A review by entirelybonkerz
Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann

1.0

Now that I slept on it, this book really is 1 star.

TW: rape, miscarriage, kidnapping, murder (this review will contain spoilers)

I jumped into this book with FULL CONFIDENCE that I was going to be like: oh yeah, this is great. Everyone loves it. And it is in fact, well written. Jennifer has a very smooth writing style that makes going through this read very easy, so I will give this book 3 stars. But...

The things I have to say about this book don't end here. Sit down, go grab some popcorn... this might take a while.

Cora, HATES her sister's fiancé. Yeah, you heard that right. Her sister's fiancé who has been with her sister for fifteen years .But Cora and Dean hate each other in a funny way... They hate each other in a: Dean is going to give his SISTER-IN-LAW a vibrator for x-mas way.

Because it is totally normal to get a vibrator from your brother-in-law while the entire family watches you open it on Jesus's B-DAY.

They hate each other in a: we are going to banter, and prank one another and maybe have intrusive thoughts of how we actually find each other attractive for

FIFTEEN YEARS

Her sister, was disrespected, ignored, and lied to behind her back for FITEEN YEARS, because NO ONE had the balls to say: oh maybe there is something here, and we should either CUT IT OUT, fuck or move on.

No, they weren't smart or mature enough to figure out they had a thing for each other. 15 years is not enough time! Poor Dean. Poor Cora. They had no idea what they were doing, and you know who is going to help them figure it out? A SERIAL KILLER, CALLED THE MATCHMAKER. Who, listen to this,

KIDNAPS PEOPLE who are not in a relationship, locks them in a basement, and forces them to rape each other until they fall in love.

Then he supposedly kills his victims and buries them in his backyard, but you know...

Normal stuff.

As I was posting reading updates on Instagram, everyone was like, BUT JULIA THEY TRAUMA-BONDED. Oh spare me, they didn't trauma bond, they could have, if the author didn't use every single flashback of the last fifteen years to show how much they flirted on the sidelines.

I might have been ok with the situation if she hadn't vilified the sister by saying: oh she was too girly, she loved dresses and make up and I loved wearing sneakers and eating doughnuts. She was superficial and I read books.

So I guess it's ok to thirst after your sister's fiancé for years, because you're not like other girls.

You really can't trust anyone these days, and this might be completely personal, but I WOULD NEVER, EVER, fuck anyone my sister has fucked.

But anyways, yes, yes, this is a piece of fiction. (that was planned, plotted and edited, mind you ) so somehow all of this made sense and our serial killer "I am going to make you sleep with each other against your will" was what threw them over the edge.

They get out of captivity, Dean kills the Serial Killer for what he did to Cora. They were gone for 20 days, and after that, Dean, our sweet boy Dean finally says this:

"I've only ever been with my fiancé. And honestly? The only other woman I've ever thought about that way is Cora (HER SISTER) which is a secret I'll take to my grave. Neither of them can EVER know I had eyes for Cora first, when I saw her at English class, radiating innocence and lavender."

INNOCENCE AND LAVENDER? What kind of PEDO BEAR talk is this? Anyways, yeah bro. I figured out you wanted to fuck your fiancé's sister on chapter one, no one is mind-blown here.

But you COWARD, INSECURE, PIECE OF SHIT ASS is telling me the only reason you are dating Cora's sister today, is because she just happened to give you the green light to date first? Otherwise it would have been Cora? You needed to wet your WILLY THAT FUCKING DESPERATELY YOU PATHETIC PIECE OF BALL SACK?

AND YOU LET THIS GO ON FOR FIFTEEN YEARS? AND THEN, YOU ASKED HER TO MARRY YOU? Even though you say later on you "Have known you were going to end up with Cora from the moment you first laid eyes on her?"

IF YOU KNEW CORA WAS THE ONE, FROM THE DAY YOU FIRST SAW HER FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, WHY THE FUCK DID YOU PROPOSE TO HER SISTER YOU INCOMPETENT SWINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*takes a deep breath*

Anyways, and what do you think they do once they come back from captivity? Does he call off the wedding? Do they tell ANYONE what happened? No. They continue to lie to her sister. The sister they apparently BOTH LOVE.

They fall asleep on the phone with each other, they PLAY FOOTSIES UNDER THE TABLE during FAMILY DINNERS AND DOUBLE DATES. They let this shit go on for a LOOOOOONG FUCKING TIME, but then they realize they want to fuck again and the foreplay is over, and Dean finally dumps Cora's sister.

During the break up, Cora's sister is RIGHTFULLY PISSED OFF, and says: you didn't realize it in fifteen fucking years you fucking psycopath? AND he continues to lie and says the break up has nothing to do with her sister, it's the "trauma". He even says they have NOTHING IN COMMON!!!!

And Mindy says the only good sentence in this entire book.

"You either want to fuck my sister or you don't Dean"

Anyways, he continues to lie and gaslight everyone, but it's ok, because they "trauma-bonded."

I know trauma-bonding is real, in real life, but the fact that this author added so many flashbacks to their previous flirting did a HUGE disservice to the validity of this trauma.

Anyway, someone said on Instagram that the ending of this book should be both sister's getting together and going after this creepy, ass coward and that's just how I am going to imagine this book ending.

Fuck men. I have no tolerance for liars, cheaters and unfaithful, backstabbing people.

The book is well-written, but these inconsistencies and lack of proper character development almost blew my brain.

The real victim here was her sister. If my own sister disrespected me like that for years, our ties would have been cut FOREVER.

I understand the authors goal, maybe she wanted to use this traumatic experience for them to finally realize something that had always been there. They almost died, so after leaving captivity they realize they have to try to be together even if they hurt other people in the process. I would still dislike the situation, but I would be able to understand it more. And that could have been a beautiful story, if all those flashbacks didn't STINK ASS on the "emotional cheating" category, the disrespect and shameless flirting.

Anywhoooooo...

we don’t waste people’s times, we don’t lead people on. It’s called EMOTIONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND WE ALL HAVE IT