A review by dani_bugz
The Secret Fire by C.J. Daugherty
2.0
I didn't think this one was all that great, but I can see why some people would love it. In that way, it kind of reminded me of Red Queen - but, you know, totally different.
First up, I couldn't stand Daugherty's writing. It was sluggish, badly paced, overly detailed, had a whiney voice and a Mary Sue MC. So I pretty much kept skipping through Taylor's sections.
Rozenfeld on the other hand, did a pretty bang up job, especially considering she is a french author writing her first novel in English! Kudos! I also loved her writing style and the emotions Sacha displayed.
Secondly, this book was filled qith tropes and stereotyps and so many thinga I have seen a hundred times before. Of course its about a goody two shoes english girl who doesn't know how beautiful and wonderful and goddamn special she is. Of course she falls for the bad boy with history who actually has a heart of gold AND happened to be french. Like, of course. And all the secondary characters were flat. It was like they tried to fit as many of the tried and tested YA aspects in there as possible, and let me tell you, it did not work.
So I am going to end my rant just there without actually going into too much detail, but if you want my recommendation, you will be waiting a while. I would not recommend it, but I can't say I would discourage you from reading it.
I received this as an ARC for review purposes.
First up, I couldn't stand Daugherty's writing. It was sluggish, badly paced, overly detailed, had a whiney voice and a Mary Sue MC. So I pretty much kept skipping through Taylor's sections.
Rozenfeld on the other hand, did a pretty bang up job, especially considering she is a french author writing her first novel in English! Kudos! I also loved her writing style and the emotions Sacha displayed.
Secondly, this book was filled qith tropes and stereotyps and so many thinga I have seen a hundred times before. Of course its about a goody two shoes english girl who doesn't know how beautiful and wonderful and goddamn special she is. Of course she falls for the bad boy with history who actually has a heart of gold AND happened to be french. Like, of course. And all the secondary characters were flat. It was like they tried to fit as many of the tried and tested YA aspects in there as possible, and let me tell you, it did not work.
So I am going to end my rant just there without actually going into too much detail, but if you want my recommendation, you will be waiting a while. I would not recommend it, but I can't say I would discourage you from reading it.
I received this as an ARC for review purposes.