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A review by crystalisreading
Waking Kiss by Annabel Joseph
3.0
I both loved and hated this relatively short romance novel, but managed to finish it in under 24 hours, in two sittings, as permitted by my schedule, and so I can't have hated it too much.
The book started off in Ashleigh's voice, and I enjoyed that. Asheligh is dark and damaged, but I found her likable enough to root for her. Then Liam is introduced, and I really hated his POV at first. I eventually got engaged enough in the story to ignore his voice and just enjoy where everything was going. But I hate when romance author's shorthand for male POV is to be pointlessly crude. I'm not offended by F*ck or c*ck or the other language he used, when it feels germaine to the story and necessary, and I get that his character being a player, he'd be thinking primarily about sex and how to seduce Ashleigh. but the way his voice was written felt unnecessarily crude, just a lazy short hand for a no good player (but with a heart of gold! of course.). Of course, in no time at all, this crude player is had suddenly developed a selfless hero complex and is bending over backward to accommodate and help Ashleigh with her issues. Just a weak portrayal of a character that could have been more appealing, in my opinion. Also, he was in the creeper/ Edward Cullen/ Mr Grey class with a lot of his choices and actions early in the book. I find absurdly wealthy characters uneappealing, perhaps because they feel so unrealistic, especially ones who drop everything, including a lot of money, on women they barely know, who haven't demonstrated much reason for them to be interested.
So that's what I didn't like. I did like Ashleigh, and while I didn't necessarily buy the speed of her recovery, I appreciated that she was going through a process, and using resources to advocate for herself and deal with her issues. I also appreciated, oddly enough, the unpleasantly realistic fights between Ashleigh and Liam. They aren't marks of a healthy relationship--but let's be realistic--it wasn't a healthy relationship, and they weren't healthy characters. so seeing them screaming rude things at each other felt genuine and appropriate to their damaged characters and tenuous relationship. The other aspect of the book that I enjoyed was the evolution of Rubio's character. at the beginning of the story, I failed to see how Ruby could ever be deserving of his own sequel romance. By the end, I found myself looking forward to it. He grew as a person, and grew on me while doing so.
Also, in neither good nor bad observations, this didn't feel as explicit as many of the BDSM romances I've read. While sex was very much an integral part of the story, much of it was without a lot of detail. there were definitely sections of the story that told instead of showed, summing up a lot of action in a few brief phrases. Not necessarily good or bad. Just different from what I expected. And the ballet setting was detailed and interesting. Something new for me to read.
So, basically, I hated a lot about the book, and yet I read it in 24 hours, in 2 long sittings, and look forward to the sequel. Perhaps my relationships with this book is not so very different from the relationship between the two main characters of the story.
The book started off in Ashleigh's voice, and I enjoyed that. Asheligh is dark and damaged, but I found her likable enough to root for her. Then Liam is introduced, and I really hated his POV at first. I eventually got engaged enough in the story to ignore his voice and just enjoy where everything was going. But I hate when romance author's shorthand for male POV is to be pointlessly crude. I'm not offended by F*ck or c*ck or the other language he used, when it feels germaine to the story and necessary, and I get that his character being a player, he'd be thinking primarily about sex and how to seduce Ashleigh. but the way his voice was written felt unnecessarily crude, just a lazy short hand for a no good player (but with a heart of gold! of course.). Of course, in no time at all, this crude player is had suddenly developed a selfless hero complex and is bending over backward to accommodate and help Ashleigh with her issues. Just a weak portrayal of a character that could have been more appealing, in my opinion. Also, he was in the creeper/ Edward Cullen/ Mr Grey class with a lot of his choices and actions early in the book. I find absurdly wealthy characters uneappealing, perhaps because they feel so unrealistic, especially ones who drop everything, including a lot of money, on women they barely know, who haven't demonstrated much reason for them to be interested.
So that's what I didn't like. I did like Ashleigh, and while I didn't necessarily buy the speed of her recovery, I appreciated that she was going through a process, and using resources to advocate for herself and deal with her issues. I also appreciated, oddly enough, the unpleasantly realistic fights between Ashleigh and Liam. They aren't marks of a healthy relationship--but let's be realistic--it wasn't a healthy relationship, and they weren't healthy characters. so seeing them screaming rude things at each other felt genuine and appropriate to their damaged characters and tenuous relationship. The other aspect of the book that I enjoyed was the evolution of Rubio's character. at the beginning of the story, I failed to see how Ruby could ever be deserving of his own sequel romance. By the end, I found myself looking forward to it. He grew as a person, and grew on me while doing so.
Also, in neither good nor bad observations, this didn't feel as explicit as many of the BDSM romances I've read. While sex was very much an integral part of the story, much of it was without a lot of detail. there were definitely sections of the story that told instead of showed, summing up a lot of action in a few brief phrases. Not necessarily good or bad. Just different from what I expected. And the ballet setting was detailed and interesting. Something new for me to read.
So, basically, I hated a lot about the book, and yet I read it in 24 hours, in 2 long sittings, and look forward to the sequel. Perhaps my relationships with this book is not so very different from the relationship between the two main characters of the story.