Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not so much a review of the book as it is the genre. This is probably my first dark romance book that’s published. Dark romance feels like the most natural progression from most fanfics and this definitely reminds me of the fanfics of my youth.
However, the thing I think Katee Robert is doing well with the genre that’s a little different than what you see in, say, contemporary erotic novels is using the sex as a story telling mechanism.
If you look at this book and think “the major relationship and tension growth moments will be sex scenes instead of dialogue or action” things start to make a lot of sense. I think Katee Robert does a good job of telling a story and unveiling character dynamics and attributes within this mechanism as well.
So, right away, if having those plot beats and relationship moments told in smut rather than dialogue gives you the ick…this is not the genre for you. BUT if you don’t mind that, there’s definitely some themes that work better than others for this genre.
In this story, Yasmina is a character who starts off with low self confidence, a lot of natural talent and skillsets that have not been nurtured, and an emerging sense of her own desires in comparison to what she thinks she should want.
Her journey takes her through gaining confidence, understanding things she wants, learning about the complex nature of competing desires when other people are involved, and being able to actually speak to all of that. Smut is actually a great mechanism to explore all of those ideas. Healthy sexual partnerships include all of these things and have similarly big consequences for taking risks and failing.
The sexual awakening of Yasmina follows her overall journey of becoming an independent adult and a leader and felt like a well thought out plot.
That being said-for the content itself: explicit (obviously). Besides being a good plot device, there is plenty of gratuitous and fantastical descriptions that would allow for great escapism if that’s what you’re looking for.
For world building, this takes place in a world where sex/sexual relationships are like assassins in the John Wick world: everywhere and very much a huge part of the economy. It’s a very mafia based society and there’s just enough world building to provide a clear picture and create some ground rules, but not so much going on that you feel like there are plot lines that aren’t being explored or that there are holes with the twists and turns that appear. It felt balanced and seems like a great way to introduce the other “mob bosses” and their dynamics in later books that will be interconnected, but likely largely isolated to not make things a mess.
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
fast-paced
This is everything I expect and more from a KR book, take my money
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is my first Katee Robert novel, a modern, villainous retelling the the Haus of Maus's version of Aladdin, with Jafar and Yasmina as the main characters, rather than Aladdin and Jasmine. It really seems to nicely set the table for her world. I like how it insists at the rounded-ness of characters we see as "evil," especially for the BookTok and cliterature girlies in us all.
Highly highly recommended.
Highly highly recommended.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book took a while for me to get into. I liked the play on the classic fairytale and how they transitioned into the real world. But I feel like it didn't show Jafar and Yasmina's past relationship enough, and it was just too much spice scenes for me. It had the plot to back it up in some aspects as the world and side characters were interesting. I also had a cool aditipn that had author notes, which gave a cool insight to the story, but it just was okay for me. There was just not enough balancing for me, even with the writing being good, so most likely not reading the next book.
2.5 Stars
I actually really liked the end of this book. Seeing Jasmine get her power back was the best ending Katee Robert could have written imo. However, I didn't love the book. It felt a lot longer than it should have and a lot of the spicy scenes made me uncomfortable. I don't think there was enough conversation around the activities and the relationship felt underdeveloped.
I actually really liked the end of this book. Seeing Jasmine get her power back was the best ending Katee Robert could have written imo. However, I didn't love the book. It felt a lot longer than it should have and a lot of the spicy scenes made me uncomfortable. I don't think there was enough conversation around the activities and the relationship felt underdeveloped.