whatthedeuce's Reviews (1.39k)

It started off well but began to drag about halfway through. LOL at Catherine repeatedly calling Jasper melodramatic and then

pretending yo die in childbirth. I honestly found that to be so silly and so unrealistic. It also irritated me that she just waltzed back into town and was surprised Jasper might be pissed to see her. HE THOUGHT YOU AND THE KID YOU WERE CARRYING DIED FOR FUCK’S SAKE. I can’t believe we’re supposed to think she made the right choice for Jasper. For her, sure. But she cheated him of fatherhood and partnership (whether or not they ultimately would’ve lasted together is beside the point), and it irritates me how easily that was forgiven.

 

By far the most ridiculous and obnoxious thing about this book was how easily characters just spouted off long quotes from books. And they ALL recognized each other’s quotes cuz they were pulled from the same 4-5 books. Like…are they sure they have a library or just a small handful of novels everyone trades around in town?!

It lost me in the lost 100 pages or so

once Dahr shows up. The final show down between him and the main trio dragged on way too long for my liking, and I just didn’t find him to be a compelling villain.

Also it REALLY could’ve stood to involve less young women mooning over guys. That really bugged me.

I was fascinated by Annie’s awakening of what it means to be real/human/sentient and the framing of how a relationship can look lovely on the surface and yet involve abuse and control that eventually suffocates one half of a couple.

The techs working on Annie kept harping about how good of an owner Doug is, but at the end of the day, he still sees and treats Annie as a ln object at the mercy of his whims and moods. Him being able to change her appearance at the drop of a hat without even pretending to consult her over her appearance infuriated me so much. She was only allowed to share her feelings and some semblance of her truth at his discretion to avoid pissing him off. It creeped me out so much, which obviously was intentional.

However, I found it bizarre that Annie was physically modeled on her owner’s Black ex-wife. There’s definitely a discussion to be had there, especially in light of the fact that Doug made her lighter-skinned and changed her hair to avoid her being a carbon copy of the ex. Also he mentioned being really into the fact that his ex was Black, which…like…fetish much?

It’s telling that she began avoiding him in their relationship, likely cuz she realized he was manipulative and controlling like he is with Annie. I wish we could have met her at some point in the story, but I don’t blame her for walking away and not looking back!

I’m so incredibly disappointed with the last third of this book. I found the majority of it pretty funny and entertaining, even cackling out loud several times (“God’s thumbs” made me bust up repeatedly).

But once Cassie and Frederick slept together, the book devolved and felt sloppy. I couldn’t stand that Frederick was suddenly dropping f-bombs, which made absolutely no sense for his character up til that point, and the kidnapping and its resolution were so lackluster and toothless. There was never any true suspense or feeling that Frederick was in danger, and then he just got released by his mom so easily. It honestly seemed like the author ran outta steam once the sexual tension was over.

I also found it incredibly odd that we never found out how Frederick became a vampire. Like that would be a really interesting thing to know.

I mean did his mom turn him? And why does he seem to have no desire to bite or suck blood other than during sex?! It would have been more interesting for him to have to fight against his instincts instead of being completely non-threatening the entire book.

Also I found it immature and cringeworthy how Frederick put Cassie on a pedestal like a teenager in his first relationship ever. 

Her barely helping as he struggled to order coffee was annoying as hell, and we never learn how Frederick went from growing up poor to having tons of money so he can rent an expensive place in a busy metropolis without any difficulty. So many details were just left unanswered.

I found the final chapters satisfying, which is why this novel isn’t rated lower when I felt so frustrated reading the majority of it. Honestly, Hera was mostly a vindictive asshole throughout the majority of the story. I get that Zeus was an absolute piece of immortal garbage, and I would have hated his treacherous ass as much as Hera did, but it was so aggravating to see her constantly taking vengeance against the people Zeus used to wrong and humiliate her. I just kept waiting for her to fucking mature and see the error of her ways, which eventually did happen, thankfully. But yeah, as annoying as Elektra was, I found this book harder to get through cuz Hera’s actions were so incredibly spiteful but also kept blowing up in her face, which made her look so pathetic. 

I loved that each character had their own strong voice and personality. They felt fleshed out and each so different from one another. Even when they were exasperating, they felt very real to me. I appreciated the author treating each character’s arc and emotions with respect. No one was there to just be a cheap laugh or gimmick. My one quibble is that while the book was well-paced, it also seemed longer than I’d have liked or felt was necessary. What was in it was necessary and yet by the midpoint, I also had the sense felt like Clark could have trimmed 100 pages and have made it more compact without losing anything significant.