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A review by effievega
The Sweetest Oblivion by Danielle Lori
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
I'm a sucker for forbidden love stories, but this was a bummer.
This books is supposed to be a forbidden love story, but the reader can't never see the slow burn of the relationship because both protagonist are constantly throwing themselves at each other.
There is not much of a plot either, considering that this is a mafia romance story I thought that there will be a war going on or something that will drive the protagonist to the arranged marriage, but no, the plot is Elena and Nicolas running into each other at family meetings, building up the sexual tension between them and you can tell from the start that they will end up together.
Elena is constantly saying how she shouldn't feel this attracted to her soon-to-be-brother-in-law, but never tries to keep her distance, which doesn't allow the reader to build up the "this is completely wrong" tension.
1. Characters are very flat and fall into stereotypes:
Nico's perspective is all about how he wants to have sex with Elena. He never talks about anything else. We don't get to see any of Nicolas' interests and by the time we get to know he is into cars, he ends up falling into the stereotype of "man only think about sports, cars and sex".
Elena is supposed to be a well rounded character.
She is always watching the news to know what's going on in the city, watches documentaries about art and history, reads books and helps shelters, but we never get to see Elena going to the shelters or at an art gallery, so besides that one time she had a tap dance rehearsal/performance we never get to see what she is truly passionate about. All Elena's POV are long and repetitive monologues about how she feels when Nico is around or when he touches her.
2. Shallow Beauty / "So Beautiful It's a Curse" trope:
"I was nothing but a beautiful girl trapped in a world of forced smiles"
"I realized I was as weak as my face was symmetrical"
"the sweetest ass of New York"
"a body you’d see on a porn star"
"“Oh, come on. He thinks it’s funny.”
“He doesn’t. He just wants to sleep with you,” she deadpanned. My eyes widened and then shot to the bartender who was within earshot. I expected a blatant refusal, but he only lifted a shoulder with a smirk before helping another customer."
3. Very toxic and sometimes creepy man:
Nicolas showing up to Elena's recital felt too much like Christian Grey showing up to the the store where Anastasia works. Although, later it is explained why, the vibe is pretty much the same.
"I wanted to f*ck her and ruin her for anyone else. I wanted to crush her wings and then put them back together again so she’d become dependent on me. I wanted her to need me."
"Blood dripped down her olive skin, yet she ate her dessert because her papà had told her to. I wasn’t usually a sadist, but Jesus, it was kind of hot."
"“Keep opening your mouth, I’ll assault you.”"
"“You’re not even going to say you won’t rape me?” [...]
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Not very good at keeping promises.”"
"I wanted to write my name on her skin, to do all kinds of f*cked-up shit so she knew she was mine. Like lock her in my room and hand-feed her."
"I rand my hand down her back, marveling at the softness. She was so small and breakable in my arms—I could snuff the life right out of her with little effort."
4. Restitution:
The very fist thing we get to know about Elena is that there is blood on her hands, a man was killed because of her and she is determined to correct that wrong. We know that as a woman in the mafia, she didn't have a job, but she already said she has donated money to shelters before, why didn't she started putting money away instead of stealing from Nico? It felt completely forced, as if the only reason it happened was to make Nicolas feel betrayed and abandoned by his only true love.
I didn't like any part of this book, but I'm still going to give The Maddest Obsession a chance because I keep reading Gianna's/Christian's story is so much better.
This books is supposed to be a forbidden love story, but the reader can't never see the slow burn of the relationship because both protagonist are constantly throwing themselves at each other.
There is not much of a plot either, considering that this is a mafia romance story I thought that there will be a war going on or something that will drive the protagonist to the arranged marriage, but no, the plot is Elena and Nicolas running into each other at family meetings, building up the sexual tension between them and you can tell from the start that they will end up together.
Elena is constantly saying how she shouldn't feel this attracted to her soon-to-be-brother-in-law, but never tries to keep her distance, which doesn't allow the reader to build up the "this is completely wrong" tension.
1. Characters are very flat and fall into stereotypes:
Nico's perspective is all about how he wants to have sex with Elena. He never talks about anything else. We don't get to see any of Nicolas' interests and by the time we get to know he is into cars, he ends up falling into the stereotype of "man only think about sports, cars and sex".
Elena is supposed to be a well rounded character.
She is always watching the news to know what's going on in the city, watches documentaries about art and history, reads books and helps shelters, but we never get to see Elena going to the shelters or at an art gallery, so besides that one time she had a tap dance rehearsal/performance we never get to see what she is truly passionate about. All Elena's POV are long and repetitive monologues about how she feels when Nico is around or when he touches her.
2. Shallow Beauty / "So Beautiful It's a Curse" trope:
"I was nothing but a beautiful girl trapped in a world of forced smiles"
"I realized I was as weak as my face was symmetrical"
"the sweetest ass of New York"
"a body you’d see on a porn star"
"“Oh, come on. He thinks it’s funny.”
“He doesn’t. He just wants to sleep with you,” she deadpanned. My eyes widened and then shot to the bartender who was within earshot. I expected a blatant refusal, but he only lifted a shoulder with a smirk before helping another customer."
3. Very toxic and sometimes creepy man:
Nicolas showing up to Elena's recital felt too much like Christian Grey showing up to the the store where Anastasia works. Although, later it is explained why, the vibe is pretty much the same.
"I wanted to f*ck her and ruin her for anyone else. I wanted to crush her wings and then put them back together again so she’d become dependent on me. I wanted her to need me."
"Blood dripped down her olive skin, yet she ate her dessert because her papà had told her to. I wasn’t usually a sadist, but Jesus, it was kind of hot."
"“Keep opening your mouth, I’ll assault you.”"
"“You’re not even going to say you won’t rape me?” [...]
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Not very good at keeping promises.”"
"I wanted to write my name on her skin, to do all kinds of f*cked-up shit so she knew she was mine. Like lock her in my room and hand-feed her."
"I rand my hand down her back, marveling at the softness. She was so small and breakable in my arms—I could snuff the life right out of her with little effort."
4. Restitution:
The very fist thing we get to know about Elena is that there is blood on her hands, a man was killed because of her and she is determined to correct that wrong. We know that as a woman in the mafia, she didn't have a job, but she already said she has donated money to shelters before, why didn't she started putting money away instead of stealing from Nico? It felt completely forced, as if the only reason it happened was to make Nicolas feel betrayed and abandoned by his only true love.
I didn't like any part of this book, but I'm still going to give The Maddest Obsession a chance because I keep reading Gianna's/Christian's story is so much better.
Content Warnings
Minor: Gun violence