You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
dark
emotional
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
adventurous
mysterious
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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:
No
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
dark
emotional
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
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
fast-paced
・❥・another arrange marriage book where they fall for each other instantly. ✋😀 that and other random, trope-ish scenes that basically made up the entire book :(
this book follows a girl, sienna bruni, who is forced into a marriage with jamal (insert surname oop-). i honestly don't know what he does because i feel like it's unclear. i thought he was in the mafia at first but he can't just have a 3/4 person mafia now can he? that and apparently he's doing some vigilante shit idk. anyways, he makes sienna marry him by gate crashing her wedding to another man (that one was also arranged/forced, poor girly). however one thing about jamal is that gasp, his parents were killed in a fire! and he's been dedicated to capturing who killed them.
・❥・ thoughts and ideas about the plot & characters~
Sienna Bruni was not a greatly formed character. Frankly, it felt like the sort of character she was changed each chapter or page. she went from being fiery and mouthing off jamal to being like "are you ok boo?" in a too short time. as a character she is weakly built and if she was constructed properly it would have given more depth to the story, because i honestly can not figure her out. it's like the author just molded her to fit whatever trope she was writing every chapter. no. pls don't do that.
Jamal (insert surname here) was perhaps better crafted, but still weak. the primary thing about his character that is even mentioned in the blurb/authors teasers is that he's avenging his parents. if someone is avenging a dead person, you expect immense bitterness, anger and coldness from them right? jamal is none of that, lemme tell ya. if he IS, then it did not last long at all bc his thoughts constantly consumed sienna. (was that good? not really, I'll tell you later.) he was softcore and gave UwU vibes to the max; which didn;t match his vengeful motives.
sometimes romance authors make the mistake of giving their characters personalities that literally only consist of their s.o. and it honestly does not go well.
anyways... onto the plot and book overall
when i saw the map i gasped, because omg, i got so excited!!! i was so excited because i was so interested in this new island that the author created and i was so excited to learn about the whole environment and culture and all. but nope. we got none of that. and it actually really saddens me because the potential it HAD was astronomical. i was prepared for a tropical island vibes sorta mafia story. i know sienna already lived there but she could have just been too poor to explore it whatever and both of them could have explored it etc.
the romance between the characters overall felt... forced. their relationship was rushed, and we didn't get to see the beautiful development of it, and instead it was choppy. it felt as thought they became comfortable with each other too fast and not in a way that made sense. and because of this we missed milestones i love to see in forced/marriage of convenience trope books. the moment jamal saw sienna we didn't get much thought on his plans for revenge which ok, he's a simp, but it simply was not it. normally what happens is that the bitter mmc starts off with his thoughts consumed by vengeance but as the book goes on he SLOWLY starts getting distracted and he knows it and fights against it. my man jamal didn't quite give a shit, leading me to not care about his vengeance plans. they seemed like an add on tbh. also. the characters kept addressing the other as "my husband" or "my wife" in their pov, which is okay but it was from the START and was so overused. the phrase itself suggests acceptance, and did not belong in sienna's pov from the start if we;re gonna make this girl make sense. the phrase also is kind of endearing so it really depleted the angst. their whole romance didn't have MUCH angst to be frank; what would have improved it is if sienna was part of the enemy or something (ik it's cliche or whatever but it never NOT works).
i also highly believe sienna should have trust issues with men because of how her father was. her familial issues could have been more explored and given her a deeper background. however, we didn't get that but still knew about what a pos her father was. so it baffles me how she trusted/began caring for jamal so quickly especially since he also forced her to marry him. how quick they fucked was beyond me, considering she was a virgin.
it's not like she was a doormat either. but everytime she fought back it turned flirty and sexual like her arguments served the purpose of sexual tension (which to some extent it does, but at the start there is usually nothing of the sort because you are creating the whole beginning etc)
we were told too much and showed too little. the book was very short and i believe it could have been made longer with more chapters that would have thoroughly helped the book in terms of pacing and getting to know the characters more. things we missed were- jamal telling sienna they should share a bed (which is ABSOLUTELY BARBARIC.) and how the nature of their car rides evolved from being cold/distant to warm and full of talking.
in essence, i think the author rushed this book and published it fairly incomplete. HOWEVER, her debut was amazing and wasn't like this.
upon research i have come to the realisation that the french word "putain" alone means whore, which the author used like once and i was so confused. then it was used againbut in a sentence and in that context it meant 'damn' which really puzzled me and made me laugh.
next. the kidnapping of sienna was INCREDIBLY random. i know to some extent it might have been relevant but we just had to infer it because it seemed like the most plausible explanation. but overall there was no clear logical explanation other than mateo was jealous and didn't want anyone to have her if he couldn't. although he could have tried to have her and not resorted immediately to killing her instead . overall i think it was stupid.
the book was choppy, had off pacing and under written/developed.
what i DID like was the concept of the island and the amazing diversity. and omg i absolutely LOVED when jamal gate crashed, goddamn that iconic villain line really made me giggle.
I'm really sad this book didn't slay because i had been anticipating it but i still will be supporting this author cause she slays and it's only her 2nd book :)
・❥・official rating: 2.5 stars
if i read another character call their s.o. 'husband' or 'wife' i will off myself
this book follows a girl, sienna bruni, who is forced into a marriage with jamal (insert surname oop-). i honestly don't know what he does because i feel like it's unclear. i thought he was in the mafia at first but he can't just have a 3/4 person mafia now can he? that and apparently he's doing some vigilante shit idk. anyways, he makes sienna marry him by gate crashing her wedding to another man (that one was also arranged/forced, poor girly). however one thing about jamal is that gasp, his parents were killed in a fire! and he's been dedicated to capturing who killed them.
・❥・ thoughts and ideas about the plot & characters~
Sienna Bruni was not a greatly formed character. Frankly, it felt like the sort of character she was changed each chapter or page. she went from being fiery and mouthing off jamal to being like "are you ok boo?" in a too short time. as a character she is weakly built and if she was constructed properly it would have given more depth to the story, because i honestly can not figure her out. it's like the author just molded her to fit whatever trope she was writing every chapter. no. pls don't do that.
Jamal (insert surname here) was perhaps better crafted, but still weak. the primary thing about his character that is even mentioned in the blurb/authors teasers is that he's avenging his parents. if someone is avenging a dead person, you expect immense bitterness, anger and coldness from them right? jamal is none of that, lemme tell ya. if he IS, then it did not last long at all bc his thoughts constantly consumed sienna. (was that good? not really, I'll tell you later.) he was softcore and gave UwU vibes to the max; which didn;t match his vengeful motives.
sometimes romance authors make the mistake of giving their characters personalities that literally only consist of their s.o. and it honestly does not go well.
anyways... onto the plot and book overall
when i saw the map i gasped, because omg, i got so excited!!! i was so excited because i was so interested in this new island that the author created and i was so excited to learn about the whole environment and culture and all. but nope. we got none of that. and it actually really saddens me because the potential it HAD was astronomical. i was prepared for a tropical island vibes sorta mafia story. i know sienna already lived there but she could have just been too poor to explore it whatever and both of them could have explored it etc.
the romance between the characters overall felt... forced. their relationship was rushed, and we didn't get to see the beautiful development of it, and instead it was choppy. it felt as thought they became comfortable with each other too fast and not in a way that made sense. and because of this we missed milestones i love to see in forced/marriage of convenience trope books. the moment jamal saw sienna we didn't get much thought on his plans for revenge which ok, he's a simp, but it simply was not it. normally what happens is that the bitter mmc starts off with his thoughts consumed by vengeance but as the book goes on he SLOWLY starts getting distracted and he knows it and fights against it. my man jamal didn't quite give a shit, leading me to not care about his vengeance plans. they seemed like an add on tbh. also. the characters kept addressing the other as "my husband" or "my wife" in their pov, which is okay but it was from the START and was so overused. the phrase itself suggests acceptance, and did not belong in sienna's pov from the start if we;re gonna make this girl make sense. the phrase also is kind of endearing so it really depleted the angst. their whole romance didn't have MUCH angst to be frank; what would have improved it is if sienna was part of the enemy or something (ik it's cliche or whatever but it never NOT works).
i also highly believe sienna should have trust issues with men because of how her father was. her familial issues could have been more explored and given her a deeper background. however, we didn't get that but still knew about what a pos her father was. so it baffles me how she trusted/began caring for jamal so quickly especially since he also forced her to marry him. how quick they fucked was beyond me, considering she was a virgin.
it's not like she was a doormat either. but everytime she fought back it turned flirty and sexual like her arguments served the purpose of sexual tension (which to some extent it does, but at the start there is usually nothing of the sort because you are creating the whole beginning etc)
we were told too much and showed too little. the book was very short and i believe it could have been made longer with more chapters that would have thoroughly helped the book in terms of pacing and getting to know the characters more. things we missed were- jamal telling sienna they should share a bed (which is ABSOLUTELY BARBARIC.) and how the nature of their car rides evolved from being cold/distant to warm and full of talking.
in essence, i think the author rushed this book and published it fairly incomplete. HOWEVER, her debut was amazing and wasn't like this.
upon research i have come to the realisation that the french word "putain" alone means whore, which the author used like once and i was so confused. then it was used againbut in a sentence and in that context it meant 'damn' which really puzzled me and made me laugh.
next. the
the book was choppy, had off pacing and under written/developed.
what i DID like was the concept of the island and the amazing diversity. and omg i absolutely LOVED when jamal gate crashed, goddamn that iconic villain line really made me giggle.
I'm really sad this book didn't slay because i had been anticipating it but i still will be supporting this author cause she slays and it's only her 2nd book :)
・❥・official rating: 2.5 stars
if i read another character call their s.o. 'husband' or 'wife' i will off myself