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A review by sophiareadswaytoomuch
The Awakening by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
So. This is the worst book I’ve ever read, and I don’t say that lightly. I would rate it lower if I could.
TL;DR awful writing, extremely disturbing non consensual acts, overall awful book.
I’ll start with the most basic grievance I have; the writing is shit. I’ve read better grammar on Wattpad. The authors do not know how to correctly use commas. Sometimes they do not use a single comma in a sentence that is five lines long, sometimes they use three in one line. On the most basic level the grammar and writing is bad. I found at least five typos on top of their inability to use commas.
Everything else about the writing is also bad. Between the two POV characters (twin sisters), there is nothing even approaching a narrative voice to differentiate them. I had to check which character it was almost every chapter. The main characters are extremely bland and have almost no personality.
The worldbuilding was vague, handwavy, and bordering on absolute nonsense at times. I understand authors are entitled to write whatever they want, but absolutely none of the existing fae lore was included in this book. It felt like as many powers as possible were forced in- elemental magic, vampires, werewolves, sirens, Coercion.
Speaking of Coercion; yikes. The ‘bully romance’ of this book is the two main characters being physically and borderline sexually assaulted, degraded, and humiliated for the entire story. There were hints of future books and the girls being able to get revenge as they grow more powerful, but no actual payout.
Both girls are preyed on by separate ‘vampire fae’ who literally just grab them and drink their blood whenever they feel like it. There is an attempt to explain this as the more powerful fae preying on the weaker ones, but it just feels gross and awful. The way it is described is almost straight up rape, and by 3/4 of the way in the girls are just resigned to being treated like this. Also one of the characters doing this to them is one of their teachers.
Which brings me to my next point; not one single character is on the girls side. In the entire school (read: world) there iis literally nowhere and nothing that is safe for these girls and it really just adds an extra dimension of awful to slog through.
Of their two friends, one of them is a weird caricature of a Latino person who sprinkles random Spanish words into sentences in the most forced way possible and is literally named Diego. The other friend definitely gets her drink spiked at one point in the story which everyone just ignores.
None of the characters are interesting or fun and most of the people at the school are actively awful. Despite the despicable way these girls are treated by every single person, they somehow still manage to find these guys hot. I don’t want to shame people for what they’re into, but this level of abuse followed by ‘aww but he’s hot teehee’ was legitimately sickening to read. I’ve read good enemies to lovers; this is not that.
Also given the way these girls are treated you might think they make some attempt to learn to control their powers or understand the world they’ve been dropped into. Absolutely not. There is almost none of that.
I have more to say but I am honestly just so mad about every aspect of this book I’m not sure where to start. I literally threw it at a wall while reading, it was that frustrating. If you’ve got this far into my review, thank you and I hope you never read this book.
TL;DR awful writing, extremely disturbing non consensual acts, overall awful book.
I’ll start with the most basic grievance I have; the writing is shit. I’ve read better grammar on Wattpad. The authors do not know how to correctly use commas. Sometimes they do not use a single comma in a sentence that is five lines long, sometimes they use three in one line. On the most basic level the grammar and writing is bad. I found at least five typos on top of their inability to use commas.
Everything else about the writing is also bad. Between the two POV characters (twin sisters), there is nothing even approaching a narrative voice to differentiate them. I had to check which character it was almost every chapter. The main characters are extremely bland and have almost no personality.
The worldbuilding was vague, handwavy, and bordering on absolute nonsense at times. I understand authors are entitled to write whatever they want, but absolutely none of the existing fae lore was included in this book. It felt like as many powers as possible were forced in- elemental magic, vampires, werewolves, sirens, Coercion.
Speaking of Coercion; yikes. The ‘bully romance’ of this book is the two main characters being physically and borderline sexually assaulted, degraded, and humiliated for the entire story. There were hints of future books and the girls being able to get revenge as they grow more powerful, but no actual payout.
Both girls are preyed on by separate ‘vampire fae’ who literally just grab them and drink their blood whenever they feel like it. There is an attempt to explain this as the more powerful fae preying on the weaker ones, but it just feels gross and awful. The way it is described is almost straight up rape, and by 3/4 of the way in the girls are just resigned to being treated like this. Also one of the characters doing this to them is one of their teachers.
Which brings me to my next point; not one single character is on the girls side. In the entire school (read: world) there iis literally nowhere and nothing that is safe for these girls and it really just adds an extra dimension of awful to slog through.
Of their two friends, one of them is a weird caricature of a Latino person who sprinkles random Spanish words into sentences in the most forced way possible and is literally named Diego. The other friend definitely gets her drink spiked at one point in the story which everyone just ignores.
None of the characters are interesting or fun and most of the people at the school are actively awful. Despite the despicable way these girls are treated by every single person, they somehow still manage to find these guys hot. I don’t want to shame people for what they’re into, but this level of abuse followed by ‘aww but he’s hot teehee’ was legitimately sickening to read. I’ve read good enemies to lovers; this is not that.
Also given the way these girls are treated you might think they make some attempt to learn to control their powers or understand the world they’ve been dropped into. Absolutely not. There is almost none of that.
I have more to say but I am honestly just so mad about every aspect of this book I’m not sure where to start. I literally threw it at a wall while reading, it was that frustrating. If you’ve got this far into my review, thank you and I hope you never read this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Bullying, Car accident, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Sexual violence, Stalking, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse
Likely to be very triggering. Awful book.