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30something_reads's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Talia Hibbert never disappoints when it comes to delivering silly, sweet, and spicy antics. This one is all of those things.
It's a little bit insta-lovey for my taste, but still absolutely swoony. Nik is a loveable doofus who is absolutely obsessed and Aria is a badass with her emotional shield all the way up. I do love her for bringing and entire box of sex toys with her on a week long, fake dating getaway.
It's a little bit insta-lovey for my taste, but still absolutely swoony. Nik is a loveable doofus who is absolutely obsessed and Aria is a badass with her emotional shield all the way up. I do love her for bringing and entire box of sex toys with her on a week long, fake dating getaway.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Biphobia
tyras_bookshelf's review
adventurous
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This one is super British, I like it.
Aria is a hot, tattooed RBF type with a deep need for affection, recovering from romantic trust issues and betrayal (way more seriously than I thought when I first opened this book).
Nik is a hot, rich sl*t recovering from his own hubris, a busted knee ensuring in a career change and a lifestyle of apoiled behaviors.
Basically the whole book is love at first sight, “he falls first” and spends the book lying and wooing her with his loveable, vulgar friends. The conflict and ending were (as one expects in a contemporary romance) predictable.
*spoliers*
I guess I don’t believe in love at first sight though so it was hard to suspend my disbelief for that. The “love” of it all felt kinda shallow, especially since Hibbert skipped the 6 weeks of courting I would have wanted to see as it was the reason Nik felt like he wanted Aria forever.
I know I read romance for the unbelievable storyline (though as Kennedy Ryan points out, a person treating you with love, honor and respect should not be so far-fetched) but still. I was hooked by the foot kicking, precious-ness of it but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see the falling.
The 🌶️ of this one was unreal. Seriously my jaw dropped. Anyway, I will not be discussing but wow. It’s a…wow.
I appreciated that Nik was finally honest and that the break up didn’t come from his secret being revealed. I personally don’t see Nik’s lie as that bad, but I do see how Aria will felt betrayed with her trust issues and previous trauma.
I do wish Talia had done something with Shenker though so that that drama was worth it. That just felt like a thread we didn’t resolve other than Aria telling him off. He seemed like he was going to be a bigger problem, though I guess he was a catalyst for Aria’s acceptance of her feelings. And maybe a foil of Nik to make his more desirable.
Talia did the “beast inside him” thing too much for this not to be a fantasy. That took me from the story a bit too. I was, early on, expecting him to grow some fur and fangs with all that “mine” business.
I’m really really glad that Aria got her HEA and that the epilogue was so far in the future. It’s a nice deviation from Hibbert’s usual epilogue pacing. That said, it definitely needed more detail and flavor to be worth the addition. It scratched the itch but I would have like more backstory if we were going to have such a big time jump.
And more story overall really. This was a quick, novella type but she certainly could have lain into the details more.
But Hibbert did what she always does; crushed it and I loved it. Though comparing this book to the Brown sisters universe, it’s lower on my list of favorites.
Aria is a hot, tattooed RBF type with a deep need for affection, recovering from romantic trust issues and betrayal (way more seriously than I thought when I first opened this book).
Nik is a hot, rich sl*t recovering from his own hubris, a busted knee ensuring in a career change and a lifestyle of apoiled behaviors.
Basically the whole book is love at first sight, “he falls first” and spends the book lying and wooing her with his loveable, vulgar friends. The conflict and ending were (as one expects in a contemporary romance) predictable.
*spoliers*
I guess I don’t believe in love at first sight though so it was hard to suspend my disbelief for that. The “love” of it all felt kinda shallow, especially since Hibbert skipped the 6 weeks of courting I would have wanted to see as it was the reason Nik felt like he wanted Aria forever.
I know I read romance for the unbelievable storyline (though as Kennedy Ryan points out, a person treating you with love, honor and respect should not be so far-fetched) but still. I was hooked by the foot kicking, precious-ness of it but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see the falling.
The 🌶️ of this one was unreal. Seriously my jaw dropped. Anyway, I will not be discussing but wow. It’s a…wow.
I appreciated that Nik was finally honest and that the break up didn’t come from his secret being revealed. I personally don’t see Nik’s lie as that bad, but I do see how Aria will felt betrayed with her trust issues and previous trauma.
I do wish Talia had done something with Shenker though so that that drama was worth it. That just felt like a thread we didn’t resolve other than Aria telling him off. He seemed like he was going to be a bigger problem, though I guess he was a catalyst for Aria’s acceptance of her feelings. And maybe a foil of Nik to make his more desirable.
Talia did the “beast inside him” thing too much for this not to be a fantasy. That took me from the story a bit too. I was, early on, expecting him to grow some fur and fangs with all that “mine” business.
I’m really really glad that Aria got her HEA and that the epilogue was so far in the future. It’s a nice deviation from Hibbert’s usual epilogue pacing. That said, it definitely needed more detail and flavor to be worth the addition. It scratched the itch but I would have like more backstory if we were going to have such a big time jump.
And more story overall really. This was a quick, novella type but she certainly could have lain into the details more.
But Hibbert did what she always does; crushed it and I loved it. Though comparing this book to the Brown sisters universe, it’s lower on my list of favorites.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Gun violence
Moderate: Biphobia and Kidnapping
lags2much's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Biphobia, Kidnapping, and Gun violence
Minor: Drug use
savannahsshelf's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
3.75⭐️ super fun read! Talia Hibbert never disappoints
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol
Minor: Biphobia, Kidnapping, and Stalking
sugarcainn's review against another edition
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was an interesting book and I definitely thought it had it's merits. I didn't love it, there were plot points that seemed a bit underdeveloped to me.
We read it for my book club and I enjoyed it.
We read it for my book club and I enjoyed it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Stalking
Minor: Biphobia and Gun violence
There's mention of an off-page stalking incident that ended in gun violence.salomegf's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Biphobia
Minor: Stalking, Gun violence, and Kidnapping
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wanted to read this book because I am patiently waiting to hear about any of Talia’s new work. I decided to try and read some of her old work and saw The Princess Trap all over the book community and released it was a part of a series even though the characters don’t intertwine. I was interested to see if this book was better than the Princess Trap and it didn’t live up to my standards. The Brown Sisters are just unbeatable.
This book has two points of view. The first is Nik Christou, he is a footballing legend, and he has led a charmed life. He is rich, successful, and internationally adored. No woman or man has ever rejected him until a tattooed goddess blow his mind and captures his hear with just one kiss and now, he is in love. But she is not interested. The second point of view is Aria Granger, she has always been distrustful of men and has a disdain of love. Her tongue is as sharp as her winged eyeliner. She knows from experience that Nik, like any smoking-hot himbo with bags of cash, is too good to be true – so she’s determined to send this walking temptation packing. Fortunately, Nik’s devised the perfect strategy to win his woman . . . what could possibly go wrong?
I will always love Talia Hibbert and how she manages to write diverse characters, serious subjects, sexuality and mental health. I love her for it. A bisexual footballer, who is just all in love and shy – yet is like a horny teenager around Aria. A plus-sized black tattoo artist, who knows exactly what she wants and is nervous and damaged from a previous experience. I love these two characters individually. I liked the character development that happened individually.
I just felt like this book was a bit rushed compared to the previous work and I really didn’t enjoy the insta-love connection. I just thought Nik was a bit effing for how he came out with the truth. I would have liked the ex-boyfriend of Aria to be explored more as it was only briefly mentioned and then the weird almost conflict with one of Nik’s friends with the homophobia, I would have loved that to be explored more because Aria just went down his throat and that was the end of it.
I will carry on reading Talia Hibbert’s work old or new no matter what and hopefully I will enjoy the next book I read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Kidnapping, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Gun violence, and Violence
Minor: Fatphobia, Stalking, and Drug use
racheldonna14's review
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Biphobia
Minor: Stalking
sophiasoler's review against another edition
3.5
honestly? my least favorite of her books, although it is one of her earlier works so maybe that’s why. it felt a little clunky and rushed in the way her later books really don’t (part of what i love about them). i also just need a break from romance bc no you’re not in love one week in thank you.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Drug use, and Kidnapping
Minor: Fatphobia, Biphobia, and Stalking
venetiana's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
(This is a slightly reworked and republished version of "Sweet on the Greek".)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Biphobia, Xenophobia, Alcohol, and Racism
Minor: Gaslighting, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Racism, Sexism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Stalking, and Fatphobia