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7sofia7's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
3.75
Okay, so this series was a HOT MESS.
The premises and the tropes where all captivating as was the writing style but the series fell down hill as it went on. The first installment in each plot line was well written and intriguing but as it went on the writer kept adding backstories, antagonists and plot twists untill it all just stopped making any sense.
It's a twisted and tense contemporary with older alphamale hero with dubious/non existential morality and joung naive heroine who will do anything to fell loved.
It has many problems but it kept me engaged and at the edge of my seat the all way throug (I read the box set in two days). Even if it has many tropes that I find problematic I also enjoy most of them.
It was wirtten in 2014 and you can feel that. I starter reading romances written in that era so I am partial to may of it tropes
The blurb of the ex games part 1 made me think it was going to be a light if angsty sexy work place contemporary. It is not. Even if I would't say it's ine it reminded me of some dark/suspence romances.
If you liked these I would suggest the bindfold club by Nikki Sloane. The series is less tense and the heroes as more good. The focus is more on the erotic parts and topics such as prostitution/sexual esploration are at the forefront, as it was touched but not explored in this companion aeries. Other similar tropes are secret clubs, workplace relationshios, age gap difference, rich emotionally stunned heroes, undercover work, bondage, exibitionism, friendship.
Now SPOILERS because I have to let some things out of may chest:
The heros
older obsessive possessive alphamale heros who have done some shady things, think they cannot be redeamed and that they cannot fall in love.
They are all rich, and so they can do whatever they want without any ripercussion (there is always the threat that they are going be exposed but at the end they're all fine with wives, children and crazy exes gone) and are all hot as hell, ao much that the heroines, along whith all the female population, will do anything and excuse any therrible thing they have done in order to have sex with them. For them women are just obiects to have sex with (often without condoms, in fact in all the three romances pregnancies and children are plot lines) and then discard. But don't you worry they will feel their first emotion for the heroine.
They'e all mysterious, secretive to the point of hindered their relationships and with so much backstory/motivations (even if they're never fully explained or not at all (I'm looking at you The Love Trials) that not only you are going to aso yourself why the heroines are still with them but also if the author actualy think they can be redeemed or not. For example both thw protagounists of series 2&3 remark how creepy and obsessive is the hero of the first series.
Public sex kink (with no regard to other peoole, ecpecially in the Ex games)
The heroines
Marriage and babies after a week or two. The third heroine talks about how in school they only thought abstinence and you can see the results: condoms are an aftertought or they are nor used in purpose.
They are more different one to another than the heroes (which are copy and paste)
They thend to be quite stupid and starved for love; they find themselves in bad situations (which they put themselves in with no real reason) but they don't want to get out. (The protagounists of series 1&3 were the most infuriating). There is also a trope that I've never enjoyed: his sex appeal destroyes me and in his presence I'm left as an empty puppet whose will power has evaporated.
The nonsensical plot
Plot twist after plot twist. Secret after secret. Obsession after obsession.
Always in search of the new way to shock the audience. This makes the plot bonkers and whe story/the way the characters act unbelievable.
Never a real ending for the coupples. They all get married (and possibly) have kids but it always felt more like a happy for now/stuck in an abusive relationship (exept for the second coupple). From other reviews that I have read oeoole thought that there should have been a book after the last one but it never came, the story seems unfinished. Each series lead to the next one. After you finish one you don't feel sarisfied.
Writing style
I appreciated was how she made you feel the emotions of the heroines. On the other hand I didn't find the sex scenes hot exept for the one at the beginning of The Love trials.
Because of how it was published each installment ends in a cliffhanger. I thought they were really well done.
Male pov unnecessary and boring in series 1&2. Usefull and intrer sting in 3 (because the hero is a real douchebag and the heroine is the most stupid and trusting)
There are some flashbacks, which I usually loathe and here I didn't mind too much. What made me furious what that in teh sexy nd series there is a pow named: unknown. But we know the chatacter and it's quite easy to guess who it is so it felt just like lazy writing
The premises and the tropes where all captivating as was the writing style but the series fell down hill as it went on. The first installment in each plot line was well written and intriguing but as it went on the writer kept adding backstories, antagonists and plot twists untill it all just stopped making any sense.
It's a twisted and tense contemporary with older alphamale hero with dubious/non existential morality and joung naive heroine who will do anything to fell loved.
It has many problems but it kept me engaged and at the edge of my seat the all way throug (I read the box set in two days). Even if it has many tropes that I find problematic I also enjoy most of them.
It was wirtten in 2014 and you can feel that. I starter reading romances written in that era so I am partial to may of it tropes
The blurb of the ex games part 1 made me think it was going to be a light if angsty sexy work place contemporary. It is not. Even if I would't say it's ine it reminded me of some dark/suspence romances.
If you liked these I would suggest the bindfold club by Nikki Sloane. The series is less tense and the heroes as more good. The focus is more on the erotic parts and topics such as prostitution/sexual esploration are at the forefront, as it was touched but not explored in this companion aeries. Other similar tropes are secret clubs, workplace relationshios, age gap difference, rich emotionally stunned heroes, undercover work, bondage, exibitionism, friendship.
Now SPOILERS because I have to let some things out of may chest:
The heros
older obsessive possessive alphamale heros who have done some shady things, think they cannot be redeamed and that they cannot fall in love.
They are all rich, and so they can do whatever they want without any ripercussion (there is always the threat that they are going be exposed but at the end they're all fine with wives, children and crazy exes gone) and are all hot as hell, ao much that the heroines, along whith all the female population, will do anything and excuse any therrible thing they have done in order to have sex with them. For them women are just obiects to have sex with (often without condoms, in fact in all the three romances pregnancies and children are plot lines) and then discard. But don't you worry they will feel their first emotion for the heroine.
They'e all mysterious, secretive to the point of hindered their relationships and with so much backstory/motivations (even if they're never fully explained or not at all (I'm looking at you The Love Trials) that not only you are going to aso yourself why the heroines are still with them but also if the author actualy think they can be redeemed or not. For example both thw protagounists of series 2&3 remark how creepy and obsessive is the hero of the first series.
Public sex kink (with no regard to other peoole, ecpecially in the Ex games)
The heroines
Marriage and babies after a week or two. The third heroine talks about how in school they only thought abstinence and you can see the results: condoms are an aftertought or they are nor used in purpose.
They are more different one to another than the heroes (which are copy and paste)
They thend to be quite stupid and starved for love; they find themselves in bad situations (which they put themselves in with no real reason) but they don't want to get out. (The protagounists of series 1&3 were the most infuriating). There is also a trope that I've never enjoyed: his sex appeal destroyes me and in his presence I'm left as an empty puppet whose will power has evaporated.
The nonsensical plot
Plot twist after plot twist. Secret after secret. Obsession after obsession.
Always in search of the new way to shock the audience. This makes the plot bonkers and whe story/the way the characters act unbelievable.
Never a real ending for the coupples. They all get married (and possibly) have kids but it always felt more like a happy for now/stuck in an abusive relationship (exept for the second coupple). From other reviews that I have read oeoole thought that there should have been a book after the last one but it never came, the story seems unfinished. Each series lead to the next one. After you finish one you don't feel sarisfied.
Writing style
I appreciated was how she made you feel the emotions of the heroines. On the other hand I didn't find the sex scenes hot exept for the one at the beginning of The Love trials.
Because of how it was published each installment ends in a cliffhanger. I thought they were really well done.
Male pov unnecessary and boring in series 1&2. Usefull and intrer sting in 3 (because the hero is a real douchebag and the heroine is the most stupid and trusting)
There are some flashbacks, which I usually loathe and here I didn't mind too much. What made me furious what that in teh sexy nd series there is a pow named: unknown. But we know the chatacter and it's quite easy to guess who it is so it felt just like lazy writing
multitaskingwithbecca's review
3.0
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this set. It ended incomplete. A lot of the circumstances I found to be very unlikely or even believable for that matter. Regardless I still felt the need to read until I had completed the set, which in itself says something.
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