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A review by divapitbull
Sleeping with Monsters by Amelia Hutchins
2.0
This review contains minor spoilers.
Well, that was unexpected. And I’m not referencing the ending – which is only problematic for me in that it reeks of a trilogy and I’m going to want to know what happens; despite that I really didn’t enjoy this installment very much. It was unexpected since I gave Playing With Monsters 5 stars…..and now……this.
I’m not sure why Sleeping With Monsters didn’t work for me. Maybe it’s a case of “too much of a good thing isn’t so good”….but this seemed way more over the top, soap opera-y, drama-llama-ish, than I remember the first book being – and as a result I think the things that annoyed me stood out all the more. In Playing With Monsters Lena came into her power and right before Lucian turned into a paternalistic dickwad – I felt a sense of equality in their relationship. In Sleeping With Monsters it just seemed Lena turned into a whiny, teary-eyed, drama queen. The soliloquys! All books in the Fae series are guilty of them; but they seemed to stand out here. The speeches- part lecture, part motivational, psychotherapeutic monologue! When Lucian tries to defend himself (not that it’s very defensible) and explains that he was trying to protect her from Lucifer when he mind-wiped her and made her think she was her twin sister – this is what he gets:
Lena: “You weren’t protecting me. You were being a selfish prick. You knew the coven would run from this, and they should have been able to. I wouldn’t have run from you, I’d have stood beside you and helped you get my sister out of Hell, but you didn’t give me the choice, did you? No you took it from me and you erased me, I remember that night and everything you said as you turned me into her, every detail of it. You thought I was weak, but I wasn’t. I could have loved you, Lucian. I could have been your everything and you mine, but you don’t want that, you want me destroyed. You said it since the day I met you and I should have listened. Congratulations, you destroyed me. That Lena you eased, she’s gone. I’m not the same as I was, and I sure as fuck don’t need you anymore. You made sure of it when you decided for me. You told me you would ruin me, and so you have. Watch your back, because we are no longer friends. Us? We are nothing, just as you wanted us to be from the beginning. You’re Lucian, the one who destroyed me, ruined me and I’m just the girl who let it happen.”
For the love of God – take a breath! It’s not good when you want to tell your main character to STFU!!
I was a little worried that other reviews indicated that this installment was all sex and little story until the end. In reality there was a very good story with a fairly intricate, twisty plot hidden in there; Lucifer has a grudge against Lucian, Hades is a double agent, Katerina now hates Lucian and is in cahoots with Lucifer, witches are born dark, sharing of souls, choosing to go dark, family drama, evil fathers, pregnancies all around and missing seals that unleash the gates of hell! There’s definitely plot; but it seemed to get buried under minutia and a storyline that could have been tighter and shorter….and of course the sex.
You know what you’re getting into with these books; definitely borderline erotica. I’m just a little over the Lucian/Lena…..love you/hate you/need you angst/sex fest. Too much contrived tension and conflict. Lucian getting mad at Lena/Kendra for “letting Lucifer in” for “letting him touch what’s his”, Seriously? like she WANTED to have sex with Lucifer – so she could eventually be tortured and killed. REALLLY???? It wouldn’t be that he caused the entire event to happen by wiping Lena’s memories and leaving her vulnerable to flashbacks to their connection? He may as well have served her to Lucifer on a platter – but like a dog with a bone he (and his little band of merry men – or at least Spyder) harps on it for another 400 pages instead of taking any responsibility.
And then the fact that Lucian doesn’t want to let Lena go and makes with the caveman, “Mine, MINE, MINE”; yet then yo-yos her back and forth. Pull her close, push her away. An awful lot of emotional instability for an immortal not at his first rodeo. Granted he may be struggling with a little bit of denial because Hades has to remind him: “You fell in love with the first one; three days after you admitted it, she was murdered – by you. And she keeps dying with every reincarnation. One of you falls in love, and she dies. If she loves you, she dies; if you love her, she still dies. Do us a fucking favor: fall in love with someone who isn’t associated with this fucking curse so that you can know what it feels like to have love and get it back and not have her die”.
I’m also a little over the purple prose of wrecked and ruined pussies.
The surprise at 80% was kind of cool and I briefly hoped that Lena would become a badass again…..but…..not so much. I think I was supposed to accept that she was a badass because she kept saying she was fine when clearly she wasn’t…however truth be told – her protestations of being “fine” weren’t especially convincing.
Well, that was unexpected. And I’m not referencing the ending – which is only problematic for me in that it reeks of a trilogy and I’m going to want to know what happens; despite that I really didn’t enjoy this installment very much. It was unexpected since I gave Playing With Monsters 5 stars…..and now……this.
I’m not sure why Sleeping With Monsters didn’t work for me. Maybe it’s a case of “too much of a good thing isn’t so good”….but this seemed way more over the top, soap opera-y, drama-llama-ish, than I remember the first book being – and as a result I think the things that annoyed me stood out all the more. In Playing With Monsters Lena came into her power and right before Lucian turned into a paternalistic dickwad – I felt a sense of equality in their relationship. In Sleeping With Monsters it just seemed Lena turned into a whiny, teary-eyed, drama queen. The soliloquys! All books in the Fae series are guilty of them; but they seemed to stand out here. The speeches- part lecture, part motivational, psychotherapeutic monologue! When Lucian tries to defend himself (not that it’s very defensible) and explains that he was trying to protect her from Lucifer when he mind-wiped her and made her think she was her twin sister – this is what he gets:
Lena: “You weren’t protecting me. You were being a selfish prick. You knew the coven would run from this, and they should have been able to. I wouldn’t have run from you, I’d have stood beside you and helped you get my sister out of Hell, but you didn’t give me the choice, did you? No you took it from me and you erased me, I remember that night and everything you said as you turned me into her, every detail of it. You thought I was weak, but I wasn’t. I could have loved you, Lucian. I could have been your everything and you mine, but you don’t want that, you want me destroyed. You said it since the day I met you and I should have listened. Congratulations, you destroyed me. That Lena you eased, she’s gone. I’m not the same as I was, and I sure as fuck don’t need you anymore. You made sure of it when you decided for me. You told me you would ruin me, and so you have. Watch your back, because we are no longer friends. Us? We are nothing, just as you wanted us to be from the beginning. You’re Lucian, the one who destroyed me, ruined me and I’m just the girl who let it happen.”
For the love of God – take a breath! It’s not good when you want to tell your main character to STFU!!
I was a little worried that other reviews indicated that this installment was all sex and little story until the end. In reality there was a very good story with a fairly intricate, twisty plot hidden in there; Lucifer has a grudge against Lucian, Hades is a double agent, Katerina now hates Lucian and is in cahoots with Lucifer, witches are born dark, sharing of souls, choosing to go dark, family drama, evil fathers, pregnancies all around and missing seals that unleash the gates of hell! There’s definitely plot; but it seemed to get buried under minutia and a storyline that could have been tighter and shorter….and of course the sex.
You know what you’re getting into with these books; definitely borderline erotica. I’m just a little over the Lucian/Lena…..love you/hate you/need you angst/sex fest. Too much contrived tension and conflict. Lucian getting mad at Lena/Kendra for “letting Lucifer in” for “letting him touch what’s his”, Seriously? like she WANTED to have sex with Lucifer – so she could eventually be tortured and killed. REALLLY???? It wouldn’t be that he caused the entire event to happen by wiping Lena’s memories and leaving her vulnerable to flashbacks to their connection? He may as well have served her to Lucifer on a platter – but like a dog with a bone he (and his little band of merry men – or at least Spyder) harps on it for another 400 pages instead of taking any responsibility.
And then the fact that Lucian doesn’t want to let Lena go and makes with the caveman, “Mine, MINE, MINE”; yet then yo-yos her back and forth. Pull her close, push her away. An awful lot of emotional instability for an immortal not at his first rodeo. Granted he may be struggling with a little bit of denial because Hades has to remind him: “You fell in love with the first one; three days after you admitted it, she was murdered – by you. And she keeps dying with every reincarnation. One of you falls in love, and she dies. If she loves you, she dies; if you love her, she still dies. Do us a fucking favor: fall in love with someone who isn’t associated with this fucking curse so that you can know what it feels like to have love and get it back and not have her die”.
I’m also a little over the purple prose of wrecked and ruined pussies.
The surprise at 80% was kind of cool and I briefly hoped that Lena would become a badass again…..but…..not so much. I think I was supposed to accept that she was a badass because she kept saying she was fine when clearly she wasn’t…however truth be told – her protestations of being “fine” weren’t especially convincing.