A review by morallyblack
Leave Me Behind by K.M. Moronova

dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

 
Leave Me Behind was a book I had eyed for a while now because I do get the occasional Dark Romance itch that just needs scratching sometimes and I had really high hopes for this one to blow me away. 

Let’s get to the positives: It was a quick read. I read this in two sittings split over two days and it was engaging, yes – though I have to admit I should be reading research papers right now and anything else is to be considered more engaging than the reading I should doing, so take this with a grain of salt. 

I enjoyed the initial setup: dark ops, squads with leniency in certain rules, pecking orders – that’s promising for a dark romance, especially with power dynamics coming into play and pushing the female MC into a group of elite soldiers that are as tight knit as they come, could have been great. 

That’s it, that’s the positive stuff. I didn’t like the characters. The FMC was unbearable, inconsistent in her convictions and impossibly naïve allthewhile incredibly cynic. She’s a walking oxymoron and thus, perfect for the MMC, who is as unpredictable as they come due to very variable characteristics depending on the scene we’re in. 

Usually, I adore the forbidden yearning, the struggle of coming to terms with own feelings towards a person one should hate, but the backstories of these characters just didn’t add up. I constantly felt confused about the dimensions of their trauma, connections to others etc., then was fed another tidbit of backstory information which should have cleared stuff up, yet instead made it even more incomprehensible why they act they way they do. 

The main thing that annoyed me was the blatant ignorance of the writer’s mantra to show instead of tell. I was constantly told what to think while it didn’t line up with my actual thoughts about the characters, their actions and aspirations. If you tell me, someone is “more dangerous” than someone else but fail to show me why, I won’t believe you. 

This is one of the biggest reasons why this book felt a little bit like fanfiction to me. This is not me throwing shade, but fanfiction has a certain feeling to it most of the time and if I read FF I might look more graciously past plotholes than in published books and boy oh boy, this book had more plotholes than consistent character traits. 

Well, I’m disappointed and the search for good dark romance to scratch the itch continues. 

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