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A review by krysisreading
Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann
1.0
Have you ever rad a romance book where it came to a point and you were like "yeah this could end here. These people do not need to be together in any capacity."
That was me. With Corabelle (gag) and Dean.
The rest of the review will contain spoilers sooo theres that.
Where do I even begin????
Lets start with Corabelle. She's just "not like other girls" and by that I mean she is entirely judgmental and definitely not a girls girl in any capacity. She thinks she's soooo coool because she'd rather read Shakespeare than a twitter post (?????) like her sister Mandy.
Mandy? Hated her. From start to finish hated her.
Dean? Apparently hes a bad boy? but the worst thing he did was prank Cora as teenagers and smoke a cig in his "dream car". a real rebel.
Naturally Cora gets kidnapped with her sisters fiance, Dean. and naturally they have been secrelty in love with each other for the last 15 years (while hes been with her sister the entire time)
* side note i thought the length of Dean and Mandy being together just didnt make sense. They werent a good couple together and didnt have the chemistry of two people who have been together for 15 dang years.
They get kidnapped by a guy named Earl, who's whole MO is to kidnap couples, SA the girl, make the guy SA the girl and then boom make them fall in love. Dean ends up ending Earl and they escape.
Unfortunately the kidnapping of them was the part of the book that just made the most sense and had the least amount of cringe.
Following their release:
1. Six weeks following the release of her sister and her Fiance is when Mandy becomes the most unbearable. She gets upset at Dean because he wont sleep with her? and goes onto complain that they were ONLY there for 3 weeks.......... LIKE MAAM DID YOU WANT THEM TO BE KIDNAPPED FOR LONGER????? She then goes to try and set her sister up with some dude who thinks that she should get a netflix deal about their kidapping.
I really think if you're writing a character who handles someone's trauma so damn badly that it should be mentioned, you know someone in the book should correct Mandy on her thoughts and why being kidnapped and SA'd might come with some trauma and healing will take time. But no.. no one tells Mandy she's being absolutely horrendous and should just shut the hell up.
2. Cora and Dean were not a good couple. Mandy and Dean were not a good couple. There was zero chemistry between any of these people. I dont even know if the book explained why if Dean first was attracted to Cora, why he then went after her sister Mandy? It just was like *it is what it is* and that was it?
YALL REMEMBER THE KIDNAPPER? Well he had two dogs and Cora goes and adopts them. The kidnappers dogs. She adopts them. and the only one with an ounce of sense to be like "this is weird" is Mandy.
Fast forward, Dean breaks up with Mandy, so what does Cora and Dean do? yeah they sleep together. But not in like a omg they love eachother way, its purely trauma response. Then Mandy finds out and of course throws Coras trauma in her face, slaps her and leaves. So what does Cora do? She attempts suicide. WHICH WAS HANDLED JUST AS POORLY AS EVERY OTHER SITUATION IN THIS BOOK.
Dean then moves away and Cora starts healing yadda yadda, and this my friends is where the book SHOULD HAVE ENDED. THERE SHOULDVE BEEN NO MORE OF THEM AT ALL.
but no it continues, they accidentally run into each other, sparks happen, they get together, mandy goes and gets with some dude they all get married and live happily ever after annoying ass lives.
The phrase "still beating" is mentioned (according to kindle) 14 times. That feels low because I could've sworn it was mentioned literally every chapter but i digress. Trust me you wont miss the connection to the title of the book because its cliché and corny and they wont stop saying it.
So no i don't recommend reading this book. it was not a good time.
That was me. With Corabelle (gag) and Dean.
The rest of the review will contain spoilers sooo theres that.
Spoiler
Where do I even begin????
Lets start with Corabelle. She's just "not like other girls" and by that I mean she is entirely judgmental and definitely not a girls girl in any capacity. She thinks she's soooo coool because she'd rather read Shakespeare than a twitter post (?????) like her sister Mandy.
Mandy? Hated her. From start to finish hated her.
Dean? Apparently hes a bad boy? but the worst thing he did was prank Cora as teenagers and smoke a cig in his "dream car". a real rebel.
Naturally Cora gets kidnapped with her sisters fiance, Dean. and naturally they have been secrelty in love with each other for the last 15 years (while hes been with her sister the entire time)
* side note i thought the length of Dean and Mandy being together just didnt make sense. They werent a good couple together and didnt have the chemistry of two people who have been together for 15 dang years.
They get kidnapped by a guy named Earl, who's whole MO is to kidnap couples, SA the girl, make the guy SA the girl and then boom make them fall in love. Dean ends up ending Earl and they escape.
Unfortunately the kidnapping of them was the part of the book that just made the most sense and had the least amount of cringe.
Following their release:
1. Six weeks following the release of her sister and her Fiance is when Mandy becomes the most unbearable. She gets upset at Dean because he wont sleep with her? and goes onto complain that they were ONLY there for 3 weeks.......... LIKE MAAM DID YOU WANT THEM TO BE KIDNAPPED FOR LONGER????? She then goes to try and set her sister up with some dude who thinks that she should get a netflix deal about their kidapping.
I really think if you're writing a character who handles someone's trauma so damn badly that it should be mentioned, you know someone in the book should correct Mandy on her thoughts and why being kidnapped and SA'd might come with some trauma and healing will take time. But no.. no one tells Mandy she's being absolutely horrendous and should just shut the hell up.
2. Cora and Dean were not a good couple. Mandy and Dean were not a good couple. There was zero chemistry between any of these people. I dont even know if the book explained why if Dean first was attracted to Cora, why he then went after her sister Mandy? It just was like *it is what it is* and that was it?
YALL REMEMBER THE KIDNAPPER? Well he had two dogs and Cora goes and adopts them. The kidnappers dogs. She adopts them. and the only one with an ounce of sense to be like "this is weird" is Mandy.
Fast forward, Dean breaks up with Mandy, so what does Cora and Dean do? yeah they sleep together. But not in like a omg they love eachother way, its purely trauma response. Then Mandy finds out and of course throws Coras trauma in her face, slaps her and leaves. So what does Cora do? She attempts suicide. WHICH WAS HANDLED JUST AS POORLY AS EVERY OTHER SITUATION IN THIS BOOK.
Dean then moves away and Cora starts healing yadda yadda, and this my friends is where the book SHOULD HAVE ENDED. THERE SHOULDVE BEEN NO MORE OF THEM AT ALL.
but no it continues, they accidentally run into each other, sparks happen, they get together, mandy goes and gets with some dude they all get married and live happily ever after annoying ass lives.
The phrase "still beating" is mentioned (according to kindle) 14 times. That feels low because I could've sworn it was mentioned literally every chapter but i digress. Trust me you wont miss the connection to the title of the book because its cliché and corny and they wont stop saying it.
So no i don't recommend reading this book. it was not a good time.