Scan barcode
A review by agrippinaes
Filthy by Serena Akeroyd
2.0
Rating: 2 stars
What I Liked: I really couldn’t stop reading this book once I got into it. There was definitely something really engaging about the writing style and the plot. The main pairing had good chemistry and I thought some of the sex scenes were well-written. The emotional side of their relationship worked okay for me and I felt their bond more towards the end of the book.
What I Didn’t: I had a lot of issues with it. One is the pacing, which is all over the place: it starts really fast and moves along at a similar pace until about the halfway point, when things slow down a lot before speeding up again before slowing down a lot.
But the major issue I had was the way women were treated in the book.
But the major one is the way that domestic violence is presented. The hero’s father figure, Aidan, is shown to be an unstable person who is prone to fits of violence and it’s established early on that he once hit his wife, Magdalena, who responded by nearly killing him. This whole thing is presented as a bit of a girl power moment as it taught him a lesson to not hit his wife. There’s a few other points like this about Magdalena’s character. This is a separate complaint, but whilst I’m here, Magdalena was one of the most annoying characters in a book like this I’ve ever read, thoroughly unlikeable but the novel presents her as if she’s some kind of bad ass when most of the “badass” stuff she does just comes across as cruel and bullying.
Also, the major one is the coercion at the start of the book.
The other thing was I had a hard time believing this book was actually set in New York. I’m not 100% sure, but I really got the impression that the author was British from the phrasing, some of the swearing and slang terms. I get that the characters were of Irish descent, but I would say that very little of it read as Irish - it seemed more English to me. It was just a bit distracting for me.
Overall: Being honest, there were stretches of this book I found myself enjoying, but the vast majority of it felt like a real mishmash and a bit clumsy. It was all over the place and I think it needed a really hefty edit. But some of the content was just offensive and a bit odd.
Would I Recommend It?: I don’t think so.
Would I Read Something By The Author Again?: No.
Content Warnings:
What I Liked: I really couldn’t stop reading this book once I got into it. There was definitely something really engaging about the writing style and the plot. The main pairing had good chemistry and I thought some of the sex scenes were well-written. The emotional side of their relationship worked okay for me and I felt their bond more towards the end of the book.
What I Didn’t: I had a lot of issues with it. One is the pacing, which is all over the place: it starts really fast and moves along at a similar pace until about the halfway point, when things slow down a lot before speeding up again before slowing down a lot.
Spoiler
I think this needed a good edit - there’s a lot of filler, especially in the second part, which I think is to cover the fact that the heroine, Aoife, is seriously injured at the halfway point and can’t have sex for 12 weeks; the author, in my opinion, uses this space to cover the wider plot but it did impact the pacing of the romance book as they spent less time together as a couple.But the major issue I had was the way women were treated in the book.
Spoiler
I get it: it’s a mafia romance, I’m not going to find anything particularly progressive in the vast majority of books in this category. However, there was a real range of views presented in this book. Finn, the hero, has some very unprogressive views about the position of women and so do most of the men, but he also sort of doesn’t as he’s happy for her to run a bakery (I say sort of doesn’t as this is how the novel presents how he feels about his own views on women’s rights); Aoife refers to being feminist sometimes but there’s never really a point in the book where she challenges any of these ideas.But the major one is the way that domestic violence is presented. The hero’s father figure, Aidan, is shown to be an unstable person who is prone to fits of violence and it’s established early on that he once hit his wife, Magdalena, who responded by nearly killing him. This whole thing is presented as a bit of a girl power moment as it taught him a lesson to not hit his wife. There’s a few other points like this about Magdalena’s character.
Spoiler
The revelation she killed Aoife’s mother as a case of mistaken identity was a cool twist but I hated how it played out and the book seemed to want me to feel sympathy for Magdalena but I had absolutely none.Also, the major one is the coercion at the start of the book.
Spoiler
I’ve read books with similar premises before but I was shocked by how far the author was willing to take this part of the plotline. The scene where they have sex for the first time in particular was weird and uncomfortable - the usual emphasis on the hymen in a really gross and inaccurate way, for example.The other thing was I had a hard time believing this book was actually set in New York. I’m not 100% sure, but I really got the impression that the author was British from the phrasing, some of the swearing and slang terms. I get that the characters were of Irish descent, but I would say that very little of it read as Irish - it seemed more English to me. It was just a bit distracting for me.
Overall: Being honest, there were stretches of this book I found myself enjoying, but the vast majority of it felt like a real mishmash and a bit clumsy. It was all over the place and I think it needed a really hefty edit. But some of the content was just offensive and a bit odd.
Would I Recommend It?: I don’t think so.
Would I Read Something By The Author Again?: No.
Content Warnings: