A review by kandisteiner
Arsen: A Broken Love Story by Mia Asher
4.0
I really don't know where to begin.
I have never put off a review because I literally didn't know what to rate the book, but that's the case with Arsen. Originally, I put 3 stars and held off on the review, but the more I thought about it, I bumped it up to 4 stars. I'm still not sure if that's where I am, so screw the star rating, let me try to explain my feels.
First let me say, I DNF'd this book about a month ago and moved on to a different book. I just could't get into it. I was around 20% and was so severely annoyed with Cathy and not the least bit interested in either guy so I just said meh and moved on. But after I finished two other books, I felt bad for abandoning it, since that's not my typical style. So, I picked it up again.
I was still annoyed and really not interested until around 40%. For me, that's when it picked up. Now let me say this - I LOVE triangles. I'm one of those rare readers who actually enjoys being tortured, the forbidden romance, the guilt and the anguish over decisions being made. So, when this was highly recommended in a book group I'm in, I figured it had to be just what I was looking for. But, I went in expecting something like Thoughtless and found myself in a completely different world.
To me, the writing just wasn't strong *hides from brick throwers*. Now, hear me out. I respect anyone brave enough to put their words out there for others to read. However, I just couldn't ignore the poor writing throughout this book. When I say "poor writing", I don't mean it in a way that the book was complete crap, but rather in a way that there was a lot of eye rolling going on on my part. I didn't find the romance believable, the sex scenes made me feel awkward more so than hot, and I felt like a lot of it just had me like skim skim skim skim.
Okay. So, if that were my entire review, it would be a 2 star read - maybe.
But here's the thing.
As much as there were sighs and eye rolls going on, I was so very intrigued by the story. And, I connected with Cathy and her gut wrenching situation. So, the plot had me pulled in and I did want to keep reading. In fact, I stayed up until 2AM finishing this book because I couldn't STOP reading.
And, two parts of the book made me cry (these aren't spoilers): "Your lipstick is smudged" (OMG TEARS SO MANY TEARS BREAKING POINT OMG BEN BEN BEN and "Please, Cathy... not tonight. Not tonight. Let us... let me just kiss you." GAH MORE TEARS.
Okay, so do you see why my feels are all over the freaking place? I mean seriously what the heck am I supposed to think? I was on the same team from the beginning, which frustrated me because I wanted to feel the pull the way Cathy did - Arsen or Ben? But I just didn't. I was happy with the way the book ended, in a sense, though the epilogue made me feel weird. I don't know. I really just can't explain it.
So, would I recommend this book? Gah... I don't know. Maybe. If a reader was looking for an emotional read, probably, but not necessarily if they asked me for a good triangle book. I definitely think Mia Asher did a phenomenal job connecting with my emotions, but as a romance, it just kind of fell flat for me.
Okay, there it is. An honest review. Please don't stone me. *hides*
I have never put off a review because I literally didn't know what to rate the book, but that's the case with Arsen. Originally, I put 3 stars and held off on the review, but the more I thought about it, I bumped it up to 4 stars. I'm still not sure if that's where I am, so screw the star rating, let me try to explain my feels.
First let me say, I DNF'd this book about a month ago and moved on to a different book. I just could't get into it. I was around 20% and was so severely annoyed with Cathy and not the least bit interested in either guy so I just said meh and moved on. But after I finished two other books, I felt bad for abandoning it, since that's not my typical style. So, I picked it up again.
I was still annoyed and really not interested until around 40%. For me, that's when it picked up. Now let me say this - I LOVE triangles. I'm one of those rare readers who actually enjoys being tortured, the forbidden romance, the guilt and the anguish over decisions being made. So, when this was highly recommended in a book group I'm in, I figured it had to be just what I was looking for. But, I went in expecting something like Thoughtless and found myself in a completely different world.
To me, the writing just wasn't strong *hides from brick throwers*. Now, hear me out. I respect anyone brave enough to put their words out there for others to read. However, I just couldn't ignore the poor writing throughout this book. When I say "poor writing", I don't mean it in a way that the book was complete crap, but rather in a way that there was a lot of eye rolling going on on my part. I didn't find the romance believable, the sex scenes made me feel awkward more so than hot, and I felt like a lot of it just had me like skim skim skim skim.
Okay. So, if that were my entire review, it would be a 2 star read - maybe.
But here's the thing.
As much as there were sighs and eye rolls going on, I was so very intrigued by the story. And, I connected with Cathy and her gut wrenching situation. So, the plot had me pulled in and I did want to keep reading. In fact, I stayed up until 2AM finishing this book because I couldn't STOP reading.
And, two parts of the book made me cry (these aren't spoilers): "Your lipstick is smudged" (OMG TEARS SO MANY TEARS BREAKING POINT OMG BEN BEN BEN and "Please, Cathy... not tonight. Not tonight. Let us... let me just kiss you." GAH MORE TEARS.
Okay, so do you see why my feels are all over the freaking place? I mean seriously what the heck am I supposed to think? I was on the same team from the beginning, which frustrated me because I wanted to feel the pull the way Cathy did - Arsen or Ben? But I just didn't. I was happy with the way the book ended, in a sense, though the epilogue made me feel weird. I don't know. I really just can't explain it.
So, would I recommend this book? Gah... I don't know. Maybe. If a reader was looking for an emotional read, probably, but not necessarily if they asked me for a good triangle book. I definitely think Mia Asher did a phenomenal job connecting with my emotions, but as a romance, it just kind of fell flat for me.
Okay, there it is. An honest review. Please don't stone me. *hides*