A review by undermeyou
Marionette by Antonia Rachel Ward

4.0

4.5 - I think this would have worked better for me as a full length novel. I loved so much about it, especially the quality of the writing when compared to other similar books. Ward can write for sure. Because of the length too many important plot points did not get enough devoted space. If you’re going to have a romance and then I want development of the relationship. And if you’re going to have graphic language surrounding your sex scenes then I want actual details of the sex. It wasn’t like it was a YA and the sex was danced around. If you’re going to say someone put a cock in their mouth before they fucked then just go for it, don’t just vaguely describe what sex is by passively saying well she climbed on top and he filled her up and they both experienced pleasure until orgasm. I would have loved more surrounding the Marthe storyline. Not just a few mentions of her. But again, all of that goes back to length for me.

SPOILER: My one actual complaint about this book is that the ending ends up taking away a lot of the feminine power of the book. Giving this a happy wrap up instead of leaving all the vengeance be and letting Cece feel empowered by Selena feels like Cece is just another female prop in a storyline where the male lead will save her. Maybe if the romance had been less one sided and was more developed I might feel less of this, but I would have rather her just let George go if it was going to have to have a cliche “happy ending”

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC