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A review by discarded_dust_jacket
Keep Me Close by R.M. Virtues
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
First off: I really like R.M. Virtues and I think he’s a very talented writer. I think this book is really strong in a number of areas. I loveddddd Hephaestus’ character especially, and his and Aphrodite’s relationship was what kept me pushing.
The bodyguard romance trope is one of my personal favorites, and the disability representation here is top notch. Heph’s condition is never handled like a weakness or a flaw, but simply a part of who he is, and it’s also not glossed over. It’s addressed with the appropriate neutrality.
I also really liked the plot arc that revolved around Heph’s family and his place in it. That tugged at my heart something fierce.
The reason I struggled with this book was more a matter of personal taste and pacing. I have a tough time pushing through super action-packed stories unless I’m already thoroughly invested in the characters, and this book drops us right in the action from the very first page. I’d say the entire first half of this book is mostly a crime drama heavy on the investigations, interrogations, security sweeps, stakeouts, shootouts, etc. The emotional/romantic aspect of the plot between the main characters doesn’t really feel like it becomes a driving part of the story until the midway mark, and that made it hard for me to want to push through all the action since I didn’t really care about the characters yet, does that make sense?
But like, I also get that it’s supposed to be enemies-to-lovers (or something like it) so I understand that the relationship has to take time to evolve. It’s more like, my issue was that the relationship felt kind of sidelined or stunted in the first half.
But speaking of characters, there’s soooooooo many. Even though I read the first book in this series, I still had a lot of trouble keeping all the characters straight—who’s related to who, how old they’re supposed to be, etc. It might be easier if you already have a lot of background knowledge of Greek mythology for context, but mine is limited to only very basic stuff, so I was lost.
I really really wanted to like this book more than I did, especially with how much I loved the main characters. I’m still gonna keep reading books in this series, I just think I was a bit disappointed by this one, and that’s ok!
The bodyguard romance trope is one of my personal favorites, and the disability representation here is top notch. Heph’s condition is never handled like a weakness or a flaw, but simply a part of who he is, and it’s also not glossed over. It’s addressed with the appropriate neutrality.
I also really liked the plot arc that revolved around Heph’s family and his place in it. That tugged at my heart something fierce.
The reason I struggled with this book was more a matter of personal taste and pacing. I have a tough time pushing through super action-packed stories unless I’m already thoroughly invested in the characters, and this book drops us right in the action from the very first page. I’d say the entire first half of this book is mostly a crime drama heavy on the investigations, interrogations, security sweeps, stakeouts, shootouts, etc. The emotional/romantic aspect of the plot between the main characters doesn’t really feel like it becomes a driving part of the story until the midway mark, and that made it hard for me to want to push through all the action since I didn’t really care about the characters yet, does that make sense?
But like, I also get that it’s supposed to be enemies-to-lovers (or something like it) so I understand that the relationship has to take time to evolve. It’s more like, my issue was that the relationship felt kind of sidelined or stunted in the first half.
But speaking of characters, there’s soooooooo many. Even though I read the first book in this series, I still had a lot of trouble keeping all the characters straight—who’s related to who, how old they’re supposed to be, etc. It might be easier if you already have a lot of background knowledge of Greek mythology for context, but mine is limited to only very basic stuff, so I was lost.
I really really wanted to like this book more than I did, especially with how much I loved the main characters. I’m still gonna keep reading books in this series, I just think I was a bit disappointed by this one, and that’s ok!