The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! š
angelofthetardis's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This book has been stalking me for a little while; every bookshop I go into, it's there, front and centre, begging for my attention. And then it came up as an Kindle 99p deal. Trying to be good and not buy books unless I know I like them, so my lovely assistant let me borrow her copy. 50 pages in, and I knew enough. I swear Amazon are trying to bankrupt me 99p at a time!
Generally speaking, chick-lit isn't really my genre. I'm apparently drawn to writing it, but it's got to have something different about it for me to enjoy reading it. Whether it's the fantasy twist in it or not, this book has that something. It's got a little bit of everything; comedy, romance, tension... it's a modern piece, but the leading man is heavily influenced by Regency fiction... it's a complete mish-mash and should be totally ridiculous, but the premise is simple, the main characters are sickly-sweet yet believable within the context of the story and the narrative is light and easy to follow. No, it's not going to win awards for its literary merit, but as a piece of pure escapism and a tool to switch your brain off for a while, it's brilliant. Ā
I'm not generally a vampire fan, but if I'm going down that rabbit hole, my go-to guys are Spike from Buffy (was never an Angel fan TBH)and Mick St John from Moonlight. Our leading man in this case, Frederick, follows more of the Mick St John model, trying to go incognito as a human where he can, and refusing to feed from living sources. It was therefore incredibly easy to picture Alex O'Loughlin playing him. And as a result Sophia Myles was immediately cast as Cassie in my mind. In any event, while the fact that he is a vampire is obviously the focal point of the story, somehow it didn't seem overly important? It felt like more of an odd couple pairing, where he just had a really good excuse for his slightly odd behaviour, dress sense and lack of social skills!
While I haven't read it yet (it's on my bookshelf for when I have two minutes), I suspect that the plot has borrowed quite heavily from the book 'The Flatshare' by Beth O'Leary? The descriptions do seem to match up quite well, so I'll be interested to see if I enjoy that one too. Particularly as that one is straight chick-lit...Ā
The only disappointment for me was the epilogue. I liked the open-ended conclusion to the main narrative; it left room for the reader's imagination to continue the story in any number of ways and again seemed to mirror the ending of Moonlight a bit. However, the epilogue,Ā while sweet and uplifting, does crush the vibe a bit for me as it seems to try and give a nice clean round off to the story while remaining ambiguous. I'd have preferred the commitment either way.
A couple of other small foibles which my brain noted, but don't really make too much of a difference unless you're a real stickler... 1) the author takes the time to explain that a vampire's heart doesn't beat and so wounds take longer to heal etc... so in that case, how is he able to, ahem, enjoy himself š? And 2) Not a fan of the quick fix Reggie and Cassie come up with; if anyone had thought about it for more thanĀ 5 seconds they'd have realised what a terrible idea it was! But a quick reminder of suspension of disbelief and you're fine...Ā
Very pleasantly surprised by this one!
Generally speaking, chick-lit isn't really my genre. I'm apparently drawn to writing it, but it's got to have something different about it for me to enjoy reading it. Whether it's the fantasy twist in it or not, this book has that something. It's got a little bit of everything; comedy, romance, tension... it's a modern piece, but the leading man is heavily influenced by Regency fiction... it's a complete mish-mash and should be totally ridiculous, but the premise is simple, the main characters are sickly-sweet yet believable within the context of the story and the narrative is light and easy to follow. No, it's not going to win awards for its literary merit, but as a piece of pure escapism and a tool to switch your brain off for a while, it's brilliant. Ā
I'm not generally a vampire fan, but if I'm going down that rabbit hole, my go-to guys are Spike from Buffy (was never an Angel fan TBH)and Mick St John from Moonlight. Our leading man in this case, Frederick, follows more of the Mick St John model, trying to go incognito as a human where he can, and refusing to feed from living sources. It was therefore incredibly easy to picture Alex O'Loughlin playing him. And as a result Sophia Myles was immediately cast as Cassie in my mind. In any event, while the fact that he is a vampire is obviously the focal point of the story, somehow it didn't seem overly important? It felt like more of an odd couple pairing, where he just had a really good excuse for his slightly odd behaviour, dress sense and lack of social skills!
While I haven't read it yet (it's on my bookshelf for when I have two minutes), I suspect that the plot has borrowed quite heavily from the book 'The Flatshare' by Beth O'Leary? The descriptions do seem to match up quite well, so I'll be interested to see if I enjoy that one too. Particularly as that one is straight chick-lit...Ā
The only disappointment for me was the epilogue. I liked the open-ended conclusion to the main narrative; it left room for the reader's imagination to continue the story in any number of ways and again seemed to mirror the ending of Moonlight a bit. However, the epilogue,Ā while sweet and uplifting, does crush the vibe a bit for me as it seems to try and give a nice clean round off to the story while remaining ambiguous. I'd have preferred the commitment either way.
A couple of other small foibles which my brain noted, but don't really make too much of a difference unless you're a real stickler... 1) the author takes the time to explain that a vampire's heart doesn't beat and so wounds take longer to heal etc... so in that case, how is he able to, ahem, enjoy himself š? And 2) Not a fan of the quick fix Reggie and Cassie come up with; if anyone had thought about it for more thanĀ 5 seconds they'd have realised what a terrible idea it was! But a quick reminder of suspension of disbelief and you're fine...Ā
Very pleasantly surprised by this one!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Kidnapping, Cursing, and Sexual content
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
scrubsandbooks's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I knew this started off as a Reylo fic but neither actor in said roles appeared in my head for me. So if you're not a Reylo fan, you might be able to detach yourself from that fandom completely while reading this (in fact, the MMC was Jonathan Bailey in my head). This was a very easy to read light-hearted romance book with a rushed and a bit of a silly third act conflict. If you're looking for fluff and comedy with some spicy scenes, this is a good one to pick up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Blood
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Confinement
conina's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- 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
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Kidnapping, and Violence
emilywemily6's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book was a cheesy, fluffy paranormal romance with very lovable characters. I adored Frederickās character and how the relationship between him and Cassie developed, though I didnāt like Cassie as much (she seemed pretty average and not a lot of interesting personality traits). It was funny to see how Frederick interacted with the world and their relationship was so awkward as they caught feelings for each other early on but tried to fight it. I breezed through this book is like a day and a half and had a lot of fun. The spice was nice too and was quite the slow burn. This book could have been longer and gone deeper into Frederickās past and how he adjusted to the modern world. The āthird act conflictā felt out of proportion with the rest of the book and also resolved way too easily. This was fun but not phenomenal in its execution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Cursing
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Grief, Drug use, Classism, and Kidnapping
efsimpkin's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
The only redeeming feature of this book was the fruit, and it didnāt then come up at the point where it was plot relevant which shows how consistent the actual characterisation was.Ā
Good lord, this was two dimensional. They took vampires and made them BORING. Thatās a crime in itself.Ā
Frederick doesnāt really actually have a personality beyond his flaws, which Cassie spends a lot of time poking fun at and are continually presented to the reader as humorous. Cassie is just not interesting, at all. There was no chemistry. The sex scene was cringe, I have read better ābadā fanfiction than that scene.Ā
Itās poorly written with an insane amount of tell not show. The editing leaves a lot to be desired. The pop culture references are cringeworthy and I was rooting for absolutely no one. As soon as I found out this was a reylo fic transplant it made sense but GOD. I wish I could get back the hours I spent reading this book. Iām so mad. Donāt waste your time.
Good lord, this was two dimensional. They took vampires and made them BORING. Thatās a crime in itself.Ā
Frederick doesnāt really actually have a personality beyond his flaws, which Cassie spends a lot of time poking fun at and are continually presented to the reader as humorous. Cassie is just not interesting, at all. There was no chemistry. The sex scene was cringe, I have read better ābadā fanfiction than that scene.Ā
Itās poorly written with an insane amount of tell not show. The editing leaves a lot to be desired. The pop culture references are cringeworthy and I was rooting for absolutely no one. As soon as I found out this was a reylo fic transplant it made sense but GOD. I wish I could get back the hours I spent reading this book. Iām so mad. Donāt waste your time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Blood
bluerskies's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Minor: Kidnapping
jodierose14's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Blood
vanesst's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Sexual content
Minor: Kidnapping, Death, and Alcohol
reinik's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, Confinement, and Cursing
Minor: Alcohol, Death, and Sexism
wrappingpaper's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Itās such a shame because for 90% of this book I was thoroughly enjoying it, laughing and really rooting for the couple. I prefer slow burn stories to instalove and this was great in delivering that. I managed to complete it in 2 days as it was a quick read which was cheesy at times but still cute.Ā
The last forty or so pages had me very confused. The (spoiler) kidnapping drama felt like it came completely out of nowhere and it resolved by a tiktok threat?? Honestly i found that pretty cringe and I donāt see what the point of adding drama was if it was so seemingly low stakes and easily resolved. It had me skim reading most of that scene because I didnāt really understand what it was doing there at all.Ā
Overall, I still really enjoyed this book. Itās a shame the ending made me drop down my rating from what I otherwise wouldāve considered a 4 star read, but I would still say this is well worth a read if you want a silly romcom.Ā
Thereās one proper spicy scene, a few kisses - the author knows how to write tension.Ā
Overall I feel like what this book really needed was for it to be a bit longer because there were some things left without resolution and the events of the ending mightāve worked better if they hadnāt taken place in such a short amount of time. I would love to know more about fredericks backstory, and possibly also Reginaldās.Ā
Overall good fun book with an out of place ending that dragged it down.Ā
The last forty or so pages had me very confused. The (spoiler) kidnapping drama felt like it came completely out of nowhere and it resolved by a tiktok threat?? Honestly i found that pretty cringe and I donāt see what the point of adding drama was if it was so seemingly low stakes and easily resolved. It had me skim reading most of that scene because I didnāt really understand what it was doing there at all.Ā
Overall, I still really enjoyed this book. Itās a shame the ending made me drop down my rating from what I otherwise wouldāve considered a 4 star read, but I would still say this is well worth a read if you want a silly romcom.Ā
Thereās one proper spicy scene, a few kisses - the author knows how to write tension.Ā
Overall I feel like what this book really needed was for it to be a bit longer because there were some things left without resolution and the events of the ending mightāve worked better if they hadnāt taken place in such a short amount of time. I would love to know more about fredericks backstory, and possibly also Reginaldās.Ā
Overall good fun book with an out of place ending that dragged it down.Ā
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Kidnapping