A review by 33p3barpercent
Remy, by Katy Evans
3.0
I have a complicated relationship with these kind of books: the Hero POV. I mean, I like them, don't get me wrong--I love getting more of a story I like, and I really liked the first book in this series. But I also feel that when you do an "Alt Character POV" story, you've got to give it something a little extra other than just retelling the same events. Katy Evans attempts to do this with the retelling of the same events of the previous books framed by a new story of Remy and Brooke getting married. Great. I liked that a lot. But I still feel it wasn't enough to warrant a whole other book. (Especially since she's selling it as a whole other book--which to me says "This is a completely new story" whereas a novella is more what Remy read like to me.
The problem with retelling a story from another person's perspective is the story sometimes has a tendency to come off flat or insubstantial compared with the original story. I feel like this has to do with how the story's written. I imagine the author has the original story's document open right next to a blank page, and she's just transcribing the dialogue, just with different "he saids/she saids." When a writer does that, I think the story suffers, because it's not as organic as the original storytelling. I understand you need to write the same scene, but in Remy, some of the scenes left me confused. If I hadn't read the previous two books in the series, I would have been so lost. On it's own, this book doesn't do a great job explaining why Remy's in love with Brooke (it comes off as kind of an independent "love at first sight" thing instead of "I actually know this girl and like her"), and even the plot would have left me spinning in confusion if I hadn't read the previous two books and knew the story already.
Like I said, I liked this one because I was a fan of the series in the first place, but I wish Katy Evans had done more with it. I loved hearing Remy's voice (and it read very true to who he was in the first two books), but I wish she had wrote this more as an independent story instead of choosing very discursive scenes from the previous two books and just telling those scenes from a different POV. I wish it flowed better, and had its own storytelling arc instead of relying on the previous two books'.
Bottom line: If you're a fan, read it. If you're new to the series: PLEASE READ THEM IN ORDER OTHERWISE THEY WON'T MAKE MUCH SENSE.
The problem with retelling a story from another person's perspective is the story sometimes has a tendency to come off flat or insubstantial compared with the original story. I feel like this has to do with how the story's written. I imagine the author has the original story's document open right next to a blank page, and she's just transcribing the dialogue, just with different "he saids/she saids." When a writer does that, I think the story suffers, because it's not as organic as the original storytelling. I understand you need to write the same scene, but in Remy, some of the scenes left me confused. If I hadn't read the previous two books in the series, I would have been so lost. On it's own, this book doesn't do a great job explaining why Remy's in love with Brooke (it comes off as kind of an independent "love at first sight" thing instead of "I actually know this girl and like her"), and even the plot would have left me spinning in confusion if I hadn't read the previous two books and knew the story already.
Like I said, I liked this one because I was a fan of the series in the first place, but I wish Katy Evans had done more with it. I loved hearing Remy's voice (and it read very true to who he was in the first two books), but I wish she had wrote this more as an independent story instead of choosing very discursive scenes from the previous two books and just telling those scenes from a different POV. I wish it flowed better, and had its own storytelling arc instead of relying on the previous two books'.
Bottom line: If you're a fan, read it. If you're new to the series: PLEASE READ THEM IN ORDER OTHERWISE THEY WON'T MAKE MUCH SENSE.