Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Absolutely loved this book.
This was my second read-through and I still love it just as much as the first time. Definitely starts out as a very dark and trigger-y read that a lot of people probably won’t jive with (definitely read trigger warnings), but if that’s your jam then I highly recommend. The spice is GREAT, dialogue is great, character development is good, backplot is potentially cliche but still very well done. Just overall such an underrated read for the dark romance genre.
This was my second read-through and I still love it just as much as the first time. Definitely starts out as a very dark and trigger-y read that a lot of people probably won’t jive with (definitely read trigger warnings), but if that’s your jam then I highly recommend. The spice is GREAT, dialogue is great, character development is good, backplot is potentially cliche but still very well done. Just overall such an underrated read for the dark romance genre.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship
Liked the first bit and thought it had potential, but did not enjoy how quickly the fmc was all like "my guy isn't paying attention to me". Got very bored with everyone being head over heels with him and it seeming like she was going to be into it very quickly. Wanted more fight.
I wonder when bully romances became a thing. Older romances have always had the trope of "woman's body betraying them, while verbally they're resisting the guy". And honestly, that never bothered me. It's fiction. In this case, it's a full on rape fantasy. Different strokes for different folks I guess. However, since when is rape sanitized in trigger warnings that say "dubcon/noncon"? It's full on rape with oral penetration instead of vaginal or anal. So. How to review a book with something that in any other circumstance or story I would say is a full stop? I think as long as you're well aware of your own triggers and that this is a story of a rapist and victim falling in love with very minimal groveling/acknowledgement from the main guy... Well all said and done I enjoyed this read, with a fun road trip with friends and lots of steam. Would I call it dark? Eh, not so much. More like it was distasteful, but I trusted the author to turn the story around, especially since it happened pretty much right away. Unfortunately, that never really quite happened? For such a crazy beginning, the story kind of just fizzled out. There was no big apology or anything.
I do wish the characters were aged up. And that Noah was older than Truly. There is something so gross about an 18 year old calling someone "Little One" with the capitalization. Some of the dialogue definitely felt... Over the top? Like the author wrote out these things that no 18 year old would say, and didn't really match the dialogue of the rest of the book. My other complain was that there was lot of sex/dialogue going on literally in the same car/public/next to other people that I've always found distasteful. I think that's why I was able to fully enjoy this purely escapist, would-never-tolerate-in-real-life book. It was never something I could truly immerse myself in, because Noah didn't feel like a real person. I'm not sure what he even saw in Truly. This book was missing a good 50-100 pages of Noah growth.
Also, I am a little surprised of the slut shaming of poor Lucy. Why is there always that one girl in these high school aged books that sleep with all the guys and whose sole purpose is to make the heroine insecure? This book treated other female characters two dimensionally.
But anyways. Definitely read the trigger warnings and other reviews. It's a ride.
I do wish the characters were aged up. And that Noah was older than Truly. There is something so gross about an 18 year old calling someone "Little One" with the capitalization. Some of the dialogue definitely felt... Over the top? Like the author wrote out these things that no 18 year old would say, and didn't really match the dialogue of the rest of the book. My other complain was that there was lot of sex/dialogue going on literally in the same car/public/next to other people that I've always found distasteful. I think that's why I was able to fully enjoy this purely escapist, would-never-tolerate-in-real-life book. It was never something I could truly immerse myself in, because Noah didn't feel like a real person. I'm not sure what he even saw in Truly. This book was missing a good 50-100 pages of Noah growth.
Also, I am a little surprised of the slut shaming of poor Lucy. Why is there always that one girl in these high school aged books that sleep with all the guys and whose sole purpose is to make the heroine insecure? This book treated other female characters two dimensionally.
But anyways. Definitely read the trigger warnings and other reviews. It's a ride.
✨ “Things don’t fit neatly into boxes, but that’s okay, because life is messy and people are not all good or all bad or all brave or all naive.” ✨
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Devoured it in one day and loveeeeed it! Fell in love with MC and declare now that @Carmel Rhodes is on my radar! Miss Rhodes pleaseeee write more like this Truly book!!!!
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes