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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
'
5 “I don’t care that we barely know each other. It’s just you. You’re the one for me, and if I can’t have you, I’d rather not exist anymore” stars
“What you are is mine. It’s my job to make you happy. I lack the capacity to do so on my own. I can’t love. I can’t feel guilt or empathy or remorse, any of the things that might help me understand what you need. All I have is research and context clues, which I’m not very good at interpreting. But I can give you what you need. I’ll do whatever it takes. But I can’t do it without help. Testing my theories is all I know.”
Look at this point i’m pretty sure that the day I give a new Onley James book less than 4 stars will be the day you can start worrying about my health. Everything about these books work for me. I love the set up. I love the characters. And I love the plot points. This book was almost guaranteed to work for me. Yet, I loved this book so much that I was shocked by how much I loved it. There wasn’t a second I spent reading this book where I wasn’t enjoying the reading experience.
I have said it before and I will say it again, the psychiarist who trained seven psychopath children into killers to bring justice to society is just such a clever idea and I love how each and every character is different and acts in different ways, even if they are all psychopaths, they are all different.
First things first, August is described as looking like Daniel Radcliffe. Which gave me a very hot visual of August while I was reading the book and I was very happy about it.
Brief Summary
August is a tenure professor at an university (and a psychopath). There is a new professor at the school, Lucas, who used to work for the FBI but lost his job. Lucas has psychometry (he touches things and he gets visions). August and Lucas bump into each other and when they touch Lucas gets visions of August being a killer. Lucas wants nothing to do with August because he knows that August is a murderer. August becomes obsessed with Lucas and decides that he needs to have him. They fall in obsession.
First, I just adored August, so much. He’s a psychopath and he’s on the autism spectrum. He doesn’t enjoy human interactions, he always lives in his head and doesn’t like to learn too many things because it overwhelms him. He remembers everything anyone ever said to him so he chooses to be absent minded so he isn’t overwhelmed by all the reminders. The only time he feels at peace is when he listens to music. He’s also very possesive. And he actually enjoys the act of killing people. And he has no filter, he says anything that’s on his mind even if he went through years of training to appear like everyone else and not like a psychopath, he just doesn’t seem to be able to follow the training. He’s the member of the family who seems the least like everyone else, he doesn’t know how to blend in with everyone else. And he has a killing people playlist full of Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Celine Dion. I loved his caracterization, so much. It really was lovely to read about him and I loved how he was complex and had many different layers.
Second, I also really loved Lucas as a character. Lucas was living in misery at the start of the book, he had lost his career and had nightmares filled of visions of someone murdering other people and nothing he did kept them away. I liked how despite all that he was so strong and kept fighting, he was just a lovely character.
Third, I absolutely adored how obsessed and possesive August was. He saw Lucas and that was it, he knew he wanted to spend his life with him and didn’t stop at anything to get his wish. Normally pushy characters annoy me, but thats part of August because he is a psychopath and they tend to focus on one thing and become very obsessed with that thing, so I loved it here because it fit so well with August’ character. As an example, August has know Lucas for a day and he needs to see him and he doesn’t have Lucas’ number so he breaks into Lucas’ house and watches Lucas sleep.
Fourth, I loved these two together. I loved how August was being himself and doing a lot of things that would be red flags to most people (for example he stalked Lucas and broke into his house to learn more about him) but Lucas took it all in strides and was alone for the ride no matter what August did. Lucas was really gentle and understanding with August and I loved that so much. Also I loved how Lucas was scared of being with August at first because August likes to murder people and Lucas was trained to stop murders, but it seemed to matter less and less to Lucas the more he interacted with August, it was a very nice touch and made sense with who the characters are. Look, these two won’t win a price for the healthiest relationship any time soon, but it worked for them and thats all that matters to me.
Side note I love how August has no clue how to have a relationship but he wanted one with Lucas so he asked his family for dating advices. And I love how he read books on relationships too. I loved how he was ready to do everything in his power to be with Lucas, even if it took work and he was very hopeless at it.
Fifth, there is a side plot in this and I quite enjoyed it. Lucas get visions of one of his ex-coworker, Kohn, who is a serial killer who brutalizes, rapes and kills women. Kohn is after Lucas because Lucas tried to tell the world what Kohn does. I really enjoyed reading the side plot, it never overshadowed the romance and it never dragged. I like how the side plot was linked to the main characters and their lives, it made the side plot feel important.
Sixth, my one complain about the first book in this series was how there wasn’t enough violence for my taste. So I really enjoyed how August actually was into killing people. I loved how August had graphic murder fantasies about anyone who dared hurt Lucas. I loved how there was long and graphic scenes showing the main characters torture and kill people. The amount of violence in this book was so much more my taste and I loved it, very much.
Seventh, the sex scenes were scorching hot, which I have come to expect with any Onley James book. But I really loved them in this book, they complimented the characters perfectly and they felt really animalistic and it was lovely to read about. Also I loved how their power exchange changed depending on the context, both of them were in control at different moments. Also I adore when characters are switches so I was very happy that both of these guys were switches. Also the one knife play scene was really fucking hot and I want way more of that in further books, please and thank you.
Eight, I love dark and snarky humour and god did I love it in this book. The humour was very self depricated and I really loved that, I felt like it fit the tone and the vibe of of the book perfectly.
Ninth, I do have one thing to say. I didn’t enjoy how the book refered to Lucas as crazy because it always seem to be linked to his mental health (Lucas always called himself crazy because he had a mental breakdown before). I just don’t like the use of the word crazy to describe someone’s mental health, but thats probably just a me thing.
I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am for the next book in this series (Atticus’ book), it’s two killers getting together and I need it so badly. Plus I love what we’ve seen of Atticus so far, he’s such a lovely and complex character to read about.
I had such a good time reading this book and it was everything I wanted it to be and way more.
I received an ARC of this book, and this is my honest review.
“What you are is mine. It’s my job to make you happy. I lack the capacity to do so on my own. I can’t love. I can’t feel guilt or empathy or remorse, any of the things that might help me understand what you need. All I have is research and context clues, which I’m not very good at interpreting. But I can give you what you need. I’ll do whatever it takes. But I can’t do it without help. Testing my theories is all I know.”
Look at this point i’m pretty sure that the day I give a new Onley James book less than 4 stars will be the day you can start worrying about my health. Everything about these books work for me. I love the set up. I love the characters. And I love the plot points. This book was almost guaranteed to work for me. Yet, I loved this book so much that I was shocked by how much I loved it. There wasn’t a second I spent reading this book where I wasn’t enjoying the reading experience.
I have said it before and I will say it again, the psychiarist who trained seven psychopath children into killers to bring justice to society is just such a clever idea and I love how each and every character is different and acts in different ways, even if they are all psychopaths, they are all different.
First things first, August is described as looking like Daniel Radcliffe. Which gave me a very hot visual of August while I was reading the book and I was very happy about it.
Brief Summary
August is a tenure professor at an university (and a psychopath). There is a new professor at the school, Lucas, who used to work for the FBI but lost his job. Lucas has psychometry (he touches things and he gets visions). August and Lucas bump into each other and when they touch Lucas gets visions of August being a killer. Lucas wants nothing to do with August because he knows that August is a murderer. August becomes obsessed with Lucas and decides that he needs to have him. They fall in obsession.
First, I just adored August, so much. He’s a psychopath and he’s on the autism spectrum. He doesn’t enjoy human interactions, he always lives in his head and doesn’t like to learn too many things because it overwhelms him. He remembers everything anyone ever said to him so he chooses to be absent minded so he isn’t overwhelmed by all the reminders. The only time he feels at peace is when he listens to music. He’s also very possesive. And he actually enjoys the act of killing people. And he has no filter, he says anything that’s on his mind even if he went through years of training to appear like everyone else and not like a psychopath, he just doesn’t seem to be able to follow the training. He’s the member of the family who seems the least like everyone else, he doesn’t know how to blend in with everyone else. And he has a killing people playlist full of Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Celine Dion. I loved his caracterization, so much. It really was lovely to read about him and I loved how he was complex and had many different layers.
Second, I also really loved Lucas as a character. Lucas was living in misery at the start of the book, he had lost his career and had nightmares filled of visions of someone murdering other people and nothing he did kept them away. I liked how despite all that he was so strong and kept fighting, he was just a lovely character.
Third, I absolutely adored how obsessed and possesive August was. He saw Lucas and that was it, he knew he wanted to spend his life with him and didn’t stop at anything to get his wish. Normally pushy characters annoy me, but thats part of August because he is a psychopath and they tend to focus on one thing and become very obsessed with that thing, so I loved it here because it fit so well with August’ character. As an example, August has know Lucas for a day and he needs to see him and he doesn’t have Lucas’ number so he breaks into Lucas’ house and watches Lucas sleep.
Fourth, I loved these two together. I loved how August was being himself and doing a lot of things that would be red flags to most people (for example he stalked Lucas and broke into his house to learn more about him) but Lucas took it all in strides and was alone for the ride no matter what August did. Lucas was really gentle and understanding with August and I loved that so much. Also I loved how Lucas was scared of being with August at first because August likes to murder people and Lucas was trained to stop murders, but it seemed to matter less and less to Lucas the more he interacted with August, it was a very nice touch and made sense with who the characters are. Look, these two won’t win a price for the healthiest relationship any time soon, but it worked for them and thats all that matters to me.
Side note I love how August has no clue how to have a relationship but he wanted one with Lucas so he asked his family for dating advices. And I love how he read books on relationships too. I loved how he was ready to do everything in his power to be with Lucas, even if it took work and he was very hopeless at it.
Fifth, there is a side plot in this and I quite enjoyed it. Lucas get visions of one of his ex-coworker, Kohn, who is a serial killer who brutalizes, rapes and kills women. Kohn is after Lucas because Lucas tried to tell the world what Kohn does. I really enjoyed reading the side plot, it never overshadowed the romance and it never dragged. I like how the side plot was linked to the main characters and their lives, it made the side plot feel important.
Sixth, my one complain about the first book in this series was how there wasn’t enough violence for my taste. So I really enjoyed how August actually was into killing people. I loved how August had graphic murder fantasies about anyone who dared hurt Lucas. I loved how there was long and graphic scenes showing the main characters torture and kill people. The amount of violence in this book was so much more my taste and I loved it, very much.
Seventh, the sex scenes were scorching hot, which I have come to expect with any Onley James book. But I really loved them in this book, they complimented the characters perfectly and they felt really animalistic and it was lovely to read about. Also I loved how their power exchange changed depending on the context, both of them were in control at different moments. Also I adore when characters are switches so I was very happy that both of these guys were switches. Also the one knife play scene was really fucking hot and I want way more of that in further books, please and thank you.
Eight, I love dark and snarky humour and god did I love it in this book. The humour was very self depricated and I really loved that, I felt like it fit the tone and the vibe of of the book perfectly.
Ninth, I do have one thing to say. I didn’t enjoy how the book refered to Lucas as crazy because it always seem to be linked to his mental health (Lucas always called himself crazy because he had a mental breakdown before). I just don’t like the use of the word crazy to describe someone’s mental health, but thats probably just a me thing.
I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am for the next book in this series (Atticus’ book), it’s two killers getting together and I need it so badly. Plus I love what we’ve seen of Atticus so far, he’s such a lovely and complex character to read about.
I had such a good time reading this book and it was everything I wanted it to be and way more.
I received an ARC of this book, and this is my honest review.
dark
funny
mysterious
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
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
fast-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
dark
funny
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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