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3.67 AVERAGE

maura_the_explorer's profile picture

maura_the_explorer's review

4.5
adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
adventurous relaxing slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
adventurous dark 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
emsavidge's profile picture

emsavidge's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 12%

The erotica mafiaesc setting with weird fantasy worldbuildjng just doesn’t gel. Like this world was separated from another part because a magical map got ripped, that’s far too whimsical. Also sushi exists in this setting which is such a weird anacronism. Maybe I’ll give this author’s vampire series a try instead.
dark emotional funny tense fast-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: No
adventurous funny 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

I admittedly had trouble understanding the world this is set in. I thought it was more of a fantasy setting at first, but there are motorcycles, katanas, and sex clubs, in addition to magic that infuses all sorts of things like houses/castles and tattoos. The fashion seems modern. So I guess it's a mix? A modern society post world-altering event that splits what once was one region into two. And the culture, I'm confused about too. One of the main characters is an assassin and the other is a poisoner/apothecary, and both of them use magic. I still don't really get it, but I'm here for the characters and romance, so shrugged it off.

I quite liked the characters and their banter. Quinn and Scarlett do have chemistry, though the sheer number of times they ogle and drool over each other leans on the high side of "a bit much" for my personal taste. Every time they look at each other, they get lost in sexual fantasies, and I'd rather some of that word count go toward other aspects of their relationship that show how well they go together outside of sex. I would have liked to get an idea of how they would be as a couple. Don't get me wrong, I love couples who have the hots for each other, but I wanted more than "she likes that she's angry" and "she likes that she's dominant", they want to have sex all the time, the one gets jealous and protective, and the other likes her body heat and feels safe with her, so they must be in love, right?

Speaking of the sex. Dirty talk is fine, but if characters are going to mention spanking and threatening to punish each other all the time (which they did a LOT), but then proceed to have fairly vanilla sex with maybe a set of handcuffs one time, it doesn't live up to the promise. Especially considering how often they have sex. The way the characters talked to each other led me to expect more power play and more generally kinky sex. We don't get that. The most we get is the aforementioned handcuffs, and in the bonus story after the epilogue about how the main characters meet (which may have been the original beginning to the book but was then cut/reworked), there's public sex and voyeurism. The actual sex scenes are okay, but not particularly memorable.

One nice thing though, is that they have very different body types, and Scarlett (in the bonus story about them meeting) is quick to banish the insecurity Quinn initially has about her curvier body. That was nice. And I appreciate that Quinn (in the main story) is confident about her curls and curves.

I know it sounds like a lot of criticism, but I did enjoy this book overall. Quinn and Scarlett's back-and-forth is fun, the heist is a good background for putting them together, and the secondary characters are interesting. Maybe it's the Bioware lover in me, but I really, really liked Morrigan. I want to know more about her relationship with Quinn's sister, Stirling. Hopefully their history and potential for getting back together is explored more in the sequels, because I have a feeling I may enjoy their story more than this one.

I'm pretty sure the audiobook narrators have the same accent as Isabela from the Dragon Age games and I love listening to it.

It took me three tries to actually start this book because the beginning is so cringe. It seemed like the author was trying really hard to be vulgar and edgy, and didn’t quite pull it off in an enjoyable way imo. The relationship narrative got a bit repetitive at times, but I ended up really liking the story line which is why I’m giving it three stars.
adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Es entretenido pero siento que la trama está por todos lados y que a veces funciona como recurso para el smut en lugar de que sea al revés. Hay un guionazo sacado de la manga al final que fue lo que me hizo dejar de disfrutarlo pero aún así es una lectura recomendable

my god i loved this book.
I ate it up faster than Scarlett and Quinn