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whatsmacksaid's review
DNF principally because the narrator's voice was too bland to keep me interested.
kplight's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this book. The tension between island and march was A+
isitcake's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Dislikes:
1) Around 75% I thought huh I wonder what the other books in the series are about since shouldn't this wrap up in an HAE? Nope. First sentence of 2nd book's description is how March jilted her. So fuck i ruined the ending of this book for myself. 2) UGH I don't want to read infinite more books to see if they get together damnit AND it ends on a cliffhanger since we and Island don't know what it means, the thing he whispered in her ear.
Likes:
This book was hilarious at times. When Island tells the pilot Nick not to use the money for drugs lmao. And then when Antonio is the trunk of the car and she gets him to be released.
Island is a coder when she's taken from her home by March, a South African hitman. He tries to lightly torture her but when gets a vomit-inducing migraine he looks guilty and stops. The next day when she wakes up she tries to go to the police but March prevents her.
March and the criminal underworld are after her for information on this world's biggest diamond that her now-dead mother Lea stole. Island helps March track down its location as she remembers small details about her past growing up in Paris and Tokyo.
The full story seems to be that her mom stole this giant diamond from the "Queen" (some underworld head, of the "Board"?) after her lover, Dries, encouraged her to do so. She had a complicated relationship with Dries, and it's confirmed that he's Island's biological father but he's not father material so Lea 'selected' Simon to be her father instead and that's who Island has been living with since her mom died at age 15. Her mom disappeared with the diamond into a dense area of Tokyo but Dries tracked her down. His sniper "accidentally" shot Lea in the head while driving, with Island in the car. Island would have died too as the car was burning but March disobeyed orders and saved her. This is also what prompted him to leave the Lions - this group of trained hitman/soldiers that Dries was/is training to like take over the world or whatever. March now works directly for the Board. When the Board put out this job to capture Island and get her to reveal where the diamond is, he got involved without pay to solve it in order to protect her too. But in the end after they recover the diamond he leaves her because he's too messed up and knows their lives wouldn't work. He's not going to stop being a hitman and she's an innocent (literally, she's still a virgin at the end of this book).
There's sooo much that happens in this book it's hard to summarize. I loved all the side characters. There's March's backstory with Kalahari. March himself having really bad OCD. The app-enabled bazooka and Antonio coming back to shoot it. Island stuffing a peanut up the nose of the notary, Etienne, as "torture" to get him to talk (lmfao). The scene with Rislow about to torture her, naked, on his table and him sticking his finger in her to discover she still has a hymen (this was a bit ridiculous) but then March saves her.
But gah I hate that this ends on a cliffhanger that March gives the diamond back to the Queen and he leaves Island. But before Etienne died he whispered "I2000009" into her ear. And we don't know what it means!
1) Around 75% I thought huh I wonder what the other books in the series are about since shouldn't this wrap up in an HAE? Nope. First sentence of 2nd book's description is how March jilted her. So fuck i ruined the ending of this book for myself. 2) UGH I don't want to read infinite more books to see if they get together damnit AND it ends on a cliffhanger since we and Island don't know what it means, the thing he whispered in her ear.
Likes:
This book was hilarious at times. When Island tells the pilot Nick not to use the money for drugs lmao. And then when Antonio is the trunk of the car and she gets him to be released.
March and the criminal underworld are after her for information on this world's biggest diamond that her now-dead mother Lea stole. Island helps March track down its location as she remembers small details about her past growing up in Paris and Tokyo.
The full story seems to be that her mom stole this giant diamond from the "Queen" (some underworld head, of the "Board"?) after her lover, Dries, encouraged her to do so. She had a complicated relationship with Dries, and it's confirmed that he's Island's biological father but he's not father material so Lea 'selected' Simon to be her father instead and that's who Island has been living with since her mom died at age 15. Her mom disappeared with the diamond into a dense area of Tokyo but Dries tracked her down. His sniper "accidentally" shot Lea in the head while driving, with Island in the car. Island would have died too as the car was burning but March disobeyed orders and saved her. This is also what prompted him to leave the Lions - this group of trained hitman/soldiers that Dries was/is training to like take over the world or whatever. March now works directly for the Board. When the Board put out this job to capture Island and get her to reveal where the diamond is, he got involved without pay to solve it in order to protect her too. But in the end after they recover the diamond he leaves her because he's too messed up and knows their lives wouldn't work. He's not going to stop being a hitman and she's an innocent (literally, she's still a virgin at the end of this book).
There's sooo much that happens in this book it's hard to summarize. I loved all the side characters. There's March's backstory with Kalahari. March himself having really bad OCD. The app-enabled bazooka and Antonio coming back to shoot it. Island stuffing a peanut up the nose of the notary, Etienne, as "torture" to get him to talk (lmfao). The scene with Rislow about to torture her, naked, on his table and him sticking his finger in her to discover she still has a hymen (this was a bit ridiculous) but then March saves her.
But gah I hate that this ends on a cliffhanger that March gives the diamond back to the Queen and he leaves Island. But before Etienne died he whispered "I2000009" into her ear. And we don't know what it means!
mrssmithreadsrom's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Several things bothered me about this book:
1) The author is clearly a witty individual, but the jokes and lackadaisical attitude of the heroine cut into the mystery, leaving me feeling like we weren’t really supposed to understand, just enjoy the chase and shooting.
2) There is blatant sexual assault & torture that is glazed over and even joked about.
3) The heroine, Island, was so dense at times, super naive at others, and wish-washy all the time. Because she had little interest in trying to keep up with what was going on, I did too.
The hero is the only thing I truly enjoyed about this book. I am a SUCKER for a strong and silent type, especially if he’s a bad guy with a cinnamon roll heart—and March fit all those boxes for me. The chemistry he had with Island was well laid out and definitely has promise for future books, but <<SPOILER ALERT>>
They don’t end up together at the end of this book. Not even in a “I’m terrible for you but I cherish you enough to play this out and see where is goes.” He just leaves and she’s just like “oh well, okay.”
Frankly put, to me this felt like a comedic action movie with little to no plot and a hint of romantic longing. I’m not interested in continuing the series.
1) The author is clearly a witty individual, but the jokes and lackadaisical attitude of the heroine cut into the mystery, leaving me feeling like we weren’t really supposed to understand, just enjoy the chase and shooting.
2) There is blatant sexual assault & torture that is glazed over and even joked about.
3) The heroine, Island, was so dense at times, super naive at others, and wish-washy all the time. Because she had little interest in trying to keep up with what was going on, I did too.
The hero is the only thing I truly enjoyed about this book. I am a SUCKER for a strong and silent type, especially if he’s a bad guy with a cinnamon roll heart—and March fit all those boxes for me. The chemistry he had with Island was well laid out and definitely has promise for future books, but <<SPOILER ALERT>>
They don’t end up together at the end of this book. Not even in a “I’m terrible for you but I cherish you enough to play this out and see where is goes.” He just leaves and she’s just like “oh well, okay.”
Frankly put, to me this felt like a comedic action movie with little to no plot and a hint of romantic longing. I’m not interested in continuing the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, and Gun violence
Moderate: Death of parent
curls's review
5.0
Hilarious romantic spy comedy. And yes, hilarious and comedy may be redundant but I was thoroughly entertained.
And the entire series is free right now on Amazon.
And the entire series is free right now on Amazon.
elliered's review
3.0
I liked it.... but some of her reactions are not believable (I understand if it was shock but you cannot suppress everything forever). The crying maybeeeeee an attempt to show how affected she is by everything? But it still seems unbelievable to me. However it was still an engaging read and I will try the second book
dewey007's review
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Such a fun read. Iam invested in the characters enough to go on??
karathagan's review
Too creepy and absurd when the stranger in MC's house tries to casually restrain her by deftly....pulling down her tights and underwear?? I strongly disliked the introduction of the characters to each other, and then there's a terribly wooden and cheesy scene where she is almost tortured. I couldn't appreciate any person, any conversation, or any motivations/reactions in this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Sexual assault
frackthegods's review against another edition
5.0
Love love love this book. It's got everything, comedy, romance, action. I will be recommending this to everyone. Super excited for book two, in the midsts of listening to it now. I feel like this is how a series of books should be. I was totally cool with how the first book ended and had expected it to be a stand alone story but finding out there was a second got super excited cause I really liked the writing style/voice of the character. Love the made up book quotes at the beginning of each chapter.
I look forward to more stories by this author.
I look forward to more stories by this author.