A review by beasleysbooks
Wrong in All the Right Ways by Tiffany Brownlee
1.0
DNF @ 37%
Can I count this book as read on goodreads even though I only read 1/3 of it? Heck yes I can because it’s my life and I do what I want.
When I saw this book on Netgalley, I was excited. A Wuthering Heights reimagining? Heck yes. I loved Wuthering Heights when I read it at the end of last year, and was excited to see a different take on the classically tragic story. Now I’ve read adaptations of classics before. Jane by April Lindner is an excellent example of a classic turned modern retelling. Is it the best book in the world? No. But it does the classic justice while also giving me some trashy romance to love. So I went into this book with totally realistic expectations. I wasn’t expecting it to blow me away, but I was expecting to like it for what it was.
Boy was I wrong. The dialogue was ridiculously stilted. Sometimes we would change scenes within a chapter without any break or indication that it was happening. Kisses would come COMPLETELY out of nowhere. The main character has no redeemable qualities. Originally, she portrays herself as a plain Jane, easily forgettable type of girl. This assessment is backed up by the fact that she doesn’t have any friends and has never dated anyone: forgettable. However, as soon as the foster brother/love interest character, Dylan, comes into play, we learn that she’s extremely gorgeous. In fact, other female characters back up this fact. Why give us the false representation of her in the first place? Is this supposed to help us feel a camaraderie with her? Because it doesn’t.
I get that this is a reimagining of Wuthering Heights, but don’t make the dang love interest her foster brother. In Wuthering Heights, at least as far as I perceived it, the main roadblock to Heathcliff and Catherine’s relationship is the social standing. Foster brother/sister situations back then were extremely different than they are now. He’s basically a glorified hired hand in Wuthering Heights than anything else. Make him the pool boy or something. The “sibling love” relationship trope needs to be OVER.
Now let’s dig in to this foster situation. Emma knows she’s going to be receiving a foster brother/sister. She assumes he/she will be younger to match in age with her younger brother. Before the potential sibling arrives, she’s already jealous of the attention they will be taking off of her from her parents (even though she blatantly disregards both of her parents’ affection for her throughout the book). When she sees it’s a boy her age, she flips immediately. She has a crush on him from the very first second. But then she also doesn’t understand why he won’t call her parents mom and dad. WHY would you want a guy you have a crush on to call your parents mom and dad? And why would he be expected to? He is a 16 year old foster kid and he just met all of you! The fact that she and her parents were bothered by him calling them by their first names/surname BOGGLES MY MIND. Not only that, but Emma and her family are under the impression they will be adopting Dylan when he seems to have no idea about that happening.
Sorry that I’m ranting but this book really gets my blood boiling. Beyond the fact that they’re foster siblings, Emma doesn’t care that their potential relationship could ruin Dylan’s prospects for a happy family life. She doesn’t even consider his side of things in any scenario. The first night he’s in her home, she interrogates him about his home life and is offended when he doesn’t trust her with the “secrets in his eyes” or some crap like that. I can deal with dislikable MC’s if it is shown that they will grow and evolve. I saw no indications of that happening within the 37% I read of this book.
The family relationships and dynamic were weird. Not just between Dylan and Emma, but between the parents and younger brother as well. I didn’t root for their relationship, even thought it was implied that I’m supposed to. Honestly, I DNFed this book for all the very valid reasons listed above, but also because I’m sure (based on how fast their relationship was moving) that there are going to be some very awkward sexual encounters between them, and I just would not be able to deal with that should they occur.
I received this book as an arc from Netgalley for my honest opinion. I wanted to like it, but I didn’t. There you go.
Can I count this book as read on goodreads even though I only read 1/3 of it? Heck yes I can because it’s my life and I do what I want.
When I saw this book on Netgalley, I was excited. A Wuthering Heights reimagining? Heck yes. I loved Wuthering Heights when I read it at the end of last year, and was excited to see a different take on the classically tragic story. Now I’ve read adaptations of classics before. Jane by April Lindner is an excellent example of a classic turned modern retelling. Is it the best book in the world? No. But it does the classic justice while also giving me some trashy romance to love. So I went into this book with totally realistic expectations. I wasn’t expecting it to blow me away, but I was expecting to like it for what it was.
Boy was I wrong. The dialogue was ridiculously stilted. Sometimes we would change scenes within a chapter without any break or indication that it was happening. Kisses would come COMPLETELY out of nowhere. The main character has no redeemable qualities. Originally, she portrays herself as a plain Jane, easily forgettable type of girl. This assessment is backed up by the fact that she doesn’t have any friends and has never dated anyone: forgettable. However, as soon as the foster brother/love interest character, Dylan, comes into play, we learn that she’s extremely gorgeous. In fact, other female characters back up this fact. Why give us the false representation of her in the first place? Is this supposed to help us feel a camaraderie with her? Because it doesn’t.
I get that this is a reimagining of Wuthering Heights, but don’t make the dang love interest her foster brother. In Wuthering Heights, at least as far as I perceived it, the main roadblock to Heathcliff and Catherine’s relationship is the social standing. Foster brother/sister situations back then were extremely different than they are now. He’s basically a glorified hired hand in Wuthering Heights than anything else. Make him the pool boy or something. The “sibling love” relationship trope needs to be OVER.
Now let’s dig in to this foster situation. Emma knows she’s going to be receiving a foster brother/sister. She assumes he/she will be younger to match in age with her younger brother. Before the potential sibling arrives, she’s already jealous of the attention they will be taking off of her from her parents (even though she blatantly disregards both of her parents’ affection for her throughout the book). When she sees it’s a boy her age, she flips immediately. She has a crush on him from the very first second. But then she also doesn’t understand why he won’t call her parents mom and dad. WHY would you want a guy you have a crush on to call your parents mom and dad? And why would he be expected to? He is a 16 year old foster kid and he just met all of you! The fact that she and her parents were bothered by him calling them by their first names/surname BOGGLES MY MIND. Not only that, but Emma and her family are under the impression they will be adopting Dylan when he seems to have no idea about that happening.
Sorry that I’m ranting but this book really gets my blood boiling. Beyond the fact that they’re foster siblings, Emma doesn’t care that their potential relationship could ruin Dylan’s prospects for a happy family life. She doesn’t even consider his side of things in any scenario. The first night he’s in her home, she interrogates him about his home life and is offended when he doesn’t trust her with the “secrets in his eyes” or some crap like that. I can deal with dislikable MC’s if it is shown that they will grow and evolve. I saw no indications of that happening within the 37% I read of this book.
The family relationships and dynamic were weird. Not just between Dylan and Emma, but between the parents and younger brother as well. I didn’t root for their relationship, even thought it was implied that I’m supposed to. Honestly, I DNFed this book for all the very valid reasons listed above, but also because I’m sure (based on how fast their relationship was moving) that there are going to be some very awkward sexual encounters between them, and I just would not be able to deal with that should they occur.
I received this book as an arc from Netgalley for my honest opinion. I wanted to like it, but I didn’t. There you go.