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A review by abinthebooks
Beg for Mercy by Lane Hart, L.A. Hart
2.0
First of all trigger warnings for: attempted sexual assault (not by hero) and actual sexual assault (not by hero). Those are two things I wish I knew going into this book.
Anyways, this was very corny with semi-poor writing. This almost felt like a wattpad book. This book could have benefited so much from editing and page extension. There are so many telling not showing scenes, especially when we’re supposed to believe these two characters hate each other at the beginning. We feel it from both of them, but they both reference how horrible they were to each other earlier in high school and it just wasn’t believable. We are told that the 3 guys that “rule the school” are scary and threatening and everyone loves them out of fear and everyone wants them or wants to be with them. We see absolutely none of that shown in the book. We are told Maddie the FMC does sex work. We barely see that. We are told Maddie loves her siblings very much, and don’t see her her siblings till probably 55% into the book?? Like they’re referenced but they don’t come up until then. And it sucks because I really thought the first 35% of this book had a lot going for it. I just think on the way there, the story lost its voice.
And like, I didn’t hate Beg For Mercy. Despite it being corny, over the top, and at time, poorly written, I still had times where I didn’t dislike it. I thought the characters were fun, especially Maddie who was such a total badass and the best part of the story (despite some of her weird “I’m not like other girls” comments…) Aric—who’s name is actually spelled like that, unfortunately—suffered from characterization issues imo. I think his character development happened wayyyy to early in the story to believable. Maddie and Aric were really cute together, I’ll give them that, and I really enjoyed how much Aric wanted to care for and provide for Maddie by the end. Their banter was also really great.
I just stand by what I said at the beginning of my review. This book suffers so badly from first draft syndrome. I just felt like this could have been a really decently written book had we gotten more page count and more editing. Still a fun bully romance, and definitely not as toxic as I thought it’s be. The bullying is very light, and it’s more about a man learning to not be an asshole which I know is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea (usually not mine either). Still fun enough, but definitely not the best high school/bully romance I’ve read and I don’t think I’ll be continuing on with the series.
* * *
As of 2/10/2024, this book is currently FREE on Amazon US!
Anyways, this was very corny with semi-poor writing. This almost felt like a wattpad book. This book could have benefited so much from editing and page extension. There are so many telling not showing scenes, especially when we’re supposed to believe these two characters hate each other at the beginning. We feel it from both of them, but they both reference how horrible they were to each other earlier in high school and it just wasn’t believable. We are told that the 3 guys that “rule the school” are scary and threatening and everyone loves them out of fear and everyone wants them or wants to be with them. We see absolutely none of that shown in the book. We are told Maddie the FMC does sex work. We barely see that. We are told Maddie loves her siblings very much, and don’t see her her siblings till probably 55% into the book?? Like they’re referenced but they don’t come up until then. And it sucks because I really thought the first 35% of this book had a lot going for it. I just think on the way there, the story lost its voice.
And like, I didn’t hate Beg For Mercy. Despite it being corny, over the top, and at time, poorly written, I still had times where I didn’t dislike it. I thought the characters were fun, especially Maddie who was such a total badass and the best part of the story (despite some of her weird “I’m not like other girls” comments…) Aric—who’s name is actually spelled like that, unfortunately—suffered from characterization issues imo. I think his character development happened wayyyy to early in the story to believable. Maddie and Aric were really cute together, I’ll give them that, and I really enjoyed how much Aric wanted to care for and provide for Maddie by the end. Their banter was also really great.
I just stand by what I said at the beginning of my review. This book suffers so badly from first draft syndrome. I just felt like this could have been a really decently written book had we gotten more page count and more editing. Still a fun bully romance, and definitely not as toxic as I thought it’s be. The bullying is very light, and it’s more about a man learning to not be an asshole which I know is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea (usually not mine either). Still fun enough, but definitely not the best high school/bully romance I’ve read and I don’t think I’ll be continuing on with the series.
* * *
As of 2/10/2024, this book is currently FREE on Amazon US!