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kristinareadsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Ellen Hopkins is easily my favorite young adult author. I decided to try out her adult fiction, but I found it more than disappointing compared to her young adult books written in prose. I absolutely hated the first 100 or so pages of this book. The writing style was very pretentious and overly exaggerated, along with the main character, Tara. I found myself lost in the writing trying to figure out what was even happening. However, once the main story line picked up with Cavin, then I found myself not wanting to put the book down.
Cavin was a very interesting man who was very unlike Tara. I really liked Cavin's character and profile since he seemed like a genuine guy who had more than just money to boast about. I liked him with Tara and felt they were a good fit. The writing style also calmed down a bit by this point in the book so it was easier to follow. I also really enjoyed learning about Eli's son.
I liked the contrast between Tara and her sister Melody. I did not like how Tara had "mommy issues" and felt like she was very over reactive to her mother. Perhaps there should have been more focus on her history with her mom, but I felt like Melody's reaction towards her mother was more appropriate than Tara's. I also liked Melody's relationships with Graham and her daughters. There was a sense of realism to their story that is relatable for a lot of people.
I absolutely hated how many loose ends there were and story lines that never developed. Tara's contribution to Kayla's college fund, Tara's offer for Kayla to work as an assistant, the threatening text messages never went anywhere, Eli's manipulative personality, etc. didn't add enough to the overall plot. We didn't even find out about Tara's role in Raul's death until the last pages of the book. The biggest part that bothered me were the threatening messages. We find out in the last pages of the book that it was just Jordan and nothing to worry about. I wish there was a plot twist, such as Eli was sending them or Sophia was sending them. It was a huge disappointment because I wanted something big to happen.
Overall, this book was disappointing for me to read. I enjoyed aspects of it while despising other aspects entirely. If I know Ellen Hopkins as a writer, I have faith that she will pick up the story as a young adult book from the perspectives of the teenagers in the story. Or at least, I hope she will since there were a lot of undeveloped plot lines. 3 stars is all I could give this book unfortunately.
Spoiler
Cavin was a very interesting man who was very unlike Tara. I really liked Cavin's character and profile since he seemed like a genuine guy who had more than just money to boast about. I liked him with Tara and felt they were a good fit. The writing style also calmed down a bit by this point in the book so it was easier to follow. I also really enjoyed learning about Eli's son.
I liked the contrast between Tara and her sister Melody. I did not like how Tara had "mommy issues" and felt like she was very over reactive to her mother. Perhaps there should have been more focus on her history with her mom, but I felt like Melody's reaction towards her mother was more appropriate than Tara's. I also liked Melody's relationships with Graham and her daughters. There was a sense of realism to their story that is relatable for a lot of people.
I absolutely hated how many loose ends there were and story lines that never developed. Tara's contribution to Kayla's college fund, Tara's offer for Kayla to work as an assistant, the threatening text messages never went anywhere, Eli's manipulative personality, etc. didn't add enough to the overall plot. We didn't even find out about Tara's role in Raul's death until the last pages of the book. The biggest part that bothered me were the threatening messages. We find out in the last pages of the book that it was just Jordan and nothing to worry about. I wish there was a plot twist, such as Eli was sending them or Sophia was sending them. It was a huge disappointment because I wanted something big to happen.
Overall, this book was disappointing for me to read. I enjoyed aspects of it while despising other aspects entirely. If I know Ellen Hopkins as a writer, I have faith that she will pick up the story as a young adult book from the perspectives of the teenagers in the story. Or at least, I hope she will since there were a lot of undeveloped plot lines. 3 stars is all I could give this book unfortunately.
rodeoxqueen's review against another edition
2.0
this is my first time ever writing a book review, but GOD I am severely disappointed. Ellen Hopkins is one of my favorite authors, but this was extremely underwhelming.
the main character, Tara, is incredibly narcissistic which I understand is the point but she was SO boring. I felt like I was reading a journal, which can work well for in some cases, but this fell flat. she’s a 40ish year old who is twice divorced, and widowed. she’s rich mostly due to her ex husbands, whom she never loved, and will be sure to tell you repeatedly throughout the story. she has no real, truly intimate connection with anyone in her life, including her sister and her nieces. even when she met her love interest, I was never convinced that she actually valued him in any way other than that he was also rich and good looking. I spent most of the book wanting to learn more about other characters rather than the narrator/main character.
speaking of supporting characters, Mel’s story was built up and well detailed and dissolved rapidly for no reason. I spent most of the book feeling bad for Cavin, Tara’s love interest, despite the fact that he’s a casual liar. the constant mention of the Tara’s ex husbands left little to the imagination when it came to the ending, given the constant talk about secrets or lying. the most interesting character was Cavin’s seventeen year old son, and once again, his character development (or lack of) lead to nothing in the end.
the sex throughout the book was constant and in my opinion, unnecessary. it added nothing to the story and was redundant. basically- he went down on me, then we had sex, then we both orgasmed. groundbreaking. I don’t mind erotic scenes in novels at all, but it just felt like it was used as filler in an otherwise drawn out story.
in the end I definitely regret not giving up and labeling this one a “did not finish” considering the climax of the story happened so fast it practically gave me whiplash. the entire story is wrapped up in just a few pages that felt extremely rushed. it took me a lot longer to finish this than most other books I read, especially anything Ellen has written, because it was very uninteresting altogether. I will give more of her adult literature a chance, though.
TL;DR- the main character sucks and has very little to no development. the supporting characters are interesting, but ultimately pointless in the end. boring and predictable.
the main character, Tara, is incredibly narcissistic which I understand is the point but she was SO boring. I felt like I was reading a journal, which can work well for in some cases, but this fell flat. she’s a 40ish year old who is twice divorced, and widowed. she’s rich mostly due to her ex husbands, whom she never loved, and will be sure to tell you repeatedly throughout the story. she has no real, truly intimate connection with anyone in her life, including her sister and her nieces. even when she met her love interest, I was never convinced that she actually valued him in any way other than that he was also rich and good looking. I spent most of the book wanting to learn more about other characters rather than the narrator/main character.
speaking of supporting characters, Mel’s story was built up and well detailed and dissolved rapidly for no reason. I spent most of the book feeling bad for Cavin, Tara’s love interest, despite the fact that he’s a casual liar. the constant mention of the Tara’s ex husbands left little to the imagination when it came to the ending, given the constant talk about secrets or lying. the most interesting character was Cavin’s seventeen year old son, and once again, his character development (or lack of) lead to nothing in the end.
the sex throughout the book was constant and in my opinion, unnecessary. it added nothing to the story and was redundant. basically- he went down on me, then we had sex, then we both orgasmed. groundbreaking. I don’t mind erotic scenes in novels at all, but it just felt like it was used as filler in an otherwise drawn out story.
in the end I definitely regret not giving up and labeling this one a “did not finish” considering the climax of the story happened so fast it practically gave me whiplash. the entire story is wrapped up in just a few pages that felt extremely rushed. it took me a lot longer to finish this than most other books I read, especially anything Ellen has written, because it was very uninteresting altogether. I will give more of her adult literature a chance, though.
TL;DR- the main character sucks and has very little to no development. the supporting characters are interesting, but ultimately pointless in the end. boring and predictable.
elliesreviews's review against another edition
2.0
Being completely honest, I didn't like this book at all. The "action" that the description describes really never happens. She is not held hostage in the house with him. Secondly, the main character is completely unbelievable. She's sassy and a man-user, then she's completely head over heels wishy-washy in love and agrees to marry him that soon? I do not buy this at all.
The poems in between the sections are weird, frankly. The sex scenes were unnecessarily crass, and I'm no prude when it comes to love stories -- I just felt like it was unnecessary and took away from the story.
I do not think this book should have a sequel, especially if it's like the first one at all. Perhaps it would have seemed a smidge better if the description actually matched what the book was about.
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The poems in between the sections are weird, frankly. The sex scenes were unnecessarily crass, and I'm no prude when it comes to love stories -- I just felt like it was unnecessary and took away from the story.
I do not think this book should have a sequel, especially if it's like the first one at all. Perhaps it would have seemed a smidge better if the description actually matched what the book was about.
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
lmb1011's review against another edition
2.0
I’m still trying to figure out the point of this book. For fans of Hopkins poetry, this was a let down. The synopsis implies this book is almost a romantic thriller. I expect girl to meet guy, whirlwind romance, turns out the guy is shady and she struggles to get away.
What I got was a partial romance, with an insufferable MC, a lot of plot threads that really kind of went nowhere, and what could have been a compelling mystery was literally “solved” in one afterthought sentence on the second to last page. Though the mystery aspect was never actually prevalent anyway so it wrapped up in a fitting way I suppose.
But on top of all of it, I don’t know what the point of this story was. Tara really doesn’t feel like she went on a journey, any character development from her happened in the past and we only get glimpses of it. Every other possibly interesting story line is sidelined for the mediocre romance all to culminate in what I think is a cliff hanger for book 2, which I will not be reading.
If you like Hopkins poetry, do yourself a favor and stay away from this one.
What I got was a partial romance, with an insufferable MC, a lot of plot threads that really kind of went nowhere, and what could have been a compelling mystery was literally “solved” in one afterthought sentence on the second to last page. Though the mystery aspect was never actually prevalent anyway so it wrapped up in a fitting way I suppose.
But on top of all of it, I don’t know what the point of this story was. Tara really doesn’t feel like she went on a journey, any character development from her happened in the past and we only get glimpses of it. Every other possibly interesting story line is sidelined for the mediocre romance all to culminate in what I think is a cliff hanger for book 2, which I will not be reading.
If you like Hopkins poetry, do yourself a favor and stay away from this one.
marywoodard's review against another edition
4.0
This book was slow going for me until the last quarter, when things picked up. I think part of my problem was that the narrator was so unlikable and spoke in such an unrealistic way. I did, however, like the twist at the end and never really saw it coming.
samantha_randolph's review against another edition
3.0
"Tara knows what she wants from life: wealth, handsome men, and delicious liquor. Having been through three marriages, she's convinced love isn't in the cards for her, if it exists at all, until she meets a dashing surgeon, Cavin Lattimore. Cavin has everything she's looking for and more. As the two quickly fall for each other, Tara begins to suspect that not all is as it seems, not to mention mysterious messages threatening her are adding to her stress. Tara may have found all the happiness she wanted...or she may be in more danger of losing something precious to her than ever." Full review at Fresh Fiction: http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=60501
injeniouslife's review against another edition
1.0
Unrealistic characters. “Sex” scenes that made 0 sense and were unbelievable. Secret texts that lead to a throwaway line at the end and this is a trilogy? Ok, no thanks.
lulukubo's review against another edition
2.0
I was disappointed. Tara is unlikeable. Every time I would start to feel that she might be okay, she would do something else disagreeable. I don't usually read romance novels and I guess they've become more risqué over the years, but the descriptions of sex acts embarrassed me. Eww.
leeann20's review against another edition
1.0
I couldn't finish this book. I was so disappointed! I love Ellen Hopkins! I didn't like the main character at all. She was written as strong, then the slightest thing happens and she becomes super paranoid.
tishara's review against another edition
4.0
All I am going to say is her other books are a lot better. I seen to like her YA books better then other ones. I didn't like [b:Triangles|10843755|Triangles|Ellen Hopkins|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1313893537s/10843755.jpg|15709019] that much, but [b:Collateral|12651912|Collateral|Ellen Hopkins|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1338843649s/12651912.jpg|17765607] was good, so may I will like her next non-YA book.