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A review by winlunareads
By Sin I Rise: Part One by Cora Reilly
2.0
This book did not give me what I wanted it to give me, and honestly, I have no one to blame but myself.
After the travesty of the last Cora Reilly releases Savio, Sofia, and Adamo's; the bar wasn't set high for future releases: however, I was pretty hyped up for the future generation - mainly Nevio/Aurora and Anna/Clifford but I digress;. For By Sin I Rise to be our first foray into the future of Cora Reilly, this introduction to new and old characters was severely disappointing. However before I begin I just want to say that this is NOT a hate review, but I am a little mad.
1. Telling and not showing If you want me to believe that that Maddox is supposed to be Mad Dog then you are failing because I can't. I really can't. Because WHERE is it? I hate when authors tell us who this person is supposed to be and give us this story of how they became that person but you don't actually see the character being that thing they're supposed to be. If I'm not going to see Maddox be this mad dog then why is that his nickname. In part two I really need to see Maddox live up to that nickname.
2. Maddox White Lord why? What did I ever do to deserve this? I love MC books. The characters are usually dark and gritty, but Maddox did not serve anything, besides stale bread. He was just there, like a stand-in. He could've been taken out of this book and replaced with any character because what did he truly offer? I'll tell you not a fucking thing.
And the sad thing is is that the potential was there. It was there!!!! He had the sad past and the3 motive but the execution was just terrible. And his inner monologue about Marcella being this queen - which she is - was so tiring. There should have been more of an inner struggle with feeling for Marcella even though he wants to kill her father, and his duty to his club than what we got.
3. Marcella Vitiello I liked Marcella, I really did. But I don't love her character, not the way I wanted to. She was different then our usual female characters that Cora writes which usually ranges from super naive of everything and everything to I'm not like those other girls. Marcella was aware of everything and she used her beauty to her advantage I appreciated that.
But like Maddox I wish there was more struggle from her regarding her feelings. Sure she fought for herself and try to hold out hope for her father to come, and she didn't break down immediately which was great but I wanted more from her. And added bonus - for me at least - Marcella actually experienced some trauma from the MC.
4. The reuse of old tropes I know tropes get recycled and that's cool that's fine. Sometimes they're done better and sometimes they're not. In this case I liked Twisted Pride better. I wanted something new for the new generation which is why I'm excited for Nevio/Aurora as well as Anna/Clifford.
5. The Romance What in the fuck was this romance? There wasn't a steady progression of the romance to warrant the three little words Marcella and Maddox exchanged and it pisses me off. Cora split this book into two parts, and I didn't like the idea because it felt unnecessary but I figured at least with two parts the development we would see with the romance would be more of slow burn that allowed the characters to go through their feelings and actually spend the time understanding one another. But did Cora set that up? Of fucking course not.
Their relationship started with lust and nothing is wrong with that put when you have the kidnapping trope you have to navigate how to make the feelings feel real enough throughout the story to get to that I love you and I would kill for you stage and it wasn't executed at all.
6. Amo Vitiello How did this boy go from relaxed video gamer to murderer and interrogating. That fast switch made no sense to me, despite the circumstances. So hopefully in his book with Greta we get a flashback to that moment and his thoughts.
7. Luca and Aria They were there. We saw them. I'm still not a big fan of them.
8. The Cliffhanger I'll be honest I didn't see that ending coming but the cliffhanger did it's job, it made me want to read part two and see what happens next.
After the travesty of the last Cora Reilly releases Savio, Sofia, and Adamo's; the bar wasn't set high for future releases: however, I was pretty hyped up for the future generation - mainly Nevio/Aurora and Anna/Clifford but I digress;. For By Sin I Rise to be our first foray into the future of Cora Reilly, this introduction to new and old characters was severely disappointing. However before I begin I just want to say that this is NOT a hate review, but I am a little mad.
1. Telling and not showing If you want me to believe that that Maddox is supposed to be Mad Dog then you are failing because I can't. I really can't. Because WHERE is it? I hate when authors tell us who this person is supposed to be and give us this story of how they became that person but you don't actually see the character being that thing they're supposed to be. If I'm not going to see Maddox be this mad dog then why is that his nickname. In part two I really need to see Maddox live up to that nickname.
2. Maddox White Lord why? What did I ever do to deserve this? I love MC books. The characters are usually dark and gritty, but Maddox did not serve anything, besides stale bread. He was just there, like a stand-in. He could've been taken out of this book and replaced with any character because what did he truly offer? I'll tell you not a fucking thing.
And the sad thing is is that the potential was there. It was there!!!! He had the sad past and the3 motive but the execution was just terrible. And his inner monologue about Marcella being this queen - which she is - was so tiring. There should have been more of an inner struggle with feeling for Marcella even though he wants to kill her father, and his duty to his club than what we got.
3. Marcella Vitiello I liked Marcella, I really did. But I don't love her character, not the way I wanted to. She was different then our usual female characters that Cora writes which usually ranges from super naive of everything and everything to I'm not like those other girls. Marcella was aware of everything and she used her beauty to her advantage I appreciated that.
But like Maddox I wish there was more struggle from her regarding her feelings. Sure she fought for herself and try to hold out hope for her father to come, and she didn't break down immediately which was great but I wanted more from her. And added bonus - for me at least - Marcella actually experienced some trauma from the MC.
4. The reuse of old tropes I know tropes get recycled and that's cool that's fine. Sometimes they're done better and sometimes they're not. In this case I liked Twisted Pride better. I wanted something new for the new generation which is why I'm excited for Nevio/Aurora as well as Anna/Clifford.
5. The Romance What in the fuck was this romance? There wasn't a steady progression of the romance to warrant the three little words Marcella and Maddox exchanged and it pisses me off. Cora split this book into two parts, and I didn't like the idea because it felt unnecessary but I figured at least with two parts the development we would see with the romance would be more of slow burn that allowed the characters to go through their feelings and actually spend the time understanding one another. But did Cora set that up? Of fucking course not.
Their relationship started with lust and nothing is wrong with that put when you have the kidnapping trope you have to navigate how to make the feelings feel real enough throughout the story to get to that I love you and I would kill for you stage and it wasn't executed at all.
6. Amo Vitiello How did this boy go from relaxed video gamer to murderer and interrogating. That fast switch made no sense to me, despite the circumstances. So hopefully in his book with Greta we get a flashback to that moment and his thoughts.
7. Luca and Aria They were there. We saw them. I'm still not a big fan of them.
8. The Cliffhanger I'll be honest I didn't see that ending coming but the cliffhanger did it's job, it made me want to read part two and see what happens next.