Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of the bandwagon I just jumped on.
Yeah, I loved the fuck outta that shit, lemme tell ya.
I cSorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of the bandwagon I just jumped on.
Yeah, I loved the fuck outta that shit, lemme tell ya.
I can see why this book is winning so many people over. There's an ease and transparency to the writing that makes the flow of the narrative smooth as fuckin' butter. I couldn't put it down. Are there blatantly obvious tropes and a gratuitous amount of "by the skin of one's teeth" achievements? Of-fucking-course. But guess who has two thumbs and doesn't give a flying fuck? Hi, it's me, ya girl.
First off, Violet. Love her. We absolutely love an FMC who is 1. comfortable with her sexuality and 2.reasonably self-deprecating. Cause we all know how frickin' easy it is to write an FMC that achieves all this shit as the chosen one and is still all "Wahhh, I'm not worthy!" and can't take a fucking compliment. Violet, on the other hand (while still not letting all that stuff get to her head) is accepting her flaws and accepting compliments like an adult. Yes, things seem to come a little too easy for her, but it makes for a good story so I can't find it in myself to care.
Xadennnnn. Xaddy. That man is fucking lethal in more ways than one. Fuck the bandwagon, I'd rather jump on him.
GRUMPY ASS TAIRN IS MY FUCKING EVERYTHING. If this entire goddamn book was 100% Tairn's inner monologue, I'd count that as a win.
Honestly, I can go on and on about the little things I liked about this book (and even the little things I didn't like) but all in all, I had a great time. I will be voraciously perched on the edge of that FUCKING CLIFFHANGER until it's finally time to jump or climb.
“Trying to kill one another doesn’t equate to dating.” I beg to fucking differ.
Jesus fuck, I love me some hate-fueled sex. Throw in a dark academia a“Trying to kill one another doesn’t equate to dating.” I beg to fucking differ.
Jesus fuck, I love me some hate-fueled sex. Throw in a dark academia aesthetic, queer witches, and necromancy? Fuck me sideways - that's good shit.
I love when an enemies-to-lovers is a true enemies-to-lovers. The pages were practically dripping with murderous intent and I reveled in it. I FUCKING LOVE CASH with my whole heart. He's the epitome of dark academia and a brilliantly talented necromancer to boot. He's the black cat to Graeme's golden retriever. Graeme could cry and scream and try to legitimately kill Cassius all he wanted; he'd still be following him around like a lost puppy dog and it was adorable. I fucking love books where Character A sees Character B and is like "I don't know if I want to stick a knife in you or my dick in you but either way I need to be as close to you as humanly possible until I figure it out."
Now as much as I do love this book, I do still have a couple of small critiques that are holding me back from a 5-star rating.
First off, I got so fucking annoyed every time Graeme was like "Maybe Cassius isn't that bad" and then the tiniest thing would happen and suddenly it's like "PSYCH, Cassius is evil incarnate I must kill him." I feel like Cash had to prove himself one too many times like DAMN SON, he's just beautiful spirit-summoning angel boi who has a cold exterior but deep down just wants to be loved - GET WITH THE PROGRAM, GRAEME. I get that some of that was totally necessary for the plot and the centuries-long-Romeo-and-Juliet-family-fued thing but it was just a bit too much and just made Graeme look ignorant af. Still love him to death tho.
Second, and this isn't a huge issue, but there was something about the pacing of the story that threw me off. Instead of a steady incline towards a climactic scene, it was just moderate events in short bursts that made the story feel chaotic. Does that make sense? Things kept happening and while I enjoyed the hell out of them, I feel like there was an undertone to the story that had me waiting for this big reveal/climax at the end that didn't really happen. There was a bit of a reveal at the very end, but it was fairly predictable and something that I had already guessed early on in the book. But I digress.
At the end of the day, still very much enjoyed this and I look forward to the next in the series!...more
Ever wonder what happens when you give two horny teenagers a bottomless bank account and a mansion free of parental supervision? ...Sex. The answer isEver wonder what happens when you give two horny teenagers a bottomless bank account and a mansion free of parental supervision? ...Sex. The answer is sex.
I loooved the first half of this book! Finn is all damaged and broody and Oliver breaks through his moodiness like sunshine through clouds. Things happened very quickly, suuuper insta-lovey, but I was actually pretty amused by how Finn was immediately helpless to Ollie's charms.
Somewhere in the middle is where things started to fall off a little for me. I know this is a stepbrothers romance but the number of times they called each other "bro" was giving cheesy-low-budget-porno. I wasn't super bothered by it; more bemused than anything, I think. Plus, every time Finn called Oliver "sunshine", it settled some of the cringe stirring in my gut.
But you could make one helluva charcuterie with all the cheese in this book, my god. The concept for the scenes are excellent - it's everything you would expect with this type of trope. But the cheese comes into play because the scenes happen a little too quickly; especially the sex scenes. I think if they were more descriptive and drawn out, it would've given the story a little more depth. There's also quite a few unresolved/confusing plot points (especially with Finn's dad).
BUT, when all's said and done, I still really enjoyed the story overall! I also am really taking into account that this is a debut novel - my criticisms are still present but they don't hold as much weight as they normally would....more
I cannot even begin to tell you how much I adored this book. Every single thing about it. Only TJ Klune can brinCANDY CANES. PINECONES. EPIC. AWESOME.
I cannot even begin to tell you how much I adored this book. Every single thing about it. Only TJ Klune can bring tears to my eyes within the first couple of chapters.
UGHHHHH THE PHYSICAL FUCKING EFFECT THAT THIS BOOK HAD ON ME. I was laughing, crying (read: sobbing), holding my breath - so much to the point that I had to keep setting the book down for a second and remind myself to fucking breathe.
Once again, I have very little to say because I wouldn't change a single punctuation mark.