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A review by fringebookreviews
The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen
3.25
✨How could a book with pink sparkly dragons that spit glitter be this long and ~frankly~ boring???✨
*minor spoilers below (nothing major or in detail)*
I love pink and I love sparkles and I love that the dragons gave me Jurassic Park vibes but MAN I didn’t love the love triangle and slooooowest friends to lovers burn ever.
Plus if you’re going to market this as When Harry and Sally—which it really wasn’t—you’ve GOT to have the secondary relationship. Here, she broke UP a secondary relationship instead and then added a love triangle???? Excuse me??? I rely on the secondary relationship to fuel me during WHMS books since the payoff takes so long. The You’ve Got Mail influence of book one was so strong and delightful, but this one fell pretty flat.
The world was still enjoyable and duh DRAGONS, but that only went so far. Literally, there were not enough dragons and the end was rushed with the whole villain thing and I was just frustrated all around. Like talk about a disappointing villain reveal…and WHAT KIND OF MOTIVE WAS THAT??? The whole crime plot line just felt entirely half baked. Like the bombs were so random??? Fireworks??? The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy literally wrecked my soul, only for this one to be almost farcical??? Like it wasn’t the endearing kind of screwball at the end. It was the “what do you MEAN I just read 500 pages for that reveal???” kind. Like ditch the crime plot altogether and give me more dragons!!!
I do also enjoy Bannen’s writing, but man there was a lot of repetition and some scenes were just way too long. Whereas those two did NOT bang long enough. As a Minnesotan, even I think Twyla said “ope!” just too much. The frequency may work in actual real life, but when you’re reading, it’s just soooo noticeable that she’s always saying it.
I think I wanted Frank to give me a bit more personality? This is definitely a Twyla book. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was dual POV I believe, but this one was just single and I did feel like I was needing more from Frank to keep me invested in the romance. It was obvious how he felt from the beginning, so there was nothing let to surprise me or excite me really. I was highly anticipating their love scene and while I understand why Twyla needed to take…I really wanted to see Frank GIVE. I mean we kinda did, but I wanted his penis to send her into orbit. Like the reward for waiting 80% of a nearly 500 page book was just not big enough.
But on the topic of Twyla taking, I did really enjoy her POV, as both her and Frank were 50+ years old and had children and past marriages. It definitely a book less about dragons and more about being a wife and a mother and how she gave SO MUCH of herself with little return until she’s finally had enough. Great message, but I do agree with some other reviewers that it was a bit heavy handed and repetitive. I do love the double meaning behind “undermining” in the title though, like that’s so clever. I also loved her mom shaming one of the henchmen at the end; the “what would your mom think if she could see you right now?” of it all.
Overall, I’m just very disappointed. The book tried to go in several directions and never had me fully with any of them. It was fun and readable, but maybe my expectations were just too high. There wasn’t a note about a third book, but I do hope we get one!
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶️.75/5
I received an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.
*minor spoilers below (nothing major or in detail)*
I love pink and I love sparkles and I love that the dragons gave me Jurassic Park vibes but MAN I didn’t love the love triangle and slooooowest friends to lovers burn ever.
Plus if you’re going to market this as When Harry and Sally—which it really wasn’t—you’ve GOT to have the secondary relationship. Here, she broke UP a secondary relationship instead and then added a love triangle???? Excuse me??? I rely on the secondary relationship to fuel me during WHMS books since the payoff takes so long. The You’ve Got Mail influence of book one was so strong and delightful, but this one fell pretty flat.
The world was still enjoyable and duh DRAGONS, but that only went so far. Literally, there were not enough dragons and the end was rushed with the whole villain thing and I was just frustrated all around. Like talk about a disappointing villain reveal…and WHAT KIND OF MOTIVE WAS THAT??? The whole crime plot line just felt entirely half baked. Like the bombs were so random??? Fireworks??? The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy literally wrecked my soul, only for this one to be almost farcical??? Like it wasn’t the endearing kind of screwball at the end. It was the “what do you MEAN I just read 500 pages for that reveal???” kind. Like ditch the crime plot altogether and give me more dragons!!!
I do also enjoy Bannen’s writing, but man there was a lot of repetition and some scenes were just way too long. Whereas those two did NOT bang long enough. As a Minnesotan, even I think Twyla said “ope!” just too much. The frequency may work in actual real life, but when you’re reading, it’s just soooo noticeable that she’s always saying it.
I think I wanted Frank to give me a bit more personality? This is definitely a Twyla book. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy was dual POV I believe, but this one was just single and I did feel like I was needing more from Frank to keep me invested in the romance. It was obvious how he felt from the beginning, so there was nothing let to surprise me or excite me really. I was highly anticipating their love scene and while I understand why Twyla needed to take…I really wanted to see Frank GIVE. I mean we kinda did, but I wanted his penis to send her into orbit. Like the reward for waiting 80% of a nearly 500 page book was just not big enough.
But on the topic of Twyla taking, I did really enjoy her POV, as both her and Frank were 50+ years old and had children and past marriages. It definitely a book less about dragons and more about being a wife and a mother and how she gave SO MUCH of herself with little return until she’s finally had enough. Great message, but I do agree with some other reviewers that it was a bit heavy handed and repetitive. I do love the double meaning behind “undermining” in the title though, like that’s so clever. I also loved her mom shaming one of the henchmen at the end; the “what would your mom think if she could see you right now?” of it all.
Overall, I’m just very disappointed. The book tried to go in several directions and never had me fully with any of them. It was fun and readable, but maybe my expectations were just too high. There wasn’t a note about a third book, but I do hope we get one!
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶️.75/5
I received an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.