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A review by rodeoxqueen
Love Lies Beneath by Ellen Hopkins
2.0
this is my first time ever writing a book review, but GOD I am severely disappointed. Ellen Hopkins is one of my favorite authors, but this was extremely underwhelming.
the main character, Tara, is incredibly narcissistic which I understand is the point but she was SO boring. I felt like I was reading a journal, which can work well for in some cases, but this fell flat. she’s a 40ish year old who is twice divorced, and widowed. she’s rich mostly due to her ex husbands, whom she never loved, and will be sure to tell you repeatedly throughout the story. she has no real, truly intimate connection with anyone in her life, including her sister and her nieces. even when she met her love interest, I was never convinced that she actually valued him in any way other than that he was also rich and good looking. I spent most of the book wanting to learn more about other characters rather than the narrator/main character.
speaking of supporting characters, Mel’s story was built up and well detailed and dissolved rapidly for no reason. I spent most of the book feeling bad for Cavin, Tara’s love interest, despite the fact that he’s a casual liar. the constant mention of the Tara’s ex husbands left little to the imagination when it came to the ending, given the constant talk about secrets or lying. the most interesting character was Cavin’s seventeen year old son, and once again, his character development (or lack of) lead to nothing in the end.
the sex throughout the book was constant and in my opinion, unnecessary. it added nothing to the story and was redundant. basically- he went down on me, then we had sex, then we both orgasmed. groundbreaking. I don’t mind erotic scenes in novels at all, but it just felt like it was used as filler in an otherwise drawn out story.
in the end I definitely regret not giving up and labeling this one a “did not finish” considering the climax of the story happened so fast it practically gave me whiplash. the entire story is wrapped up in just a few pages that felt extremely rushed. it took me a lot longer to finish this than most other books I read, especially anything Ellen has written, because it was very uninteresting altogether. I will give more of her adult literature a chance, though.
TL;DR- the main character sucks and has very little to no development. the supporting characters are interesting, but ultimately pointless in the end. boring and predictable.
the main character, Tara, is incredibly narcissistic which I understand is the point but she was SO boring. I felt like I was reading a journal, which can work well for in some cases, but this fell flat. she’s a 40ish year old who is twice divorced, and widowed. she’s rich mostly due to her ex husbands, whom she never loved, and will be sure to tell you repeatedly throughout the story. she has no real, truly intimate connection with anyone in her life, including her sister and her nieces. even when she met her love interest, I was never convinced that she actually valued him in any way other than that he was also rich and good looking. I spent most of the book wanting to learn more about other characters rather than the narrator/main character.
speaking of supporting characters, Mel’s story was built up and well detailed and dissolved rapidly for no reason. I spent most of the book feeling bad for Cavin, Tara’s love interest, despite the fact that he’s a casual liar. the constant mention of the Tara’s ex husbands left little to the imagination when it came to the ending, given the constant talk about secrets or lying. the most interesting character was Cavin’s seventeen year old son, and once again, his character development (or lack of) lead to nothing in the end.
the sex throughout the book was constant and in my opinion, unnecessary. it added nothing to the story and was redundant. basically- he went down on me, then we had sex, then we both orgasmed. groundbreaking. I don’t mind erotic scenes in novels at all, but it just felt like it was used as filler in an otherwise drawn out story.
in the end I definitely regret not giving up and labeling this one a “did not finish” considering the climax of the story happened so fast it practically gave me whiplash. the entire story is wrapped up in just a few pages that felt extremely rushed. it took me a lot longer to finish this than most other books I read, especially anything Ellen has written, because it was very uninteresting altogether. I will give more of her adult literature a chance, though.
TL;DR- the main character sucks and has very little to no development. the supporting characters are interesting, but ultimately pointless in the end. boring and predictable.