jenlyn 's review for:

Of Neptune by Anna Banks

3.0

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3.5 Stars
This book just left me feeling kinda meh for most of it. A lot of kidnapping happened (one character got kidnapped not once but twice, the second time immediately following after he had escaped from the first kidnapper. Seriously, what kind of luck must you have that you escape only to get captured right after?) and yet I wasn't especially fearful for any of the character's fates while they were kidnapped. I just never felt like the stakes were that high or that I had to worry about them escaping and living happily ever after. I liked seeing several of these characters again and getting some closure on some plot points

Spoiler

though I think in all the kidnapping drama Galen forgot to address the grief and guilt he was feeling over Rachel's death. I mean, he kinda touched on it from time to time and he and Emma even discussed it a bit, but it seemed mostly filler when they did and like he never really got to come to terms with it like he wanted. Maybe that's just me

, but overall everything just happened kinda quickly and it just seemed like one dramarama was piled on top of the other so that there were so many plot points and schemes from the various baddies that I got a little exhausted with trying to keep up with everything going on. It just seemed like a lot of stuff all going on at the same time which got a little convoluted for me.
But the thing that really killed this book for me was Reed. I just could not stand him. I was somewhat excited to see the rest of the characters back because I do like them for the most part, but for the most part the new characters were not my cup of tea. I know Emma loved Reed's little brother Toby, but personally I just wanted to smack that kid after a while. He still wasn't as annoying as Reed though. Reed was pushy, bordering on stalkery, and just seemed like a slimy opportunist

Spoiler

Oh, poor Emma, you and your fiance had a fight and now he's left you alone in this unfamiliar town and you're super bummed about it? I MUST HIT ON YOU RELENTLESSLY UNTIL YOU DECIDE TO LIKE ME EVEN THOUGH YOU'VE TOLD ME REPEATEDLY THAT YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED! Just blech. Also that whole thing when he kissed her and she was like, "I must have nodded or somehow told him yes..." Girl, no. If you have any confusion over whether you actually consented or not, then you did not consent to that kiss and you shouldn't decked that asshat for good measure. He didn't wait for you to say yes. He just kissed you without your explicit permission after knowing that all of his flirting and hitting on you made you uncomfortable and that you didn't really want him to do any of that. He's gross and I wanted to smack him repeatedly for being such a pushy, boundary-crossing asshat.

I did appreciate that Galen seems to have grown up a bit (i.e. not immediately pummeling the guy hitting on his girlfriend right in front of him). I mean, he was still jealous as all get out, but he tried to maintain his composure and not get too riled up about it. That's certainly progress...though I wouldn't have minded if he had pummeled Reed. I mean, he certainly needed someone to show him how inappropriate his behaviour was in some form or fashion (especially since verbal requests for him to stop didn't seem to do the job). It might have been a different story if Emma had been interested in him or welcomed his advances (she did admit to some attraction to him but it was minor and she did not want to act on it); instead she was very resistant to him and repeatedly told him that it wasn't going to happen and that it didn't matter if Galen had left her or not (because double ick for trying to take advantage of her when she's hurt and confused considering she couldn't track down her boyfriend. Good job, dirtbag). This guy just pissed me off so much that it definitely coloured my enjoyment of the book (maybe he was supposed to piss me off. If so, then good job, Anna Banks, because I wanted to punch him repeatedly every time he did something out of line...which was most of his time on the page). So yeah, without him in the book (or maybe with a different version of him that actually respected boundaries and didn't act like an overconfident douche) then maybe I would have enjoyed the book a little more overall. But it wasn't terrible. It just wasn't quite the big finale/conclusion that I was kind of expecting.