A review by asipofcozy
All In by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I am now completely invested in this series. I honestly did not think that I would enjoy it as much as I am. It's not a perfect series by any means. It's YA and does have some of the pitfalls of YA literature - YA tropes, plot holes, classic YA romances, and so on. However, that doesn't distinguish the fact that this series is entirely addictive. I find myself turning the pages faster and faster, like me watching Criminal Minds over and over again.

Also, I just want to say I called that ending! Specifically the ending of a plot line we have been following for sometime. I won't say what but I called it at the end of book one and now I am seeing it flourish. Should I have been able to guess it no, but it was still exhilarating.

My one complaint and one that I might not have caught if I have not watched Criminal Minds 100x over, is that the author does copy/slightly plagiarize an entire scene from a criminal minds episode almost scene by scene and parts of the phrases as well. The only reason I caught it was because I just watched the episode during my annual Criminal Minds rewatch. That scene being
from the Masterpiece episode where Spencer Reid discover's the fabonacci sequence is a key to a map that will show where the victims are. This scene is almost a mirror of the scene within All In where Sloane is doing the same thing with drawing the map out. Also Barnes constantly uses the word "Perfection" and "seeing Perfection". This is the exact verbiage that The Professor uses within the CM episode as well
. I am all for inspiration but not blatant copying. 

I am very excited to get into Bad Blood next! I need to see if my hypothesis's are correct.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings