tylilac's review
1.0
*Deep Breathes*
Third book in Sons of the Elite, really tests your actual patience. This book focuses more on the pain and trauma of Gabrielle who actually becomes insufferable. Are we all to believe that this MC is a neurosurgeon? Because let me say this now she is anything but. I wanted to desperately keep loving Gabrielle in this series but I think this was my breaking point. I understood that Smauggy wanted to create a vulnerable Black woman, slightly naive—but the naivety— was just too much too bare. In the begging of the third book we see here dealing with her rage, which is completely understandable but this woman, who is COMPLETELY aware of the world she is entering due to being in love with these three men who are heads of the Mafia— becomes reckless. I was here for her grasping what she was going through and even going after the man who brought on this suffering but again, we are going to sit here and believe that she can just pop up and go when she just opened up a new clinic and is a Neurosurgeon? At first I was very into Gabrielle turning into a savage to learn her truth of her past but the woman whose Black, Beautiful, but dumb is not one I can get behind. Black women don’t need to be strong all the time, and yes we deserve to be reckless, but we are not delusional, and if you are going to write a character that is this vulnerable damsel in destress then please MAKE IT MAKE SENSE. Cause I lost all mine having to put up with what this character was bringing to the table. She went from being ruthless to being naive and not worth the attention. I cannot say more without giving everything away, but it really boggles my mind that men fall at the feet for this woman no matter how attractive she is. At this point, I was surprised I even kept reading.
Third book in Sons of the Elite, really tests your actual patience. This book focuses more on the pain and trauma of Gabrielle who actually becomes insufferable. Are we all to believe that this MC is a neurosurgeon? Because let me say this now she is anything but. I wanted to desperately keep loving Gabrielle in this series but I think this was my breaking point. I understood that Smauggy wanted to create a vulnerable Black woman, slightly naive—but the naivety— was just too much too bare. In the begging of the third book we see here dealing with her rage, which is completely understandable but this woman, who is COMPLETELY aware of the world she is entering due to being in love with these three men who are heads of the Mafia— becomes reckless. I was here for her grasping what she was going through and even going after the man who brought on this suffering but again, we are going to sit here and believe that she can just pop up and go when she just opened up a new clinic and is a Neurosurgeon? At first I was very into Gabrielle turning into a savage to learn her truth of her past but the woman whose Black, Beautiful, but dumb is not one I can get behind. Black women don’t need to be strong all the time, and yes we deserve to be reckless, but we are not delusional, and if you are going to write a character that is this vulnerable damsel in destress then please MAKE IT MAKE SENSE. Cause I lost all mine having to put up with what this character was bringing to the table. She went from being ruthless to being naive and not worth the attention. I cannot say more without giving everything away, but it really boggles my mind that men fall at the feet for this woman no matter how attractive she is. At this point, I was surprised I even kept reading.
bigbuttandabook's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Trafficking, and Sexual assault
ashatroyal's review
2.0
enough to make me read the last book
I’m really not understanding Gabs sudden anxiousness and anger to get back at Damien. Like what’s the rush? She wasn’t this eager to get back at him when she first found out. I also don’t buy her ninja skills when she couldn’t even fight her abuser off a few months ago. How did Gabs really think Damien wouldn’t know who she was? Gabs made it so obvious that she wasn’t owned by the Richardsons. Asking around for the young girl was super suspicious. Gabrielle is so gullible. Technical, but telling Michael she loves him with all her heart doesn’t do it for me because she loves two other men. Glad she finally laid it all out there for all the guys.
I’m really not understanding Gabs sudden anxiousness and anger to get back at Damien. Like what’s the rush? She wasn’t this eager to get back at him when she first found out. I also don’t buy her ninja skills when she couldn’t even fight her abuser off a few months ago. How did Gabs really think Damien wouldn’t know who she was? Gabs made it so obvious that she wasn’t owned by the Richardsons. Asking around for the young girl was super suspicious. Gabrielle is so gullible. Technical, but telling Michael she loves him with all her heart doesn’t do it for me because she loves two other men. Glad she finally laid it all out there for all the guys.
femmefatale808's review
3.0
Okay, so I initially rated this book at 4 stars in my head but things took a really irritating turn for me somewhere towards the latter half of the midpoint. Hence why I rated it a 3.
As someone who enjoys being able to read Black female characters as damsels, as women who are allowed to tap into their womanhood and fully rest in it much like their white counterparts, there is a limit. It goes against all those mainstream tropes where Black women are never allowed to be saved and cherished enough to warrant that type of consideration. I loved that part, but again, there is a limit. Gabrielle jumped from damsel in distress to reckless idiot in no time at all. I liked her and I enjoyed her but she was the only one in this story to work every last nerve I had. The guys irritated me in the first 2 books but all of my irritation was dedicated to Gabrielle in this one. Holy cow! She had no sense of self-preservation.
Gabrielle made choices in this book that made me wonder how she managed to survive this long. Coupled with the trauma she experienced in the past and her age, you would think she would know better than to literally run off with the bad guys. Like, she became the innocent little kid willingly getting into the van with the stranger who promised her candy. That's what she did. She made a less than smart decision to track down a human trafficking victim and she truly believed that quite literally everyone could be trusted. Why? Honestly, I'm just glad this entire ordeal made her wake up and smell the coffee. Because I tend to stay away from stories that deal with plots like that. Not because of how heavy the subject matter is, but because I know how unrealistic it is for anyone to successfully save a victim of such a thing and it usually just agitates me to think about. Let alone read about.
She wanted to save the world but she got hit with reality and I was happy to see that. Because she was acting as if she had no streets smarts or common sense, which was a disappointment to me. I almost DNFed it. Luckily, she came to her senses because I spent the entire last half of this book cursing her name. Which is not how I felt going into this series. But this book was far more interesting than the first 2 because there seemed to be a lot more going on. I just could have done without the human trafficking plot. This book would have been almost perfect had that not been a part of this story.
As someone who enjoys being able to read Black female characters as damsels, as women who are allowed to tap into their womanhood and fully rest in it much like their white counterparts, there is a limit. It goes against all those mainstream tropes where Black women are never allowed to be saved and cherished enough to warrant that type of consideration. I loved that part, but again, there is a limit. Gabrielle jumped from damsel in distress to reckless idiot in no time at all. I liked her and I enjoyed her but she was the only one in this story to work every last nerve I had. The guys irritated me in the first 2 books but all of my irritation was dedicated to Gabrielle in this one. Holy cow! She had no sense of self-preservation.
Gabrielle made choices in this book that made me wonder how she managed to survive this long. Coupled with the trauma she experienced in the past and her age, you would think she would know better than to literally run off with the bad guys. Like, she became the innocent little kid willingly getting into the van with the stranger who promised her candy. That's what she did. She made a less than smart decision to track down a human trafficking victim and she truly believed that quite literally everyone could be trusted. Why? Honestly, I'm just glad this entire ordeal made her wake up and smell the coffee. Because I tend to stay away from stories that deal with plots like that. Not because of how heavy the subject matter is, but because I know how unrealistic it is for anyone to successfully save a victim of such a thing and it usually just agitates me to think about. Let alone read about.
She wanted to save the world but she got hit with reality and I was happy to see that. Because she was acting as if she had no streets smarts or common sense, which was a disappointment to me. I almost DNFed it. Luckily, she came to her senses because I spent the entire last half of this book cursing her name. Which is not how I felt going into this series. But this book was far more interesting than the first 2 because there seemed to be a lot more going on. I just could have done without the human trafficking plot. This book would have been almost perfect had that not been a part of this story.
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