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chloboyoung's review
5.0
This book broke my heart and fixed it all over again. I couldn't put it down, I mean it took me a while to get into it, but after around 50% that's when I couldn't put it down. The last few chapters broke me, They were so perfect yet so wrong. That's how I'd describe this book; perfect yet wrong, heartbreaking yet right.
I thought I knew the outcome of the book when I picked it up. But I never expected what happened to happen. I won't say anymore for fear of spoiling it for y'all. But this book is definitely worth the 5 stars
I thought I knew the outcome of the book when I picked it up. But I never expected what happened to happen. I won't say anymore for fear of spoiling it for y'all. But this book is definitely worth the 5 stars
rachelreadsdaily's review
4.0
Ok so it's taken me a few days to process this book and get to where I can actually write a review. At first I was like WTF and then around the middle of the book I was like WTF and then at the end it was a super WTF! This story tore up my emotions and I felt lost by the time I finished it. It's been 2 days now and I'm still trying to recover. The writing was fantastic and the story was excellent but this is definitely a WTF kind of book. So if you're ready to have your emotions go on a roller coaster ride, this is the book for you.
jen286's review
1.0
This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland
I remember when Arsen first came out and everyone was talking about it. I had it on my to-read list, but never got around to it. I remember everyone loving it, but for the life of me I have no idea why. I finally got around to reading it and no. Just no.
*Spoiler alert! There will be spoilers ahead!! Also some angry ranting*
Arsen is one of those books where the main character made me incredibly angry. This is one of those books where I have re-written this review so many times trying to have it not be so ranty. I think this is just as good as it is going to get. This was one of those books where every two seconds I had to put the book aside and yell and rant and write out everything I was feeling. It was not good.
Was I supposed to like Cathy at all? Cause I didn't. Not even a little bit. I didn't even like her in the flashback chapters. I can only imagine they were included to show how awesome Cathy and Ben were together, how everything was great before it fell apart or something. Only it didn't work for me. If anything it made me hate Cathy more. It showed me that she has always been this way. She has never been able to talk to Ben about things so why would that suddenly change now that things are not "perfect". She drove me crazy and in those flashbacks I was just yelling at her the whole time. Not good.
So Ben and Cathy have been married a while, everything was perfect apparently, but Cathy cannot carry a baby to term so she is having a hard time. She tried once to talk to Ben about it, but he didn't want to focus on the negative at the time, he was dealing with the miscarriage as well, and so that means that Cathy can never talk to Ben about anything. *sigh*
Then we have Arsen who comes and works with Cathy. She is not wearing her wedding ring the first time he meets her and he wants her. He is a super player, but he wants Cathy. I really didn't like him. He is WAY too pushy and won't listen to Cathy when she at first tries to set some boundaries. But Cathy is oh so attracted to him as well and....she would have totally just physically cheated on her husband with him sooner in the book, but oh joy! She gets pregnant again! Baby will fix all of the problems with her marriage! Yeah...so she just emotionally cheats on Ben with Arsen while she is pregnant. They just hang out together all the time, she lies to Ben about where she is (and come on. You know hanging out alone at Arsen's place and lying to Ben about it is not the same thing as being alone in your office at work! Come on!). Her constant I am not doing anything wrong while emotionally cheating on Ben thing really got to me. Man Cathy was horrible. I hated her. Hated her so much I wanted her to end up sad and alone, living on the streets with no one and nothing caring about her. Yeah, she was the worst. If the author was trying to get me to sympathize with her since she is struggling to have a child she failed.
So Cathy and Arsen get close, Cathy even kisses him for goodness sake! But it didn't mean anything...and she is so freakin dense it drove me crazy. Ben, her husband, shows up to meet her and Arsen just after she kisses him. Ben walks in on them holding hands on the couch, sitting super close and having an intimate conversation. And yet Cathy cannot understand why Ben gets upset. Why Ben doesn't want her to sit on the couch with Arsen but rather next to him. Why Ben is angry with her at all. I mean she didn't do anything wrong...*bangs head against wall repeatedly* I swear she is always like this. And it drove me crazy. How can you be so dumb? Seriously. I can see lying to yourself, trying to tell yourself you aren't doing anything wrong because you feel guilty, but seriously. She didn't seem like that is what she was doing. Ugh.
So of course *surprise, but not really* Cathy loses the baby. Which means she gets a free pass to cheat on her husband! Hurray! She can finally sleep with Arsen and not feel guilty! And keep lying to her husband. And just becoming an incredibly terrible person. Yey! Although I will say once Ben kicked her to the curb (and yey for all of his yelling at her! I was just like right on! You go Ben!!) I did enjoy the story more. I hated both Arsen and Cathy and it was just gratifying watching them self destruct and fall into this pit of despair. Watch them fall so far and just be so...horrible together. They are not good together, things don't seem very happy, and that made me incredibly happy. And when Arsen kicked her to the curb as well? Oh did I do a happy dance. I was ecstatic! Finally she will be all alone and miserable for the rest of her life!! Hooray!!!
Only of course it doesn't work like that. You have to have some bs happily ever after nonsense. The end...complete bs. I hated it. Even more so than the rest of the book. So what happens you might ask? Well let me tell you. Cathy is all sad and alone, but pregnant again. Really? Really. So this is going to be the magic baby that will fix everything right? Right. Cause babies are known to do that. *eye roll* Cathy is such a mess of a person how is she going to raise a baby by herself? Well by placing all of her happiness on the kid! The kid, Nadia, will be responsible for making sure she is okay. Way to place that on a small child's shoulders...what a great person you are.
"I need to get Nadia. I need to hold her in my arms so she can shield me from the tsunami of pain and memories threatening to sweep me away."
I know if things didn't magically work out so she gets a happily ever after I would feel horrible for Nadia. Imagine what it would be like to grow up with Cathy as your mom? To grow up knowing that it is on you to make her happy? Not cool. Yes, Cathy is seeing a therapist or something, but she is nowhere near stable. Argh! I hated the magical baby that magically makes everything better with Cathy and the love of her life. Or whatever bs she spouted. So there you go. This book was horrible, but not because of the cheating. In fact when Cathy was cheating for reals I enjoyed the story more. No, the book was horrible because I hated Cathy, and Arsen. Oh one more thing. What was with that chapter at the end from Arsen's point of view? Was I supposed to feel for him or something? I didn't get it. He was just as bad as Cathy. Sorry, but I don't feel anything for you but hatred.
I remember when Arsen first came out and everyone was talking about it. I had it on my to-read list, but never got around to it. I remember everyone loving it, but for the life of me I have no idea why. I finally got around to reading it and no. Just no.
*Spoiler alert! There will be spoilers ahead!! Also some angry ranting*
Arsen is one of those books where the main character made me incredibly angry. This is one of those books where I have re-written this review so many times trying to have it not be so ranty. I think this is just as good as it is going to get. This was one of those books where every two seconds I had to put the book aside and yell and rant and write out everything I was feeling. It was not good.
Was I supposed to like Cathy at all? Cause I didn't. Not even a little bit. I didn't even like her in the flashback chapters. I can only imagine they were included to show how awesome Cathy and Ben were together, how everything was great before it fell apart or something. Only it didn't work for me. If anything it made me hate Cathy more. It showed me that she has always been this way. She has never been able to talk to Ben about things so why would that suddenly change now that things are not "perfect". She drove me crazy and in those flashbacks I was just yelling at her the whole time. Not good.
So Ben and Cathy have been married a while, everything was perfect apparently, but Cathy cannot carry a baby to term so she is having a hard time. She tried once to talk to Ben about it, but he didn't want to focus on the negative at the time, he was dealing with the miscarriage as well, and so that means that Cathy can never talk to Ben about anything. *sigh*
Then we have Arsen who comes and works with Cathy. She is not wearing her wedding ring the first time he meets her and he wants her. He is a super player, but he wants Cathy. I really didn't like him. He is WAY too pushy and won't listen to Cathy when she at first tries to set some boundaries. But Cathy is oh so attracted to him as well and....she would have totally just physically cheated on her husband with him sooner in the book, but oh joy! She gets pregnant again! Baby will fix all of the problems with her marriage! Yeah...so she just emotionally cheats on Ben with Arsen while she is pregnant. They just hang out together all the time, she lies to Ben about where she is (and come on. You know hanging out alone at Arsen's place and lying to Ben about it is not the same thing as being alone in your office at work! Come on!). Her constant I am not doing anything wrong while emotionally cheating on Ben thing really got to me. Man Cathy was horrible. I hated her. Hated her so much I wanted her to end up sad and alone, living on the streets with no one and nothing caring about her. Yeah, she was the worst. If the author was trying to get me to sympathize with her since she is struggling to have a child she failed.
So Cathy and Arsen get close, Cathy even kisses him for goodness sake! But it didn't mean anything...and she is so freakin dense it drove me crazy. Ben, her husband, shows up to meet her and Arsen just after she kisses him. Ben walks in on them holding hands on the couch, sitting super close and having an intimate conversation. And yet Cathy cannot understand why Ben gets upset. Why Ben doesn't want her to sit on the couch with Arsen but rather next to him. Why Ben is angry with her at all. I mean she didn't do anything wrong...*bangs head against wall repeatedly* I swear she is always like this. And it drove me crazy. How can you be so dumb? Seriously. I can see lying to yourself, trying to tell yourself you aren't doing anything wrong because you feel guilty, but seriously. She didn't seem like that is what she was doing. Ugh.
So of course *surprise, but not really* Cathy loses the baby. Which means she gets a free pass to cheat on her husband! Hurray! She can finally sleep with Arsen and not feel guilty! And keep lying to her husband. And just becoming an incredibly terrible person. Yey! Although I will say once Ben kicked her to the curb (and yey for all of his yelling at her! I was just like right on! You go Ben!!) I did enjoy the story more. I hated both Arsen and Cathy and it was just gratifying watching them self destruct and fall into this pit of despair. Watch them fall so far and just be so...horrible together. They are not good together, things don't seem very happy, and that made me incredibly happy. And when Arsen kicked her to the curb as well? Oh did I do a happy dance. I was ecstatic! Finally she will be all alone and miserable for the rest of her life!! Hooray!!!
Only of course it doesn't work like that. You have to have some bs happily ever after nonsense. The end...complete bs. I hated it. Even more so than the rest of the book. So what happens you might ask? Well let me tell you. Cathy is all sad and alone, but pregnant again. Really? Really. So this is going to be the magic baby that will fix everything right? Right. Cause babies are known to do that. *eye roll* Cathy is such a mess of a person how is she going to raise a baby by herself? Well by placing all of her happiness on the kid! The kid, Nadia, will be responsible for making sure she is okay. Way to place that on a small child's shoulders...what a great person you are.
"I need to get Nadia. I need to hold her in my arms so she can shield me from the tsunami of pain and memories threatening to sweep me away."
I know if things didn't magically work out so she gets a happily ever after I would feel horrible for Nadia. Imagine what it would be like to grow up with Cathy as your mom? To grow up knowing that it is on you to make her happy? Not cool. Yes, Cathy is seeing a therapist or something, but she is nowhere near stable. Argh! I hated the magical baby that magically makes everything better with Cathy and the love of her life. Or whatever bs she spouted. So there you go. This book was horrible, but not because of the cheating. In fact when Cathy was cheating for reals I enjoyed the story more. No, the book was horrible because I hated Cathy, and Arsen. Oh one more thing. What was with that chapter at the end from Arsen's point of view? Was I supposed to feel for him or something? I didn't get it. He was just as bad as Cathy. Sorry, but I don't feel anything for you but hatred.
thebooktrollop's review
4.0
I have to start off by saying I was not going to review this book, I was just going to read it and see what everyone was talking about..
I was WARNED, I was FREAKING WARNED that this book would kill little pieces of me before the end and I didn't listen, I was like ehhh I am sure it won't be THAT bad but it was, it totally was...
MY THOUGHTS
I am still in a book fog because of this book and I do not know which way I want to go with this review..
I loved this book, I HATED this book and I have no IDEA what to rate it..
Do I rate it 5 because the writing was THAT good?? DO I rate it less because the subject matter was unsettling and I HATED the main character???
I. HAVE. NO. IDEA
So I am going to tell you everything that I thought about this book instead..
Cathy, is a woman who is very lost, depressed because she can't do something that most woman can and it eats her alive.
Instead of talking about it, she keeps it buried deep within her soul. This thing becomes an entity of itself, blackens her soul and takes on a life of its own.
She starts to feel black, she gives up, she doesn't want to face it anymore and she's just broken. Her spirit crushed by each aching pain inflicted and she's buried deep within the blackness..
Her husband, her beautiful angel of a husband, Ben is trying so hard to keep her above the surface of the blackness that has consumed her soul but he is losing this battle and she is slipping further and further away from him. With each missed call, text, lonely night spent alone because she was "busy"... pieces of him start to die too.
They are broken..
“I am sorry. I am so fucking sorry for not being able to give you... but you are enough. You are more than enough for me. You’re my fucking world, babe. And I need you back. Please stop shutting me out, I can’t take it anymore........
Own me, fill me, break me, repair me, complete me. Do whatever you want to me. Just stay with me. I need you. I need to be able to live. I need my life back, I need you back.”
Arsen.. oh sweet, beautifully broken Arsen has his own demons to fight and he thinks helping to fix Cathy's will help to heal him too or that they can heal each other.. He takes what isn't his to take, offers things he should not offer and then when he gets what he wants he does what he always does and screws it up.
Cathy cheats over and over again with Arsen and she doesn't feel guilty, she cannot be made to feel guilty because she is finally feeling something other than blackness. She is being carried to the surface a little bit at a time, every time she is with him.
It's like she can breathe, live, and love for the first time, all over again.
But what she feels cannot last, the relationship was built on a foundation of lies, lust, and cheating. That is not a solid foundation that a relationship can blossom from, it is rocky at best, they cannot trust one another. Arsen gets jealous and angry, while Cathy just has to take it because....well... he's right...
So here it is..
The subject matter was hard to swallow, it did not go down easy and there were parts where I just couldn't read... I just couldn't!!
Cathy was being a big cunt, I understood her, I felt for her and her pain I understood it but I just couldn't get over the pain she was inflicting on to Ben... She broke MY heart and all I wanted to do was reach through the book, grab Ben and stuff him in my pocket to protect him from what was coming...He was what every woman wishes her husband will be and what every man should strive to be like...I LOVED HIM!!
"Late Sunday morning. I watch as my husband’s large and powerful body falls to the ground in surrender. Broken… by me."
Even though I HATED the subject matter itself, I actually loved the whole concept of this book..
Now you might be thinking,
"What??? this bitch has lost her mind, no way could this book be anything but horrible when it comes to the subject matter!!.."
But hear me out first..
I will never ever ever condone cheating... it is WRONG and NOBODY wins when someone cheats but this book was kind of like a cautionary tale of what can happen when you do cheat. What happens to the people when temptation and lust overshadow true love. What broken people can become even if they think they are getting everything they want..
She took a subject matter that most people consider awful and used it to teach a lesson to readers about the what ifs.
(Of course I don't know for sure if she was trying to do that but thats what I took away from it)
I thought long and hard after reading this book, about my marriage, about my husband, about how easy love can fall apart and how HARD it is to keep it together..
Marriage is a lot of work but the best ones are worth fighting for..
"Falling in love with someone is easy. It’s loving when the newness has worn off, when life gets tough, when things get in the way, when physical passion is gone, that true love remains. When love can conquer it all.”
It had me thinking about all of this and making me appreciate everything I have, making me grateful for the love that my husband and I share. We may drive each other effing crazy but at the end of the day he is my everything and I couldn't love him more than the day I met him..
Plus, the author didn't hold anything back to make it easier for her readers to read. She let it progress, wrote everything; every thought, every feeling and also let the reader experience it for themselves.
She did such an AMAZING job portraying the hurt, pain, anguish, betrayal, love, lust, and heartbreak of these characters..
She reached inside my heart and soul and stole little pieces of it and I came out on the other side of the book in a pile of mixed emotions.
I thought I have been emotionally unstable before because of a book but she gave me a whole new meaning of emotionally unstable!!
I was seriously damaged after this book but I definitely enjoyed each soul-crushing minute of it!!
And LEZ-BE-HONEST the sex was freaking HOT,even if most of it I was cringing because in my mind I knew it was fifty shades of fucked up ;)
The only thing that made me disappointed was the way it ended, I wanted a little more and a different type of epilogue because I think as a reader I needed to see what happened after the rainy day on the street..What exactly happened? How did it progress? There was just so much happening I wanted to see the steps that it took.
(I am being vague because I don't want to give anything away)
Also, it took me a while to get into it but once I did, you could not pull this book from my hands.. I was a raging bitch to anyone who tried to interrupt my reading time..
I NEEDED to finish it, it was a matter of life or death people!!!!
AMAZING JOB MIA ASHER can't wait to read more from you in the future because YOU my dear are FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!!!!!
I was WARNED, I was FREAKING WARNED that this book would kill little pieces of me before the end and I didn't listen, I was like ehhh I am sure it won't be THAT bad but it was, it totally was...
MY THOUGHTS
I am still in a book fog because of this book and I do not know which way I want to go with this review..
I loved this book, I HATED this book and I have no IDEA what to rate it..
Do I rate it 5 because the writing was THAT good?? DO I rate it less because the subject matter was unsettling and I HATED the main character???
I. HAVE. NO. IDEA
So I am going to tell you everything that I thought about this book instead..
Cathy, is a woman who is very lost, depressed because she can't do something that most woman can and it eats her alive.
Instead of talking about it, she keeps it buried deep within her soul. This thing becomes an entity of itself, blackens her soul and takes on a life of its own.
She starts to feel black, she gives up, she doesn't want to face it anymore and she's just broken. Her spirit crushed by each aching pain inflicted and she's buried deep within the blackness..
Her husband, her beautiful angel of a husband, Ben is trying so hard to keep her above the surface of the blackness that has consumed her soul but he is losing this battle and she is slipping further and further away from him. With each missed call, text, lonely night spent alone because she was "busy"... pieces of him start to die too.
They are broken..
“I am sorry. I am so fucking sorry for not being able to give you... but you are enough. You are more than enough for me. You’re my fucking world, babe. And I need you back. Please stop shutting me out, I can’t take it anymore........
Own me, fill me, break me, repair me, complete me. Do whatever you want to me. Just stay with me. I need you. I need to be able to live. I need my life back, I need you back.”
Arsen.. oh sweet, beautifully broken Arsen has his own demons to fight and he thinks helping to fix Cathy's will help to heal him too or that they can heal each other.. He takes what isn't his to take, offers things he should not offer and then when he gets what he wants he does what he always does and screws it up.
Cathy cheats over and over again with Arsen and she doesn't feel guilty, she cannot be made to feel guilty because she is finally feeling something other than blackness. She is being carried to the surface a little bit at a time, every time she is with him.
It's like she can breathe, live, and love for the first time, all over again.
But what she feels cannot last, the relationship was built on a foundation of lies, lust, and cheating. That is not a solid foundation that a relationship can blossom from, it is rocky at best, they cannot trust one another. Arsen gets jealous and angry, while Cathy just has to take it because....well... he's right...
So here it is..
The subject matter was hard to swallow, it did not go down easy and there were parts where I just couldn't read... I just couldn't!!
Cathy was being a big cunt, I understood her, I felt for her and her pain I understood it but I just couldn't get over the pain she was inflicting on to Ben... She broke MY heart and all I wanted to do was reach through the book, grab Ben and stuff him in my pocket to protect him from what was coming...He was what every woman wishes her husband will be and what every man should strive to be like...I LOVED HIM!!
"Late Sunday morning. I watch as my husband’s large and powerful body falls to the ground in surrender. Broken… by me."
Even though I HATED the subject matter itself, I actually loved the whole concept of this book..
Now you might be thinking,
"What??? this bitch has lost her mind, no way could this book be anything but horrible when it comes to the subject matter!!.."
But hear me out first..
I will never ever ever condone cheating... it is WRONG and NOBODY wins when someone cheats but this book was kind of like a cautionary tale of what can happen when you do cheat. What happens to the people when temptation and lust overshadow true love. What broken people can become even if they think they are getting everything they want..
She took a subject matter that most people consider awful and used it to teach a lesson to readers about the what ifs.
(Of course I don't know for sure if she was trying to do that but thats what I took away from it)
I thought long and hard after reading this book, about my marriage, about my husband, about how easy love can fall apart and how HARD it is to keep it together..
Marriage is a lot of work but the best ones are worth fighting for..
"Falling in love with someone is easy. It’s loving when the newness has worn off, when life gets tough, when things get in the way, when physical passion is gone, that true love remains. When love can conquer it all.”
It had me thinking about all of this and making me appreciate everything I have, making me grateful for the love that my husband and I share. We may drive each other effing crazy but at the end of the day he is my everything and I couldn't love him more than the day I met him..
Plus, the author didn't hold anything back to make it easier for her readers to read. She let it progress, wrote everything; every thought, every feeling and also let the reader experience it for themselves.
She did such an AMAZING job portraying the hurt, pain, anguish, betrayal, love, lust, and heartbreak of these characters..
She reached inside my heart and soul and stole little pieces of it and I came out on the other side of the book in a pile of mixed emotions.
I thought I have been emotionally unstable before because of a book but she gave me a whole new meaning of emotionally unstable!!
I was seriously damaged after this book but I definitely enjoyed each soul-crushing minute of it!!
And LEZ-BE-HONEST the sex was freaking HOT,even if most of it I was cringing because in my mind I knew it was fifty shades of fucked up ;)
The only thing that made me disappointed was the way it ended, I wanted a little more and a different type of epilogue because I think as a reader I needed to see what happened after the rainy day on the street..What exactly happened? How did it progress? There was just so much happening I wanted to see the steps that it took.
(I am being vague because I don't want to give anything away)
Also, it took me a while to get into it but once I did, you could not pull this book from my hands.. I was a raging bitch to anyone who tried to interrupt my reading time..
I NEEDED to finish it, it was a matter of life or death people!!!!
AMAZING JOB MIA ASHER can't wait to read more from you in the future because YOU my dear are FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!!!!!
3beansbooks's review
5.0
My heart feels like Hannibal Lecter just ate it with some Chianti and fava beans.
Holy shit. One of my friends recommended Arsen to me and I don’t know whether I should kiss her or slap her. This was definitely the book I never knew I needed to read. It was my first Mia Asher book and now I know I need to read more...............after I recover.
*there may be some triggering issues for some people.
Holy shit. One of my friends recommended Arsen to me and I don’t know whether I should kiss her or slap her. This was definitely the book I never knew I needed to read. It was my first Mia Asher book and now I know I need to read more...............after I recover.
*there may be some triggering issues for some people.