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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
This story went downhill and I'm pretty disappointed about it. I had high hopes for this book as I really liked the beginning as it started off strong for a cheesy romance novel with slight tones of erotica. I’m not someone who is uncomfortable with taboo relationships to a certain degree (I will never be okay with incest between parent and child). This one seemed to toe the line and I've been wanting to read a romance for a while.
One of my friends asked me to read this story as she was having a “is it me?” moment while reading this book. I decided to listen to the audiobook as I liked the narrator’s voice and thought it was worth a credit. For a while, this book had me sucked in and I would have given it somewhere around a 3.75 rating. Around "Part 2" (at the 37% mark) was when things started to feel like things were dragging. I like a slow burn book and don’t mind when books use some cliches, but this plot tested my patience. It got to the point where I just wanted them to have sex again and finally get together (we all knew it was coming). This story could have ended much sooner. I’d have been fine if it ended at 37%. There was just too many coincidences and cliches used in this book. Also, nobody tells a potential lover “I want you to show me how you fuck, (name)” during hot make out sessions. Short sentences are mostly used. I kept laughing at some of the erotic moments even though I knew the characters weren’t trying to be funny. The narrator was good but not enough to save this story.
Also, my husband listened to this book as well. He feels inclined to write a review, and he NEVER writes reviews. The last book he reviewed we weren’t even engaged or married... Make of that what you will.
One of my friends asked me to read this story as she was having a “is it me?” moment while reading this book. I decided to listen to the audiobook as I liked the narrator’s voice and thought it was worth a credit. For a while, this book had me sucked in and I would have given it somewhere around a 3.75 rating. Around "Part 2" (at the 37% mark) was when things started to feel like things were dragging. I like a slow burn book and don’t mind when books use some cliches, but this plot tested my patience. It got to the point where I just wanted them to have sex again and finally get together (we all knew it was coming). This story could have ended much sooner. I’d have been fine if it ended at 37%. There was just too many coincidences and cliches used in this book. Also, nobody tells a potential lover “I want you to show me how you fuck, (name)” during hot make out sessions. Short sentences are mostly used. I kept laughing at some of the erotic moments even though I knew the characters weren’t trying to be funny. The narrator was good but not enough to save this story.
Also, my husband listened to this book as well. He feels inclined to write a review, and he NEVER writes reviews. The last book he reviewed we weren’t even engaged or married... Make of that what you will.
I liked this story, but at times it felt pretty unbelievable. I didn't like the beginning or the ending because it felt forced and the main character's logic was very faulty. When you get to read the same situations in almost the exact same wording from a different character as you did from someone else, it is boring. It felt like filler more than anything.
Now - the sex scenes were very detailed and very realistic. My favorite part of the story was the middle. Loved all of it up until you learn about Elec's past. It wasn't shocking, I had suspected it.
The ending and epilogue felt very rushed.I wish that the story would have been drawn out more. Drawing out moments would have made this story much more succesful.
Now - the sex scenes were very detailed and very realistic. My favorite part of the story was the middle. Loved all of it up until you learn about Elec's past. It wasn't shocking, I had suspected it.
The ending and epilogue felt very rushed.I wish that the story would have been drawn out more. Drawing out moments would have made this story much more succesful.
This book certainly got off to one hell of a really bad start. It did start to show some promise, only to toss that out the window a few seconds later. I already had low expectations given the description, it's not really my type, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway.
Starting off, we have this horribly abusive and self-destructive hero character and an ignorant child as our heroine. Very much...bad. Regardless of how much shit the hero threw out at Greta, she just kept wanting him more and more. Such a great precedent, really, all men should definitely follow this wonderful role model. Verbally harass and abuse woman = get laid! This takes "boy will be boys" to a whole new level.
Granted, sure, there is probably a sub-culture who is into abusive relationships, but my god, am I not. (Also, the piercings are very much a turn-off for me. Um. Ow? Same with the cigarette smell x/ But to each their own on that, I guess, just not what I find attractive.) The writing style itself was rather bland (first person! UGH) and poor at times, which I feel made things all the more worse.
The formatting was extremely distracting. All the text was centered and made for awkward paragraphs. Descriptions were also scattered and lacking. We learn Elec has a nipple piercing, then a few paragraphs later, did we find out he had a lip piercing, and then even later (also after she walked in on him naked, which was how the nipple piercing was discovered), did we find out he had another piercing. Random descriptions like that and many others were randomly separated for no reason I can figure out. It's okay to have some backstory spread throughout a novel, like you're learning more as time goes on, but it was done so poorly in this one, it was like the author just forgot details and added them in as she was writing. There was also quite a bit of other inconsistencies and which left me confused a few times.
Some descriptions also felt really awkward, like Greta's shock at her step-father's attitude toward his son. It felt randomly placed with no backstory or explanation on Greta's end. If we had learned prior that he was a great dad, then we wouldn't need the constant reminder of "wow, he's acting so different!" that the author tossed in every chance she got. The author also heavily relied on dialogue quite a few times throughout.
As things continued, and more of his character was revealed (and as he became less of a dick), I started to become slightly more and more okay with Elec (still annoyed at our lead female, ugh). More of his backstory is explored and that did improve things for me. Made it more worth it for me to have stuck through this book. (Though not all that much more worth it.) I'm glad his character went from abusive asshole to someone who genuinely cares and actually confirms consent (thank you!). The best part of the 'first' (there was quite a few in the first scene) sex scene for me was the before, during, and after care. (My favorite, and the only good, part of this book, honestly.)
The meeting later was a bit annoying with the 'will they won't they?' bit. I feel like some parts went quick and could've used some more detail. Her constant instant nipple-hardness upon seeing/thinking/anything about the guy was rather obnoxious and tiring to read.
Also: “You love us both? That’s messed up, Elec.”
On behalf of my partner: polyamory would fix that.
Lots of forced/unnatural feeling drama with zero character development. Both characters don't grow or learn anything at all. They're the same from page one. Even their voices sound the same despite a seven year gap. (I certainly don't sound the same as I do now compared to how I was seven years ago. Have them age a little!)
I also hope, for those into it, people don't come into this expecting anything taboo. Honestly, nothing in this book is anything I found taboo at all. Two random people meet at a young age who have no relation to each other, fall in love and get together. SO TABOO! Seriously though, there was no 'shock factor' anywhere in this.
//SPOILERS BELOW:
When I read Elec's 'book' (autobiography), I was more expecting his parents to actually have been in an incestual relationship. Either mother/son or siblings. Nope. Just your every day average heterosexual relationship. Both with Patrick and Randy. (Granted, Patrick was a controlling abusive asshole rapist, but aside from that...) Though after the prologue, the writing style of the book seemed to dwindle downward into informal and childish. It was written too fast, like the author was eager to get it down but never properly went back to edit and fix it. There was also a few grammar mistakes in there as well. Most of it had copy-pasted dialogue that I just skipped over. If you're going to retell a story from another perspective, don't rely on past dialogue. You have the chance to explore that character's mind. We've already heard them speak, now let's hear them think.
//END SPOILERS
And just because this stuck out to me: “You have no idea how guilty I’ve felt this past year when I’d see writers not nearly as talented as you getting deals and having success." Tooting your own horn, much? xD
The fact that the text was never explained was also rather bothersome. I also feel it would've been more impactive had there been hints of the significance throughout the book, not just from that point onward.
Anyway, bad book. Badly written. Bad characters. Badly formatted. I was really tempted to give this a two star rating (just /BARELY/), mostly because of that first sex scene, but as I read on, I just couldn't.
1/5, do not recommend.
Starting off, we have this horribly abusive and self-destructive hero character and an ignorant child as our heroine. Very much...bad. Regardless of how much shit the hero threw out at Greta, she just kept wanting him more and more. Such a great precedent, really, all men should definitely follow this wonderful role model. Verbally harass and abuse woman = get laid! This takes "boy will be boys" to a whole new level.
Granted, sure, there is probably a sub-culture who is into abusive relationships, but my god, am I not. (Also, the piercings are very much a turn-off for me. Um. Ow? Same with the cigarette smell x/ But to each their own on that, I guess, just not what I find attractive.) The writing style itself was rather bland (first person! UGH) and poor at times, which I feel made things all the more worse.
"Programming" someone's number into their phone? Really? Who says that?
Being upset MUST mean you're on your period. Certainly not because this guy has been such an asshole to her for months.
People can be magically cured from mental disorders, that or they grow out of it with age, that plot point was unclear.
If having sex hurts or if you bleed, you're doing it WRONG! Regardless if it's your first time or your millionth time, it's not supposed to hurt and you're definitely not supposed to bleed! (Can we please stop this stupid misconception?!)
Also, can we please stop with this 'virgin' crap? (Total shocker [sarcasm] that the girl was a pure and innocent little virgin.] There is no 'give' or 'take' in virginity. No one is 'losing' anything. It was her first sexual experience, not some beautiful sacred flower that is all used up once it's 'gone'. -_-;
And in case the author wasn't aware, I can see the inclusion of a condom for sex scenes, I presume for only prevention of pregnancy and not for diseases. However, given that he's had a large number of sexual partners, unless he was actually tested and confirmed 'clean', they should still be using a condom, both vaginally AND orally. (You can still spread diseases orally, so yeah, you'd need a condom for that too P: )
Finally,was just...*sigh*.Spoiler
the fact that this had the horribly cliche and overdone ending of, "married+children"
The formatting was extremely distracting. All the text was centered and made for awkward paragraphs. Descriptions were also scattered and lacking. We learn Elec has a nipple piercing, then a few paragraphs later, did we find out he had a lip piercing, and then even later (also after she walked in on him naked, which was how the nipple piercing was discovered), did we find out he had another piercing. Random descriptions like that and many others were randomly separated for no reason I can figure out. It's okay to have some backstory spread throughout a novel, like you're learning more as time goes on, but it was done so poorly in this one, it was like the author just forgot details and added them in as she was writing. There was also quite a bit of other inconsistencies and which left me confused a few times.
Some descriptions also felt really awkward, like Greta's shock at her step-father's attitude toward his son. It felt randomly placed with no backstory or explanation on Greta's end. If we had learned prior that he was a great dad, then we wouldn't need the constant reminder of "wow, he's acting so different!" that the author tossed in every chance she got. The author also heavily relied on dialogue quite a few times throughout.
As things continued, and more of his character was revealed (and as he became less of a dick), I started to become slightly more and more okay with Elec (still annoyed at our lead female, ugh). More of his backstory is explored and that did improve things for me. Made it more worth it for me to have stuck through this book. (Though not all that much more worth it.) I'm glad his character went from abusive asshole to someone who genuinely cares and actually confirms consent (thank you!). The best part of the 'first' (there was quite a few in the first scene) sex scene for me was the before, during, and after care. (My favorite, and the only good, part of this book, honestly.)
The meeting later was a bit annoying with the 'will they won't they?' bit. I feel like some parts went quick and could've used some more detail. Her constant instant nipple-hardness upon seeing/thinking/anything about the guy was rather obnoxious and tiring to read.
Also: “You love us both? That’s messed up, Elec.”
On behalf of my partner: polyamory would fix that.
Lots of forced/unnatural feeling drama with zero character development. Both characters don't grow or learn anything at all. They're the same from page one. Even their voices sound the same despite a seven year gap. (I certainly don't sound the same as I do now compared to how I was seven years ago. Have them age a little!)
I also hope, for those into it, people don't come into this expecting anything taboo. Honestly, nothing in this book is anything I found taboo at all. Two random people meet at a young age who have no relation to each other, fall in love and get together. SO TABOO! Seriously though, there was no 'shock factor' anywhere in this.
//SPOILERS BELOW:
When I read Elec's 'book' (autobiography), I was more expecting his parents to actually have been in an incestual relationship. Either mother/son or siblings. Nope. Just your every day average heterosexual relationship. Both with Patrick and Randy. (Granted, Patrick was a controlling abusive asshole rapist, but aside from that...) Though after the prologue, the writing style of the book seemed to dwindle downward into informal and childish. It was written too fast, like the author was eager to get it down but never properly went back to edit and fix it. There was also a few grammar mistakes in there as well. Most of it had copy-pasted dialogue that I just skipped over. If you're going to retell a story from another perspective, don't rely on past dialogue. You have the chance to explore that character's mind. We've already heard them speak, now let's hear them think.
//END SPOILERS
And just because this stuck out to me: “You have no idea how guilty I’ve felt this past year when I’d see writers not nearly as talented as you getting deals and having success." Tooting your own horn, much? xD
The fact that the text was never explained was also rather bothersome. I also feel it would've been more impactive had there been hints of the significance throughout the book, not just from that point onward.
Anyway, bad book. Badly written. Bad characters. Badly formatted. I was really tempted to give this a two star rating (just /BARELY/), mostly because of that first sex scene, but as I read on, I just couldn't.
1/5, do not recommend.
Penelope Ward has officially become a one-click author. There is not a single book of hers that I haven't absolutely loved. I finished Neighbor Dearest last week and quickly found out that there are a few characters in this that corresponds with ND and also Roommate. I LOVE that she intertwines these characters but each book is a complete stand alone! She's GENIUS! I was so curious about Greta and Elec from reading ND that I was super excited to get to read this immediately.
Both of these characters are pretty complex, and I LOVE that! They have so many layers to them and as you read you get to peel them back slowly. At first Greta is so innocent, but then you get to hear these thoughts of hers and you have to laugh at just how not innocent she things. And Elec, he's so unique and he tries so hard to be a hardass, but we get to slowly see the real Elec.
And their story together, it's that forbidden fruit that really draws you in. It's like a train wreck or a natural disaster that you can't help but watch. You want to turn away, but you can't. We know there is this amazing story starting to build, but somewhere there has to be a downfall. Unlike some of her other work, this one tends to be a little more on the sad side. There are many ups and downs versus are larger crescendo to the doom that you know is going to happen. But, the best part, their feelings for each other never change throughout the whole book. Each of them does what they think is best at the time, and they don't let it over power them and they don't forget.
Both of these characters are pretty complex, and I LOVE that! They have so many layers to them and as you read you get to peel them back slowly. At first Greta is so innocent, but then you get to hear these thoughts of hers and you have to laugh at just how not innocent she things. And Elec, he's so unique and he tries so hard to be a hardass, but we get to slowly see the real Elec.
And their story together, it's that forbidden fruit that really draws you in. It's like a train wreck or a natural disaster that you can't help but watch. You want to turn away, but you can't. We know there is this amazing story starting to build, but somewhere there has to be a downfall. Unlike some of her other work, this one tends to be a little more on the sad side. There are many ups and downs versus are larger crescendo to the doom that you know is going to happen. But, the best part, their feelings for each other never change throughout the whole book. Each of them does what they think is best at the time, and they don't let it over power them and they don't forget.
I didn’t realize this was the prequel to Neighbor dearest which I had read before lol.
It was a good read, the tension built between characters was so good. The sexual releases eh but still I enjoyed the read and plot. Half the story was a recap of everything between them when Greta was reading Elec’s story from his perspective.
It was a good read, the tension built between characters was so good. The sexual releases eh but still I enjoyed the read and plot. Half the story was a recap of everything between them when Greta was reading Elec’s story from his perspective.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Overall Rating-♾️⭐️
Spice-🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Plot- perfection, no notes
Trigger warnings- taboo but beautiful
Tropes- step siblings (don’t say nothing), forbidden love, second chance
This is a one sitting type of book. I would have read it in one sitting if I didn’t have to work. I should have pulled a Greta and called out (IYKYK). This was tragically sad and beautiful and it consumed me. It made me FEEL like I was in the situations with them. I can’t even describe in words how much I loved Elec and Greta. They were step siblings but didn’t even know each other so you can call this taboo but I’m not listening to any negativity on this book. I laughed, I cried, I had heart palpitations for these characters and the angst and tension was unreal. The number 22 is my fav number and it has its own special moment in the book. Going into the next book on a high!
Spice-🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Plot- perfection, no notes
Trigger warnings- taboo but beautiful
Tropes- step siblings (don’t say nothing), forbidden love, second chance
This is a one sitting type of book. I would have read it in one sitting if I didn’t have to work. I should have pulled a Greta and called out (IYKYK). This was tragically sad and beautiful and it consumed me. It made me FEEL like I was in the situations with them. I can’t even describe in words how much I loved Elec and Greta. They were step siblings but didn’t even know each other so you can call this taboo but I’m not listening to any negativity on this book. I laughed, I cried, I had heart palpitations for these characters and the angst and tension was unreal. The number 22 is my fav number and it has its own special moment in the book. Going into the next book on a high!
So WOW! It was a Sad, Beautiful, Tragic, story to read. A lot happened I LOVED Greta and Elec they were perfect for one another. It was obvious they were meant to be. I hate that h had to leave her I somewhat understand but I wish they had kept in contact. Their story was beautiful but painful. I am glad it work out and that they got their happy ending. <3 :D
Wow... There isn't many books that I can read in one sitting but this book sure was one. I hated having to put it down for even one second. I just can't begin to explain the awesomeness of this book. I was hooked from page 1. I don't think I ever laughed so hard or had my heart break so much in one book. Penelope you really done it... you made one of the best books I've ever read. SERIOUSLY. I totally loved Greta and Elec. I feel empty now that I'm finished, might have to re-read again. Again this book was beyond AMAZING. 5 stars... no way... I'm giving this book 10+ stars.
This is another annoyingly weird one. It’s super short, so I read it in less than a couple hours. I love taboo topics and am really not triggered by anything. I just finished watching My Fault and My Fault: London so clearly that trope had me.
This book, however, did not. Did it have a happy ending? Yes, it did which is why I am even here reviewing. But their relationship makes no sense because it was built on literally nothing (zero, other than family dinners, writing, talking about their parents, and playing a vague video game).
Meet Greta and Elec, angsty teens that are misunderstood and confused. Greta, naturally, is a Virgin and Elec, naturally, is an extremely experienced sex partner despite being a TEEN. Ridiculous. Penis ring? Ridiculous. Anyway, if there was more plot and better character development, I could see this being 3.5 stars. It does not take much to satisfy me with tropes, but this was just not it.
This book, however, did not. Did it have a happy ending? Yes, it did which is why I am even here reviewing. But their relationship makes no sense because it was built on literally nothing (zero, other than family dinners, writing, talking about their parents, and playing a vague video game).
Meet Greta and Elec, angsty teens that are misunderstood and confused. Greta, naturally, is a Virgin and Elec, naturally, is an extremely experienced sex partner despite being a TEEN. Ridiculous. Penis ring? Ridiculous. Anyway, if there was more plot and better character development, I could see this being 3.5 stars. It does not take much to satisfy me with tropes, but this was just not it.
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Feel good újraolvasás, mert az ordenáré trash borító ellenére ez az egyik kedvenc guilty pleasure könyvem valaha.