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A review by dragondragondragon
The Awakening by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham
dark
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.75
BOOOOOOOOOO!
This is one of the worst books I've read in a long time. I made myself finish it with the thought that maybe the 16 y/o me that binged twilight would enjoy this book. But, alas. The rapey subtexts drown out the mildy interesting (if not predicatable) plot line. The emotional and physical abuse the main charcters endure by the hands of their classmates and TEACHERS is very triggering. The 'alpha asshole' plot line was taken way too far, the molestations not contributing to character development or plot. I found myself deeply uncomfortable almost the entire time.
Don't let your younger readers tackle this monstrosity, it normalizs and romanticizes (!!!) abusive and disgusting misogynistic behavior. When I tell you someone (always female) was suffering from a rapey or demeaning experience EVERY CHAPTER, I'm not kidding. The main lesson to be taught here is 'the strong (men) take whatever they want from whoever they want (women)' The sexual attraction the main characters develop for their (SEVERAL) abusers is simply disgusting. Seriously, if you're into that, you could save 12 dollars and do a deep dive on pornhub that would get you flagged by the FBI.
You could easily fit the grand canyon in the plot holes and the writing reminds me of fan fiction I wrote when I was 13. In fact, 13 year old me could have written more convincing 18 year olds. When I wasn't fighting the urge to vommit, I was cringing at the attempt by the authors to sound like college students. But those were hardly my biggest complaints.
This is one of the worst books I've read in a long time. I made myself finish it with the thought that maybe the 16 y/o me that binged twilight would enjoy this book. But, alas. The rapey subtexts drown out the mildy interesting (if not predicatable) plot line. The emotional and physical abuse the main charcters endure by the hands of their classmates and TEACHERS is very triggering. The 'alpha asshole' plot line was taken way too far, the molestations not contributing to character development or plot. I found myself deeply uncomfortable almost the entire time.
Don't let your younger readers tackle this monstrosity, it normalizs and romanticizes (!!!) abusive and disgusting misogynistic behavior. When I tell you someone (always female) was suffering from a rapey or demeaning experience EVERY CHAPTER, I'm not kidding. The main lesson to be taught here is 'the strong (men) take whatever they want from whoever they want (women)' The sexual attraction the main characters develop for their (SEVERAL) abusers is simply disgusting. Seriously, if you're into that, you could save 12 dollars and do a deep dive on pornhub that would get you flagged by the FBI.
You could easily fit the grand canyon in the plot holes and the writing reminds me of fan fiction I wrote when I was 13. In fact, 13 year old me could have written more convincing 18 year olds. When I wasn't fighting the urge to vommit, I was cringing at the attempt by the authors to sound like college students. But those were hardly my biggest complaints.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment