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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
tense
fast-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
This book started off INTENSE with some SA triggers. However it kinda flipped and became less intense which was good. I definitely was confused how the ending got to where it did, but overall a decent enemies to lovers book.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh man I did not enjoy this book at all. I hated Carter and I hated Zoey. They were both terrible people and awful to each other.
I know Carter is supposed to be a bad guy anti hero etc etc and I totally get that from him. But he for real threatened to rape Zoey in the first chapter if she didn’t blow him. Then he forced sex on her when she had said no numerous times. At least make her want it first otherwise it leans way too far into the non-con territory. But honestly Zoey enabled him so much. Sure get drunk at a party and go to a bedroom with him everything will be fine. If she really meant no she should have not kept putting herself into these dumb situations. I’m not saying he’s ok to do these things but you don’t have to make it easier for him!!! Grace’s puppy was too far that’s messed up. Thankfully he wasn’t hurt at all and she got him back but who does that. Towards the end I actually started to feel bad for Carter because all Zoey did was talk about his future wife and how they wouldn’t be together and bro was just trying to have a future with her. I get that she was pissed about the Erika thing and I totally feel that but don’t string him along. Either leave him or don’t but don’t toy with him just to get him to grovel. I love how she was so defeated acting about their future until Carter said he got her into Columbia and his dad would pay. Then she was all sunshine and roses and sounded marginally like a gold digger. I honestly wonder if Carter didn’t turn all “I want to be with you so much” and just kept being the rapey jock Zoey called him, would she still be with him? Was she just into him forcing her? Honestly their interactions just made zero sense to me.
I had heard such good things about this book and ultimately it wasn’t for me. That was 100% because I didn’t like the characters and unrelated to this being a dark romance or Carter being who he was. They were just terrible people back and forth to each other and it drove me bonkers. Why can’t they just communicate with each other??
I had heard such good things about this book and ultimately it wasn’t for me. That was 100% because I didn’t like the characters and unrelated to this being a dark romance or Carter being who he was. They were just terrible people back and forth to each other and it drove me bonkers. Why can’t they just communicate with each other??
Idk this is the second Sam Mariano book I've tried, and so far I can't really get into her heroes. Funny thing is I think I've seen most reviewers complain about the heroines being naive/dumb? I guess my tolerance for that is pretty high, and I even kinda enjoy this trope most of the time.
My problem is when a hero's entire personality is being so cocky and confident that he is just completely unbothered by everything the heroine does. Like I get that's part of the gig right, the male hero has all the power and is able to manipulate the heroine into doing whatever he wants, but my problem is even when the main couple seem to get close, and this doesn't really change. And throughout the book, there is no real sense that the hero is emotionally effected by the heroine. I'm not even asking for the heroine to get a win or get one over on the hero, just some indication to let us know that this whole endeavor of ruining her life actually means something to him. If he already gets everything he wants, and this is just one more thing, then this isn't be fun for him nor the reader?
I think the whole point is this is supposed to be implied. Like when he says "I've never thought about a girl like this, no one else has ever kept my attention for this long" yada yada yada. But I want both. I want the hero to say this, and then also seem somewhat emotionally distressed by this fact?? Like if its true that this is the first time it's happened shouldn't the hero kinda be fucked up over it? Idk.
I'm gonna go ahead and blame Sam & Angel for their Royals of Forsythe Series. I think they've just made me have unreasonably high standards for bully trope books lol. Killian Payne is the perfect example of what this type of hero should be, in my opinion. He can get anything he wants, he really wants the girl, he can't have her and trying harder pushes her away. He does some messed up shit, but its almost like he is as emotionally distraught, frustrated and introspective over the whole interaction as she is. Like he wants it to be as easy as everything else in his life (or maybe he doesn't?), but it can't be. He also realizes that he doesn't want her to just say she belongs to him, but he really wants her really and entirely.
I don't know, after writing all of this, I think I'm realizing I just want character growth for the hero? I don't think a "Killian Payne" is the only way to achieve this, but Mariano's heros definitely miss this mark for me...
My problem is when a hero's entire personality is being so cocky and confident that he is just completely unbothered by everything the heroine does. Like I get that's part of the gig right, the male hero has all the power and is able to manipulate the heroine into doing whatever he wants, but my problem is even when the main couple seem to get close, and this doesn't really change. And throughout the book, there is no real sense that the hero is emotionally effected by the heroine. I'm not even asking for the heroine to get a win or get one over on the hero, just some indication to let us know that this whole endeavor of ruining her life actually means something to him. If he already gets everything he wants, and this is just one more thing, then this isn't be fun for him nor the reader?
I think the whole point is this is supposed to be implied. Like when he says "I've never thought about a girl like this, no one else has ever kept my attention for this long" yada yada yada. But I want both. I want the hero to say this, and then also seem somewhat emotionally distressed by this fact?? Like if its true that this is the first time it's happened shouldn't the hero kinda be fucked up over it? Idk.
I'm gonna go ahead and blame Sam & Angel for their Royals of Forsythe Series. I think they've just made me have unreasonably high standards for bully trope books lol. Killian Payne is the perfect example of what this type of hero should be, in my opinion. He can get anything he wants, he really wants the girl, he can't have her and trying harder pushes her away. He does some messed up shit, but its almost like he is as emotionally distraught, frustrated and introspective over the whole interaction as she is. Like he wants it to be as easy as everything else in his life (or maybe he doesn't?), but it can't be. He also realizes that he doesn't want her to just say she belongs to him, but he really wants her really and entirely.
I don't know, after writing all of this, I think I'm realizing I just want character growth for the hero? I don't think a "Killian Payne" is the only way to achieve this, but Mariano's heros definitely miss this mark for me...
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reread countless times.
This story works for me on every level. This isn’t your average bully novel. Sam has sprinkled gold dust all over it.
When we open, the first chapters may determine your journey through this book. Zoe and Carter are thrust together because his teammate has assaulted Zoe and she calls him out on it. In small town Texas, high school football is god tier. And when you put an accusation out against one of the players, you put one out against them all.
Carter and Zoe do not have a meet cute. It opens with an assault. But soon after…Carter becomes obsessed with Zoey…and Zoey isn’t about take any of his shit. But while that starts the story, we soon begin a relationship of Zoe trying to pull back the psychological layers that make up Carter Mahoney.
Make no mistake, Sam Mariano creates anti-heroes who are unapologetic, obsessive, sociopathic, and rarely change their ways. Quite often the FMC has to unravel the web of the hero’s psychopathic tendencies And I’m here for it. Sam knows how to make these characters blow through the pages. This goes beyond a HS bully romance and moves more into the unmasking of the hero and how yhe FMC can meet them where they at with a deeper understanding.
Forever 5 stars
This story works for me on every level. This isn’t your average bully novel. Sam has sprinkled gold dust all over it.
When we open, the first chapters may determine your journey through this book. Zoe and Carter are thrust together because his teammate has assaulted Zoe and she calls him out on it. In small town Texas, high school football is god tier. And when you put an accusation out against one of the players, you put one out against them all.
Carter and Zoe do not have a meet cute. It opens with an assault. But soon after…Carter becomes obsessed with Zoey…and Zoey isn’t about take any of his shit. But while that starts the story, we soon begin a relationship of Zoe trying to pull back the psychological layers that make up Carter Mahoney.
Make no mistake, Sam Mariano creates anti-heroes who are unapologetic, obsessive, sociopathic, and rarely change their ways. Quite often the FMC has to unravel the web of the hero’s psychopathic tendencies And I’m here for it. Sam knows how to make these characters blow through the pages. This goes beyond a HS bully romance and moves more into the unmasking of the hero and how yhe FMC can meet them where they at with a deeper understanding.
Forever 5 stars
The beginning is pretty appalling, what Carter does to Zoey (I kept forgetting her name), but it all kinda mellows out from there. The first third is the most entertaining, then it just levels out and there's a bit of melodrama. Mostly the main character can't trust him and he mostly is straight honest. I was expecting something more shocking or unconventional, but this was pretty oaint-by-the-numbers. Rich pushy asshole H insists on having the h by any means, dirty or not. There's some push and pull them they realize their feelings and there are a few road bumps on the way to HEA. I think Zoey was logical at the start, then her brain just fell off the cliff and she started just lusting for Carter. She basically had a brain transplant to make what he does seem ok. Carter does give initial red flags but then he really becomes vanilla and boring. Rich, paving your way through life, possessive. He'll do sketchy things but it's just window dressing to make him seem edgy. The h is always poor in these stories too, all the better for the obscenely rich H to first blackmail and force her, then to help her out. There's also a weird underlying message that being with Zoey fixed Carter's issues.
I didnt want to, but I was convinced, at least for the heroine. I dont know. I enjoyed it, some parts i was horrified at, some i really hated, some i just skimmed because it was long, some parts i laughed at, some i liked, some i really liked, some i rolled my eyes at, but at the end, it's a decent read.