kerrikins's review
2.0
Like Honey unfortunately fell into a class of romances that are all too common - adorable concept and characters that could have been amazing, but in the end fall flat and don’t meet expectations.
We start off with what could be the sort of romance that I’m actually a pretty big sucker for - a widow who’s struggling to run a business on her own, trying to put her life back together. This was the part of the blurb that drew me in - I adore stories that touch on the bittersweet joy of finding true love again!
What I got, though, was a book full full of stilted, awkward writing, with more than a few scenes that were either downright disturbing or just threw off the track of the book.
The chapter transitions are very awkward, and more than once made me grimace because they made me pause in the flow of my reading. For example, one chapter ends like this:
“What stood before him was astounding.”
Sounds pretty good, right? Except then the next chapter literally makes NO mention of it. Not only does it switch POVs, but then the main character notes that the other person is mesmerized, but does nothing to explain why! This sort of shit bugs me. Don’t just tell me that something is amazing, tell me WHY. There’s a mention of stone and wood floor, beamed ceilings, and that’s it. Nothing to get across the reason why the character was so in awe.
Another example?
“One more thought of him as the vibrator shook her parts, and she soon unraveled.”
Uh… This isn’t sexy.
Another thing that was VERY strange is that both characters have flashbacks… (wait for it) …to sex scenes with OTHER characters.
I’m just going to stop right here for a moment and say that I’m pretty sure that this is about the first romance that had the characters thinking about sex with OTHER people. These were not casual thoughts, they were outright fantasies/descriptions of the main characters (who the romance centres around) getting it on with other people. I don’t know whether the author meant it as backstory or insight or whatever, but it just did not work for me whatsoever. If I’m supposed to be invested in these two characters falling for each other, what’s with the dreams about other people?
But it doesn’t stop there… THEN there is a scene that was pretty gross for me because the male character rapes the female character.
I will say that I don’t think that the author meant it that way, but it still completely sleeved me out. Here is the scene:
She smacked him hard across the face.
“Get out!”
He pinned her arms down as he climbed on top of her. “You don’t really want that.”
She felt him pressing into her - and oh, God, he was right. She wanted him there, inside of her, holding her.
Still, his girlfriend was in his cottage. This was wrong.
She twisted against him.
“Get out, Gray,” she said. “Go back to Kasey. I don’t want any part of this.”
“Jen, I don’t love her. She’s… not staying. I promise,” he said, breathing heavy.”
NOPE NOPE NOPE.
Look, I get that the author has us inside Jennifer’s head for a reason, but the fact that Gray didn’t listen to her? INSTANT TURN OFF. If a person says get out in the middle of sex, you fucking get out, or you at least fucking STOP. You do not keep going. You do not pin the other person down and climb on top of them.
ARGH. Seriously. The only reason I didn’t one star it on the basis of this alone is because I’m fairly sure the author thought it would be ~hot and domineering~.
So yeah. :/ From there it meanders on through the development of the mystery, and my curiosity was really the only thing that kept me reading, but the answer wasn't all that fascinating. Most will probably have an idea fairly early on the novel, in my opinion.
Add that to the inconsistent writing and awkward pace, and what was supposed to be a cute romance went down the toilet. The mystery was just okay, but not very compelling, and after the above I couldn’t even really get into the romance before. It didn’t work for me because I didn’t buy the development throughout the book, and to be honest it seemed as though both of them were rather hung up on their exes.
I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in return for an honest review.
We start off with what could be the sort of romance that I’m actually a pretty big sucker for - a widow who’s struggling to run a business on her own, trying to put her life back together. This was the part of the blurb that drew me in - I adore stories that touch on the bittersweet joy of finding true love again!
What I got, though, was a book full full of stilted, awkward writing, with more than a few scenes that were either downright disturbing or just threw off the track of the book.
The chapter transitions are very awkward, and more than once made me grimace because they made me pause in the flow of my reading. For example, one chapter ends like this:
“What stood before him was astounding.”
Sounds pretty good, right? Except then the next chapter literally makes NO mention of it. Not only does it switch POVs, but then the main character notes that the other person is mesmerized, but does nothing to explain why! This sort of shit bugs me. Don’t just tell me that something is amazing, tell me WHY. There’s a mention of stone and wood floor, beamed ceilings, and that’s it. Nothing to get across the reason why the character was so in awe.
Another example?
“One more thought of him as the vibrator shook her parts, and she soon unraveled.”
Uh… This isn’t sexy.
Another thing that was VERY strange is that both characters have flashbacks… (wait for it) …to sex scenes with OTHER characters.
I’m just going to stop right here for a moment and say that I’m pretty sure that this is about the first romance that had the characters thinking about sex with OTHER people. These were not casual thoughts, they were outright fantasies/descriptions of the main characters (who the romance centres around) getting it on with other people. I don’t know whether the author meant it as backstory or insight or whatever, but it just did not work for me whatsoever. If I’m supposed to be invested in these two characters falling for each other, what’s with the dreams about other people?
But it doesn’t stop there… THEN there is a scene that was pretty gross for me because the male character rapes the female character.
I will say that I don’t think that the author meant it that way, but it still completely sleeved me out. Here is the scene:
“Get out!”
He pinned her arms down as he climbed on top of her. “You don’t really want that.”
She felt him pressing into her - and oh, God, he was right. She wanted him there, inside of her, holding her.
Still, his girlfriend was in his cottage. This was wrong.
She twisted against him.
“Get out, Gray,” she said. “Go back to Kasey. I don’t want any part of this.”
“Jen, I don’t love her. She’s… not staying. I promise,” he said, breathing heavy.”
NOPE NOPE NOPE.
Look, I get that the author has us inside Jennifer’s head for a reason, but the fact that Gray didn’t listen to her? INSTANT TURN OFF. If a person says get out in the middle of sex, you fucking get out, or you at least fucking STOP. You do not keep going. You do not pin the other person down and climb on top of them.
ARGH. Seriously. The only reason I didn’t one star it on the basis of this alone is because I’m fairly sure the author thought it would be ~hot and domineering~.
So yeah. :/ From there it meanders on through the development of the mystery, and my curiosity was really the only thing that kept me reading, but the answer wasn't all that fascinating. Most will probably have an idea fairly early on the novel, in my opinion.
Add that to the inconsistent writing and awkward pace, and what was supposed to be a cute romance went down the toilet. The mystery was just okay, but not very compelling, and after the above I couldn’t even really get into the romance before. It didn’t work for me because I didn’t buy the development throughout the book, and to be honest it seemed as though both of them were rather hung up on their exes.
I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in return for an honest review.
kerribookhoarder's review
2.0
Like Honey unfortunately fell into a class of romances that are all too common - adorable concept and characters that could have been amazing, but in the end fall flat and don’t meet expectations.
We start off with what could be the sort of romance that I’m actually a pretty big sucker for - a widow who’s struggling to run a business on her own, trying to put her life back together. This was the part of the blurb that drew me in - I adore stories that touch on the bittersweet joy of finding true love again!
What I got, though, was a book full full of stilted, awkward writing, with more than a few scenes that were either downright disturbing or just threw off the track of the book.
The chapter transitions are very awkward, and more than once made me grimace because they made me pause in the flow of my reading. For example, one chapter ends like this:
“What stood before him was astounding.”
Sounds pretty good, right? Except then the next chapter literally makes NO mention of it. Not only does it switch POVs, but then the main character notes that the other person is mesmerized, but does nothing to explain why! This sort of shit bugs me. Don’t just tell me that something is amazing, tell me WHY. There’s a mention of stone and wood floor, beamed ceilings, and that’s it. Nothing to get across the reason why the character was so in awe.
Another example?
“One more thought of him as the vibrator shook her parts, and she soon unraveled.”
Uh… This isn’t sexy.
Another thing that was VERY strange is that both characters have flashbacks… (wait for it) …to sex scenes with OTHER characters.
I’m just going to stop right here for a moment and say that I’m pretty sure that this is about the first romance that had the characters thinking about sex with OTHER people. These were not casual thoughts, they were outright fantasies/descriptions of the main characters (who the romance centres around) getting it on with other people. I don’t know whether the author meant it as backstory or insight or whatever, but it just did not work for me whatsoever. If I’m supposed to be invested in these two characters falling for each other, what’s with the dreams about other people?
But it doesn’t stop there… THEN there is a scene that was pretty gross for me because the male character rapes the female character.
I will say that I don’t think that the author meant it that way, but it still completely sleeved me out. Here is the scene:
She smacked him hard across the face.
“Get out!”
He pinned her arms down as he climbed on top of her. “You don’t really want that.”
She felt him pressing into her - and oh, God, he was right. She wanted him there, inside of her, holding her.
Still, his girlfriend was in his cottage. This was wrong.
She twisted against him.
“Get out, Gray,” she said. “Go back to Kasey. I don’t want any part of this.”
“Jen, I don’t love her. She’s… not staying. I promise,” he said, breathing heavy.”
NOPE NOPE NOPE.
Look, I get that the author has us inside Jennifer’s head for a reason, but the fact that Gray didn’t listen to her? INSTANT TURN OFF. If a person says get out in the middle of sex, you fucking get out, or you at least fucking STOP. You do not keep going. You do not pin the other person down and climb on top of them.
ARGH. Seriously. The only reason I didn’t one star it on the basis of this alone is because I’m fairly sure the author thought it would be ~hot and domineering~.
So yeah. :/ From there it meanders on through the development of the mystery, and my curiosity was really the only thing that kept me reading, but the answer wasn't all that fascinating. Most will probably have an idea fairly early on the novel, in my opinion.
Add that to the inconsistent writing and awkward pace, and what was supposed to be a cute romance went down the toilet. The mystery was just okay, but not very compelling, and after the above I couldn’t even really get into the romance before. It didn’t work for me because I didn’t buy the development throughout the book, and to be honest it seemed as though both of them were rather hung up on their exes.
I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in return for an honest review.
We start off with what could be the sort of romance that I’m actually a pretty big sucker for - a widow who’s struggling to run a business on her own, trying to put her life back together. This was the part of the blurb that drew me in - I adore stories that touch on the bittersweet joy of finding true love again!
What I got, though, was a book full full of stilted, awkward writing, with more than a few scenes that were either downright disturbing or just threw off the track of the book.
The chapter transitions are very awkward, and more than once made me grimace because they made me pause in the flow of my reading. For example, one chapter ends like this:
“What stood before him was astounding.”
Sounds pretty good, right? Except then the next chapter literally makes NO mention of it. Not only does it switch POVs, but then the main character notes that the other person is mesmerized, but does nothing to explain why! This sort of shit bugs me. Don’t just tell me that something is amazing, tell me WHY. There’s a mention of stone and wood floor, beamed ceilings, and that’s it. Nothing to get across the reason why the character was so in awe.
Another example?
“One more thought of him as the vibrator shook her parts, and she soon unraveled.”
Uh… This isn’t sexy.
Another thing that was VERY strange is that both characters have flashbacks… (wait for it) …to sex scenes with OTHER characters.
I’m just going to stop right here for a moment and say that I’m pretty sure that this is about the first romance that had the characters thinking about sex with OTHER people. These were not casual thoughts, they were outright fantasies/descriptions of the main characters (who the romance centres around) getting it on with other people. I don’t know whether the author meant it as backstory or insight or whatever, but it just did not work for me whatsoever. If I’m supposed to be invested in these two characters falling for each other, what’s with the dreams about other people?
But it doesn’t stop there… THEN there is a scene that was pretty gross for me because the male character rapes the female character.
I will say that I don’t think that the author meant it that way, but it still completely sleeved me out. Here is the scene:
“Get out!”
He pinned her arms down as he climbed on top of her. “You don’t really want that.”
She felt him pressing into her - and oh, God, he was right. She wanted him there, inside of her, holding her.
Still, his girlfriend was in his cottage. This was wrong.
She twisted against him.
“Get out, Gray,” she said. “Go back to Kasey. I don’t want any part of this.”
“Jen, I don’t love her. She’s… not staying. I promise,” he said, breathing heavy.”
NOPE NOPE NOPE.
Look, I get that the author has us inside Jennifer’s head for a reason, but the fact that Gray didn’t listen to her? INSTANT TURN OFF. If a person says get out in the middle of sex, you fucking get out, or you at least fucking STOP. You do not keep going. You do not pin the other person down and climb on top of them.
ARGH. Seriously. The only reason I didn’t one star it on the basis of this alone is because I’m fairly sure the author thought it would be ~hot and domineering~.
So yeah. :/ From there it meanders on through the development of the mystery, and my curiosity was really the only thing that kept me reading, but the answer wasn't all that fascinating. Most will probably have an idea fairly early on the novel, in my opinion.
Add that to the inconsistent writing and awkward pace, and what was supposed to be a cute romance went down the toilet. The mystery was just okay, but not very compelling, and after the above I couldn’t even really get into the romance before. It didn’t work for me because I didn’t buy the development throughout the book, and to be honest it seemed as though both of them were rather hung up on their exes.
I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in return for an honest review.
More...