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crispycritter's Reviews (516)
This book was billed as being a taboo romance and if you’ve read PenDoug you know . . . Ahem. . . That her books are usually not for the faint of heart. This must have been written before she really hit her stride in the smut department cause best I could tell Tyler was just an alllmost age appropriate asshole. Not exactly shocking. Definitely no boyfriend’s dad with a 20 year age gap (Birthday Girl). Definitely no uncle & cousins (Credence). This was basically a Roni Loren book without the BDSM.
As usual, early 2000s Nü Metal plays an integral role in setting the vibes.
Because this was published in 2015 there is a Pinterest mood board to accompany your read.
And before you ask YES I preordered Penelope Douglas’s new book, out July 2024, just titled FIVE BROTHERS and I expect some next-level ridiculousness. Don’t let me down, PenDoug.
As usual, early 2000s Nü Metal plays an integral role in setting the vibes.
Because this was published in 2015 there is a Pinterest mood board to accompany your read.
And before you ask YES I preordered Penelope Douglas’s new book, out July 2024, just titled FIVE BROTHERS and I expect some next-level ridiculousness. Don’t let me down, PenDoug.
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ate a cookies & cream sundae as I finished this book because apparently nothing triggers me anymore. Equal parts silly, deranged and sweet. This is basically Dexter with smut and ain’t nothing wrong with that.
Edit: some dude on the internet described this as 'a Hallmark Movie if it had been written by a porn star and directed by Quentin Tarantino' and ACCURATE.
Edit: some dude on the internet described this as 'a Hallmark Movie if it had been written by a porn star and directed by Quentin Tarantino' and ACCURATE.
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the second Olivia Dade book I've read and I've concluded that she is both VERY hit and VERY miss for me. I DNFed her first book at nearly 90%, which is impressive, considering I can read pretty much any bullshit I find on Kindle Unlimited.
I got this book in the January Afterlight book box and it is cute as heck! It has strawberry spredges.
What I loved about this book:
I got this book in the January Afterlight book box and it is cute as heck! It has strawberry spredges.
What I loved about this book:
- Dade is a kickass character writer. Athena and Matthew came alive on the page. I knew them, I loved them, I felt for them.
- Dade writes awesome plus-sized characters. Seriously, no hemming and hawing over 'oh my body does not fit into society's narrow view on what physical attractiveness looks like how could anyone love me.'
- Monster Smut: The smutty book club and the monster smut audiobook warfare were highlights of this book and gave it some MUCH NEEDED levity (which leads me into my criticism).
The fact that Matthew was a virgin is just one of those tropes I am feral for. Pervert that I am.
What I loathed:
- As others have already critiqued, this felt too heavy for something that was advertised as a romantic comedy. Athena's depression, Matthew's childhood trauma that has haunted him into adulthood, Athena's heartbreak over her broken engagement . . .
- The mental health rep was done well in some aspects and done poorly in others.
We got a visceral description of a major depressive episode. Then we got about two sentences where Athena was diagnosed with depression at her first virtual therapy appointment and immediately given medication. The whole time I was thinking, wow, Dade spent this whole book describing a woman in her 30s with undiagnosed ADHD that has culminated in a major depressive episode - oh nope, no, guess it's just regular depression? Okayyyyyy miss gifted & talented, can't hold down a grown up job, needs to be intellectually stimulated by novel experiences . . . sure. It's depression. It also felt a bit unbalanced to spend so much time showing what depression looks like and giving lip service to what managing mental illness looks like. - Yo Matthew needs to go to therapy. Go to therapy, Matthew. You are arguably doing a far worse job of masking your issues than Athena.
- Pop culture references: This is the hill I've chosen to die on, but I don't like when authors mention memes and GIFs and other things that exist IRL. They take me out of the book. They become dated quickly. I'll make an exception for Reddit AITA. In contrast, I love when there are cultural references that are fictional and only exist within a book/series. Hence why I loved the Monster Smut stuff so much and the Sadie Brazen references.
A truly dumb third-act breakup. Wouldn't it have created some meaningful contrast to have Matthew tell his brother to stuff it because he loved Athena so much? Wouldn't that have shown the reader that their love was real (vs her love for his brother, just a temporary hyperfixation). Athena could have decided to end it, not wanting to ruin the brothers' relationship? I dunno. There were better ways than Matthew being a fricken pushover. Go to therapy, Matthew.
Anyways, I am planning on picking up the next book in the series because KARL.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Minor: Child death
Hawke’s lip ring was mentioned upwards of 50 times while his sweatpants were mentioned about 30.
The cheaters are the heroes of this book. Some people are so offended by this and use it to justify a one-star rating but it’s the central plot, friends. Don’t suffer through this if it is going to upset you.
An actual sentence is this book: “He smells like fresh soapy heaven splashed with some sort of cologne that gets my woman parts activated.” Listen, I’m not expecting Shakespeare here - as I’m pretty sure this started on Wattpad before moving to KU. It was entertaining as heck.
Minus 1 star for Hall’s tenuous grasp of the American criminal justice system.
A note on the content warning with a mild spoiler there is a pretty graphic attempted rape towards the end of the book but StoryGraph’s triggers are limited
The cheaters are the heroes of this book. Some people are so offended by this and use it to justify a one-star rating but it’s the central plot, friends. Don’t suffer through this if it is going to upset you.
An actual sentence is this book: “He smells like fresh soapy heaven splashed with some sort of cologne that gets my woman parts activated.” Listen, I’m not expecting Shakespeare here - as I’m pretty sure this started on Wattpad before moving to KU. It was entertaining as heck.
Minus 1 star for Hall’s tenuous grasp of the American criminal justice system.
A note on the content warning with a mild spoiler
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Are the Shatter Me novellas shameless cash grabs? Yes. And yet, here I am reading the complete series, in chronological order.
Adam, the most boring character, is still boring! We get to be in his head for a change. Hooray. Mafi wants us to ship Juliette & Warner guilt-free so Adam says some totally reasonable stuff about valuing his baby bro’s life equally if not more than Juliette’s. This is book world, so we can only stan a man who is completely unhinged for our gal at the expense of any other human relationship. Bye bye, Adam! Team Warner.
There was a moment where I thought it was really sad Adam had become James’s de facto parent and lamented the parentification of children in real life and in this post-apocalyptic book world. Then Adam hit us over the head with whiney self-reflection on how he is basically James’s parent and then I lamented that writers think we’re stupid and don’t write with any nuance or subtlety lest we miss the point they want to make.
Everyone thinks everyone else is dead! DRAMATIC IRONY!
Castle & the other grown ups are either catatonic or injured. The teenagers are running the show, as should be the case if we hope to effectively overthrow the current government and establish a new, more equitable and just society. Fully developed prefrontal cortexes aren't, like, that important? Right? The children will save us in the final book in the trilogy . . . Woops no there are gonna be three more after that one. *sigh*
Off I go, then.
Adam, the most boring character, is still boring! We get to be in his head for a change. Hooray. Mafi wants us to ship Juliette & Warner guilt-free so Adam says some totally reasonable stuff about valuing his baby bro’s life equally if not more than Juliette’s. This is book world, so we can only stan a man who is completely unhinged for our gal at the expense of any other human relationship. Bye bye, Adam! Team Warner.
There was a moment where I thought it was really sad Adam had become James’s de facto parent and lamented the parentification of children in real life and in this post-apocalyptic book world. Then Adam hit us over the head with whiney self-reflection on how he is basically James’s parent and then I lamented that writers think we’re stupid and don’t write with any nuance or subtlety lest we miss the point they want to make.
Everyone thinks everyone else is dead! DRAMATIC IRONY!
Castle & the other grown ups are either catatonic or injured. The teenagers are running the show, as should be the case if we hope to effectively overthrow the current government and establish a new, more equitable and just society. Fully developed prefrontal cortexes aren't, like, that important? Right? The children will save us in the final book in the trilogy . . . Woops no there are gonna be three more after that one. *sigh*
Off I go, then.
