annick's review
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
This reminded me a lot of Veronica and Logan from VM season 1. But I’m not interested in the other books. definitely not interested in Heston.
I liked several things:
- Funny banter.
- spice. Especially first half when it was enemies to lovers and secret stolen moments
- trans joy shown by Micha.
- moments and brief dialogue on mental health(without overindulgence)
- MMC response to FMC position on refusing to meet her birth parent.
Dislikes:
- the repetitive references to genes and genetics and DNA as a sign of character and relevance. Nope.
- trope of unfriendly teenage girls being competitive and hostile.
- teen angst about parents
- third act break up over misunderstanding
- lengthy inner narrative about POV character’s thoughts and ruminations.
- odd use of varsity for high school sports.
- her father has no dialogue. Wha… why?
- his fathers cliched control
I liked several things:
- Funny banter.
- spice. Especially first half when it was enemies to lovers and secret stolen moments
- trans joy shown by Micha.
- moments and brief dialogue on mental health(without overindulgence)
- MMC response to FMC position on refusing to meet her birth parent.
Dislikes:
- the repetitive references to genes and genetics and DNA as a sign of character and relevance. Nope.
- trope of unfriendly teenage girls being competitive and hostile.
- teen angst about parents
- third act break up over misunderstanding
- lengthy inner narrative about POV character’s thoughts and ruminations.
- odd use of varsity for high school sports.
- her father has no dialogue. Wha… why?
- his fathers cliched control
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Sexual content, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, and Sexism
Moderate: Classism, Infidelity, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Body shaming
roxanyas's review
they should've given gwen a fucking gun. they should've given ME a fucking gun
215code's review against another edition
4.0
“I want you in my life, Gwendolyn. If all I can ever be to you is a friend, then I’ll take that. It’s selfish of me, but you hold me accountable. You challenge me. You make me better. You make everything better.”
daisybox's review against another edition
2.0
Can't believe the cancel culture made it in a high school enemis to lovers story.
The whole thing is stupid. The "devils" are just privileged jerks and are only popular because of their legacy. Hamilton gave me major watered down Draco Malfoy vibes.
Not once he apologised to Gwen or Brayden for what he did and how much hate he sprouted to their family. I have no idea how she forgave him when he didn't even try to make things better. I mean, sure he apologised to Micha but that's about it (and the author didn't even bother to write about it).
The suspense around Hamilton's family secret was a huge letdown. The writing made the reader think something dark happened to Holly and that Hamilton had a harder life than he really had. Sure he was under pression but come on, in terms of family drama, that was light.
Same goes with the biological moms. I don't know, maybe I expected more drama in this story, but mentioning something so important and then literally nothing happened after, was certainly a writing choice.
Also I don't understand the author's choice to stop the story and jump to the epilogue when things get finally interesting?! What a missed opportunity to write about the consequences of Hamilton leaving his family! What happened in school when he got back in January? Did the others students cancel Gwen and him? Did everybody just be ok with the relationship when the other devils (minus Xavier) didn't like Gwen? Did Hamilton put Campbell to her place?
WHY STOP THE STORY?! Why when the epilogue begins everything is fine?! We went from Hamilton's father being an asshole to him accepting the Adams' family.
I don't know if I'll bother finishing the series. I know for sure I won't read the 4th book with Heston!
The whole thing is stupid. The "devils" are just privileged jerks and are only popular because of their legacy. Hamilton gave me major watered down Draco Malfoy vibes.
Not once he apologised to Gwen or Brayden for what he did and how much hate he sprouted to their family. I have no idea how she forgave him when he didn't even try to make things better. I mean, sure he apologised to Micha but that's about it (and the author didn't even bother to write about it).
The suspense around Hamilton's family secret was a huge letdown. The writing made the reader think something dark happened to Holly and that Hamilton had a harder life than he really had. Sure he was under pression but come on, in terms of family drama, that was light.
Same goes with the biological moms. I don't know, maybe I expected more drama in this story, but mentioning something so important and then literally nothing happened after, was certainly a writing choice.
Also I don't understand the author's choice to stop the story and jump to the epilogue when things get finally interesting?! What a missed opportunity to write about the consequences of Hamilton leaving his family! What happened in school when he got back in January? Did the others students cancel Gwen and him? Did everybody just be ok with the relationship when the other devils (minus Xavier) didn't like Gwen? Did Hamilton put Campbell to her place?
WHY STOP THE STORY?! Why when the epilogue begins everything is fine?! We went from Hamilton's father being an asshole to him accepting the Adams' family.
I don't know if I'll bother finishing the series. I know for sure I won't read the 4th book with Heston!
halffast's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed the major love/hate vibes going on between Gwen and Hamilton. I really empathized with how lonely Gwen was, and how Hamilton's distant, bullyish interest ramped up into obsession, especially once they started being intimate with each other. I like when a book can pull off enemies to lovers, and the characters actually stay enemies for some time after getting together physically. It took them a bit longer to recognize their mental attraction to each other, and the sneaking around and tension in the meantime made for an interesting story.
I wish they had resolved the plotline with
Also, I loved Micha, when can we read his book?
I wish they had resolved the plotline with
Spoiler
Reagan a little earlier, especially since she (supposedly) knew about them the whole time. I was actually surprised the two of them weren't caught or called out way sooner.Also, I loved Micha, when can we read his book?
willowisp79's review against another edition
4.0
Update: August 2022 :- got thru the book and found it a good bully read. I think it was my place of mind the last time I tried to read it! Altho saying that, yes I enjoyed this but I'm not in a rush to continue the series... But I'm sure I'll come back to it at some point
lostinliterature's review against another edition
5.0
LWAD???? I mean this book has few annoying moments and Ofc it does since it’s high school story but I was not expecting I’d give this more than 4.5 star.
This book contains EVERY high school cliché and they served DELICIOUSLY. I’m traumatised by the poppy war so this was perfect way to forget about that for a little while.
The story itself isn’t extraordinary but it was so damn addictive that I finished thin in a day. I highly recommend this if you’re looking for typical high school romance with every cliché there is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIRD READ: this book has its problems and annoying stereotypes but the grip it has on me is embarrassing
This book contains EVERY high school cliché and they served DELICIOUSLY. I’m traumatised by the poppy war so this was perfect way to forget about that for a little while.
The story itself isn’t extraordinary but it was so damn addictive that I finished thin in a day. I highly recommend this if you’re looking for typical high school romance with every cliché there is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIRD READ: this book has its problems and annoying stereotypes but the grip it has on me is embarrassing