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tkatt20's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Yeah so I have thoughts about this book. First off I want to apologize to the girls in my book club for recommending this as our book for this month, I promise I have better taste in books than this. With that being said, let's get into the many reasons why I didn't like this book. Full warning, this will not be a nice review.
To start off, the pacing was horrendous. A good 75% of this book is fluffy filler of the main characters agonizing over one another with not an ounce of communication in sight. The other 25% had the potential for some plot with a good storyline, but was so overshadowed by the googly eyes between the two. Like if we had spent a little more time on world development and filling out the characters this could have been a solid romantasy novel, I mean the idea is there, the execution not so much.
Speaking of characters, these characters were so cliché. I mean, a broody fae king who's hundreds of years old and rules the "dark" side of the fae relm and a 23ish year old girl (also 16 through half of it but ill talk about that later) with magical powers and a tortured past. I think we've read this before, no? We had the makings for such a badass main lead but did we get that? No. Instead we got a girl who's so codependent on the mmc she couldn't have any other successful relationships for 7 YEARS while he was gone. Which by the way, they met when she was 16 where she took one look at him and become obsessed and he didn't have enough will power and morality to tell her how inappropriate it was, and actually fed into her obsession with him by teasing and making suggestive comments to her for the next year as we're told by the far too many flashbacks. If that doesn't smell like grooming I don't know what does.
By the time I got to the end I was so over everything I actually laughed at the speed of which the fmc actually put together the clues and found out who the villain is. For being a PI she certainly doesn't pick up on much and that so just so disappointing. Dont act like a strong female lead if youre just going to lay there and play damsel in distress. The ending was so sloppy and thrown together I felt like I blinked and it was all resolved. Im sure that there are more answers in the later books but im not even sure I care to keep reading im so disappointing by this. It gets 2 stars for the very few things I did like in this book, I mean it wasn't the worst I've read, but I'm just so frustrated by everything that I can't even come up with something I like right now.
Also, I have also decided that I can't do Urban Fantasy because if I read another half baked Harry Potter reference I'm going to scream.
To start off, the pacing was horrendous. A good 75% of this book is fluffy filler of the main characters agonizing over one another with not an ounce of communication in sight. The other 25% had the potential for some plot with a good storyline, but was so overshadowed by the googly eyes between the two. Like if we had spent a little more time on world development and filling out the characters this could have been a solid romantasy novel, I mean the idea is there, the execution not so much.
Speaking of characters, these characters were so cliché. I mean, a broody fae king who's hundreds of years old and rules the "dark" side of the fae relm and a 23ish year old girl (also 16 through half of it but ill talk about that later) with magical powers and a tortured past. I think we've read this before, no? We had the makings for such a badass main lead but did we get that? No. Instead we got a girl who's so codependent on the mmc she couldn't have any other successful relationships for 7 YEARS while he was gone. Which by the way, they met when she was 16 where she took one look at him and become obsessed and he didn't have enough will power and morality to tell her how inappropriate it was, and actually fed into her obsession with him by teasing and making suggestive comments to her for the next year as we're told by the far too many flashbacks. If that doesn't smell like grooming I don't know what does.
By the time I got to the end I was so over everything I actually laughed at the speed of which the fmc actually put together the clues and found out who the villain is. For being a PI she certainly doesn't pick up on much and that so just so disappointing. Dont act like a strong female lead if youre just going to lay there and play damsel in distress. The ending was so sloppy and thrown together I felt like I blinked and it was all resolved. Im sure that there are more answers in the later books but im not even sure I care to keep reading im so disappointing by this. It gets 2 stars for the very few things I did like in this book, I mean it wasn't the worst I've read, but I'm just so frustrated by everything that I can't even come up with something I like right now.
Also, I have also decided that I can't do Urban Fantasy because if I read another half baked Harry Potter reference I'm going to scream.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness, Gore, and Murder
Minor: Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Death of parent
evebecktaylor's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It’s a brilliant book, really good premise for the fantasy plot, however she’s 16 when they meet and it’s very codependent, which I understand given her history but it just toes the wrong side of the line for me. The book is set 7 years later so nothing bad happens when she’s under age but it’s still felt a little predatory for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Rape, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
shelbylynnn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book was....not what I expected. I was excited about an intriguing mystery set in a dark fantasy world, and the concept of the Bargainer seemed interesting. Disappointingly, this book ended up being very thinly-veiled smut for the most part with very little of the book even dedicated to the mystery described in the synopsis. The writing was also very simplistic and read like YA but the content was pretty graphic which was very confusing. Not sure who the audience is for this, but it was not me!
Overall a quick read and kept me entertained for the most part but there were many eye-roll moments and the dialogue was so cringe-y, juvenile, and one-note, it felt like I was reading fanfic. The book definitely focused on the romance, which I found unfortunate because the mystery that was set up in the beginning was actually interesting and could've made for an exciting read but it was never even explored. The characters only think about sex, and even the very few moments where something else is going on, the plot feels like background to the characters' central focus of lust. The mc's best friend is portrayed as such an unfortunate racial stereotype and adds absolutely nothing to the story. I also found it uncomfortable that the protagonist was 16 when the relationship began...the Bargainer's age is never revealed but with him being an assumably immortal supernatural being, he is clearly significantly older than she is and makes reference several times to her being a minor.
The plot finally picked up in the very last quarter of the book but it was so poorly written and rushed through in favor of the characters once again being intimate with each other. The final battle scene was a huge letdown and left me feeling very unsatisfied with this book as a whole. This series has high ratings so I guess I'm in the minority here but this book somehow felt very juvenile despite being so dark and romance-heavy. If it had focused on the plot and fleshed out the characters a bit more I think this could've been a much more enjoyable read for me.
Overall a quick read and kept me entertained for the most part but there were many eye-roll moments and the dialogue was so cringe-y, juvenile, and one-note, it felt like I was reading fanfic. The book definitely focused on the romance, which I found unfortunate because the mystery that was set up in the beginning was actually interesting and could've made for an exciting read but it was never even explored. The characters only think about sex, and even the very few moments where something else is going on, the plot feels like background to the characters' central focus of lust. The mc's best friend is portrayed as such an unfortunate racial stereotype and adds absolutely nothing to the story. I also found it uncomfortable that the protagonist was 16 when the relationship began...the Bargainer's age is never revealed but with him being an assumably immortal supernatural being, he is clearly significantly older than she is and makes reference several times to her being a minor.
The plot finally picked up in the very last quarter of the book but it was so poorly written and rushed through in favor of the characters once again being intimate with each other. The final battle scene was a huge letdown and left me feeling very unsatisfied with this book as a whole. This series has high ratings so I guess I'm in the minority here but this book somehow felt very juvenile despite being so dark and romance-heavy. If it had focused on the plot and fleshed out the characters a bit more I think this could've been a much more enjoyable read for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Violence
chandelierskies's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault
maddierandolph's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Murder, and Sexual content
Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape
Minor: Gore, Vomit, and Addiction
issy15005's review against another edition
4.75
I inhaled this, literally. Was it perfect, no, but the vibes I got were immaculate and these two made me swoon and ugh, my heart bruh. But also, this book needs a trigger warning at the beginning cause all the talk of SA just made me icky and it’s a lot. My poor Callie is trauma loaded.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape
Just be warned it’s discussed about, it’s not graphic but it’s mentioned and hinted at through out the booksepti's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Gore, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Vomit
Minor: Slavery, Abandonment, Body horror, Addiction, and Alcoholism
samdreckman's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Slavery, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Rape, Cursing, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Body horror, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
amber_lea12's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
saracampbell513's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Great book. It gives plot before spice, which is my preference. Slow burn but obvious longing and heat beforehand. Sometimes the wording and dialogue was lacking for me, personally(I like my fantasy a bit more formal sounding in the writing style, if that makes sense)but story was great and the characters and love story were compelling. Ending was a baby cliffhanger. Like we still need answers but I'm not freaking out where it left off. If it was even darker and bloodier, I'd have given it at least a four, but I'm a freak like that. I just wanted more villain than I got. I mean a really bad guy. In this, the MMC is def a shadow daddy who does bad things, is definitely NOT a good and moral guy, but he's ultimately still kind of a hero, just in a vigilante justice type of way. Highly recommend for the majority of fantasy romance readers, I just like a bit more wickedness to my villains.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Blood
Moderate: Sexual assault and Child abuse
Minor: Sexual violence, Rape, Slavery, and Pedophilia