this book was on my radar ever since i saw the cute fanart circulating around. after reading, sad to say that this book was such a let down.

90% of the characters in this book deserve death jail.

why did esmeray have to be a virgin AND just turned 18? she was literally 17 a day ago. not only that, it was so disconcerting knowing that esmeray was closer in age with kai’s little sister (12) than him (26). like one second kai described esmeray as a “girl” and then the next chapter he saw her as a “woman”. what an ick.

well, not as big of an ick compared to discovering that esmeray’s parents have been selling their daughters (as young as 8-years-old), as well as some of other vile, disgusting things to climb the socioeconomical ladder. they deserve the electric chair!

kaiesmeray were also sort of boring. their banter pre-marriage was the only entertaining part of their relationship. outside of lust, they themselves found it difficult to connect because of their age gap. it also felt like random scenarios kept occurring to them in an attempt to add something to the plot but it didn’t exactly do anything to help it be more interesting. i laughed the majority of the time because of its ridiculousness.

it was nice seeing esmeray having a backbone compared to her older sisters by rejecting her “fate”, and running away from the toxicity. but her personality was primarily the color purple, designing suits, and wearing bows in her hair. not a bad thing, but her character still lacked depth.

kai was “respectful” compared to the men esmeray knew growing up, but he was so boring. no personality, just a savior complex. like pick a struggle. his brothers were more interesting than him.

overall, what a let down. i’m disappointed.