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A review by jmpres
Born of Embers by Quinn Arthurs, Harper Wylde
1.0
The “pick me” energy and internalized misogyny was so prevalent in this book that I couldn’t enjoy it. “I was thrown off by the fact that she wasn’t screeching or crying the way most girls did when they were insulted,” “plus weren’t some girls afraid of carbs or some shit?”
The boys are condescending as shit “I was trying for a reference a girl like you would recognize.” And when asked to eat a salad, one of them got upset and said “you haven’t spent much time around guys, have you?” They shame her for almost falling prey to the shifter in the truck in the beginning instead of just explaining who he was and warning her against him in the future.
Also, at one point, one of the boys says “I wonder if she’ll taste like smoke and honey when I lick across her her caramel thighs” and another one of the boys thinks that he always forgets that the first boy is a “kinky asshole.” Since when is that kinky?
Besides all the above, the writing (especially the overuse of exclamation points) made this read as a YA book. Additionally, I understand that everyone has different responses to trauma but the level of abuse that Nix has suffered means it wasn’t particularly believable how quickly she became comfortable with the guys, or honestly how quickly she became sassy and snarky.
Lots of telling not showing. Time wasn’t real (a chapter would cover a single hour and then we would skip a week between chapters).
The book ended on a cliffhanger but even that isn’t enough for me to keep reading the series. There are lots of incredible RH series, and imo this isn’t one of them.
The boys are condescending as shit “I was trying for a reference a girl like you would recognize.” And when asked to eat a salad, one of them got upset and said “you haven’t spent much time around guys, have you?” They shame her for almost falling prey to the shifter in the truck in the beginning instead of just explaining who he was and warning her against him in the future.
Also, at one point, one of the boys says “I wonder if she’ll taste like smoke and honey when I lick across her her caramel thighs” and another one of the boys thinks that he always forgets that the first boy is a “kinky asshole.” Since when is that kinky?
Besides all the above, the writing (especially the overuse of exclamation points) made this read as a YA book. Additionally, I understand that everyone has different responses to trauma but the level of abuse that Nix has suffered means it wasn’t particularly believable how quickly she became comfortable with the guys, or honestly how quickly she became sassy and snarky.
Lots of telling not showing. Time wasn’t real (a chapter would cover a single hour and then we would skip a week between chapters).
The book ended on a cliffhanger but even that isn’t enough for me to keep reading the series. There are lots of incredible RH series, and imo this isn’t one of them.