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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Saints is a bit better than Sinners. I felt like Juliet behaved more reasonably and that the conflicts in her relationships were worthwhile, adding necessary dimension and development.
Like, while Smith is okay with the idea of Juliet not being monogamous with him (just wanting honest about her other relationships, which is very fair), we have Patrick who isn't as comfortable or okay with the idea and who I'm sure will have to work through coming fully to terms with things, which I like.
So many RH have guys behave comfortably with the idea, when our culture has always asserted monogamy, especially for women. It makes way more sense that a guy in a harem would have to work through managing his jealousy and coming to terms with a different idea of romantic relationships than for a guy to just be willingly accepting like it's nothing.
It was also not a bad detail that an explanation for Smith's behavior is because he's shared girls before; if he's been in previous relationships where his girlfriend was also openly with someone else, it adds believably to his behavior--you can imagine that he already worked through any resistance the the idea.
Juliet even makes a new friend in this installment, which was nice. Having just Sadie made the dynamic a little odd.
So, in my last review, I had a thought about what was going to happen.
I totally hit the nail on the head regarding Ace. He was blackmailed by Jax into taking the pictures of Juliet and giving them to Jax and because of this, he's definitely going into the harem.
The blackmail was also both understandable and not; Celia, Smith and Sadie's mom, took advantage of him when he was 16 and drunk and being naive enough to think someone way older paying you sexual attention is a good thing, and Jax was at the house and knew about it.
He didn't do anything, so, it being exposed doesn't seem like something quite worth participating in revenge porn for, but I can also understand not wanting your statutory rape announced to everyone, especially to the kids of the woman who took advantage of you and a community of rich people who are all kind of terrible.
With that said, I really hope Jax stays out of the harem. He's scummy and I hate him. He continues to grab, manhandle, grope, and forcibly kiss Juliet, too. He, so far, has very little justification for his behavior, and the few times he's aided Juliet really don't seem to make up for things, since they all seem like he would have motivations that served his best interest, rather than it being just a nice or even the right thing to do.
Also, I want Smith to stop just, letting Jax's bullshit slide. Honestly, Smith is just barely above Jax because he abides by his friend doing awful shit to Juliet, always excusing him or only getting somewhat upset over it. The whole "he just has to get you out of his system" argument really rubbed me the wrong way in the last book, and his continued paltry resistance to Jax harassing his girlfriend is really pathetic.
I'm personally of a mind that you can't justifiably be friends with someone who does truly awful things to another--not like a petty fight, but like... sexual harassment, revenge porn, intimidation... these aren't small quibbles between a guy's friend and girlfriend, it's Smith being a fucking bad boyfriend and person.
Beyond that, the murder is cleared up, so, I guess the main part, beyond the RH relationships, will be about Juliet's family legacy. What's with her grandfather's treasure, what's going to come of it? Will she be attacked for it? What was her crazy former-mom-and-kidnapper raving about? Will any of the guys turn on her because of her family's treasure?
We'll see where things go from here.
Like, while Smith is okay with the idea of Juliet not being monogamous with him (just wanting honest about her other relationships, which is very fair), we have Patrick who isn't as comfortable or okay with the idea and who I'm sure will have to work through coming fully to terms with things, which I like.
So many RH have guys behave comfortably with the idea, when our culture has always asserted monogamy, especially for women. It makes way more sense that a guy in a harem would have to work through managing his jealousy and coming to terms with a different idea of romantic relationships than for a guy to just be willingly accepting like it's nothing.
It was also not a bad detail that an explanation for Smith's behavior is because he's shared girls before; if he's been in previous relationships where his girlfriend was also openly with someone else, it adds believably to his behavior--you can imagine that he already worked through any resistance the the idea.
Juliet even makes a new friend in this installment, which was nice. Having just Sadie made the dynamic a little odd.
So, in my last review, I had a thought about what was going to happen.
I totally hit the nail on the head regarding Ace. He was blackmailed by Jax into taking the pictures of Juliet and giving them to Jax and because of this, he's definitely going into the harem.
The blackmail was also both understandable and not; Celia, Smith and Sadie's mom, took advantage of him when he was 16 and drunk and being naive enough to think someone way older paying you sexual attention is a good thing, and Jax was at the house and knew about it.
He didn't do anything, so, it being exposed doesn't seem like something quite worth participating in revenge porn for, but I can also understand not wanting your statutory rape announced to everyone, especially to the kids of the woman who took advantage of you and a community of rich people who are all kind of terrible.
With that said, I really hope Jax stays out of the harem. He's scummy and I hate him. He continues to grab, manhandle, grope, and forcibly kiss Juliet, too. He, so far, has very little justification for his behavior, and the few times he's aided Juliet really don't seem to make up for things, since they all seem like he would have motivations that served his best interest, rather than it being just a nice or even the right thing to do.
Also, I want Smith to stop just, letting Jax's bullshit slide. Honestly, Smith is just barely above Jax because he abides by his friend doing awful shit to Juliet, always excusing him or only getting somewhat upset over it. The whole "he just has to get you out of his system" argument really rubbed me the wrong way in the last book, and his continued paltry resistance to Jax harassing his girlfriend is really pathetic.
I'm personally of a mind that you can't justifiably be friends with someone who does truly awful things to another--not like a petty fight, but like... sexual harassment, revenge porn, intimidation... these aren't small quibbles between a guy's friend and girlfriend, it's Smith being a fucking bad boyfriend and person.
Beyond that, the murder is cleared up, so, I guess the main part, beyond the RH relationships, will be about Juliet's family legacy. What's with her grandfather's treasure, what's going to come of it? Will she be attacked for it? What was her crazy former-mom-and-kidnapper raving about? Will any of the guys turn on her because of her family's treasure?
We'll see where things go from here.
Some answers more questions
One mystery is solved...but there are still more. Starting to see true colors of some people but still feel like there is so much behind Jax. What is his story... Enjoyed this book. Juliet is getting more comfortable in her environment and preparing for life post Pearl. Her relationship with Smith is getting stronger. I like her new friend as well and hopeful Sadie is making real changes now. Things still seem unclear with Patrick and Ace is finally revealing what happened... Glad the gentle giant is back in the picture. Still lots of secrets to uncover.
One mystery is solved...but there are still more. Starting to see true colors of some people but still feel like there is so much behind Jax. What is his story... Enjoyed this book. Juliet is getting more comfortable in her environment and preparing for life post Pearl. Her relationship with Smith is getting stronger. I like her new friend as well and hopeful Sadie is making real changes now. Things still seem unclear with Patrick and Ace is finally revealing what happened... Glad the gentle giant is back in the picture. Still lots of secrets to uncover.
I’m really struggling with what I want to say about this book. I sped through it in less than a day, and I’m not sure how much I retained. It was such a fast and easy read, but there wasn’t much substance to it. We basically just follow Juliet around, random things happen, then the book ends. There’s not much plot, there’s not much character development, I don’t know what there is.
Saints picks up hours after the events at the end of Sinners. Juliet is at the police station being interviewed about Kathryn’s death, but she’s quickly released. The next day the group meets up to talk about what happened, but all they really know is that Kathryn was searching for the treasure that night. By the time school starts Smith and Juliet are casually dating, Cece is trying to take Kathryn’s place as Queen Bee, and Sadie is back from rehab more troubled than ever. She spends most of the book hanging out with Cece, and Juliet becomes friends with a new girl.
The woman who kidnapped Juliet starts calling her constantly. Patrick happens to be around the first time it happens and helps her deal with the emotional fallout. He makes it clear that he’d like to date Juliet, and while she likes him she doesn’t want to choose between Smith and Patrick. It turns out that as far as Smith is concerned she doesn’t have to as long as she’s honest with him, but Patrick is jealous. Then there’s Jax who at least doesn’t humiliate Juliet in front of the school, but he’s still horrible to her in private. Ace finally explains his side of the picture story from the first book. Also, there’s a small development in the treasure hunt mystery and Juliet finds out Pearl is sick.
As I said it felt like a random series of events. There’s so many different plotlines going on, and none of them get a ton of attention. I thought at first that the focus would be on the murder mystery, but no one other than Sadie seems to care that much. Then there’s the treasure hunt which I’m still confused about. I don’t get why it’s such a big deal, why people are so obsessed? Also, did Hollis leave any clues that the general public are aware of, or did he just say he hid a treasure and that’s it?
I thought the storylines concerning Pearl and Juliet’s kidnappers were the most interesting. I always thought it was odd that the kidnappers took Juliet, and what led them to try and rob her parents in the first place? I hope we get some answers eventually. As for Pearl, I think her relationship with Juliet is rather unique and I enjoy reading about them.
Then there’s the romance storylines. A common problem with the guys in RH books is that they don’t have unique personalities, and it’s hard to keep them straight. That’s not the issue here, they’re all distinct individuals. That’s kind of impressive considering how little development they get. Each guy has about two scenes where the focus is on him. They don’t even interact as a group all that often. Smith is the best, Patrick needs to get over himself. I want to like Ace, but I still find it difficult to forgive him for the pictures. Jax is the worst. His lack of respect for women and Juliet in particular is disgusting.
Juliet is still just okay. She mentions at least once or twice that she wishes she wasn’t such an emotional, hormonal mess and I agree with her. It’s an RH, I get that she’s struggling with her feelings for each of these guys. My issue is that she’s known them for several months and it’s still all about their looks and not their personalities.
I’m going to keep going with this series. I want to know more about the kidnapping. I’m curious to see how everyone settles into a relationship where they share. While I might have issues with these books they are quick easy reads. Even though I’m kind of disappointed, I still find myself sucked in.
Saints picks up hours after the events at the end of Sinners. Juliet is at the police station being interviewed about Kathryn’s death, but she’s quickly released. The next day the group meets up to talk about what happened, but all they really know is that Kathryn was searching for the treasure that night. By the time school starts Smith and Juliet are casually dating, Cece is trying to take Kathryn’s place as Queen Bee, and Sadie is back from rehab more troubled than ever. She spends most of the book hanging out with Cece, and Juliet becomes friends with a new girl.
The woman who kidnapped Juliet starts calling her constantly. Patrick happens to be around the first time it happens and helps her deal with the emotional fallout. He makes it clear that he’d like to date Juliet, and while she likes him she doesn’t want to choose between Smith and Patrick. It turns out that as far as Smith is concerned she doesn’t have to as long as she’s honest with him, but Patrick is jealous. Then there’s Jax who at least doesn’t humiliate Juliet in front of the school, but he’s still horrible to her in private. Ace finally explains his side of the picture story from the first book. Also, there’s a small development in the treasure hunt mystery and Juliet finds out Pearl is sick.
As I said it felt like a random series of events. There’s so many different plotlines going on, and none of them get a ton of attention. I thought at first that the focus would be on the murder mystery, but no one other than Sadie seems to care that much. Then there’s the treasure hunt which I’m still confused about. I don’t get why it’s such a big deal, why people are so obsessed? Also, did Hollis leave any clues that the general public are aware of, or did he just say he hid a treasure and that’s it?
I thought the storylines concerning Pearl and Juliet’s kidnappers were the most interesting. I always thought it was odd that the kidnappers took Juliet, and what led them to try and rob her parents in the first place? I hope we get some answers eventually. As for Pearl, I think her relationship with Juliet is rather unique and I enjoy reading about them.
Then there’s the romance storylines. A common problem with the guys in RH books is that they don’t have unique personalities, and it’s hard to keep them straight. That’s not the issue here, they’re all distinct individuals. That’s kind of impressive considering how little development they get. Each guy has about two scenes where the focus is on him. They don’t even interact as a group all that often. Smith is the best, Patrick needs to get over himself. I want to like Ace, but I still find it difficult to forgive him for the pictures. Jax is the worst. His lack of respect for women and Juliet in particular is disgusting.
Juliet is still just okay. She mentions at least once or twice that she wishes she wasn’t such an emotional, hormonal mess and I agree with her. It’s an RH, I get that she’s struggling with her feelings for each of these guys. My issue is that she’s known them for several months and it’s still all about their looks and not their personalities.
I’m going to keep going with this series. I want to know more about the kidnapping. I’m curious to see how everyone settles into a relationship where they share. While I might have issues with these books they are quick easy reads. Even though I’m kind of disappointed, I still find myself sucked in.
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
I don’t know why you didn’t hit for me the way the first book time is it.
I am glad they were now establishing who’s all going to be with her.
But we keep adding onto this mystery with her state and her grandfather.
I actually think this could’ve been maybe a duet instead of four books.
This just seems like a lot of work for such little content and resolution, especially right now.
I’m going to continue the series cause I just wanna know about what happened to her to get kidnapped.
I just wish this was condensed more!
I am glad they were now establishing who’s all going to be with her.
But we keep adding onto this mystery with her state and her grandfather.
I actually think this could’ve been maybe a duet instead of four books.
This just seems like a lot of work for such little content and resolution, especially right now.
I’m going to continue the series cause I just wanna know about what happened to her to get kidnapped.
I just wish this was condensed more!