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smartcookiesca's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Infidelity, and Medical content
Minor: Death of parent
tamaramoralessss's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wtffffff an amazing read this was not what I expected… I have fallen in love with this book I’m just at a lost for words although I wished the age gap was atleast for her to be 18 and not younger because it’s weird having to read it knowing her age. I don’t really mind age gaps but when the girl is under age it’s uncomfortable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, and Toxic relationship
bookswithkat97's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Moderate: Bullying and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent and Abandonment
100_pages_hr's review against another edition
2.5
This book is messed up! Check content warnings
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape and Abortion
bookishbabbles's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
The audiobook changes some facts about the book. The narrator changes the age of the female MC to 18 instead of 16. When I switched to physical copy I was very confused. This book was not for me. There wasn’t much of an emotional connection between the love interest, mostly sexual. The male mc also manipulated her a lot. Not my taste but I can see why it’s so popular.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual content
sniderbeebooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This is not a rage-induced one-star rating. I don't care that the book is taboo or the romance forbidden; it makes no difference to me. Instead, this is a one-star book because, to be blunt, it is the most miserable romance reading experience I've ever had.
I was hating this book at 40% and I was guiltily scrambling for how/why I would justify a low rating among all of the praise this book has received. I felt like I was being really nit-picky, but the book just felt... off. Well, I finished it and I'm not feeling guilty anymore.
I've said before when it comes to taboo or forbidden romance novels, the point is to bend a reader to your will and make them champion a couple that by all standards, should not be together. Adrianna and Kova should not have been together. Her age. His position. But instead of finding myself longing to see them together as I expected, I desperately wanted them to not work out. That or become totally different people.
If it were just her age or just his position of power, then maybe my feelings would have been different. But there was wrongness at every single turn in this one. Kova has a girlfriend, so he's also cheating. Ria knows he has a girlfriend and enables the cheating. Not only that, but they actually banter back and forth about Kova's girlfriend while they're being intimate. How is that sexy?
Kova is entirely focused on his own gratification and self-preservation, at one point telling her that if he gets her pregnant, he will deny it until his dying breath. Their intimate scenes are all about Kova being self-focused. He seduces her by vocalizing the battle raging between HIS desires and HIS lack of control. How he can't help himself with her and she needs to be the one to stop things from going further.
Ria is entirely focused on Kova and his gratification. She hides her inexperience from him. She hides the pain he inflicts upon her from him. She literally allows herself to be harmed for his satisfaction.
In fact, no one in this book has Adrianna's best interests at heart and she's the impressionable 15 year old!
Kova is disgusting. The ways he treats Ria are disgusting. The things he says to her, again, disgusting. Ria is annoyingly stubborn, rebellious, and frankly stupid. She doesn't even try to stay healthy and/or well.
Like if you think 50 Shades was toxic.... allow me to introduce you to this series opener.
Content aside, the book is just a mess. First, it's 600 pages of slow-moving, overly technical, mundane details. An editor could have cut at least 200 pages from this book. Easily. It's also broken up in a completely arbitrary way. Chapters end and begin in the middle of conversations even though there is no point of view shift. Why? Meanwhile, the narrative will jump ahead by days or weeks in the middle of a single chapter. I mean, what are you doing? The pacing is also a mess, the details are confusing, and then it turns into melodrama.
The ending of this book is so ridiculous, I wanted to throw my phone across the room. All I wanted was to be able to sympathize with Adrianna in the face of her constant mistreatment at the hands of her closest guardian. Instead, she quickly becomes the villain in my eyes and there is suddenly nothing redeemable about her. She deserves everything her coach does to her.
I watched a video that spoils the rest of the series. There are five whole books full of this torture, the shortest of which is still over 450 pages. It sounds like nothing improves, the melodrama only gets worse, the side characters become even more deplorable, and I'm not convinced that at any point, Kova or Adrianna could have won me over. You know, should I be stranded on a deserted island for eternity with only these five books to keep me company. That's the only way I'd read them.
I was hating this book at 40% and I was guiltily scrambling for how/why I would justify a low rating among all of the praise this book has received. I felt like I was being really nit-picky, but the book just felt... off. Well, I finished it and I'm not feeling guilty anymore.
I've said before when it comes to taboo or forbidden romance novels, the point is to bend a reader to your will and make them champion a couple that by all standards, should not be together. Adrianna and Kova should not have been together. Her age. His position. But instead of finding myself longing to see them together as I expected, I desperately wanted them to not work out. That or become totally different people.
If it were just her age or just his position of power, then maybe my feelings would have been different. But there was wrongness at every single turn in this one. Kova has a girlfriend, so he's also cheating. Ria knows he has a girlfriend and enables the cheating. Not only that, but they actually banter back and forth about Kova's girlfriend while they're being intimate. How is that sexy?
Kova is entirely focused on his own gratification and self-preservation, at one point telling her that if he gets her pregnant, he will deny it until his dying breath. Their intimate scenes are all about Kova being self-focused. He seduces her by vocalizing the battle raging between HIS desires and HIS lack of control. How he can't help himself with her and she needs to be the one to stop things from going further.
Ria is entirely focused on Kova and his gratification. She hides her inexperience from him. She hides the pain he inflicts upon her from him. She literally allows herself to be harmed for his satisfaction.
In fact, no one in this book has Adrianna's best interests at heart and she's the impressionable 15 year old!
Kova is disgusting. The ways he treats Ria are disgusting. The things he says to her, again, disgusting. Ria is annoyingly stubborn, rebellious, and frankly stupid. She doesn't even try to stay healthy and/or well.
Like if you think 50 Shades was toxic.... allow me to introduce you to this series opener.
Content aside, the book is just a mess. First, it's 600 pages of slow-moving, overly technical, mundane details. An editor could have cut at least 200 pages from this book. Easily. It's also broken up in a completely arbitrary way. Chapters end and begin in the middle of conversations even though there is no point of view shift. Why? Meanwhile, the narrative will jump ahead by days or weeks in the middle of a single chapter. I mean, what are you doing? The pacing is also a mess, the details are confusing, and then it turns into melodrama.
The ending of this book is so ridiculous, I wanted to throw my phone across the room. All I wanted was to be able to sympathize with Adrianna in the face of her constant mistreatment at the hands of her closest guardian. Instead, she quickly becomes the villain in my eyes and there is suddenly nothing redeemable about her. She deserves everything her coach does to her.
I watched a video that spoils the rest of the series. There are five whole books full of this torture, the shortest of which is still over 450 pages. It sounds like nothing improves, the melodrama only gets worse, the side characters become even more deplorable, and I'm not convinced that at any point, Kova or Adrianna could have won me over. You know, should I be stranded on a deserted island for eternity with only these five books to keep me company. That's the only way I'd read them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail
lotte5322's review against another edition
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Rape