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donasbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
"I'm sorry honey, but it's over," I told my poor heart. "You don't belong to me anymore." (5:16:01)
I know a lot of people read books like this for the sex, but this one doesn’t have that much sex in it. Plenty of smoldering! But only a few primary ignitions. I enjoyed the tension that built between the two lovers more than I did the releases. The sex was dirty, but not well expressed on the page. Honestly, during the sex scenes, I empathized more on a pain level than pleasure, because everything was written to sound like it hurt. Also, it's really not this easy to find someone who shares your kink, I mean, he basically fell in her lap. And she was just like, wanna choke me, heard thats your jam? And he was like, yeah. I'm paraphrasing, of course. But I do not like convenient plot points, they feel fictional. I want things to feel real when I read.
It may not sound like it, but I liked this book! I'm really happy with the plot and character development. This story and these characters are accessible to me. I honestly can take or leave this kind of sex-- what can I say? I like tenderness lol! But sex is not all this book has to offer either!
Stylistically, this is a very pleasant read, and the story and characters develop at a perfect pace. I enjoyed a the secondary characters as well, like Ava's brother. I'm so pleased that this was not a book built of tropes. Ava at 5'5" is sexier to me than all the 98-pounders I've ever read in one of these sex books, combined. Forced proximity is not so mundane as one bed in a shared hotel room; it is a strictly governed guardian/minor relationship, which is way more nuanced and believable. I could go on about how this book tramples weak and annoying tropes, but it's not necessary. I'll just say Huang's writing is skillful.
"[...Your] enemies are my enemies. Your friends are my friends. And if you wanted, I would burn down the world for you." (9:46:00)
Reading Notes
Three (or more) things I loved:
1. Honestly, I'm surprised at how good this writing is, and that makes me feel bad lol
2. I adore the protective older brother trope.
3. I'm 25% of the way through and I'm so relieved that no one has boned yet! I just cannot handle steamy scenes in every chapter. Plus, I love a slow burn plot!
4. Oh thank goodness she's not four foot seven. I get so sick of the teeny woman trope.
Three (or less) things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. I love Cindy Kay, the narrator for Ava, but not Aiden Snow, the narrator for Alex.
2. I'm not a fan of this book's treatment of the mental health theme. There is so much toxic positivity. Ava actually tells herself that she should be grateful because only one of her parents died from suicide. But no worries, she still has her dad who doesn't express emotion or show affection! (You're going to
sh-t when you find out why he's so cold to her.)
3. I can do without "nub." At least she's not using "nubbin."
Rating: 👩🏻❤️💋👨🏽👩🏻❤️💋👨🏽👩🏻❤️💋👨🏽.5 burgeoning romances
Spice: 🔥🔥.5
Recommend? Yes
Finished: Sep 26 '24
Format: Audiobook, Libby
Read this book if you like:
⛓️ sub / dom and bdsm
👨👩👧👦 family stories, family drama
💇♀️ women's coming of age
🩹 pain and pleasure
❤️🔥 dark romance
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, and Death of parent
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
kitty_kat_26's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Suicide and Stalking
anavpereira's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse
Minor: Domestic abuse
shadowsandspells's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
Minor: Drug abuse and Suicide
neekoshimmer32's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I personally loved seeing Ava talk about her cultural background through the foods to the minute interactions. It really felt like she could’ve been a self-insert for the author. I also didn’t expect the struggles Ava goes through
Her friend group is talked about a bit, mostly Ava just vents to them about her problems. But Bridget, as the matriarch, or female lead in the next book is mentioned just a smidge a bit more. She’s also a bit more impactful in the overall solving-the-third-act-conflict part.
As for Alex, he also seemed a bit cheesy at the beginning. The typical dark, brooding male, who is a CEO and loves and craves VIOLENCE, (at least as a means of getting whatever he wants bc his pockets are so deep) while somehow keeping said company afloat. I guess he sacrifices the finer things in life -aka his social life- for that. Jokes on me though, because I don’t hate this kind of men (in my books). And despite his last name, I hadn’t predicted his Russian heritage. He uses a few Russian words around the start of the book, though maybe if he’s Russian he could’ve called Ava something sweet in Russian? (I can’t remember if he did). I found ‘sunshine’ wasn’t really my thing.
My personal favorite part of the book is when the couple gets together around the half of the book, and even do normal couples stuff together, (So much so, that Ava’s friends are in on it), and yet aren’t official? At some point Alex says they’re exclusive, but they didn’t seem to call each other boyfriend or girlfriend. Somehow, I enjoyed this better than they’re typical selves before this part. That was also because they seemed to bicker a bit and the not-really enemies-to-lovers thing didn’t really do it for me. After that, they went through the third act where they separated for a bit, and it was all resolved in the last chapter before the epilogue. I’ve read other books where something similar happens, but I wish they ending was less rushed and more neatly tied up.
During this ideal period for me, the two acted more like a real couple and were giddy and in love. I didn’t like the after part as much, probably because of the third act conflict. Consider this a more detailed version of content warnings —> (
There were lots of cheesy things that I didn’t buy would happen for a single second
So overall, this book went from the brother’s best friend trope to bickering, to getting along. Then it became a bit of a mystery (and that part also kept me going), solved Alex’s problems, and then they had to find each other again. It was a whirlwind and any of those separate parts could have been different books. But I enjoyed it as a fun read. I would like to read more about them as a couple in those happier times.
Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Stalking, and Murder
megs_k's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Sometimes you just want to read a toxic red flagged romance.
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting
hannahcheney97's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
thespycrowreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Sexual content
jaklyn_heath_reads's review against another edition
3.0
I listened to the audio while painting and enjoyed it. There is a lot of spice- it’s a tad demeaning, dirty, rough so be warned.
The theme of “vengeance” was a bit over-the-top but I guess the twists were decent.
Not the best written book but entertaining.
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting
jennaslaney_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders