Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by afretts
Give Me Love by Kate McCarthy
2.0
If I was giving out stars for potential, I would give this a 4, BUT I'm not so this gets a 2.
This is me:
I give the author props for an extremely original idea. The whole aspiring rockstar meets Blackwater badass thing had the potential to go very poorly or be very exciting. Unfortunately, the author didn't execute it very well. This book is a fracking mess.
But there were a couple of things I liked about it:
1. The description of Jared at the beginning was super hot. Jared was a tolerable hero. He could be kind of an idiot, but at the beginning he had me swooning.
2. Henry. He was a good friend and the ONLY memorable supporting character.
That's all. That's all I liked.
I HATED the way this was written. Here is a gigantic list of everything I hated about this book.
1. The random asides and foreshadowing. This book spoiled itself CONSTANTLY. It was infuriating. Reading this book was like having this conversation:
Person 1: Have you seen The Sixth Sense?
Person 2: No. Is it good?
Person 1: Yeah. Really good. The kids sees dead people. Bruce Willis's character is dead the whole movie! Do you want to watch it?
Seriously. The author would flat out state that something major happened and then have Evie "flashback" in her mind to fill us in. Why couldn't we experience everything as it was happening?
2. The way time passed in this book was bizarre. Sometimes entire weeks would pass with no warning at all. A major event would occur and then 3 weeks would pass and it was all better, but the reader has no idea what happened and why it's better. We're just told that it is.
3. There was moments where I was extremely confused. Sometimes I just did not understand what was happening in the book at all. There was an entire chapter that was total nonsense to me. Additionally, things would happen that were never explained and did nothing to progress the plot. For example: Evie gets sick. For no reason. She's just randomly ill and goes to the doctor. There are pages written about Evie being sick for no apparent reason. She doesn't miss any shows, nothing bad happens, etc. Evie is just sick... to add to the word count? Then some guy from the record label requests to meet with Evie alone. He INSISTS that no one else comes with her, but it's never explained why. No reason given.
4. A lot of times it felt like this was 2 books smashed together. It felt like the author couldn't decide if she wanted this to be a thriller or a romance so she just mashed the two together and half-assed both. There was no development of Jared's job or company. The subplot involving the search for the bad guy was extremely underdeveloped and was only mentioned whenever it was convenient for the main character. It was almost as if the author should have just cut this entire arch. Plenty of conflict could have been created without involving the heroine in the drama. Honestly, this aspect of the book was incredibly boring.
5. The random switch to Mac's POV at 80% for one chapter gave me hives. I cannot express the depths of my fury over this.
6. Every single outfit that Evie wore was described in EXCRUCIATING detail. Here's the thing: I DON'T CARE! I don't care how her aqua shorts elongate her legs or how her tank top highlights her chest. I don't care at all. You've already described her. I know what she looks like. It was like the author thinks the reader is so stupid that they can't assume Evie changes her clothes every day. We need a play by play every time the woman gets dressed.
7. I am usually the first person to defend unlikeable characters. I don't think authors are obligated to deliver likeable or even redeemable characters. There are awful people in the world so it makes sense that they're represented in literature. That being said, I found the casual homophobia in this book unacceptable. The characters repeatedly say things like "You're not turning twink are you?" and "If they could turn gay for each other, they would." Not okay with me. The universe doesn't need anymore of this garbage.
8. This book has about 8,000 characters. I couldn't keep everyone straight. Who are: Cam, Casey, Dean, Tim, Frog, Travis, Mitch, Steve, Peter, Jake, Gary? The number of minor, male characters- who are all incredibly hot, of course- is astronomical. I felt like I needed a flow chart.
Yeahhhhh. So this book is free on Amazon right now if you want to torture yourself.
This is me:
I give the author props for an extremely original idea. The whole aspiring rockstar meets Blackwater badass thing had the potential to go very poorly or be very exciting. Unfortunately, the author didn't execute it very well. This book is a fracking mess.
But there were a couple of things I liked about it:
1. The description of Jared at the beginning was super hot. Jared was a tolerable hero. He could be kind of an idiot, but at the beginning he had me swooning.
2. Henry. He was a good friend and the ONLY memorable supporting character.
That's all. That's all I liked.
I HATED the way this was written. Here is a gigantic list of everything I hated about this book.
1. The random asides and foreshadowing. This book spoiled itself CONSTANTLY. It was infuriating. Reading this book was like having this conversation:
Person 1: Have you seen The Sixth Sense?
Person 2: No. Is it good?
Person 1: Yeah. Really good. The kids sees dead people. Bruce Willis's character is dead the whole movie! Do you want to watch it?
Seriously. The author would flat out state that something major happened and then have Evie "flashback" in her mind to fill us in. Why couldn't we experience everything as it was happening?
2. The way time passed in this book was bizarre. Sometimes entire weeks would pass with no warning at all. A major event would occur and then 3 weeks would pass and it was all better, but the reader has no idea what happened and why it's better. We're just told that it is.
3. There was moments where I was extremely confused. Sometimes I just did not understand what was happening in the book at all. There was an entire chapter that was total nonsense to me. Additionally, things would happen that were never explained and did nothing to progress the plot. For example: Evie gets sick. For no reason. She's just randomly ill and goes to the doctor. There are pages written about Evie being sick for no apparent reason. She doesn't miss any shows, nothing bad happens, etc. Evie is just sick... to add to the word count? Then some guy from the record label requests to meet with Evie alone. He INSISTS that no one else comes with her, but it's never explained why. No reason given.
Spoiler
He doesn't want to sign only her. He isn't interested in assaulting her. He doesn't ask her out. NO REASON FOR THE ALONE TIME. They had a totally normal conversation that could have been done in front of literally anyone and everyone.4. A lot of times it felt like this was 2 books smashed together. It felt like the author couldn't decide if she wanted this to be a thriller or a romance so she just mashed the two together and half-assed both. There was no development of Jared's job or company. The subplot involving the search for the bad guy was extremely underdeveloped and was only mentioned whenever it was convenient for the main character. It was almost as if the author should have just cut this entire arch. Plenty of conflict could have been created without involving the heroine in the drama. Honestly, this aspect of the book was incredibly boring.
5. The random switch to Mac's POV at 80% for one chapter gave me hives. I cannot express the depths of my fury over this.
6. Every single outfit that Evie wore was described in EXCRUCIATING detail. Here's the thing: I DON'T CARE! I don't care how her aqua shorts elongate her legs or how her tank top highlights her chest. I don't care at all. You've already described her. I know what she looks like. It was like the author thinks the reader is so stupid that they can't assume Evie changes her clothes every day. We need a play by play every time the woman gets dressed.
7. I am usually the first person to defend unlikeable characters. I don't think authors are obligated to deliver likeable or even redeemable characters. There are awful people in the world so it makes sense that they're represented in literature. That being said, I found the casual homophobia in this book unacceptable. The characters repeatedly say things like "You're not turning twink are you?" and "If they could turn gay for each other, they would." Not okay with me. The universe doesn't need anymore of this garbage.
8. This book has about 8,000 characters. I couldn't keep everyone straight. Who are: Cam, Casey, Dean, Tim, Frog, Travis, Mitch, Steve, Peter, Jake, Gary? The number of minor, male characters- who are all incredibly hot, of course- is astronomical. I felt like I needed a flow chart.
Yeahhhhh. So this book is free on Amazon right now if you want to torture yourself.