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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Nothing really happened. MC's were kidnapped, relentlessly bullied when they got to the school because they are the "heirs". Questionable consent interactions with other students and a professor... Then the only person that was nice to the MCs was murdered as a cliff hanger.
adventurous
challenging
tense
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:
Complicated
I do not know what I just read. I am invested. I am scared to rate this 5 stars BUT I binged this book. I was told the first book is the worst. There is no way it can get any better.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Oh, boy. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Where to begin? I guess we’ll start by saying that I have absolutely NO idea what to rate this and I’m going to vomit all my thoughts and hope I figure it out along the way.
The reactions I’ve gotten to reading this book (looking at you Kayla and Lauren) should have been a red flag. This book was fairly low on my TBR until Kayla suggested I read it. (Reader, she’ll argue that this is not her fault and when I asked her when the series gets good, she responded with “it never gets ‘good’”). But, between that conversation, the general consensus being that reading this book is a canon event, owning a physical copy, and needing an A for my alphabet challenge, I decided it was time.
My opinions of the first part of the book were fairly low. I am NOT a fan of multi POV because I don’t connect as well with any of the characters, and overall, it felt a bit immature to me. (I mean who references Harry Potter on the back cover but then doesn’t address it in the book?) I also have a mixed reaction to bully romances. Did I love it in Satanic Shadowsand Amid Clouds and Bones? Did I tolerate it in King of Corium and Leave Me Behind? Did I hate it in Insidious Secrets? Am I now realizing I’ve read more bully romances than I thought? All yes. At the end of the day, the problem I take with it is that it’s VERY hard to tread that line well. If the FMC doesn’t end up with the bully (or in this case the Heirs), then I feel like my time has been wasted. If the FMC does end up with the bully, then the authors have to be careful to not have the MMC be so much of a bully that I don’t want them to get together. Especially in this book, that mark was often missed for me. With it being four Heirs, plus the whole school, against the Vega twins, it more often felt like they were getting ganged up on.
But I stuck with it (read: my work was slow today as I waited for an uncooperative program to run). The banter between the boys and Tory and Darcy was good enough that I was skimming over pages that didn’t have dialogue. I don’t have a good sense of who ends up with whom – it better not be one big orgy and it better be Tory x Darius and Darcy x Orion – but maybe that makes it interesting.
Now, you might be wondering why this isn’t a 2-star rating for me and I have one word: epilogue. Was I rolling my eyes when I started reading the chapter from Orion’s point of view? Yes. Was I kicking my feet and chuckling into my wine loudly enough that my husband asked what I was reading? YES. Are we tired of me asking myself questions in this review? Probably. But, I digress. The epilogue is absolutely a Harry Potter fanfiction from hell and you know what, I LOVED it. It made the whole book worth it to me. I know it’s present for one single bit of information but it was easily my favorite part.
My final thoughts: Geraldine is 100% Jenny from Derry Girls; you cannot convince me otherwise. And I am downloading the next book now. This book was a YA guilty pleasure and it would’ve been top tier for me had I read it 12 years ago in high school.
Gun to my head? 3.75 stars.
The reactions I’ve gotten to reading this book (looking at you Kayla and Lauren) should have been a red flag. This book was fairly low on my TBR until Kayla suggested I read it. (Reader, she’ll argue that this is not her fault and when I asked her when the series gets good, she responded with “it never gets ‘good’”). But, between that conversation, the general consensus being that reading this book is a canon event, owning a physical copy, and needing an A for my alphabet challenge, I decided it was time.
My opinions of the first part of the book were fairly low. I am NOT a fan of multi POV because I don’t connect as well with any of the characters, and overall, it felt a bit immature to me. (I mean who references Harry Potter on the back cover but then doesn’t address it in the book?) I also have a mixed reaction to bully romances. Did I love it in Satanic Shadowsand Amid Clouds and Bones? Did I tolerate it in King of Corium and Leave Me Behind? Did I hate it in Insidious Secrets? Am I now realizing I’ve read more bully romances than I thought? All yes. At the end of the day, the problem I take with it is that it’s VERY hard to tread that line well. If the FMC doesn’t end up with the bully (or in this case the Heirs), then I feel like my time has been wasted. If the FMC does end up with the bully, then the authors have to be careful to not have the MMC be so much of a bully that I don’t want them to get together. Especially in this book, that mark was often missed for me. With it being four Heirs, plus the whole school, against the Vega twins, it more often felt like they were getting ganged up on.
But I stuck with it (read: my work was slow today as I waited for an uncooperative program to run). The banter between the boys and Tory and Darcy was good enough that I was skimming over pages that didn’t have dialogue. I don’t have a good sense of who ends up with whom – it better not be one big orgy and it better be Tory x Darius and Darcy x Orion – but maybe that makes it interesting.
Now, you might be wondering why this isn’t a 2-star rating for me and I have one word: epilogue. Was I rolling my eyes when I started reading the chapter from Orion’s point of view? Yes. Was I kicking my feet and chuckling into my wine loudly enough that my husband asked what I was reading? YES. Are we tired of me asking myself questions in this review? Probably. But, I digress. The epilogue is absolutely a Harry Potter fanfiction from hell and you know what, I LOVED it. It made the whole book worth it to me. I know it’s present for one single bit of information but it was easily my favorite part.
My final thoughts: Geraldine is 100% Jenny from Derry Girls; you cannot convince me otherwise. And I am downloading the next book now. This book was a YA guilty pleasure and it would’ve been top tier for me had I read it 12 years ago in high school.
Gun to my head? 3.75 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
The "bully" part of the "romance" read more like a list of felonies and every act just pissed me off