Review by onceuponforeva - That Sik Luv

onceuponforeva 's review for:

That Sik Luv by Jescie Hall

2.0

dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Well… I finished the book. But it wasn’t easy. Honestly, I don’t even know where to start with this one. If you stripped out all the smut, you’d be left with a teeny tiny novella about two people struggling with religious trauma. There just isn’t much story here. I was intrigued because so many people rave about this book, but I guess the stalker romance trope isn’t for me.

I missed having an actual plot. What little story there was felt predictable and only served as a vehicle for the endless smut. Aero is psychotic (which I think is the point, but still), and Bryoni had so much potential as a character… but she never got to shine. And then suddenly her brother was in on it? Like, he was okay with her having a stalker? That was such a random twist, and it made no sense to me.

Joe Arden, the male narrator, was honestly the only reason I stuck with this (I listened to the audiobook). The last 100 pages were the most engaging part—proving that the author can write an interesting storyline when they want to. Unfortunately, it just took way too long to get there.

On top of that, this book covers heavy topics like child sexual abuse, but there weren’t any content or trigger warnings, which felt irresponsible.

Overall, the story was… meh. The premise boils down to a conservative church threatened by a woman rising in the ranks, systematically trying to destroy her, but then their psychopathic hitman turns against them. The sex is wild—I’ll give it that—but by the end, I just wanted the book to be over. It was hot, sure, but not something I enjoyed much.

Content Warnings