A review by booksabrewin
Antichrist by Amo Jones

3.0

Meraki has known Niko since she was 9 years old and has had a connection unlike any other with him. However, even after a single tryst together which they swore never to discuss again, they refused to be together for fear of their friendship being ruined. Although the way they try to make the other jealous by using the people around them to their advantage. That doesn't change 10 years later after Niko returns home and sets his sights on making Meraki miserable for choosing to be with their mutual friend Luca. What nobody can figure out is why Niko decided to come home all of a sudden and why he seems to hate Meraki so thoroughly. It couldn't just be because she was with their friend Luca. It had to be something else. But what? Can Meraki and Niko find their way back together when everything from an MC gang, to the Mafia, to significant other roadblocks stand in their way? Or should they let go of whatever connection they once had and move on for good?

This book did a lot of back and forth. It jumped from the past to the present and all over the place in between to try to tell this story of Niko and Meraki. Even after reading it to completion I still feel like I am missing something. I looked on the author's website, Goodreads, Amazon, and the like but I had no idea why this read like a part of a series and not a standalone. Then I found out it was part of a multiple author collection and I had to rub a hand over my face in frustration. I can only imagine the story would have been ten times more enjoyable with a little more background on the MC that Niko came back to town to take up the gavel for. Their connection to the MC would have been more than just a passing thought as well I assume.

Meraki and her tight-lipped stubbornness frustrated the crap out of me. Why she didn't open up to Niko when she had the chance was beyond me. I kept waiting for them to have a real conversation about it all so that maybe he could understand her motives were purely for survival. But it never came and it felt... incomplete. Even at the end when Meraki was talking about going on vacation I thought, "Ope. Well, Niko's gonna cheat while you're gone, is that wise?" because that is all their relationship ever was!

I think the bones of the story were good. The characters were a little frustrating but that was their aim. However, the thing that really ruined the experience was the execution of the writing. The jumping around from the past to present to make some grand revelation not great. You miss that one little word of "Then" or "Now" and you're lost. I think it could have been plotted a little less confusing for the readers to enjoy.

I feel like I can't give a completely fair rating on the book because it feels like I picked up a book in the middle of a series and then critiqued it on how it was hard to follow. And for that reason I will give the middle of the road rating instead of a lesser rating as is my instinct. I think if you start with the beginning of the collection you will get more out of it. I will probably go back and read the rest of the collection to see if that holds true and update the review from there. But for now... this was a little lackluster for me.