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A review by thewordslinger
The Debt by Karina Halle
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Apathetic 3 stars.
It wasn't bad. Coming from the last book, it's fucking Shakespeare. It's predictable, and I wish Halle had spent as much time on this one as she did with Lachlan and Kayla's story. The topic of PTSD is a deep and difficult one to represent properly in such a short novel.
Reader's Notes:
[Prologue: Already this book has more substance than the last one. And we haven't even gotten into the book properly. PTSD is a real thing, and too many of our soldiers suffer and get lost in the system. This is both horrific and terribly sad.
Chapter 2: I don't really know why Kier has decided to track this Jessica woman down, it seems like a flimsy excuse to have a meet cute. I think I would have preferred if they'd met by happenstance and he hadn't known at first who she was. The fact that he's been looking for her feels forced.
Chapter 5: I will say that so far this seems pretty realistic for military life and those who get out feeling adrift without any real way to start over as a civilian.
Chapter 10: Probably not the best idea to have two people suffering from acute PTSD dating each other lol. I think I would have preferred if one or the other wasn't like this... the way it is, it almost feels like a competition.
This woman is so vain. "Nobody's gonna love me because my leg's ugly" ... I mean I get the PTSD and the physical therapy being a bitch... but honestly?
God the toenail painting scene is super cute. Although, I never thought I'd be reading about a foot-fetish lol.
Chapter 14: Woof. Really? Another pregnancy bomb? It's not the same, exactly, but God.
Chapter 15: I will say this road trip is making me want to travel Scotland. The descriptions make the scenery sound stunning.
Good god these secrets are way too heavy for such a short book... and I'm not sure us finding out about Jessica's sister's trauma is... right. Or necessary.
Chapter 17: So she's all righteously angry about his lie, when she lied to him first. This is always the part of these books that I loathe. It's never a good reason for a break up. The women are always emotional idiots. The men are always weak, stupid morons who don't do the right thing. It never freakin' changes. I just don't care any more.
Chapter 20: Let's remember they've been together a grand total of 3 weeks, folks.
It wasn't bad. Coming from the last book, it's fucking Shakespeare. It's predictable, and I wish Halle had spent as much time on this one as she did with Lachlan and Kayla's story. The topic of PTSD is a deep and difficult one to represent properly in such a short novel.
Reader's Notes:
[Prologue: Already this book has more substance than the last one. And we haven't even gotten into the book properly. PTSD is a real thing, and too many of our soldiers suffer and get lost in the system. This is both horrific and terribly sad.
Chapter 2: I don't really know why Kier has decided to track this Jessica woman down, it seems like a flimsy excuse to have a meet cute. I think I would have preferred if they'd met by happenstance and he hadn't known at first who she was. The fact that he's been looking for her feels forced.
Chapter 5: I will say that so far this seems pretty realistic for military life and those who get out feeling adrift without any real way to start over as a civilian.
Chapter 10: Probably not the best idea to have two people suffering from acute PTSD dating each other lol. I think I would have preferred if one or the other wasn't like this... the way it is, it almost feels like a competition.
This woman is so vain. "Nobody's gonna love me because my leg's ugly" ... I mean I get the PTSD and the physical therapy being a bitch... but honestly?
God the toenail painting scene is super cute. Although, I never thought I'd be reading about a foot-fetish lol.
Chapter 14: Woof. Really? Another pregnancy bomb? It's not the same, exactly, but God.
Chapter 15: I will say this road trip is making me want to travel Scotland. The descriptions make the scenery sound stunning.
Good god these secrets are way too heavy for such a short book... and I'm not sure us finding out about Jessica's sister's trauma is... right. Or necessary.
Chapter 17: So she's all righteously angry about his lie, when she lied to him first. This is always the part of these books that I loathe. It's never a good reason for a break up. The women are always emotional idiots. The men are always weak, stupid morons who don't do the right thing. It never freakin' changes. I just don't care any more.
Chapter 20: Let's remember they've been together a grand total of 3 weeks, folks.