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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
If you are looking for a book with mostly sex, very little plot, and a female lead that is comfortable being subordinate, then this book is for you. If you are not, read literally anything else by Christina Lauren instead.
Reread: 3/5 stars June 20, 2023
I've been reading Christina Lauren books for the last couple of years and I definitely believe this book is probably the weakest one they have so far. I have enjoyed all their books recently. Rereading this probably wasn't the best idea I've had so far.
I've been reading Christina Lauren books for the last couple of years and I definitely believe this book is probably the weakest one they have so far. I have enjoyed all their books recently. Rereading this probably wasn't the best idea I've had so far.
As a fellow reviewer put it, “Holy hell, Batman”! This was too HOT to handle! I’ll read the next in the series!
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This is more of a grumpy-sunshine than enemies to lovers cause they bang pretty much right off the bat. There is also not much plot. Like at all. Not even enough to really develop the characters. He is supposed to be a player, but the entire book he only sleeps with one person and head over heels for one person. The author never developed his background at all. Same with her.
I literally only finished this book because Audible said I couldn’t return it so I needed to at least get my moneys worth —- it was not worth it lol
I literally only finished this book because Audible said I couldn’t return it so I needed to at least get my moneys worth —- it was not worth it lol
okay usually i pick a rating and it's pretty solid (honestly i give three to a lot of things being generous just bc like it was Fine and i didn't have a horrible time) but this is arguably like 2.5 because it got somewhat tolerable after the first half but i have to take into account that this was originally bella/edward fanfiction and even being reworked, thinking in those terms alone, it's out of character nonsense. for both of them. is this what all twilight fic is? just like misogyny dressed up as a sexy story? because that's my understanding of 50 shades is as well (and it sounded like this came first?? i still assume 50 shades is much MUCH worse than anything done here but still. this man is nothing like edward cullen.)
so the fanfiction aspect is gonna be the first part of this review. i don't like how many things are being published that aren't being upfront about the fact that it's fanfiction because i don't think you can go around acting like you came up with it all when you're using somebody else's characters, though in cases like this you might as well have because these are completely unrecognizable as the characters they're meant to be except in appearance (though even that idt edward is supposed to be unusually taller than bella but idr) BUT in this case i wish i had not known, because it made a not great experience for at least half the book that much worse bc OH MY GOD there is no world in which edward cullen would call bella swan a bitch. like sure edward is not the ideal man, he fuckin watches her sleep, but jesus he's not an utter misogynistic asshole
and like one of the things people say about edward is that he's possessive which isn't unfair to say but like if bella had wanted to be with jacob he would've accepted that because he wanted her to be happy and wanted her to have a normal life and he didn't want to take her soul or whatever and this was when they were fully in a relationship and planning forever. meanwhile bennett is just sleeping with her and so enraged at the idea of her with another man (which. hey. who was joel supposed to be? mike? jake? bc if it's jake they whitewashed him lol also hey i know she wasn't gonna go for him but he really was totally forgotten like. there was no point in him except to make bennett annoying and possessive)
will say flipping himself off in the mirror towards the end was the closest we got to edward energy because that form of being dramatic is soooooo him. but yeah also chloe, like she was fine, both of them are pretty cliche romance novel characters and all, like the woman will be cool and normal and the dude is a disrespectful asshole at best and a stalker or abuser at worse. but yeah, she's nothing like bella either, except like, caring about her dad and being smart and being able to call people on their bullshit (though chloe does it a hell of a lot more than bella) lol. i know people have accused stephenie meyer of writing a character with no personality that anyone can project onto, but it's not true, she has plenty of personality, it's just not remotely similar to this woman's
also i assume sara and julia were angela and jess and they, along with bennett's family were close to their book counterparts but that's not what you want lol you want the main characters to feel like the ones you know and love otherwise what is the point of fanfiction, it just feels like original fiction!
so yeah like. it would have been annoying generic romance novel stuff but it's like omg this is supposed to be bella/edward are you INSANE
anyway here are the notes i made throughout:
"it's nice to see you finally taking an interest in your physical fitness" she should've killed him and then this series wouldn't exist. but also like yes again a cliche romance novel thing where he puts the woman down like that but HE THINKS SHE'S HOT why would he have ever commented negatively about her body that way? also i think remarking on your employee's body that way is a lot worse than getting into a sexual relationship with her LMAO he's the worst
who the fuck is wearing garter belts to work. like i get you have the stockings and all but that's so goddamn weird
he thinks he'll lose his job it's the family company she's the one that would get fucked over (glad he EVENTUALLY understood that like jesus christ dude it's not just the inappropriate aspect or even necessarily that he personally could've fired her if he didn't get his way - though i wouldn't put it past him or at least the way he was in the first half or so of the book - but it's her reputation and career on the line while he would've faced zero consequences)
NO CONDOMS y'all are fucking stupid. i'm only just dipping my toes into the romance genre for real (i should've done something else by christina lauren clearly bc i figure the original works have to be better than the fanfiction) and i'm like do these authors think putting on condoms will negate the passion?i promise it won't! like i read a historical one and i was like okay i get it they don't have the options we do in modern day BUT THIS like the first time he pulled out but the second time when she called him out (YOU DO NOT COME INSIDE SOMEONE WITHOUT PERMISSION YOU ARE A PIECE OF SHIT like there's plenty of iffy things wrt consent here but that was the worst of it and also that one little call out but he knows she's on the pill so it's assumed she's fine with it every other time and it's never discussed again like christ) and every time after that like idc that she's on the pill, pregnancy is not the only thing to worry about and even so, her being on the pill is not a guarantee and at the rate these two are going it's gonna happen and they should not procreate at least not for several years until you've gotetn your shit together
keeping her torn panties is creepier than anything edward cullen did over the course of four books. ALSO jesus these fancy panties must be actually pretty shit if they can rip that easily, along with all the other clothes they're wearing where they tear them to the point of buttons scattering MULTIPLE times like. be so for real.
"such an angry kitty" she really should've killed him for some of the just weird shit he said
what person in their twenties is unironically using the word bimbo (at least jealousy of exceptionally hot girls is a little bit bella swan but like. idt bella would be so supercilious about it) same with shrew omg at least THAT'S a word i might've seen edward using bc he's old-timey but like. these are modern people lol like i hate men using misogynistic slurs but at least bitch made sense for a modern character even though as i said edward would not use it at least not against bella
oh god they didn't write it but i assume bennett and chloe fucked right after she came back to the room when he had just had food poisoning?? no thank you drink some water and go to sleep holy shit
ANYWAY like. idk i think surely people can write heterosexual enemies to lovers stories that are NOT full of misogyny but this is not one of them. and i'm already wary of enemies to lovers a lot of the time because people rarely write it in a convincing way (i think it generally has to be a longer story to show how they grow to trust and respect and fall for each other) so like. i felt yeah they were getting more and more attached to their sexual relationship that they couldn't stop, but i didn't believe they were falling for each other when there weren't many real conversations between them even before or after the sex scenes. it was just like them arguing and then fucking and being like no more! and the cycle repeats. the supposed respect and tenderness was just suddenly there so sure, it made it more bearable to read in the end, but i had no reason to believe they really cared about each other.
since it DID get a little better in the last part, i would consider giving the other books a chance, but i wouldn't make it a priority. i'd much rather try something else by christina lauren and hope it's better than this.
so the fanfiction aspect is gonna be the first part of this review. i don't like how many things are being published that aren't being upfront about the fact that it's fanfiction because i don't think you can go around acting like you came up with it all when you're using somebody else's characters, though in cases like this you might as well have because these are completely unrecognizable as the characters they're meant to be except in appearance (though even that idt edward is supposed to be unusually taller than bella but idr) BUT in this case i wish i had not known, because it made a not great experience for at least half the book that much worse bc OH MY GOD there is no world in which edward cullen would call bella swan a bitch. like sure edward is not the ideal man, he fuckin watches her sleep, but jesus he's not an utter misogynistic asshole
and like one of the things people say about edward is that he's possessive which isn't unfair to say but like if bella had wanted to be with jacob he would've accepted that because he wanted her to be happy and wanted her to have a normal life and he didn't want to take her soul or whatever and this was when they were fully in a relationship and planning forever. meanwhile bennett is just sleeping with her and so enraged at the idea of her with another man (which. hey. who was joel supposed to be? mike? jake? bc if it's jake they whitewashed him lol also hey i know she wasn't gonna go for him but he really was totally forgotten like. there was no point in him except to make bennett annoying and possessive)
will say flipping himself off in the mirror towards the end was the closest we got to edward energy because that form of being dramatic is soooooo him. but yeah also chloe, like she was fine, both of them are pretty cliche romance novel characters and all, like the woman will be cool and normal and the dude is a disrespectful asshole at best and a stalker or abuser at worse. but yeah, she's nothing like bella either, except like, caring about her dad and being smart and being able to call people on their bullshit (though chloe does it a hell of a lot more than bella) lol. i know people have accused stephenie meyer of writing a character with no personality that anyone can project onto, but it's not true, she has plenty of personality, it's just not remotely similar to this woman's
also i assume sara and julia were angela and jess and they, along with bennett's family were close to their book counterparts but that's not what you want lol you want the main characters to feel like the ones you know and love otherwise what is the point of fanfiction, it just feels like original fiction!
so yeah like. it would have been annoying generic romance novel stuff but it's like omg this is supposed to be bella/edward are you INSANE
anyway here are the notes i made throughout:
"it's nice to see you finally taking an interest in your physical fitness" she should've killed him and then this series wouldn't exist. but also like yes again a cliche romance novel thing where he puts the woman down like that but HE THINKS SHE'S HOT why would he have ever commented negatively about her body that way? also i think remarking on your employee's body that way is a lot worse than getting into a sexual relationship with her LMAO he's the worst
who the fuck is wearing garter belts to work. like i get you have the stockings and all but that's so goddamn weird
he thinks he'll lose his job it's the family company she's the one that would get fucked over (glad he EVENTUALLY understood that like jesus christ dude it's not just the inappropriate aspect or even necessarily that he personally could've fired her if he didn't get his way - though i wouldn't put it past him or at least the way he was in the first half or so of the book - but it's her reputation and career on the line while he would've faced zero consequences)
NO CONDOMS y'all are fucking stupid. i'm only just dipping my toes into the romance genre for real (i should've done something else by christina lauren clearly bc i figure the original works have to be better than the fanfiction) and i'm like do these authors think putting on condoms will negate the passion?i promise it won't! like i read a historical one and i was like okay i get it they don't have the options we do in modern day BUT THIS like the first time he pulled out but the second time when she called him out (YOU DO NOT COME INSIDE SOMEONE WITHOUT PERMISSION YOU ARE A PIECE OF SHIT like there's plenty of iffy things wrt consent here but that was the worst of it and also that one little call out but he knows she's on the pill so it's assumed she's fine with it every other time and it's never discussed again like christ) and every time after that like idc that she's on the pill, pregnancy is not the only thing to worry about and even so, her being on the pill is not a guarantee and at the rate these two are going it's gonna happen and they should not procreate at least not for several years until you've gotetn your shit together
keeping her torn panties is creepier than anything edward cullen did over the course of four books. ALSO jesus these fancy panties must be actually pretty shit if they can rip that easily, along with all the other clothes they're wearing where they tear them to the point of buttons scattering MULTIPLE times like. be so for real.
"such an angry kitty" she really should've killed him for some of the just weird shit he said
what person in their twenties is unironically using the word bimbo (at least jealousy of exceptionally hot girls is a little bit bella swan but like. idt bella would be so supercilious about it) same with shrew omg at least THAT'S a word i might've seen edward using bc he's old-timey but like. these are modern people lol like i hate men using misogynistic slurs but at least bitch made sense for a modern character even though as i said edward would not use it at least not against bella
oh god they didn't write it but i assume bennett and chloe fucked right after she came back to the room when he had just had food poisoning?? no thank you drink some water and go to sleep holy shit
ANYWAY like. idk i think surely people can write heterosexual enemies to lovers stories that are NOT full of misogyny but this is not one of them. and i'm already wary of enemies to lovers a lot of the time because people rarely write it in a convincing way (i think it generally has to be a longer story to show how they grow to trust and respect and fall for each other) so like. i felt yeah they were getting more and more attached to their sexual relationship that they couldn't stop, but i didn't believe they were falling for each other when there weren't many real conversations between them even before or after the sex scenes. it was just like them arguing and then fucking and being like no more! and the cycle repeats. the supposed respect and tenderness was just suddenly there so sure, it made it more bearable to read in the end, but i had no reason to believe they really cared about each other.
since it DID get a little better in the last part, i would consider giving the other books a chance, but i wouldn't make it a priority. i'd much rather try something else by christina lauren and hope it's better than this.
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I honestly expected more, it didn’t live up to the hype
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes