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annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition
5.0
Steffanie Holmes is the author of my favorite series of all time. I love her writing style, I love how she builds up her stories, how she balances a lot of different elements. I love how she gets the pacing of her stories just right, never too fast and never too slow. So, even though I don't do contemporary and I'm not a huge fan of bully romances, I pre-ordered this book as soon as I could. And once I started reading this morning I almost didn't want to stop.
The pacing of this book is just perfection. We start the story with a bang, setting the atmosphere and creating a certain setting. It's only a small part of the puzzle, but it keeps us on the tips of our toes while we read the first part of the story and get the time to settle in. We get to know the characters, we see their interactions grow more intense and then Holmes starts dropping those adrenaline bombs. With each thrilling new passage the stakes get higher and higher and eventually we get a very nice finale that's satisfying in so many ways I can't even explain it. I had goosebumps all over my body!
What kept me interested throughout the book are all the pieces of the puzzle we slowly get. By being in everyone's mind we get information the other characters haven't and very slowly I started to get ideas about what could be going on. In the beginning it were only breadcrumbs, but the closer we came to the end, the more information we got. And all the unanswered questions are now leaving me with a huge book hangover and a need to countdown to the next book.
But the true stars of this story are of course the characters! We have a main character who doesn't show all her cards, not even to us, the readers, but that's also what makes her so interesting. There's so much backstory still to discover! We've barely scratched the tip of the iceberg! And all the guys also have their own history and pain and grief. In this book we get to see quite a lot of them and yet there's still more than enough left to discover in the next one!
Is the next one out yet? I need it. NOW!
The pacing of this book is just perfection. We start the story with a bang, setting the atmosphere and creating a certain setting. It's only a small part of the puzzle, but it keeps us on the tips of our toes while we read the first part of the story and get the time to settle in. We get to know the characters, we see their interactions grow more intense and then Holmes starts dropping those adrenaline bombs. With each thrilling new passage the stakes get higher and higher and eventually we get a very nice finale that's satisfying in so many ways I can't even explain it. I had goosebumps all over my body!
What kept me interested throughout the book are all the pieces of the puzzle we slowly get. By being in everyone's mind we get information the other characters haven't and very slowly I started to get ideas about what could be going on. In the beginning it were only breadcrumbs, but the closer we came to the end, the more information we got. And all the unanswered questions are now leaving me with a huge book hangover and a need to countdown to the next book.
But the true stars of this story are of course the characters! We have a main character who doesn't show all her cards, not even to us, the readers, but that's also what makes her so interesting. There's so much backstory still to discover! We've barely scratched the tip of the iceberg! And all the guys also have their own history and pain and grief. In this book we get to see quite a lot of them and yet there's still more than enough left to discover in the next one!
Is the next one out yet? I need it. NOW!
manda24176's review against another edition
5.0
Loved it
Looking to read something slightly different... then this is it.
Looking to read something slightly different... then this is it.
daisybox's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked Mackenzie and the guys.
For now the story is confusing, lots of questions and no answer. We just began to learn more about the characters and the book ended.
For now the story is confusing, lots of questions and no answer. We just began to learn more about the characters and the book ended.
p0laris's review
1.0
Knew one villain from like four pages in, and picked the rest out easily as it went along. Finished the entire series and was skimming the majority of each book, just wanting to see what happened because I read and enjoyed the next generation's series and wanted to see how they connect. Honestly didn't think it was worth it. This FMC had more personality as a side character in the next gen series. 🙃
pachomacho's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
viksbooksandlifestyle's review
4.0
Love a school bully/romance.
Not much bullying TBH!
But twists and turns which are great!
Not much bullying TBH!
But twists and turns which are great!
anne_france's review against another edition
I read 20% and got bored. I felt like I read the same kind of story again.
gypsystar's review
4.0
Lots of questions and not a lot of answers. I’m not sure I really get what is going on, especially with the bombshell at the end but I mostly like what I’ve read so far.
Mackenzie starts out the book 4 years earlier and she’s been buried alive. Her parents are gone, presumably dead. She somehow hides in their mansion for four years before neighbors report a squatter and a nosy cop swings by. I really think she could have finagled her way through the school thing because she obviously had resources who could fake school transcripts but she ends up enrolling in Stonehurst Prep.
She seems to have some sort of amnesia and it’s all left vague, intentionally- I think. She was apparently a supreme bitch before though. This has a bullying situation. It’s mostly not her harem but also sort of is. There’s a douchey guy who’s the villain. A wicked witch queen bee who does what they always do. One of her harem, Noah, hates/loves her because he’s into her but he holds her responsible for the death of his brother and subsequent suicide by his mother. It’s something to do with her parents pharmaceutical company. She was 13 when the brother died it makes no sense for it to be her fault but bully reasons rarely do.
There’s the rockstar, Gabriel, finishing school who is walking sex. Very flirty and incapable of being serious. For some reason after they kiss at a party he humiliates her by pushing her in the pool. It was her first kiss ever. It’s never really explained why he did this and that bothers me. He did seem a bit surprised at how hurt and angry she was but eventually she gives up her v card to him.
The last one is Eli, he’s the nice one she had a prior friendship with that she doesn’t remember. He remains nice to her even when she’s being a bitch. He’s the only one she doesn’t kiss or bang in this book. Nice guys finish last.
Story 4/5, Heat 1.5/5, Angst 2.5/5
Slow burn, she gives up her v card to Gabriel at 81%, she bangs Noah a few days later near the end of the book.
Condoms used, virgin h, Gabriel is manwhore, Noah might be one, no info on Eli, push away from h, push away from Noah, no OM drama, slight OW drama. This is a quartet so there’s a cliffhanger, kind of a big one. The series is complete though so no worries.
Safety - this is a bullying type situation so mostly they aren’t actually together , I wouldn’t call anything in this book cheating.
The OW, Cleo is queen bee/bitch and she wants Gabriel but he rejects her completely. Noah, the one who hates/loves the h does mess with Cleo. He’s actively in hate mode and they haven’t had any pleasant encounters at that point. She hangs all over him, kisses him, lipstick smears, smug looks etc. The h doesn’t love it but she’s not real broken up by it either.
There’s a lot of violence here and her cat is intentionally injured by someone trying to send her a message. There’s also an attempted sexual assault on the h that’s stopped by Noah
Mackenzie starts out the book 4 years earlier and she’s been buried alive. Her parents are gone, presumably dead. She somehow hides in their mansion for four years before neighbors report a squatter and a nosy cop swings by. I really think she could have finagled her way through the school thing because she obviously had resources who could fake school transcripts but she ends up enrolling in Stonehurst Prep.
She seems to have some sort of amnesia and it’s all left vague, intentionally- I think. She was apparently a supreme bitch before though. This has a bullying situation. It’s mostly not her harem but also sort of is. There’s a douchey guy who’s the villain. A wicked witch queen bee who does what they always do. One of her harem, Noah, hates/loves her because he’s into her but he holds her responsible for the death of his brother and subsequent suicide by his mother. It’s something to do with her parents pharmaceutical company. She was 13 when the brother died it makes no sense for it to be her fault but bully reasons rarely do.
There’s the rockstar, Gabriel, finishing school who is walking sex. Very flirty and incapable of being serious. For some reason after they kiss at a party he humiliates her by pushing her in the pool. It was her first kiss ever. It’s never really explained why he did this and that bothers me. He did seem a bit surprised at how hurt and angry she was but eventually she gives up her v card to him.
The last one is Eli, he’s the nice one she had a prior friendship with that she doesn’t remember. He remains nice to her even when she’s being a bitch. He’s the only one she doesn’t kiss or bang in this book. Nice guys finish last.
Story 4/5, Heat 1.5/5, Angst 2.5/5
Slow burn, she gives up her v card to Gabriel at 81%, she bangs Noah a few days later near the end of the book.
Condoms used, virgin h, Gabriel is manwhore, Noah might be one, no info on Eli, push away from h, push away from Noah, no OM drama, slight OW drama. This is a quartet so there’s a cliffhanger, kind of a big one. The series is complete though so no worries.
Safety - this is a bullying type situation so mostly they aren’t actually together , I wouldn’t call anything in this book cheating.
The OW, Cleo is queen bee/bitch and she wants Gabriel but he rejects her completely. Noah, the one who hates/loves the h does mess with Cleo. He’s actively in hate mode and they haven’t had any pleasant encounters at that point. She hangs all over him, kisses him, lipstick smears, smug looks etc. The h doesn’t love it but she’s not real broken up by it either.
There’s a lot of violence here and her cat is intentionally injured by someone trying to send her a message. There’s also an attempted sexual assault on the h that’s stopped by Noah
angelastl's review
3.0
Huh
So it starts off super intense. But the more the book goes on the more and more I’m confused. Who is Mac? What is going on? Nothing makes sense.
So it starts off super intense. But the more the book goes on the more and more I’m confused. Who is Mac? What is going on? Nothing makes sense.