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kimu23's Reviews (771)
Don't get me wrong, this book is amazing. Seth Dickinson is a genius and I really enjoyed this so far. However I just got spoiled and I don't think I'm in the right mood for grimdark fantasy where nothing end up well. Maybe one day I'll finish this or maybe never... who knows.
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I have no idea who this characters are since I haven't read Foul Lady Fortune, but I like this novella. I'll always have a weakness for childhood friends to lovers and if there's one thing Chloe Gong excels in, it's romance.
I think I went into this with a way too high expectations... That or this book is just not that great. Unfortunately, dark romance (or trashy romance in general) never managed to keep me interested.
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
This is so cringe.
I enjoy a good sex scenes but a good dirty talk is also important. The dialogues in this book is so cringey, particularly during the sex scenes. Since this is an erotica novella, I have a very low expectations for the romance or the plot so the whole 'insta love with no plot' thing doesn't bother me.
That said, I don't really like the romance. I dislike an alpha male character and Set is unfortunately one of them. It doesn't help that this book is 90% smut so we only saw him being alpha and saying the cringiest sex talks. I have a feelings his brothers will be like that too so I probably won't continue this series.
I also don't really like how Set and Kareema blamed her daughter being terrible at adulting entirely on her father's genes. Like, Kareema was the one who raised her from childhood, but sure let's do a nature vs nurture about your responsibility to your daughter. I just don't like the way Kareema treated or think about her daughter here but whatever. This is am erotica romance novella so fuck familial relationship, right?
I don't know why I always think too much when reading this kind of book and I don't know why I keep reading it. My lack of enjoyment is entirely my own fault unfortunately.
I enjoy a good sex scenes but a good dirty talk is also important. The dialogues in this book is so cringey, particularly during the sex scenes. Since this is an erotica novella, I have a very low expectations for the romance or the plot so the whole 'insta love with no plot' thing doesn't bother me.
That said, I don't really like the romance. I dislike an alpha male character and Set is unfortunately one of them. It doesn't help that this book is 90% smut so we only saw him being alpha and saying the cringiest sex talks. I have a feelings his brothers will be like that too so I probably won't continue this series.
I also don't really like how Set and Kareema blamed her daughter being terrible at adulting entirely on her father's genes. Like, Kareema was the one who raised her from childhood, but sure let's do a nature vs nurture about your responsibility to your daughter. I just don't like the way Kareema treated or think about her daughter here but whatever. This is am erotica romance novella so fuck familial relationship, right?
I don't know why I always think too much when reading this kind of book and I don't know why I keep reading it. My lack of enjoyment is entirely my own fault unfortunately.
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I feel like there are too much subplots here, to the point that it distracted from the revenge plot. The revenge probably only took up about 20% of the book, the rest got taken up by the combination of Ariana's family problem, her bonding with the group and the romance. Although, I think the romance actually needs more time because I don't have any strong feeling about it.
While I do think that's a problem (especially with how short this is), I actually like this book. I enjoyed the writings and the characters. The writing made this an easy read despite the heavy topic. In fact the overall tone of this book isn't what I expected at all, it was more lighthearted than I thought.
I said that I enjoyed the characters but I think I only meant Ariana. She was a strong main character, personality and writing wise. I enjoyed following her throughout the story and even though I think the family subplot took up too much screentime, I also enjoyed reading about her relationship with her parents. That's probably only me though since I like reading about familial love, especially in a dysfunctional family.
Overall, a solid 3.5 stars read.
While I do think that's a problem (especially with how short this is), I actually like this book. I enjoyed the writings and the characters. The writing made this an easy read despite the heavy topic. In fact the overall tone of this book isn't what I expected at all, it was more lighthearted than I thought.
I said that I enjoyed the characters but I think I only meant Ariana. She was a strong main character, personality and writing wise. I enjoyed following her throughout the story and even though I think the family subplot took up too much screentime, I also enjoyed reading about her relationship with her parents. That's probably only me though since I like reading about familial love, especially in a dysfunctional family.
Overall, a solid 3.5 stars read.
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This was very boring. It's not bad but it's mediocre and maybe that's worse.
I'm gonna be honest and say that I don't usually find romcom (especially the recent ones) funny so I wasn't expecting much from the comedy aspect. However since this is a romance book about two comedians, I feel like I should find some of the jokes funny at least. Unfortunately, Farley's humor is just unfunny and lame to me. I never like sex or toilet jokes (fart, shit etc) and Farley stand up acts are all about that. I honestly find it unrealistic that Farley would got standing applause in her every acts.
The 'fake dating for PR' trope also doesn't make any sense. Nobody and I mean literally NOBODY would care about comedians dating life. John Mulaney's scandal about cheating on his wife blow up for like 2 weeks before people move on and John Mulaney is actually popular. I don't think people would care that much about two comedians dating each other, especially if one of them isn't that well known yet.
The flashbacks also kinda disrupted the story. Usually authors would use the 'present time-flashback-present time' structure to show how different the situations for our protagonists are. However it doesn't work here because Farley and Meyer situations are the same in both times. Since I listened to the audiobook, sometimes I got confused if this is the present or the past.
It's not bad for sure, but I wouldn't say that I enjoy it.
I'm gonna be honest and say that I don't usually find romcom (especially the recent ones) funny so I wasn't expecting much from the comedy aspect. However since this is a romance book about two comedians, I feel like I should find some of the jokes funny at least. Unfortunately, Farley's humor is just unfunny and lame to me. I never like sex or toilet jokes (fart, shit etc) and Farley stand up acts are all about that. I honestly find it unrealistic that Farley would got standing applause in her every acts.
The 'fake dating for PR' trope also doesn't make any sense. Nobody and I mean literally NOBODY would care about comedians dating life. John Mulaney's scandal about cheating on his wife blow up for like 2 weeks before people move on and John Mulaney is actually popular. I don't think people would care that much about two comedians dating each other, especially if one of them isn't that well known yet.
The flashbacks also kinda disrupted the story. Usually authors would use the 'present time-flashback-present time' structure to show how different the situations for our protagonists are. However it doesn't work here because Farley and Meyer situations are the same in both times. Since I listened to the audiobook, sometimes I got confused if this is the present or the past.
It's not bad for sure, but I wouldn't say that I enjoy it.
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
The only thing in this book that scared me and made me mad is when Salama, Kenan and his siblings escaped on boat with other refugees. I know that the story will have a happy ending but I still feel nervous when I read it. It made me so mad whenever I think about the white people (or Western people in general tbh) just dragging their feet when it's time to save refugees from Asia and Middle East (which is also Asia but whatever).
I wish I can like this more but the writing is immature and sometimes repetitive. Also despite the terrible things happening in this book, I don't really feel the horror. It's probably because of the author's writing problems, but I just feel like it's too repetitive. I know it was based on the realities of Syria and this is probably not a fair comparison seeing that this book is YA, but I felt more shocked and horror when I read The Poppy War by RF Kuang.
This is still a good story and I still like it. I can see how sincere this book was written. I can also see the love and hope for Syria in this book.
I wish I can like this more but the writing is immature and sometimes repetitive. Also despite the terrible things happening in this book, I don't really feel the horror. It's probably because of the author's writing problems, but I just feel like it's too repetitive. I know it was based on the realities of Syria and this is probably not a fair comparison seeing that this book is YA, but I felt more shocked and horror when I read The Poppy War by RF Kuang.
This is still a good story and I still like it. I can see how sincere this book was written. I can also see the love and hope for Syria in this book.
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
