lanamyerist's reviews
176 reviews

Strictly for Now by Carrie Elks

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

Absolutely not.

Wished by Sarah Ready

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I received an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I barely understood what was going on in this book but I still enjoyed every minute of it.

This has by far been my favourite romance series of all time. Sarah Ready I will forever worship the ground you walk on for creating these masterpieces🙏

Wished, unfortunately, did not pass the standards that Ghosted set for me, but I had expected that. No one does it like Daniel Abry🤭🩷

Nonetheless, I loved this book, I loved the characters and I'm sad the series is done💔 hopefully I'll reread soon.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc!

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan

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adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

In the Eye of the Storm by Robert Thier

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adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Ruthless People by J.J. McAvoy

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.0

If I had a dollar for every time the word "fuck" was used in this book, I would have a lot of dollars.

(Turns out the word "fuck" was used a total of 671 times in the entire book so really I could afford a plane ticket)

I had already decided I was not going through with this book at the 23% mark but I wanted to read enough to add this to my reading goal so I forced myself through a couple more chapters.

(I should never have done that)

A brief rundown of what the book is about:

Liam Callahan is the son of an Irish Mob boss and next in line to lead. His father arranged his marriage to the daughter of the Italian mafia Boss when he was still young in hopes of creating an alliance between the Irish and the Italian and ending lifelong bloodshed.

Liam, who was expecting a meek and timid trophy wife that he could control, was left shocked when his wife, Melody Giovanni, turned out to be anything but. She is, in fact, this really dangerous and frightening woman who no man would dare to cross.

Thoughts?

Never again.

I had really anticipated this series because really, a romantic crime fiction? It's like you're throwing me a golden bone.

However, when I did pick up the bone and inspect it, I was left utterly disappointed when the gold started to chip off. I can excuse the bad writing and the excessive cursing in the book. What I cannot excuse is the plot (or lack of) and the characters.

There. Was. No. Plot.

There's insta-love and then there's a fast-paced book and then there's whatever the fuck this was.

I dnfed at 61% and by that point they had had sex more times than the number of fingers and toes I had. IN THE FIRST BOOK. There are 3 more books after this so I want to know what is in them if everything is being done here (them having sex, warming up to each other, FALLING IN LOVE???) I'm well aware that this isn't a slow burn but even a moderate pace would've been fine. Or if the author really wanted insta-love and for them to fuck ASAP then she could have at least led up to it in a civilized way. THERE WAS NO BUILDUP. No buildup to their "scenes", no tension, NO CHEMISTRY, absolutely nothing. Because wdym they just met and he's kissing her and then all of a sudden she's shooting him in the thigh??

Not even halfway through the book and they're talking about ruling the world together (chapter ten in the first damn book). Uh...what happened to hating each other with a passion since you were born?? How do you just forget about the years of bloodshed between your families and decide you can now work together (they cannot) just because you get to do the beast with two backs??

If this book was well-written, then they would only be able to tolerate each other up at this point. Liking each other wouldn't come up till perhaps the end of the book or maybe in the second book, let alone love. So why is LOVE being brought up so soon?? How the fuck do you fall in love with someone you just met that not only shot at you but has also injured your family (I thought family comes first for mafia??) and that you've only been married to for FOUR DAYS?

Melody and Liam are oil and water. THEY DO NOT MIX. Aside from the zero romantic chemistry, they didn't even have any kind of link that would be worthy to read about. They didn't even hate each other like normal people. They're both immature and childish with no sense of understanding and thought they could fuck through every problem they had. You don't solve issues through sex. You just bury them and hope they don't rise again, but they do and when they do it's worse than before.

Now let's talk about how they did "handle" their issues.

➵ Melody shot a pregnant woman dead because her baby daddy wouldn't give her information. That's not "gory" or "dark". It's psychopathic behaviour. That's not what the mafia does and if the author did her research, she would know.

➵ Liam wanted Melody to be open with her care for him and not be upset with him so he had his brother shoot him. The fuck??? I actually held my head when I read that. Just when I had thought that the book couldn't get any more ridiculous and then it does.

➵ Was the scene with the superintendent of police really necessary? Well if the author was trying to make me hate Liam to the point of almost breaking my tablet, it worked. That part just proved that Liam acts like a child and cannot have a civilized conversation to save his (or my) life.

For context, the superintendent of police came over and threatened Liam and he said, and I quote, "You think you can run this city? My fucking city? I fucking own it. I fucking bought it! I fucking fought over it! No crackhead bitch over on the corner of Jump Street, and damn well no 5-0 with his Smokey the Bear looking sidekick, will ever tell me differently. I own Chicago! Which means I fucking own you!"

There was more which I won't go into but YIKES. Liam and Melody both need to be put in an asylum and receive anger management classes.

I don't even know what to say anymore. Just kill off both the main characters. I would actually read if that was the ending but I looked at reviews of the other books and unfortunately, they survive.

My advice to anyone who wants to read this: don't. But if you do get curious, good luck and if it works out for you, good for you. And if it doesn't, my sincerest condolences.

I apologize if this was, in any way, rude to the author but I needed to let all that out.

Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced