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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
Slow burn? Not usually to my taste.
Mostly closed spice? Definitely a no for me. I love spice and it being described in detail.
Bully romance? Near the bottom of my fav genres - I don't actively seek them out!
And still... I cannot rate this book any less than 4 stars cause it was heartbreaking, witty, sad and it possessed all of these qualities.
What is happening?!?
This book tore me apart and put me back together so many times, my heart aches.
Mostly closed spice? Definitely a no for me. I love spice and it being described in detail.
Bully romance? Near the bottom of my fav genres - I don't actively seek them out!
And still... I cannot rate this book any less than 4 stars cause it was heartbreaking, witty, sad and it possessed all of these qualities.
What is happening?!?
This book tore me apart and put me back together so many times, my heart aches.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
the whole time loop theme had some sort of an anticlimactic feel to the ending but otherwise this was an enjoyable read
- Heroine: Karma
- Harem: Calix, Raz, Barron
- POVs Included: Single Female POV (Karma)
- Book Playlist (Bully/Enemies to Lovers Book Playlist)
- Book Playlist (Reverse Harem Romance Playlist)
Karma has been bullied by the Knight Crew (as they are called) since freshmen year of high school. But today on Devils’ Day (a town holiday of debauchery and magic), things are changing. Chaos ensues and the events lead Karma into a time loop where she keeps repeating the day over and over again. She tries everything to get out of the time loop and as she does she learns about love, family, friends, and most notably her supposed bullies, who may or may not turn out to actually be the loves of her life.
So this book was SUPER entertaining. Typically I have a rating scale where if a book has me hooked and I can’t put it down then it’s a five star book for me. And if we were going by that typical scale then this would definitely be five stars. But, I do have some issues with it and these brought it down a star for me in the end.
But before I get to that let me talk a bit about the other aspects of the story. I enjoyed the characters and I do love a bully romance. This one was tough because, honestly, I wasn’t feeling the love between any of them until several time loops in. In the end, it’s explained why they behave the way they do, but let’s just say they are good at hiding their feelings.
Still, I am such a sucker for asshole antiheroes in books. I’m weird like that. These asshats for some reason get to me and I enjoyed them a little too much.
As far as Karma goes, she’s an okay heroine. She’s not bad and she has a pretty strong backbone, which I liked. But I can’t say I connected with her all that much. She’s just okay, not bad but not my favorite either.
But where my issues come in are with the technicalities of the time loop.
Let me first say that I enjoy time loop stories (movies and books) to a certain extent. I probably enjoy time loops in movies better than books though. It’s a little harder to read them than to watch them. But they can be a really intriguing plot device.
However, the problem with any time loop story is that the only character who technically grows and changes is the one who is stuck in the time loop. All the work the person in the time loop does in relationships is only benefiting the growth of the main character. So for a romance book in particular, it’s a challenging plot device to use.
But in this book there’s a bit of a twist, because in this time loop story, the people around her (namely the three guys) feel echos of the other time loops and so their characters inadvertently grow and make different choices than they would have at the start of the book.
I don’t really know how I feel about this but I sort of feel like it’s a bit of a cheat? I mean, technically the way that she acts towards them in the final time loop wouldn’t have done anything the first time around and so it doesn’t make sense that it would be different the thirty-eighth time around. But it does. And that’s kind of a cop out.
Plus when it comes to all the moments she spent with each of them, it’s a bummer to know that only she fully remembers those times, even if they feel echos of them.
Also, as a reverse harem, it’s a strange story because for the majority of the book she basically chooses one of them to “hang” with during each time loop, until near the end where she finds a way to be with all of them. This made for a sort of underdeveloped harem that is a little less believable than if it had been gradually formed over the span of the whole book. We also get far less sex scenes of them all together (only one), which suuuuuucks. It’s a really good one, but still…bummer!
Still, even with my issues, I enjoyed the book. It’s very entertaining and gripping. The characters are fascinating and I definitely binged this from cover to cover. Even with the technical time loop issues I had, it was still a fun book.
P.S. As far as m/m goes in the harem, there is one scene where two of the guys make out because she asks them to, but there isn’t anything more that happens there. Kind of a bummer. Was hoping for that to be more explored too. But with the time loop plot taking precedence, the relationship and harem building took a backseat.
- Harem: Calix, Raz, Barron
- POVs Included: Single Female POV (Karma)
- Book Playlist (Bully/Enemies to Lovers Book Playlist)
- Book Playlist (Reverse Harem Romance Playlist)
Karma has been bullied by the Knight Crew (as they are called) since freshmen year of high school. But today on Devils’ Day (a town holiday of debauchery and magic), things are changing. Chaos ensues and the events lead Karma into a time loop where she keeps repeating the day over and over again. She tries everything to get out of the time loop and as she does she learns about love, family, friends, and most notably her supposed bullies, who may or may not turn out to actually be the loves of her life.
So this book was SUPER entertaining. Typically I have a rating scale where if a book has me hooked and I can’t put it down then it’s a five star book for me. And if we were going by that typical scale then this would definitely be five stars. But, I do have some issues with it and these brought it down a star for me in the end.
But before I get to that let me talk a bit about the other aspects of the story. I enjoyed the characters and I do love a bully romance. This one was tough because, honestly, I wasn’t feeling the love between any of them until several time loops in. In the end, it’s explained why they behave the way they do, but let’s just say they are good at hiding their feelings.
Still, I am such a sucker for asshole antiheroes in books. I’m weird like that. These asshats for some reason get to me and I enjoyed them a little too much.
As far as Karma goes, she’s an okay heroine. She’s not bad and she has a pretty strong backbone, which I liked. But I can’t say I connected with her all that much. She’s just okay, not bad but not my favorite either.
But where my issues come in are with the technicalities of the time loop.
Let me first say that I enjoy time loop stories (movies and books) to a certain extent. I probably enjoy time loops in movies better than books though. It’s a little harder to read them than to watch them. But they can be a really intriguing plot device.
However, the problem with any time loop story is that the only character who technically grows and changes is the one who is stuck in the time loop. All the work the person in the time loop does in relationships is only benefiting the growth of the main character. So for a romance book in particular, it’s a challenging plot device to use.
But in this book there’s a bit of a twist, because in this time loop story, the people around her (namely the three guys) feel echos of the other time loops and so their characters inadvertently grow and make different choices than they would have at the start of the book.
I don’t really know how I feel about this but I sort of feel like it’s a bit of a cheat? I mean, technically the way that she acts towards them in the final time loop wouldn’t have done anything the first time around and so it doesn’t make sense that it would be different the thirty-eighth time around. But it does. And that’s kind of a cop out.
Plus when it comes to all the moments she spent with each of them, it’s a bummer to know that only she fully remembers those times, even if they feel echos of them.
Also, as a reverse harem, it’s a strange story because for the majority of the book she basically chooses one of them to “hang” with during each time loop, until near the end where she finds a way to be with all of them. This made for a sort of underdeveloped harem that is a little less believable than if it had been gradually formed over the span of the whole book. We also get far less sex scenes of them all together (only one), which suuuuuucks. It’s a really good one, but still…bummer!
Still, even with my issues, I enjoyed the book. It’s very entertaining and gripping. The characters are fascinating and I definitely binged this from cover to cover. Even with the technical time loop issues I had, it was still a fun book.
P.S. As far as m/m goes in the harem, there is one scene where two of the guys make out because she asks them to, but there isn’t anything more that happens there. Kind of a bummer. Was hoping for that to be more explored too. But with the time loop plot taking precedence, the relationship and harem building took a backseat.
fast-paced
the audio is narrated by Michelle Sparks and Matt Walton in duet narration.
I liked the time loop trope; it feels like déjà vu, yet still manages to be original.
In the end, the only issue I had with this book it’s the high school situation. Calix, Raz, Barron, and Karma have strong, distinct,well-developed personalities, but it doesn’t quite fit within the story.
Tropes
High school
Why choose
Bully
Enemies to lovers
Love / hate
Artists
Some disturbing subjects are described in this book.
Please take care of your mental health
TW:
Self harm
Suicide attempt
Suicide
Gun violence
Under age everything (drink, drugs, s-x)
I liked the time loop trope; it feels like déjà vu, yet still manages to be original.
In the end, the only issue I had with this book it’s the high school situation. Calix, Raz, Barron, and Karma have strong, distinct,well-developed personalities, but it doesn’t quite fit within the story.
Tropes
High school
Why choose
Bully
Enemies to lovers
Love / hate
Artists
Some disturbing subjects are described in this book.
Please take care of your mental health
TW:
Self harm
Suicide attempt
Suicide
Gun violence
Under age everything (drink, drugs, s-x)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Alcohol
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
No entendí, pero no pude parar, un poco sufrido con toda la repetición, me salté mucho párrafo y diálogos y creo que perdí el sentido de muchas cosas importantes, pero me gustó el final, porque sé que si hubiera sido otro final no se quedaría con el personaje que yo quería.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is amazing and I should have read it earlier. It’s like Before I Fall (Lauren Oliver) meets Rich Boys of Burberry Prep (CM Stunich). It was constantly making me cry, but is a book really good without tears? I was so scared that it was going to end like Before I Fall. It was really good and the ending was unexpected.