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yazaleea's review against another edition
3.0
God, did this book made me fucking ANGRY at times. I growled so hard I know my neighbours must think I'm a feral animal.
Just like in the first book, I still, for some reason, enjoyed it. I swear it's the drama and the angst and the toxicity.
In my review of the first book, I ranted about how ridiculous the plot and events were... well, book 2 manages to be somehow even worse. Secret societies, murderous step fathers, forced angst for days. I just can't believe this all happened, IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN AGSTY COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOOK LMFAO why do we get the illuminati??
For the romance - it kinda sucked, and then it was so cute and then it sucked and so on, and so one. I hate Rain with a passion. He is the messiest character I've seen in a while and he kept pissing me off. He acts like a dick to River to "stay away and protect him", and two seconds later he acts all possessive and in love, and then back to cold and then be angry because it's so obvious he is in love with River, why does River doubt it? He is just shacking up with his best friend slash ex infatuation, sending the craziest mixed signals and be an asshole. How is that not obvious love! If he only just committed to being an asshole, it might've made sense, but he doesn't. He spends his time whining and finding excuses about how and why he is hurting the people around him.
After reading some reviews, I went into this fully expecting to hate Roman to death. But I'm a contrary bitch, so the moment I had decided to hate him, I knew I was going to end up liking him... He pulled some fucking awful shit, including touching a passed out River without his consent. Something which Rain got angry about for all the wrong reasons: he was JEALOUS, instead of STOPPING his friend from ASSAULTING another person. The scene was never addressed again, lol. So that was bad. Roman is pushy, and pathetic, and I lowkey loved that for him, and I hate to say that I am kinda excited for his book, now. Yes he is an asshole, and he did borderline shit, but I feel like his upbringing explain the way he thinks? Doesn't justify it in any fricking way, he is an ass, but I am just intrigued. He has so many secrets and anger and I want to see where all that goes. I just wish he had been Rain's actual friend instead of the mess their relationship was. His crush literally did nothing but, again, bring more unnecessary drama and angst and a "oh look it's such a twisted book!" element.
River was a mess. I really liked him in the first book and in this one he was a mess. He has been in love with Rain for 5 seconds but it's enough for both of them to be destroyed by the break up, okay this is fiction. But Book 1 River was always pushing and challenging Rain. Book 2 River is so passive it hurt. After Rain kisses Roman, after River gave him an ultimatum, Rain doesn't even apologises, just drops an I love you and then all is forgiven, and it made me so angry. I hate Rain, he really just kept fucking up. Telling the truth from the start would've literally made no difference, it was legit just for drama's sake and I hate that. Because why are you going to break up with him to keep him safe and then just cling to him and do everything to endanger him?? it's all for nothing?? it's so dumb??? SO yep, River lost all his personality for no reason. Then he gets shot for Rain and all is right again, he even gets to heal in time to go back to playing COLLEGE FOOTBALL. And bam, full circle, Roman gets a weirdo creep epilogue for no reason (he is still my poor little meow meow) and happy ending woooh.
I don't know why I liked some of it, but I was angry for the most part of this read. I know the enclave books series is on hold and that makes me sad, because I do want to read about the other Enclave guys, but it is how it is I guess, but tomorrow, I'm angry reading Roman's novel. Fuck this shit.
Just like in the first book, I still, for some reason, enjoyed it. I swear it's the drama and the angst and the toxicity.
In my review of the first book, I ranted about how ridiculous the plot and events were... well, book 2 manages to be somehow even worse. Secret societies, murderous step fathers, forced angst for days. I just can't believe this all happened, IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN AGSTY COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOOK LMFAO why do we get the illuminati??
For the romance - it kinda sucked, and then it was so cute and then it sucked and so on, and so one. I hate Rain with a passion. He is the messiest character I've seen in a while and he kept pissing me off. He acts like a dick to River to "stay away and protect him", and two seconds later he acts all possessive and in love, and then back to cold and then be angry because it's so obvious he is in love with River, why does River doubt it? He is just shacking up with his best friend slash ex infatuation, sending the craziest mixed signals and be an asshole. How is that not obvious love! If he only just committed to being an asshole, it might've made sense, but he doesn't. He spends his time whining and finding excuses about how and why he is hurting the people around him.
After reading some reviews, I went into this fully expecting to hate Roman to death. But I'm a contrary bitch, so the moment I had decided to hate him, I knew I was going to end up liking him... He pulled some fucking awful shit, including touching a passed out River without his consent. Something which Rain got angry about for all the wrong reasons: he was JEALOUS, instead of STOPPING his friend from ASSAULTING another person. The scene was never addressed again, lol. So that was bad. Roman is pushy, and pathetic, and I lowkey loved that for him, and I hate to say that I am kinda excited for his book, now. Yes he is an asshole, and he did borderline shit, but I feel like his upbringing explain the way he thinks? Doesn't justify it in any fricking way, he is an ass, but I am just intrigued. He has so many secrets and anger and I want to see where all that goes. I just wish he had been Rain's actual friend instead of the mess their relationship was. His crush literally did nothing but, again, bring more unnecessary drama and angst and a "oh look it's such a twisted book!" element.
River was a mess. I really liked him in the first book and in this one he was a mess. He has been in love with Rain for 5 seconds but it's enough for both of them to be destroyed by the break up, okay this is fiction. But Book 1 River was always pushing and challenging Rain. Book 2 River is so passive it hurt. After Rain kisses Roman, after River gave him an ultimatum, Rain doesn't even apologises, just drops an I love you and then all is forgiven, and it made me so angry. I hate Rain, he really just kept fucking up. Telling the truth from the start would've literally made no difference, it was legit just for drama's sake and I hate that. Because why are you going to break up with him to keep him safe and then just cling to him and do everything to endanger him?? it's all for nothing?? it's so dumb??? SO yep, River lost all his personality for no reason. Then he gets shot for Rain and all is right again, he even gets to heal in time to go back to playing COLLEGE FOOTBALL. And bam, full circle, Roman gets a weirdo creep epilogue for no reason (he is still my poor little meow meow) and happy ending woooh.
I don't know why I liked some of it, but I was angry for the most part of this read. I know the enclave books series is on hold and that makes me sad, because I do want to read about the other Enclave guys, but it is how it is I guess, but tomorrow, I'm angry reading Roman's novel. Fuck this shit.
dawa's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
1bookobsessionconfessions's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 STARS
This duet is hard to review without spoilers.
I love these characters! They are grey ( nothing is black and white in this world/story) and I adore that!
This book didn’t go where I thought it would.
What a cool surprise. It’s refreshing to read something unpredictable.
Great duet about characters that will stay with me. An unforgettable journey.
I loved the raw and gritty nature of the relationship. I loved the writing style, I loved the story and simply adore these complex characters and unique story.
It won’t be a duet for people who want hearts and flowers romance, but if you like gritty, taboo or dark it’s a winner in my opinion.
I loved it!
This duet is hard to review without spoilers.
I love these characters! They are grey ( nothing is black and white in this world/story) and I adore that!
This book didn’t go where I thought it would.
What a cool surprise. It’s refreshing to read something unpredictable.
Great duet about characters that will stay with me. An unforgettable journey.
I loved the raw and gritty nature of the relationship. I loved the writing style, I loved the story and simply adore these complex characters and unique story.
It won’t be a duet for people who want hearts and flowers romance, but if you like gritty, taboo or dark it’s a winner in my opinion.
I loved it!
alysha222's review against another edition
0.25
I loved her other books but this was so toxic I couldn't give it more than 1 star
alga96's review against another edition
4.0
this duet was such an emotional read. during the second part though i mostly felt anger (if we exclude all the tears for poor bb River) - the stupidity of just not talking things through really got to me and let’s not even get into Roman, I really don’t think i’ll be able to read his book because he just felt so so so selfish and i can’t bear the thought of reading any more River slander coming from his mouth.
in the first book, we meet Rain and River and it’s so easy to build a strong connection with them as their consistent clashing allows us to understand them quite quickly. i think that Rain’s story arc was quite foreseeable although well built, i felt for him a lot and his issues with his identity felt very understandable due to what had happened to him.
River is such a sweet labrador baby angel, always wearing his heart right on his forehead and continuously trying to get Rain to allow him “in”. Seeing him break was probably one of the saddest things i’ve read lately.
I loved reading of their time at the cabin once they opened up to each other, it was very tender and very very spicy. then once that third act breakup hit, cc ricci really turned the volume up on the pain.
I think of this story there are 3 things i didn’t like
- the whole enclave thing, too messy and too useless at the end of the day: if the elders were so worried about Senator Child Rapist ratting them out on the whole sex ring thing they were running, why didn’t they just get rid of him? it doesn’t make sense to me that they would want to protect him
- the blurred lines (sometimes even crossed imo by both) on consent between Rain and River, i read a lot of dark romance so usually this doesn’t phase me too much, but given that i didn’t expect the darker turns going into the book at times I have felt uncomfortable
- the fact that we didn’t see more of them being together and truly happy, i wish there had been a few chapters between their reconciliation and the big plot twist to allow us to see them strong in their relationship, they deserved it after all the shit they went through :(
even with these points though I was fully captured by the story, it made me feel all the feels and cry all the tears bc sweet angel River just didn’t deserve all that pain
in the first book, we meet Rain and River and it’s so easy to build a strong connection with them as their consistent clashing allows us to understand them quite quickly. i think that Rain’s story arc was quite foreseeable although well built, i felt for him a lot and his issues with his identity felt very understandable due to what had happened to him.
River is such a sweet labrador baby angel, always wearing his heart right on his forehead and continuously trying to get Rain to allow him “in”. Seeing him break was probably one of the saddest things i’ve read lately.
I loved reading of their time at the cabin once they opened up to each other, it was very tender and very very spicy. then once that third act breakup hit, cc ricci really turned the volume up on the pain.
I think of this story there are 3 things i didn’t like
- the whole enclave thing, too messy and too useless at the end of the day: if the elders were so worried about Senator Child Rapist ratting them out on the whole sex ring thing they were running, why didn’t they just get rid of him? it doesn’t make sense to me that they would want to protect him
- the blurred lines (sometimes even crossed imo by both) on consent between Rain and River, i read a lot of dark romance so usually this doesn’t phase me too much, but given that i didn’t expect the darker turns going into the book at times I have felt uncomfortable
- the fact that we didn’t see more of them being together and truly happy, i wish there had been a few chapters between their reconciliation and the big plot twist to allow us to see them strong in their relationship, they deserved it after all the shit they went through :(
even with these points though I was fully captured by the story, it made me feel all the feels and cry all the tears bc sweet angel River just didn’t deserve all that pain
95whit's review against another edition
5.0
This was THE ONE. The book I’m gonna be thinking about for months…years. The Pinterest board and Spotify playlist really did it in for me with these.
kirajdx's review against another edition
4.0
The way I DEVOURED THIS although Roman did NOT deserve to have the last stalker poor me word let me tell you that
courtsim13's review against another edition
Short answer: I didn’t care anymore and I was bored. Long answer: the plot line this book was following felt way too dragged out to the point I got bored of it and lost interest. I think the story could’ve been wrapped up in one book with the events of the second book condensed down into an extra added 100 pages or so instead of a whole nother 450 page book. It felt like it was being dragged out just to have there be a second book instead of the story actually needing it and the minor plot line that was the deterring factor of them not being together despite the fact they are in love with each other got turned into a MUCH bigger and more complex plot line than I had originally thought it would be and I just wasn’t interested in following that plot line through—I didn’t care enough. It started getting into politics and secret societies when all I really cared about was the couple ending up together and getting their HEA but not even that was enough for me to get through it in the end.