortable power dynamic, though of course that's played off lightly here (with plenty of room to imagine that Lexi DOES fully recover at some point). So it doesn't bother me as much as it might otherwise, but it's still a bit of a sticking point in an otherwise very fun story!...more
Man, one day I will just have to accept the fact that while the Travis books are fun fluff reads, they're extremely 50/50, quite literally: Sugar DaddMan, one day I will just have to accept the fact that while the Travis books are fun fluff reads, they're extremely 50/50, quite literally: Sugar Daddy and Blue Eyed Devil are great, Smooth Talking Stranger and Brown Eyed Girl (which I first read last year) are... not. Well, at least the main relationship isn't; this book is actually not bad on the whole, but I find Avery/Joe the most boring part of the entire thing. I think the problem with the books is that a lot of them deal with plots bigger than the romance itself, so it nearly always takes a backseat. While I love Sugar Daddy, it's because of Liberty's development, not her relationship; Smooth Talking Stranger balances Ella's new parenthood and family issues with her relationship with Jack. Blue Eyed Devil works because Haven and Hardy's relationship is dovetailed into her recovery and growth, but Brown Eyed Girl does terribly with the balance between the plot, the side characters, and the romance.
I like Avery as a heroine, though I was never quite sure what her deal was; she didn't feel fully fleshed out, even though she was fun. I felt similarly about Joe, actually-- he felt more like a caricature of a romance novel hero than a real guy. Nothing really distinguished him from any other random guy on the street? And while I bought the initial chemistry between the two of them, I didn't really get what made them connect and linger in the relationship, let alone say "I love you"/get engaged/etc. If the other aspects of the book hadn't bolstered the sad weak romance plot, it would have been maybe two stars TOPS.
However, the entire business was so much fun to read about; Avery, imo, was most likeable when working, as she's clearly the most career-woman-minded than the leads of the prior books, which was a fun and nice change. And of course there's Steven/Sofia !!!! What a good, good couple that ABSOLUTELY should have been front and center, tbh. A million times more fun and engaging and sweet and compelling than Avery and Joe, both as individual characters and as a couple. They almost singlehandedly save this book from being a total dud, and like I said, are pretty much the only reason this is getting three stars....more
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