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A review by hanreads__
Twisted Pearls by Whitney Mayoral
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
2.5 ⭐️.
TWs: Addiction, drug use, rape, sexual assault, stalking, toxic friendship, murder.
*~*~*~*~*
Please note that this review is my honest and opinion and my views are my own.
The author contacted me one day vim TikTok mentioning her debut novel to me, I said I’d be interested in reading and reviewing it as long as I had a follow on my social media accounts. I must be honest, I saw the cover and felt as though not a lot of time or effort had been put into it, I also thought that the cover wasn’t big enough to fit a paper/hard back. Despite his, I read the synopsis and was immediately intrigued at the story being both romance and thriller based, especially when in most thrillers you see the idea of a romance but it’s never elaborated on!
Downloading the book on KU, I settled down for the night and opened it up. Straight away, the layout out me off and it came across that the story hadn’t been formatted properly, this is a big turn off for me as a reader and I like to feel as if things are neat, and I don’t enjoy seeing a new chapter on the same page as the previous one.
It was very clear from the start that the story was focused on two women who seemed to be going through a mid life crisis, two women who are complete opposites yet have a friendship that is built on a tough foundation. I loved Mackenzie instantly and couldn’t understand for a single second to why her husband would divorce her, she’s an actual sweetheart and thinks so much more about others than she does herself. I also found Mackenzie to be relatable in certain aspects of her personality, she was a character that I was constantly rooting for!
Faith came along, and I started to become frustrated. With all respect to the author… her daughter is more mature than Faith through out the entire story. The way Faith acts is really off putting and made me want to put my kindle down numerous times and DNF the story. While disliking Faith, I did feel bad for the fact that her ex husband was such an ass. She deserved better than what he did to her, and I’m glad she found that in the end, but I can honestly say that Faith is someone I would’ve preferred to not be in the story and simply have the book focus on Mackenzie, or at least have Faith be less rude, immature and loud.
Although there were little things taking place that you would involve in a thriller, I wouldn’t say that the still didn’t actually come across as a thriller until at least 20% in. This was really disappointing; I was more concerned as to when it was going to start to be more thrilling than I was about guessing who was causing the women hell.
As the story continued to progress, I was curious to where the trigger warnings were present because I couldn’t find any and let me tell you, THERE NEEDED TO BE. Some of the things that took place in this story was very detailed and having no trigger warning is dangerous! I truly hope the author is able to go back and do something about this because people are going to be in for a shock numerous times otherwise.
I will note, I really enjoyed the romance that took place between Mackenzie and Anthony! I loved how sweet he was towards Mackenzie and how protective he was over the two women instantly. My heart was breaking for Anthony too because of his own back story, especially when a little twist came in with his own family. Him and Mackenzie were really two peas in a pod and meant to be, and I love that they both got that chance at love from a chance meeting on the beach. The only thing that didn’t feel right was the book having spicy scenes. If you want spicy scenes, I think the romance and thriller aspect should be separated COMPLETELY because it then took over the story and downplayed the thriller side again.
Despite what other readers think, I found it way too obvious to who was causing all this trouble through out the story, it was very clear from how the character was portrayed by the author which also made the story less thrilling for me.
All in all, I am truly sorry to the author that I have found so many negative points within this story, I love the idea that you tried to execute, but I feel as though there’s still a lot that could be improved on. I wish her all the best with this book and her future endeavours.
TWs: Addiction, drug use, rape, sexual assault, stalking, toxic friendship, murder.
*~*~*~*~*
Please note that this review is my honest and opinion and my views are my own.
The author contacted me one day vim TikTok mentioning her debut novel to me, I said I’d be interested in reading and reviewing it as long as I had a follow on my social media accounts. I must be honest, I saw the cover and felt as though not a lot of time or effort had been put into it, I also thought that the cover wasn’t big enough to fit a paper/hard back. Despite his, I read the synopsis and was immediately intrigued at the story being both romance and thriller based, especially when in most thrillers you see the idea of a romance but it’s never elaborated on!
Downloading the book on KU, I settled down for the night and opened it up. Straight away, the layout out me off and it came across that the story hadn’t been formatted properly, this is a big turn off for me as a reader and I like to feel as if things are neat, and I don’t enjoy seeing a new chapter on the same page as the previous one.
It was very clear from the start that the story was focused on two women who seemed to be going through a mid life crisis, two women who are complete opposites yet have a friendship that is built on a tough foundation. I loved Mackenzie instantly and couldn’t understand for a single second to why her husband would divorce her, she’s an actual sweetheart and thinks so much more about others than she does herself. I also found Mackenzie to be relatable in certain aspects of her personality, she was a character that I was constantly rooting for!
Faith came along, and I started to become frustrated. With all respect to the author… her daughter is more mature than Faith through out the entire story. The way Faith acts is really off putting and made me want to put my kindle down numerous times and DNF the story. While disliking Faith, I did feel bad for the fact that her ex husband was such an ass. She deserved better than what he did to her, and I’m glad she found that in the end, but I can honestly say that Faith is someone I would’ve preferred to not be in the story and simply have the book focus on Mackenzie, or at least have Faith be less rude, immature and loud.
Although there were little things taking place that you would involve in a thriller, I wouldn’t say that the still didn’t actually come across as a thriller until at least 20% in. This was really disappointing; I was more concerned as to when it was going to start to be more thrilling than I was about guessing who was causing the women hell.
As the story continued to progress, I was curious to where the trigger warnings were present because I couldn’t find any and let me tell you, THERE NEEDED TO BE. Some of the things that took place in this story was very detailed and having no trigger warning is dangerous! I truly hope the author is able to go back and do something about this because people are going to be in for a shock numerous times otherwise.
I will note, I really enjoyed the romance that took place between Mackenzie and Anthony! I loved how sweet he was towards Mackenzie and how protective he was over the two women instantly. My heart was breaking for Anthony too because of his own back story, especially when a little twist came in with his own family. Him and Mackenzie were really two peas in a pod and meant to be, and I love that they both got that chance at love from a chance meeting on the beach. The only thing that didn’t feel right was the book having spicy scenes. If you want spicy scenes, I think the romance and thriller aspect should be separated COMPLETELY because it then took over the story and downplayed the thriller side again.
Despite what other readers think, I found it way too obvious to who was causing all this trouble through out the story, it was very clear from how the character was portrayed by the author which also made the story less thrilling for me.
All in all, I am truly sorry to the author that I have found so many negative points within this story, I love the idea that you tried to execute, but I feel as though there’s still a lot that could be improved on. I wish her all the best with this book and her future endeavours.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use