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A review by melbsreads
Eyre House by Caitlin Greer
2.0
Oh, goodness. I was completely intrigued by the sound of a retelling of Jane Eyre in which the roles were reversed, but this really didn't deliver. My main problem, I think, was Ginny. I think she was meant to come across as flirty and confident, but to me she was just irritating and pushy, and a little bit sexual assault-y. For the first eighty or so pages of the book, Evan repeatedly asks her to stop touching him, but she continues to do so, running her hands up under his shirt and across his stomach and back time and time again.
This made it impossible for me to find their relationship appealing or swoon-worthy at all, which made the increasingly repetitive sex scenes (have these two ever even heard of foreplay?? Because two minutes of kissing, then jumping straight to penetration seems like a recipe for pain) less steamy and more painful to read. I found myself distracted time and again by awkward phrases like "I kissed the back of her jaw" or "My hand slid up the skin of her back" that pulled me out of the story and made me giggle awkwardly.
I liked the non-relationship parts of the story a little more - the paranormal side of things (while it ultimately proved to be not what it seemed) was sufficiently creepy, and the setting worked well. I worked out quite early in the story who the villain of the piece would be, and the constant use of the nickname 'sugar' drove me bonkers. It made Ginny seem at times more like Evan's mother than his girlfriend, which was a little odd.
Look, I've read worse things in the past year. And it did at least give me plenty of unexpected laughs due to some awkward phrasing. So...yeah.
This made it impossible for me to find their relationship appealing or swoon-worthy at all, which made the increasingly repetitive sex scenes (have these two ever even heard of foreplay?? Because two minutes of kissing, then jumping straight to penetration seems like a recipe for pain) less steamy and more painful to read. I found myself distracted time and again by awkward phrases like "I kissed the back of her jaw" or "My hand slid up the skin of her back" that pulled me out of the story and made me giggle awkwardly.
I liked the non-relationship parts of the story a little more - the paranormal side of things (while it ultimately proved to be not what it seemed) was sufficiently creepy, and the setting worked well. I worked out quite early in the story who the villain of the piece would be, and the constant use of the nickname 'sugar' drove me bonkers. It made Ginny seem at times more like Evan's mother than his girlfriend, which was a little odd.
Look, I've read worse things in the past year. And it did at least give me plenty of unexpected laughs due to some awkward phrasing. So...yeah.