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Stages by Lamar Neal
1.0

I thought I read the worst book in my life a few years ago up until I picked this bad boy up. This is literally the worst book I have ever read. I do not have the energy to go into detail about just how much is wrong with this book so I will just list some things.

1. This book does not know what genre it is, it is listed as romance and new adult, it is neither. It is a confusing erotica drama if anything.

2. The main women character, Victoria, has no substance, all she talks about is her love for her boyfriend, her love for the other main character, and how much she worships the ground they walk on. Our first introduction into her mind is a very abrupt sex scene where she talks about how much she basically worships her boyfriend. This book is not kind to women at all, the author clearly thinks women exist for the pleasure of men and nothing else based on this book.

3. We never learn Victoria's mother in laws name, it could have at very least been said once, the fact that she literally has no name is appalling.

4. The situations and the actions of the two main characters is very juvenile, this book would have been much more suited for a high school setting considering the maturity level of the main characters.

5. Literally not one situation in this book was believable.

6. The author of this books thinks that striper = sex worker and that stripers are willing to go home with and sleep with anybody for free! Absolutely not, that is not the real world, you can't just go to strip club abd have your pick of women to take home! This reads more like a sex fantasy than an actual novel.

7. Scenes suddenly stop and drop off like we are in a TV show. Scenes where important things are happening will literally just stop, but somehow it never happens during one of the MANY sex scenes in this book. Like seriously, just label this book as erotic fantasy and call it day.

8. When ever an important conversation is being had, we don't get to hear any of it. I'm adlibbing but, example "I finally got the chance to say everything I wanted and she started to cry". Cool can we as the reader know what was said? It's lazy writing, I as the reader want to know what was said, I shouldn't have to guess, but we get ALL the dialogue for the sex scenes, just saying.

9. The main characters dialogue is bizarre and not believable.

10. The main man character Hendrix, has a twin sister we know nothing about, and the other sister (the darker one I might add) is a basically an angry know it all. How original, making the dark older sister a villain.

11. The actual villain of the story, Hershey (yes, that's actually his name), is the most textbook flat villain you can imagine.

12. The main character has a job but we don't know what it is. The genre should have been mystery since there so much we don't know lol.

13. Both main characters start off in school, then school becomes something that is never mention and then it is reintroduced as a plot device when they break up. This book is lacking consistency.

14. It's highly confusing why Victoria having children is even a part of this book, it would make so much more sense if she didn't have children considering she seems to barely think about them. The book would have made much more sense if they weren't a part of it honestly.

I would say skip this one unless you enjoy women being treated a objects of pleasure for men with no substance, surprise sex scenes that come out of nowhere, and the mystery of not being able to know what is being said when serious conversations are being had.