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dark
emotional
tense
slow-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:
Complicated
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this story! Nicole’s development from when she was younger to her in this book was so good. Her and Daniel’s story was so beautiful. The story, the tension, the banter, the spice all so well done! My favorite of the empire books!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual assault
Minor: Death
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Violence
slow-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
I don’t remember ever disliking a main character as much as I dislike Daniel.
He’s such a dick to Nicole.
Treats her like garbage.
Tells her kid brother that him calling her a nickname is juvenile and he needs to stop (who gave you the right to dictate that?)
Is constantly pushing her to her very limits so she’ll quit. He didn’t even let up on that much when he found out the reason why she desperately needs the job.
AND it’s borderline non-con! She was very obviously brutally raped in the past. She has some trauma to that and flipped out when he tried to get intimate with her. She would get all stiff and scared for a moment beforehand. Which btw, he said fuck no to when she tried to tell him to stop and she had tears down her face and everything, and he just continued. WTF?!
This entire book is based off of miscommunication and the fact 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻‘𝘁 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞 to each other.
So I’m also not believing how this is a second chance romance because they were never actually together…. Just slept together one night while hating or avoiding each other the rest of the time. Unrequited love, maybe, but not second chance.
I was done with this book at around 2/3 through when Jays parentage was revealed. Done with it and especially done with Daniel. Nicole was thrown in to a PTSD flashback, and what did Daniel do? 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗘𝗗 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 to get answers from her for why she panics sometimes before they’re together. I only continued reading the book to see if there was going to be even a shred of redemption by the end.
That was a no, in case you’re wondering.
This whole book was annoyingly stupid, made even more so because they spent the entire book not actually talking to each other. In the end, he said he had always loved her, proposed to her while on a hospital bed and of course she accepted. Because of course, book characters can immediately forget how hurtful and toxic someone they love had been to them.
I will willingly say I regret this book. No redeeming qualities. Don’t say the love of your life is the queen of your life yet treat her like trash for most of your lives together. I’m so mad I read this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, Car accident
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i loved, loved, LOVED nicole stephanie adler. she was such a beautiful, strong, badass fmc. she truly had one of the best redemption arcs ever written by rk. seeing her have everything she ever wanted in her life made my whole heart melt <3
as for daniel… i’m still undecided. don’t know if i want to throttle him or hug him. the only reason i tolerated him in the end was because of his big love confession. that was truly one of rk’s best work.
that being said, for a good 90% of the story, he didn’t deserve her, which pissed me off tremendously. hence the average rating.
usually i hate when it’s a second chance romance and the mmcs sleep with anyone in their vicinity after the mcs split up while the fmc doesn’t but the fmc in this story was valid for abstaining for over a decade. so for the people mad nicole didn’t sleep around in the ~11 years they were apart while daniel was a fuckboy and whoring around, did you not read or empathize that nicole was SA’d by another character? she became deeply traumatized when it came to s3x. rekindling with daniel helped her heal from those triggers and he helped her enjoy s3x again. i think some of y’all don’t truly understand or care about the characters’–explicit and implicit–feelings when reading.
anywho i had to get that off my chest because i saw so many complaints about that in other reviews. anyways rant over, bye.
as for daniel… i’m still undecided. don’t know if i want to throttle him or hug him. the only reason i tolerated him in the end was because of his big love confession. that was truly one of rk’s best work.
that being said, for a good 90% of the story, he didn’t deserve her, which pissed me off tremendously. hence the average rating.
usually i hate when it’s a second chance romance and the mmcs sleep with anyone in their vicinity after the mcs split up while the fmc doesn’t but the fmc in this story was valid for abstaining for over a decade. so for the people mad nicole didn’t sleep around in the ~11 years they were apart while daniel was a fuckboy and whoring around, did you not read or empathize that nicole was SA’d by another character? she became deeply traumatized when it came to s3x. rekindling with daniel helped her heal from those triggers and he helped her enjoy s3x again. i think some of y’all don’t truly understand or care about the characters’–explicit and implicit–feelings when reading.
anywho i had to get that off my chest because i saw so many complaints about that in other reviews. anyways rant over, bye.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence
Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was ecstatic to see people from RES again! Hi Astrid, Levi and all other boys in their group chat. At first I thought I was never going to like this book much because how much of a bitch Nicole was in the Cruel King but I ended up liking this book. I like how the grown up Nicole learned that she was acting like a real bitch to Astrid back in the days and she realized her bitchy altitudes were not right and that potentially created a lot of negative influences on her relationships with many people. Nicole turned out to be a brave woman who raised her brother on her own while having to work her butt off to provide financial support for her small family. The grown up version of Nicole was too good for the grown up version of Daniel. He was mean to her at first but I understand why as he believed that he was betrayed by Nicole and was played by her when he saw her “having sex” with Chris. (By the way Chris deserved that ending with being castrated for physical punishment.) However I was not too satisfied with the abrupt ending like how Daniel was still hanging onto his insecurities and how they must do a third act break up when we were only 30 pages away from the end.
Heat: 🔥🔥🔥 (They were very vanilla compared to the other couples written by Rina Kent)
Heat: 🔥🔥🔥 (They were very vanilla compared to the other couples written by Rina Kent)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Child abuse, Rape
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship
dark
emotional
slow-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:
Yes
This one was way too enemies to lovers for me. There was just so much animosity between them that I couldn't see how on earth they could love one another. Like it made no sense to me, sure they had sexual chemistry but as for love I didn't see it. I've read alot of Rina Kents books but this one was by far the roughest to get into, I just didn't really see how Nicole could be redeemed after everything and just because she also had a hard time doesn't automatically erase everything she did for no real reason. I just didn't really believe that Dan and Nicole were end game and couldn't understand why they started hating one another to begin with. I wish Dans book had of been better because I really loved him in royal elites. The only reason this book gets 3.5 is because I got to read about the old gang again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Violence
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Well.. now this was a rollercoaster 🎢.
I quite liked the book and I start to understand why Dan is hated though from one side I do see his point of view, personally I'm not against him, I just slightly dislike or maybe I'm kind of disappointed in certain actions. I was fine with the way he was till their relationship became serious and he was aware of what he actually felt. But I don't blame him either.
Let's talk about Nicole.
Her character was so different from Cruel King and her past was really sad maybe between the saddest in the universe.. She's really strong and the fact that she raised Jayden all by herself in a whole other country all alone without support>>>
As for Daniel, well I feel like we could've explored his character more than that but whatever.. I liked him and disliked him + most of the time I had a blank face on it not sure about how to react. Overall we had fun.
When it comes to their relationship, I have mixed feelings about it. It's not about them being together.. I mean..after all that happened just let them be finally together. I don't know honestly, just..something felt amiss.
I'm kind of disappointed we didn't see more of him and Knox, he literally appeared twice for 2 seconds but I was happy we saw Astrid once again with Levi and "met" Lan,Bran and Glyn.
BTW THE WHOLE UNCLE HENRY THING MADE ME TEAR UP I'M SO HAPPY FOR ALL OF THEM.
As for Christopher, trash I remember him, trash he remained.
Oh and I was so happy when Kyle made an appearance!! Ana too!
This book may as well be a 5 star but I'm gonna give it a 4/4.5 because of personal disappointments but nothing much.
(just in case of misunderstandings the content warnings aren't about mmc)
I quite liked the book and I start to understand why Dan is hated though from one side I do see his point of view, personally I'm not against him, I just slightly dislike or maybe I'm kind of disappointed in certain actions. I was fine with the way he was till their relationship became serious and he was aware of what he actually felt. But I don't blame him either.
Let's talk about Nicole.
Her character was so different from Cruel King and her past was really sad maybe between the saddest in the universe.. She's really strong and the fact that she raised Jayden all by herself in a whole other country all alone without support>>>
As for Daniel, well I feel like we could've explored his character more than that but whatever.. I liked him and disliked him + most of the time I had a blank face on it not sure about how to react. Overall we had fun.
When it comes to their relationship, I have mixed feelings about it. It's not about them being together.. I mean..after all that happened just let them be finally together. I don't know honestly, just..something felt amiss.
I'm kind of disappointed we didn't see more of him and Knox, he literally appeared twice for 2 seconds but I was happy we saw Astrid once again with Levi and "met" Lan,Bran and Glyn.
BTW THE WHOLE UNCLE HENRY THING MADE ME TEAR UP I'M SO HAPPY FOR ALL OF THEM.
As for Christopher, trash I remember him, trash he remained.
Oh and I was so happy when Kyle made an appearance!! Ana too!
This book may as well be a 5 star but I'm gonna give it a 4/4.5 because of personal disappointments but nothing much.
(just in case of misunderstandings the content warnings aren't about mmc)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault
Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Car accident, Death of parent