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A review by litwithleigh
Nobody But Us by Laure Van Rensburg
Did not finish book.
Ok my new policy is I'll force myself to read 20% of a book before officially DNF-ing.
So yeah. This book is a big hell nah. I crawled my way to 20% and then skimmed the rest. Sad to say I was super excited about this one. I usually love books that explore women's issues at length, but this was a waste of my Friday morning off work. BYE.
My thoughts
The author was trying waaaayyyy too hard to make this a literary masterpiece and it was coming across more like a wattpad fanfic. For example:
One that lasts, one that explores the connection between two people. An opening making way. Tongues interlocking, inviting. Her mouth tells him how much she likes him, even loves him, although they have never said the words to each other. Under their kiss, the remoteness of their location seems sharper than ever. Only they remain in this frozen Eden, Adam and Eve—a woman who seems to be made for him. They're literally kissing in the woods on their six-month anniversary weekend trip... get a fking grip.
-I wanna fight Steven. He obviously is the baddie but I wanna fight him SO bad.
-This is a rip off of My Dark Vanessa plain and simple. Not saying that every book about grooming is inspired by that book, but c'mon, the similarities are glaring: English professor, he gives his victim Jane Eyre to read and calls her My Darling Jane and she's pumped about it, the whole thing with the pjs. This lacked originality to say the least.
-But unlike My Dark Vanessa there was no deep dive into the characters' inner thoughts and emotions to explain wagwan. Instead the author describes the plushness of the carpet, the skeletal trees in the forest, and just about everything else. And often the attempts to show why Steven is this way were illogical; he couldn't respect him mom because she didn't respect herself just because she loved him and showered him with attention?? How does this make sense?
THIS IS A SPOILER SO SKIP AHEAD
Like I said I skimmed ahead so I could understand the entire storyline. And shocker, it was illogical. So you're telling me, you have hard proof he's a pedo and groomed/was an an accessory to your friend's death but instead of going to the police you thought it was a better idea to have sex with him for six months to lure him to the woods, tie him up, torture him and hopefully kill him? Yep. Seems like the best course of action.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. As you can see, I kept it honest.
So yeah. This book is a big hell nah. I crawled my way to 20% and then skimmed the rest. Sad to say I was super excited about this one. I usually love books that explore women's issues at length, but this was a waste of my Friday morning off work. BYE.
My thoughts
The author was trying waaaayyyy too hard to make this a literary masterpiece and it was coming across more like a wattpad fanfic. For example:
One that lasts, one that explores the connection between two people. An opening making way. Tongues interlocking, inviting. Her mouth tells him how much she likes him, even loves him, although they have never said the words to each other. Under their kiss, the remoteness of their location seems sharper than ever. Only they remain in this frozen Eden, Adam and Eve—a woman who seems to be made for him. They're literally kissing in the woods on their six-month anniversary weekend trip... get a fking grip.
-I wanna fight Steven. He obviously is the baddie but I wanna fight him SO bad.
-This is a rip off of My Dark Vanessa plain and simple. Not saying that every book about grooming is inspired by that book, but c'mon, the similarities are glaring: English professor, he gives his victim Jane Eyre to read and calls her My Darling Jane and she's pumped about it, the whole thing with the pjs. This lacked originality to say the least.
-But unlike My Dark Vanessa there was no deep dive into the characters' inner thoughts and emotions to explain wagwan. Instead the author describes the plushness of the carpet, the skeletal trees in the forest, and just about everything else. And often the attempts to show why Steven is this way were illogical; he couldn't respect him mom because she didn't respect herself just because she loved him and showered him with attention?? How does this make sense?
THIS IS A SPOILER SO SKIP AHEAD
Like I said I skimmed ahead so I could understand the entire storyline. And shocker, it was illogical. So you're telling me, you have hard proof he's a pedo and groomed/was an an accessory to your friend's death but instead of going to the police you thought it was a better idea to have sex with him for six months to lure him to the woods, tie him up, torture him and hopefully kill him? Yep. Seems like the best course of action.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. As you can see, I kept it honest.