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bookcrushers 's review for:
The Pact
by Karina Halle
1 star
Yeah, you read that right. 1 freaking star. I may be a bit of a picky bitch but it's actually very rare for me to rate a book this low. If you wanna know why, there are a lot of negative reviews for this one floating out there already, and I'll pretty much agree with everything they say so I'm not going out of my way here to pick this book apart. Having said that, I'm going to have to vent at least some because it's been a very long time since a book has pissed me off to this degree. I wish I could get those 5 hours of my life back. I mean, seriously? I put off Mortal Instruments for this crap?
I think this is one of those cases where the book cover is just so pretty and the blurb so well done, you can't help but be giddy with excitement at cracking open the damn thing. I don't know exactly what I expected but something along the lines of fireworks, and some well done angst, hot sex and yes a big deal about this so called "pact". I also expected a slow burning friends-to-lovers story.
So forget all those expectations. What did I get instead? A hero with balls the size of tiny marbles, a bunch of idiotic 30 year olds that behaved more like they were in freaking highschool and a romance that was so meh, I was wondering all the time what the big fuss about this Karina Halle chick is. Keep in mind this is my first book by her. Boy, it seems I picked the wrong book. Anyway, the fact that these two were banging other peeps for the first half of the book didn't bother me. I still had hope for the second half. And then things get so convoluted I couldn't help but wonder whether I was reading a badly written YA romance instead of a romance about grown ass people already in their damn 30s.
I HATED the plot, HATED the lack of chemistry, HATED the forced denial (I mean seriously, it was obvious they wanted each other, and they kept waltzing around the issue like damn pre-teens, and being all scaredy and denialy) At one point I wanted to bitch-slap Stephanie and actually kept groaning COME ON. It was so obvious that Linden DID want her and she was all like... "oh my" what if he doesn't? I think I nearly popped an eye at that point from rolling them so much.
And Linden..., and I HATED the very convenient plot device thrown at the end. There was also the very convenient truth or dare stuff in the beginning that made me wonder if I was reading the right genre. In all reeked of lazy writing. That thing in the end that brings people back together, I was wow, tons of lack of creativity.
Obviously, this absolutely did not work for me. There were a couple of hot sex scenes thrown in there, but even the dirty talk felt cheesy at times. Overall it was like watching a Friends rerun if the writing had been subpar quality and they had still been in junior high. The idea of the pact was so good and it completely fell flat. I wish someone did this premise justice because it's actually a pretty cool premise, just not at all well realized here. That's freaking all.
Yeah, you read that right. 1 freaking star. I may be a bit of a picky bitch but it's actually very rare for me to rate a book this low. If you wanna know why, there are a lot of negative reviews for this one floating out there already, and I'll pretty much agree with everything they say so I'm not going out of my way here to pick this book apart. Having said that, I'm going to have to vent at least some because it's been a very long time since a book has pissed me off to this degree. I wish I could get those 5 hours of my life back. I mean, seriously? I put off Mortal Instruments for this crap?
I think this is one of those cases where the book cover is just so pretty and the blurb so well done, you can't help but be giddy with excitement at cracking open the damn thing. I don't know exactly what I expected but something along the lines of fireworks, and some well done angst, hot sex and yes a big deal about this so called "pact". I also expected a slow burning friends-to-lovers story.
So forget all those expectations. What did I get instead? A hero with balls the size of tiny marbles, a bunch of idiotic 30 year olds that behaved more like they were in freaking highschool and a romance that was so meh, I was wondering all the time what the big fuss about this Karina Halle chick is. Keep in mind this is my first book by her. Boy, it seems I picked the wrong book. Anyway, the fact that these two were banging other peeps for the first half of the book didn't bother me. I still had hope for the second half. And then things get so convoluted I couldn't help but wonder whether I was reading a badly written YA romance instead of a romance about grown ass people already in their damn 30s.
I HATED the plot, HATED the lack of chemistry, HATED the forced denial (I mean seriously, it was obvious they wanted each other, and they kept waltzing around the issue like damn pre-teens, and being all scaredy and denialy) At one point I wanted to bitch-slap Stephanie and actually kept groaning COME ON. It was so obvious that Linden DID want her and she was all like... "oh my" what if he doesn't? I think I nearly popped an eye at that point from rolling them so much.
And Linden...
Spoiler
SO much forced drama because of James?? JAMES?? I mean what the fuck 30 year old guy worth his salt acts like a weenie and tosses his relationship away because his supposed best friend has an infantile stick up his ass?? There was sooo so much wrong with that whole angle it's not even worth picking apart. It was actually insulting. Linden's dick just shrivelled to Vienna sausage proportions in my eyes at that stage.Spoiler
I actually predicted Linden's helicopter crash. I wanted to cry with frustration when I saw that happen because I was so let down that I'd been able to guess that much. And that was the straw the broke the camel's back for me. This was going in my worst reads list.Obviously, this absolutely did not work for me. There were a couple of hot sex scenes thrown in there, but even the dirty talk felt cheesy at times. Overall it was like watching a Friends rerun if the writing had been subpar quality and they had still been in junior high. The idea of the pact was so good and it completely fell flat. I wish someone did this premise justice because it's actually a pretty cool premise, just not at all well realized here. That's freaking all.