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A review by chelseaj91
Hard as You Can: A Hard Ink Novel by Laura Kaye
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This was a little too insta-lovey for me, especially considering that Shane and Crystal didn't really spend all much time together. Like Nick and Becca were kind of insta-lovey too but at least they were together almost the entire time. Shane and Crystal spent 70% of the book with her running away every time she felt something and then suddenly they're both at the "I don't want to live without you" phase. Especially because up until the literal end, Crystal seemed to be on the "we're going to run and I'll give him up" wagon.
I'll admit that I loved Shane. Even though I did kind of roll my eyes at how much he brought up his guilt over Molly. Like, not saying he couldn't blame himself (although he shouldn't have because it wasn't his fault but we're not talking about that right now), but he brought up his failure with her and the fact that he didn't want to repeat it every. Time. Something happened. Like, every time Crystal got skittish, he was suddenly in his head and all "I can't fail just like I did with Molly. I won't let it happen!" and like again, acknowledging guilt is a thing but I felt like it was being brought up to be like his motivation or something and it just came out as whiny. I did like how protective he was of Crystal and Jenna and how easily he picked up on Crystal's issues and the way he let her lead with everything. I was glad that he finally acknowledged things with Nick and admitted he should have realized there were issues for everyone. That fight between them needed to happen for everyone's sakes.
Crystal frustrated me. I didn't quite want a new heroine but it was close. Like, I get that she was in a shitty situation but half of her issues were things she could solve. Not saying it would have been easy by any stretch of the imagination but they could have run at any point. It shouldn't have taken Jenna pushing her to get her to see that. I also feel like Jenna maybe should have pushed sooner but that's a different story. Crystal was also a lot more whiny and spineless than I felt the author was going for; it felt like the author was trying to create a vulnerable survivor but she skipped vulnerable and went straight to whiny and it annoyed me.
I'll admit that I loved Shane. Even though I did kind of roll my eyes at how much he brought up his guilt over Molly. Like, not saying he couldn't blame himself (although he shouldn't have because it wasn't his fault but we're not talking about that right now), but he brought up his failure with her and the fact that he didn't want to repeat it every. Time. Something happened. Like, every time Crystal got skittish, he was suddenly in his head and all "I can't fail just like I did with Molly. I won't let it happen!" and like again, acknowledging guilt is a thing but I felt like it was being brought up to be like his motivation or something and it just came out as whiny. I did like how protective he was of Crystal and Jenna and how easily he picked up on Crystal's issues and the way he let her lead with everything. I was glad that he finally acknowledged things with Nick and admitted he should have realized there were issues for everyone. That fight between them needed to happen for everyone's sakes.
Crystal frustrated me. I didn't quite want a new heroine but it was close. Like, I get that she was in a shitty situation but half of her issues were things she could solve. Not saying it would have been easy by any stretch of the imagination but they could have run at any point. It shouldn't have taken Jenna pushing her to get her to see that. I also feel like Jenna maybe should have pushed sooner but that's a different story. Crystal was also a lot more whiny and spineless than I felt the author was going for; it felt like the author was trying to create a vulnerable survivor but she skipped vulnerable and went straight to whiny and it annoyed me.