You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
btwnprintedpgs 's review for:
She Regrets Nothing
by Andrea Dunlop
I don't think I have ever been so disappointed by a book. I have DNF'd books before, not because they were like this one, but because I knew I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to enjoy them. One day, I'll get back to a lot of those books and I know they'll be good.
This one though... Oh man. She Regrets Nothing made me regret requesting it on NetGalley. When I read the synopsis, I was getting a lot of Gossip Girl vibes, and yet I don't think anyone in Gossip Girl was as entitled, selfish, and hypocritical as Laila. And that's saying something, because the GG Upper East Side was fierce.
Laila is the perfect example of how wealth, or even aspiring to inherit wealth, can corrupt one's character. While we begin the book sympathizing with Laila's situation, that sympathy quickly dissipates as we see how she begins to treat people once she sees money.
There is gold digger and then there is Laila. She hopes to take New York by storm, and ride on the coattail of her rich and famous cousins. She gets into the good clubs, meets billionaires, and betrays basically everyone who is ever nice to her. Her cousins - Liberty, Nora, and Leo - take Laila under their wing. Nora and Leo let Laila live with them for free, Liberty gives Laila a job, and yet Laila remains the most ungrateful ingrate on earth. She continues to claw for more.
However, this is where the hypocrisy comes in - she faults the men that she meets for doing the exact same thing she is - trying to rise above their station and all that, and she looks down upon them from a high seat that no one ever gave her, and no one really thinks she deserves. Now this plot line goes on for about 80% of the book, and all I could do was sit there utterly exasperated by her. I stick by the rule of not quoting ARCs, but I'm fairly sure at least some of the quotes I have saved up are in the final version, and none of them make her look like a good person at all.
Then there's the family scandal - no only is that plot line a stub as short as the TTC's Sheppard line, but it's not even acknowledged by the older people in the book until about 95% through the book. I was waiting for this huge revelation and I got nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Which leads me to the regret. I spent weeks trying to get through this book because I knew that I wasn't turned off from it because of my mood, but because of Laila and her terrible character. In the end, I only liked Liberty and Reece, but at the same time, they were barely developed as characters and that drove me bonkers.
As a whole, I was left unimpressed by this book, not just for the terrible MC, but for the lack of plot, the poor execution, and the feeling of what-the-hell I was left with when I turned the last page. Definitely not a satisfying read for me.
Plot: 2/5
Characters: 1/5
Writing: 2/5
World Building: 4/5
Pacing: 1/5
Overall: 1/5
GoodReads Rating: 3.65/5
eARC obtained via Atria Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
-review by Between Printed Pages
This one though... Oh man. She Regrets Nothing made me regret requesting it on NetGalley. When I read the synopsis, I was getting a lot of Gossip Girl vibes, and yet I don't think anyone in Gossip Girl was as entitled, selfish, and hypocritical as Laila. And that's saying something, because the GG Upper East Side was fierce.
Laila is the perfect example of how wealth, or even aspiring to inherit wealth, can corrupt one's character. While we begin the book sympathizing with Laila's situation, that sympathy quickly dissipates as we see how she begins to treat people once she sees money.
There is gold digger and then there is Laila. She hopes to take New York by storm, and ride on the coattail of her rich and famous cousins. She gets into the good clubs, meets billionaires, and betrays basically everyone who is ever nice to her. Her cousins - Liberty, Nora, and Leo - take Laila under their wing. Nora and Leo let Laila live with them for free, Liberty gives Laila a job, and yet Laila remains the most ungrateful ingrate on earth. She continues to claw for more.
However, this is where the hypocrisy comes in - she faults the men that she meets for doing the exact same thing she is - trying to rise above their station and all that, and she looks down upon them from a high seat that no one ever gave her, and no one really thinks she deserves. Now this plot line goes on for about 80% of the book, and all I could do was sit there utterly exasperated by her. I stick by the rule of not quoting ARCs, but I'm fairly sure at least some of the quotes I have saved up are in the final version, and none of them make her look like a good person at all.
Then there's the family scandal - no only is that plot line a stub as short as the TTC's Sheppard line, but it's not even acknowledged by the older people in the book until about 95% through the book. I was waiting for this huge revelation and I got nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Which leads me to the regret. I spent weeks trying to get through this book because I knew that I wasn't turned off from it because of my mood, but because of Laila and her terrible character. In the end, I only liked Liberty and Reece, but at the same time, they were barely developed as characters and that drove me bonkers.
As a whole, I was left unimpressed by this book, not just for the terrible MC, but for the lack of plot, the poor execution, and the feeling of what-the-hell I was left with when I turned the last page. Definitely not a satisfying read for me.
Plot: 2/5
Characters: 1/5
Writing: 2/5
World Building: 4/5
Pacing: 1/5
Overall: 1/5
GoodReads Rating: 3.65/5
eARC obtained via Atria Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
-review by Between Printed Pages