Reviews - House of Pounding Hearts

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1.04k reviews for:

House of Pounding Hearts

Olivia Wildenstein

4.02 AVERAGE

funsweptkale's review against another edition

1.0

Every character's intentions kept changing, which makes for a confusing plot.

birdykeepsreading's review against another edition

1.0

Literally NO. FMC is so annoying!
DNF

madelynvango's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

nicleaf's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Love love love this book.

scaredtrees's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous dark funny slow-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: No

The first book was great and I was so excited to read this one! And well.... I almost DNF. I got 340 pages in and realized that Fallon has been insufferable the whole book. Nothing has happened. Literally the plot has not progressed. The smut scenes aren't great. And this book, like so many others, falls into the lazy writing trope of "Oh my FMC is soOoOo feminist. She hates dresses and OMG corsets are the devil! She's so sassy and the MMC just loves it tehe" bleh

lazykait's review against another edition

2.0

75% of the tension in this book could have been resolved if the characters had taken 10 minutes to tell the truth to each other. Fallon, already too dumb to live, had NO chance to have any agency in this story because no one would tell her anything. Her friends, her allies, her love interest--all of them kept vital information from her because... ???

(Because otherwise this book would be very short)

Fallon as a character is incredibly frustrating. At the end of the last book, I was cheering for her because she'd come so far from the petulant, whiny kid she'd started as. Well, this book takes her back to petulant and whiny, amps it up to eleven, and gives her no arc this time. I was not cheering for her at the end. Fallon was not the protagonist of this story.

Lore also has zero character arc.

You know what these "overly protective and controlling man" love stories are best at? Letting the female character step up and say "no, screw you, I have a brain of my own and I'm going to make my own decisions. If you want this relationship to work, you need to let go of some control and let me be my own person." But that's not the tone this book takes.

Instead, Lore is commandeering, demanding, controlling, and manipulative of Fallon, and she never questions it in a meaningful way. It's not sexy. She goes for most of the story thinking

Spoiler

he's betrothed to someone else.

He could have corrected her at any time, but instead lets her suffer with genuine heartbreak, rejection, and loneliness because... ??? This was particularly frustrating as a reader because the

Spoiler

betrothal

was clearly a farce from the get go. Watching Fallon fail to figure this out while Lore sat there tight-lipped was rage inducing.

And when the truth finally comes out, he feels absolutely no remorse for making his *soulmate* suffer in this way. She forgives him instantly, and they immediately start having a perfect, dreamy relationship.

GIRL! THAT MAN LIED TO YOU! HE MANIPULATED YOU! THESE THINGS ARE NOT OK! ARE YOU EVER GOING TO HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT ANY OF THIS???

Ugh. Idk. I will probably read the third book because there is just so much *potential* in this story. I want to love it and there's a chance the next one will pull things back, but damn, book two was rocky.