Like many other regrets in my life, it started out promising.
I have a soft spot for stories featuring pen-pals, people who sort of fall in Rating: 1/5
Like many other regrets in my life, it started out promising.
I have a soft spot for stories featuring pen-pals, people who sort of fall in love before meeting in real life. While I enjoyed the premise, everything else was a string of ridiculous or awkward (or both) situations. The relationship between Chase and Olivia was bereft of emotional development, they were horny for each other and that's about it, very disappointing.
(view spoiler)[ It seems like lazy writing, in my humble opinion, to just whisk the girls away to a mansion 'for their safety' (or it was just a self-insert for the whole living with the stars experience). It didn't really bring anything to the story, just offered Olivia the chance to sit by a pool and meet famous people. She also seemed underwhelmingly not-worried for someone whose house just burned.
There's a few clichés/things that disappointed me: - A confession of "I've never seen Chase so distraught ever before" by a friend of his, referring to Chase being worried about Olivia. - Olivia complaining about her breast/body size fairly often through inner monologues. But, of course, Chase tells her how perfect her body is every chance he has. - Olivia seems to be on a mission on losing her virginity rather than getting to know Chase - Olivia was rescued by firefighters, having passed out from smoke inhalation... and she was all fine. I would've felt better if she at least had a sore throat after. But she was right as rain. - The ending was so... wrong. Two adults leaving their friends to go upstairs and have sex... While the people are still downstairs, knowing exactly what they're doing. What the heck did I read? (hide spoiler)]
It started off promising and I was curious how it was gonna play out, since this is hardly a new plot idea. But it turned out to be flimsy in terms of development of relationships, and ridiculous at times in terms of plot. Though I do appreciate the fact that Olivia didn't really overreact upon learning who Remington was....more
This is my third book by this author and I wanted to shout FINALLY when I saw that romance was present in the story. There were moments, anRating: 3/5
This is my third book by this author and I wanted to shout FINALLY when I saw that romance was present in the story. There were moments, and gestures, and stolen glances, and longing. There was actual chemistry between the leads and I read the book in one sitting. It was charming!
But old habits die hard and, just like with the other two books, in the last quarter of the book new elements were added in to amplify the drama. And... I yelled at my kindle again because it ended on such dry and abrupt note! It felt like the last couple of chapters were a mad dash and then it all came to a skidding halt.
Overall, great improvements over the other books I've read by this author....more
I kept waiting for the romance to happen. And then the book ended and I was still waiting for romance to happen, this is how I experienced Rating: 2/5
I kept waiting for the romance to happen. And then the book ended and I was still waiting for romance to happen, this is how I experienced this book. Compared to The Paper Marriage, this one didn't end as abruptly. But I couldn't connect to the characters, not really. And the chemistry between the leads was missing. ...more
It started off promising and I was looking forward to a slow burn, where the hero realizes he loves her and will slowly break through theRating: 2.5/5
It started off promising and I was looking forward to a slow burn, where the hero realizes he loves her and will slowly break through the fears she'd accumulated throughout her life. But the buildup went nowhere, really. It just ended abruptly, like running into a brick wall. In the last third of the book the author started to add in ingredients to stir up unnecessary additional drama. And then the story just ran off a cliff. I started yelling at my kindle when I flipped the page and was met with acknowledgements. What happened with Tressy? What was the point of her existence? What about Annie? What about the Black Swan? Apparently we don't need to know...
Circling back to the relationship between Matt and Rose... I kept expecting it to flourish into something. But it was pretty dry. The character development as a whole was pretty dry.
(view spoiler)[We're told of all these fears Rose has. She's been mocked as a child by her parents because she was tall, thus she doesn't view her looks as favorable in any way. Her husband married her for money. She's been through domestic violence and lost a pregnancy because of it. She's had to live with a crazy grandma because there's no other relative and then she loses that home too. Rose hasn't had stability in years, she's been through A LOT. But it doesn't show when it counts, which is through her reactions, through her actions. She's not reluctant, she's not really anxious, and a lot of changes in her character happen somewhat behind the scenes.
We're told she's terrified of electric storms because the loss of her pregnancy and her husband's death happened on such a night. But then nothing really comes out of it. It's a scene where he steps into her room, sees her scared, and tells her not to be scared, sort of. We're told she's not good with babies, but goes on to be a perfect caretaker. Am I wrong to want to see her learning, to witness her grow?
There's no stolen glances, no longing, there's no small gestures to win each other's hearts (save for him dragging home a rosebush for her to plant). And then one night he goes to her room because he decided it's his right to bed her, having found out she's his wife, and boom. They're in love. What the heck. Especially since she's been basically sexually abused by her husband, or so we've been told. (hide spoiler)]
And I have to mention Annie. She was like a pawn, a mechanic used in the story to insert cuteness. Babies have tantrums, babies keep people up at night, babies are sometimes difficult with no logical reason. Yet this baby was always smiling and sleeping soundly through the night and all around content. She was conveniently around to give the hero scenes in which he was tender.
All in all, the writing is really decent and the book starts off actually good. But it loses track on the way, having laid a foundation and then not tying up the plot or characters to it. The romance was tepid, if there at all. Character development was a little inconsistent, and there were a lot of characters introduced that didn't really matter, they didn't do much. A lot of issues were brushed over, or left hanging, especially the ending. I am craving an epilogue so bad I just might write one myself, give my soul the piece of fiction-cake it craves....more
I have no idea what to rate this. For some parts I wanted to give it 2 stars, but some others tugged at my heartstrings and made me smileRating: 3.5/5
I have no idea what to rate this. For some parts I wanted to give it 2 stars, but some others tugged at my heartstrings and made me smile so, so wide... Ah! The hero had an interesting development, I have to say. And overall it was a very sweet story.
I also went with the audiobook for the majority of this one, because the narrator Mary Jane Wells was so fantastic in voicing the characters. Really recommend it....more
This started off promising, a beauty and the beast with a lot of humor. But it went down the hill somewhere after 1/3 or so. The imposingRating: 2.5/5
This started off promising, a beauty and the beast with a lot of humor. But it went down the hill somewhere after 1/3 or so. The imposing Dain, the marquess that everyone feared turned into a sulky boy who threw tantrums whenever he didn't get his way. I get his history, but the way he behaved was infantilized to the point I couldn't really take him seriously. I started to wonder why Jess was into him, other than his body.
(view spoiler)[I also couldn't really accept his attitude towards his child... I mean, I get it, the boy was born as a woman's sad attempt of blackmailing Dain. He hated the woman, I get it. But I would think that he would be all the more sympathetic to the child's predicament because he was abused and hated, just like Dain was... But no. Not even when Jess pretty much said it to his face, drew the paralel loud and clear, not even then did he get over his hurt ego and his constant fear of being mocked or ridiculed. (hide spoiler)]
All in all, the banters were fun, the humor was present in situations and dialogue, but it was all eclipsed by Dain's behavior. Maybe it's me, not the book, but I would've liked to see his road to redemption through the perspective of a grown man, not a toddler throwing a fit. I feel like Dain's emotional growth was a little bit too stunted....more
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