(view spoiler)[ Hero sleeps with multiple women after meeting the , we can infer that from the blurb, but one is the heroine's sisterUNSAFE READ ALERT
(view spoiler)[ Hero sleeps with multiple women after meeting the , we can infer that from the blurb, but one is the heroine's sister and sister gets pregnant. Of course he can't keep his dick in his pants even after starting to fall in love with h. But she has to remain a virgin right? How is it fair that her first time is with someone who already slept with everybody? She deserves better. (hide spoiler)]
If you like reading about sex with multiple partners or you don't mind OW (no spoiler, it's on the blurb) and (view spoiler)[cheating (hide spoiler)] by all means read this book. Some of my friends love this kind of manwhore trope and they seem to have enjoyed the book.
Note: For the purpose of my reviews I call cheating any activity of Hero with OW (other woman) like watching her naked, trying to bed her, kissing, making out, accepting her insinuations after H and h get together. I consider they're together after they kiss for the first time even if they're not officially dating yet.
[image] One more time I want to warn readers, teachers and parents that this series isn't YOUNG ADULT. Distrust any booktuber, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ reviewer/edito[image] One more time I want to warn readers, teachers and parents that this series isn't YOUNG ADULT. Distrust any booktuber, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ reviewer/editor, and "prestigious" site that tells you otherwise.
If you are a teacher or librarian Distrust the information on the genre and recommended age that comes from the publisher Bloomsburry Children's. Also distrust Kirkus reviews, Booktubers and book bloggers who say this is Young adult, Common sense media and The Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ choice awards for Young adult. For more on that scroll down to the italic letters.
THIS SERIES IS EROTIC/NEW ADULT NOT YOUNG ADULT. If reviewers tell you this series isn't new adult they're lying through their teeth. The result of those lies is that books with erotic content are currently labeled as CHILDREN'S BESTSELLERS or recommended to 12 YO readers.
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Is the author and publisher of this book really selling books with erotic/explicit content to young kids without warnings? Edit 10-23-2018. In the UK Maas books come with a warning Contents mature content no suitable for younger readers
The UK Cover comes with a warning of mature content.
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In the USA most copies of this series come with no warning of explicit content. I applaud writers that write erotic content, just don't sell it to young children. This is from Booktopia, an Australian retailer; It recommends the most erotic book of the series to readers AS YOUNG AS 12.
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UPDTE MAY 20TH JUNE 25th [image] Audible is recommending this book along with the first book of the series to 13 YO. However they are recommending the most explicit book of the series to
That's why you shouldn't trust publishers to give the correct information on genre and recommended age in YA books.
**Don't trust MY review either**
**Do your own research and tell me why this series shouldn't be considered PARANORMAL EROTICA, PARANORMAL NEW ADULT, FANTASY ROMANCE or ADULT ROMANTIC FANTASY. **
You can start by finding out: How old the main characters are?
I'll tell you, but don't believe me, find out for/by yourself. The protagonist is 20-21 (like Anastasia Steel from fifty shades of grey) Her sisters are even older the rest of the cast is several hundreds year old Isn't YA an age-based classification? Then why is this series labeled as a YA book?
How explicit the sex is
You can find that information on my A COURT OF MIST AND FURY REVIEW updates. My ACOMAF review hasn't been censored by Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ employees yet as my TOWER OF DAWN(another new adult book by this same author)review was. My Tower of dawn review has 273 likes so it should appear in the main page of reviews. Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ is hiding it. That sucks because it's the responsibility of parents (not of Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, not of the publishers and authors) to find out about the content of the EXPENSIVE books they buy for their underage kids. But how are they going to find that information when so many booktubers, common sense media and Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ members are hiding it?
You can also find the information about the erotic content of this series on the american hardcover version of a court of mist and fury. Pages 21, 22 (view spoiler)[A faery woman is descriptively fingered by someone different than the hero, then she has descriptive sex, then oral, descriptions of the fluids and the nudity and the action in vivid detail. (hide spoiler)]
Pages 471, 472, 473, 474. 475 (view spoiler)[A faery woman is fingered to orgasm by the hero (different guy from the pages 21-22), partial nudity, but this scene takes a quite few pages and it's an erotic scene, not just a sex scenes, but the purpose seems to be to be to turn on the reader. (hide spoiler)]
Pages 530, 531, 532, 533, the orgasm that shatters the mountains: (view spoiler)[a pair of lovers heroine and hero have sex including oral, vidid description of the action, use of the word "cock" (hide spoiler)]
Pages 538 and 539 (view spoiler)[vivid descrption of oral (fellatio):P but they call it licking LOL. (hide spoiler)]
DISCLAIMER AND TRIGGERS WARNINGS:
ÓË� IF YOU DON'T LIKE READING EROTIC/EXPLICIT CONTENT and don't tell me that you can skip the sex scenes, Most of us don't pay full hardcover price for skiping half the book ;) (view spoiler)[kidding, only A COURT OF MIST AND FURY book two is really erotica marketed as YA, the rest of the series is still explicit but not erotic (hide spoiler)]
ÓË� IF YOU THINK YOUNG ADULT IS A GENRE THAT SHOULD REMAIN CLEAN
ÓË� IF YOU ARE 12-17 YO WHO DON'T LIKE TO READ EXPLICIT SEX SCENES
ÓË� IF YOU DON'T LIKE LOVE TRIANGLES And MULTIPLE MALE LOVE INTERESTS Book 1 we have a love triangle: Tamlin vs Rhysand (view spoiler)[(there was a third male who Feyre was sleeping with, but it was just a fuck buddy who was engaged to marry OW)> winner: Tamlin (hide spoiler)] Book 2 We have a love triangle: Rhysand vs. Tamlin but it's really uneven (view spoiler)[for a while it seems as though another high lord might create a love geometry but didn't happen. EXPLICIT SEX SCENES of heroine with both love interests: winner Rhysand (hide spoiler)] Book 3: NO LOVE TRIANGLE! (view spoiler)[Feyre and Rhys remain together, but there are other love triangles around and Rhys proposes a Male-Male-Female threesome to Feyre. Maybe he was joking, either way her reaction was unnecessarily enthusiastic for a woman who has already been sexually involved with 3 different men in the series and who is basically a newlywed. FeyRhys is still in their honeymoon period so why are they already joking about threesomes? (hide spoiler)]
ÓË� IF YOU DON'T LIKE ABUSIVE LOVE INTERESTS AND ABUSIVE WOMEN -Tamlin love interest of book 1? ABUSIVE! -Rhys, secondary love interest of book 1 and (view spoiler)[ primary love interest of books 2 and 3? Rhys tortured the heroine(there was a reason, though) (hide spoiler)]ABUSIVE! - The sisters? Everyone talks about how Tamlin should apologize. When will the sisters apologize? (view spoiler)[ Feyre's elder sisters let Feyre hunt for the family from a very early age, but they were always there reaping the benefits of Feyre's effort. When Feyre was going through an abusive relationship they kept receiving money from Feyre's abuser and didn't bother to find out how she was (hide spoiler)] ABUSIVE!
ÓË£IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHEN sexual assault victims ARE THROWN UNDER THE BUS TO MOVE THE PLOT FORWARD. CAREFUL WITH DANGEROUS RAPE MESSAGES It happens so much on New adult and adult literature (game of thrones, the girl with the dragon tatoo, the second book of the outlander series) a sexual assault victim gets the "oh-you-were-raped?- don't- bitch- about- it- and- move- forward treatment. So many books trivialize the worst aspect of PTSD and sexual assault and try to "sovle it" either with revenge or the magic romantic relationship that will make everything go away. Or the experiences just get ignored and brush aside! This happens to Mor, a secondary character in the 3rd book who is a rape survivor when (view spoiler)[ she's forced to work along with her attacker and the one who puts her through that was the hero of the story! (hide spoiler)]To be fair, I can understand the circumstances, doesn't mean I have to like that kind of story line, especially when that's something that good editing could have taken care of. That kind of disrespect for rape was unneccessary IMO. It didn't move the plot forward and it's out of character for Rhys to act like that. I love Rhys and didn't like the way SJM made him act.
ÓË� IF YOU BELIEVE ANY BOOK YOU PAY FOR SHOULD BE PROFESSIONALLY EDITED I'm not a grammar nazi and my spelling is terrible, but I can tell you, even some fanfiction I've read has a more polished editing than this book. There's the overuse of words like mate. There are also problems with pace, repetitiveness, flow and consistency of the voices when changing from a narrator to the other and from a first person POV to a 3rd person POV. The characters sound too modern. The worldbuilding is not high fantasy at all. The setting of this series is pretty much like a modern series. All these are things that a content editor and a proofreader could have taken care off, but the publishers rushed publication lowering the quality of the editing and the writing. Even so they are selling this at full ebook price.
My ratings for the series so far
ÓË� A Court of Thorns and Roses ACOTAR 3/5 because abusive relationships, false advertising (it's new adult dishonestly marketed as young adult) and love triangle. My review is currently censored and hidden from the third page of review. It should appear somewhere between page 2 and 3. ÓË� A COURT OF MIST AND FURY ACOMAF4/5 because I didn't appreciate the explicit sex scene with OM, but I highly recommend this book to my friends who don't mind safety issues and like explicit scenes in slow-burn-romance. This book is EROTICA (according to the goodreads description of the genre) marketed as YA.
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ÓË� A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN ACOWAR 2.5/5 because poor editing, f bombs, repetitiveness, unnecessary sex scenes and dangerous messages. No, glorifying revenge and abusive women isn't female empowerment. No, in most marriage it isn't always the woman's choice, it's always the choice of both of them. My review is currently censored by goodreads.
WHY YOU SHOULDN'T TRUST BOOKTUBERS AND THE YA GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS REGARDNG THE CONTENT OF THIS BOOK? Because a vast majority of booktubers have failed so far to mention that this book series contains erotic/explicit content in their booktube reviews even though they always discuss "young adult books". It could be unintentionally. It could be intentionally. The reason doesn't matter. They're contributing to the false advertising.
A few booktubers are being published or aspire to be published by the same IMPRINT of this new adult series. Others booktubers and bookbloggers seem to want good relationships with the publishing industry. They won't say anything that can hurt the marketing agenda of the big publishing houses. Note: Bookables, Benji Alderson and Polandbananas have mentioned this series is new adult , so of course a lot of booktubers are somehow honest, it's not cool calling out an entire community of readers because the dishonesty of a few bad apples. Distrust only the reviewers who call this series young adult.
On the other hand, The Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ choice awards editors ignored the shelving system when they selected the categories for the goodreads choice awards last year. In the goodreads feedback group they told me that's how editors select categories: based on shelving.
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At the time of the awards this series was shelved primarily as fantasy and romance by GR users, but still the editors made it compete on the young adult category. Not in romance (second most-shelved genre), not in fantasy (first most-shelved genre). They made it compete in young adult (third most-shelved genre followed closely by New adult)
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This review isn't meant to discouraging people from reading/buying the book. On the contrary. I'm inviting you to read this series if you don't have problems with sexual content and abusive relationships. Despite all the problems I have with the false advertising I enjoyed the trilogy . But again I'm warning you:
ÓË� NEVER trust the information that you see on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, Common sense media. and booktube. Not all reviewers are independent and unbiased. Do your research.
Life is too short and TBR piles are too big to just ignore the kind of information that can help us decide what we will read next. Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ shouldn't try to hide that information.
People who pay $15-18 for a hardcover and $8-15 for an ebook of a young adult "high fantas" book have every right to expect:
ÓË� 12-18 YO Main characters, ÓË� no F bombs ÓË� no explicit sex. ÓË� A profesionally edited book.
That's not what any book of this series delivers. Update 02-24 People aren't expecting something like this: (view spoiler)[
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For a series that is supposedly about women's choices, when Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, Booktubers and Publishers hide this information from young girls they are taking away their right to decide when or if they would read erotic content. Not to mention they're contributing to the book being sold in the Children's section of multiple retailers....more
One more time I'm here to tell you that this series is New Adult. Or if you're not familiar with the New adult genre you can call Maas' books A[image]
One more time I'm here to tell you that this series is New Adult. Or if you're not familiar with the New adult genre you can call Maas' books Adult fiction.
Distrust any booktuber, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ reviewer, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ editor (the ones that are in charge of selecting the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ choice awards picks and claim to do it based on shelvings), common sense media, magazines, Kirkus reviews and in short any "prestigious" website that tells you otherwise. Distrust, in particular, the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ choice awards label. For more information on that Scroll down until you find the italic font.
The UK Cover comes with a warning of mature content.
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That warning was also in the cover of Tower of Dawn (book 6 of this series) and it doesn't mean that Kingdom of Ash will treat us to those disgusting and vulgar erotic scenes we read in Empire of Storms (book 5 of this series) A Court of Mist and Fury (Book 2 of the Court of Thorns series), A Court of Wings and Ruin (Book 3 of A Court of Thorns series) and A Court of Frost and Starlight (ACOTAR Novella). I read Tower of Dawn not long ago and despite the warning, I didn't find the sex to be as erotic as in other books written by Maas as New Adult and marketed as Young Adult by her publishers. Hopefully the sex scenes in Kingdom of Ash will be like the ones of Crown of Midnight (Book 2 of the series that contains some non-explicit sex scenes) What makes the warning necessary is the tendency of some bookstores, libraries and audiobooks retailers to categorized everything that comes from a Children's imprint in the Children's section without reading the books first.
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[image] Audible is recommending the most erotic book written by this author to
That's because usually, employees in charge of the classification of books will see the name of the imprint, the name of the author and assume the content is YA. They won't bother reading the book. If they read the book they will do it in a sloppy manner or they will be open to receive economic compensation from the publishers in exchange of classifying the books in a way that fits their marketing agenda. What' I'm saying it's not limited to this author. It's also true for other new adult books with explicit content that are currently marketed as YA (Damsel, Uprooted, Muse of Nightmares)
Common sense media, in particular, is a terrible website to get advisory information. There are more explicit scenes and violence in A Court of Mist and Fury than in A song of fire and ice (game of thrones) and they gave GOT a +17 rating and A Court of Mist a +14. Either the employee in charge of reading didn't pay attention or received something in exchange of a +14 rating for a book that is at least as graphic as fifty shades of grey. I'm not exaggerating. You can check the first 3 chapters of A Court of Mist and fury and see for yourself.
The warning is also necessary because all the characters in this book are adults the youngest being at least 20 YO. All of them face challenges proper to adults. Chaol, the Hero of book 6 of this series is 21 to 25 YO. Caelena/Aelin should be 19-21 YO. Are there YA books with adult-aged protagonists? Probably, but usually YA books with adult protagonists keep a tone that is juvenile. Nothing in Empire of storms (book 5 of the series) is juvenile. Wasn't Kaltain facing sexual harassment in book 1 and rape in book 3? Hasn't Caelena already been sexually active with at least 2 men, one of them several hundred years older than she is? Not to mention violence, prostitution, physical abuse, torture and a lot of adult themes.
Long story short this series is New Adult. I guess because six books ago there was a certain YA vibe many people who aren't familiar with the New Adult genre will make a mistake when classifying this books and shelve it as YA, but that's not because this series isn't New Adult.
If you are of age and like mature content in books I think you'll like this series. I stopped reading after Queen of Shadows (book 4) because I didn't like the way things were going. I put off reading Empire of Storms (book 5) because I read the reviews that mentioned how sexually explicit the scenes were between certain characters and that makes the books unsafe for me. (view spoiler)[ I was rooting for Manon to be with Elide and Dorian to finally man up and go for Aelin or get a new love interest that wasn't Manon. As I'm not a Rowaelin shipper, and I don't read Fantasy for erotic escapism I didn't want a vivid account of Aelin performing oral on Rowan and description of his 'velvet wrapped steel' and I dread reading a Manon-Dorian sex scene. (hide spoiler)]
I would also like to point out that many people label Throne of Glass series as High Fantasy and I disagree with that classification. The series is full of paranormal romance and fantasy romance elements. I would say Throne of Glass is closer to High fantasy than A court of Thorns but still some elements of the world building are too modern at times.
SAFETY INFO for safety gang readers who hate cheating, rape, love triangles and multiple love interests
Unsafe romance.
Book 1 Throne of Glass features a love triangle. Chaol, Caelena, and Dorian. Just when you think (view spoiler)[ Caelena is still mourning her dead boyfriend. Prince Dorian who is mentioned is a manwhore and Caelena are getting together she breaks up with him. (hide spoiler)]
Book 2 Crown of midnight. Love triangle keeps going.(view spoiler)[ Dorian has feelings for Caelena but he doesn't fight for her, she lets his "friend" get her and she loses his virginity to Chaol and has several non-graphic sex scenes with him. Back when I read this book I was into Dorian and Caelena and those scenes almost ruined the book for me. By the end of the book Caelena has broken up with Chaol and is taking a ship to a foreign land so there's a long separation for this couple but you seem to think there's still a possibility for both Dorian and Chaol to get back with h (hide spoiler)] There's also mentions of rape, but those aren't graphic scenes.
Book 3, Book 4 and Book 5
Several new love interests for the original Love triangle(view spoiler)[ Rowan is a Fae several hundred years older than Caelena. They'll flirt in book 3 in a very slow-burn romance way. By the beginning of book 4, she reunites with Chaol in a non-romantic manner and Chaol seems to be rekindling his sexual relationship with a former flame, Nesryn. Caelena (Aelin) starts a relationship with Rowan. In the meantime, Dorian has fallen in love with another woman, Sorcha who gets killed and is about to start a relationship with a 3rd woman, Manon. By the time you finish book 6, you will have seen Caelena/Aelin having graphic sex and getting married to Rowan, Dorian falling in love with Sorcha and getting sexual with Manon and Chaol getting sexual with a 3rd woman. I think there will be more switching of love interests in Kingdom of Ash. (hide spoiler)]
WHY YOU SHOULDN'T TRUST BOOKTUBERS AND THE YA GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS REGARDING THE CONTENT OF THIS BOOK? Because a vast majority of booktubers have failed so far to mention that the Throne of Glass series contains erotic/explicit content in their booktube reviews even though they always discuss "young adult books". It could be unintentionally. It could be intentionally. The reason doesn't matter. They're contributing to the false advertising.
A few booktubers are being published or aspire to be published by the same IMPRINT of this new adult series. Others booktubers and book bloggers seem to want good relationships with the publishing industry. Even here in goodreads a lot of people aspire to be published or feel the need to "support" book sales, reviewers like that aren't independent and their reviews might show a bias towards certain popular authors. They won't say anything that can hurt the marketing agenda of the big publishing houses. Note: Bookables, Benji Alderson and Polandbananas have mentioned this series is New Adult, so of course a lot of booktubers can review books with honesty. I remember the Carve the Mark controversy and how people attacked the booktube community as a whole and I believe that's unfair. There's good and bad in any group and booktube isn't an exception.. Distrust only the booktubers who label A Court of Mist and Fury as Young adult.
On the other hand, The goodreads choice awards editors ignored the shelving system when they selected the categories for the goodreads choice awards last year. In the goodreads feedback group they told me that's how editors select categories: based on shelving.
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At the time of the awards A Court of Wings and Ruin (the other new adult series by this author) was shelved primarily as fantasy and romance by GR users, but still the editors made it compete on the young adult category. Not in romance (primary genre), not in fantasy (secondary genre). They selected Maas books to be part of the young adult category even though there were more shelvings as Fantasy and Romance. You'll see Kingdom of Ash nominated again this year, but that doesn't mean the book is Young adult or that the content will be appropriate for the young adult market.
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This review isn't meant to discouraging people from reading/buying the book. On the contrary. I'm inviting you to read this series if you don't have problems with sexual content and abusive relationships. Despite all the problems I have with the false advertising I enjoyed this series . And I have high hopes for Kingdom of Ash. I personally believe that after publishing two terribly-edited books the author will deliver a good conclusion to the series that launched her career. But again I'm warning you
ÓË� NEVER trust the information that you see on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, Common sense media. and booktube. In case you haven't noticed Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ has become a new releases marketed-oriented platform and not all the people who post reviews are independent reviewers.
If you like me have limited time to read books and you get triggers that ruin your reading experience here's a tip:
Don't look at the ratings, some amazing books have ratings below a 4.0 average and some books that I wouldn't recommend get inflated ratings by the authors fanbase. And as I said some reviewers might not be independent of the publisher's marketing plans.
Instead, go to the Amazon page (not anyone can post a review on Amazon, you'd need to make purchases constantly), make a search using a keyword for your specific trigger (in the case of YA books you can search for "sex" or "language" or "Inappropriate" ) See the information and then come to your own conclusion.
If there aren't enough reviews in amazon (the book releases on October 23rd) put the book on hold until there's more information available.
If this author is an automatic buy for you and/or don't have triggers, obviously this isn't for you. But if you like me are a picky reader I hope this review can help you to save yourself from a disappointment. ...more
UPDATE: Technically a lot of people, including the author, won't consider the hero a cheater. Read my notes below: ORIGINAL RANT
***UNSAFE READ ALERT***UPDATE: Technically a lot of people, including the author, won't consider the hero a cheater. Read my notes below: ORIGINAL RANT
***UNSAFE READ ALERT***
***UNSAFE READ ALERT***
***UNSAFE READ ALERT***
***UNSAFE READ ALERT***
***UNSAFE READ ALERT*** ***UNSAFE READ ALERT***
Ewwwww Cheating hero. How is that romantic? I hate cheating! Heroes who cheat are weak! Be a man and don't ever marry if you won't HAVETHE STRENGTH AND HUMAN QUALITY to stay loyal you jerk.
How am I suppossed to root for a boy like that?
I won't ever read. Not even when the author makes it a freebie. They usually make their cheating "romance" a freebie after a while.
Note: For the purpose of my reviews whatever activity with OW meaning kissing, trying to f@ck her, taking her to a hotel (even if later hero regrets it and "can't stop thinking about the heroine", watching her naked counts as disloyalty and cheating IF( and only IF) THIS HAPPENS AFTER H and h get together. I consider they're together once they have exchanged a kiss even if there's no promise of exclusivity. If it is before they kiss I have no problem, but if it's after they have kissed I hate it. It makes the Hero weak and childish. Second chance romance is also cheating for me.
Being in love with another woman is a huge cheating for me. The hero is cheating to himself, the heroine deserves better than being second best. I don't care if that's more realistic. I don't read romance to find realistic.
Note: I have a gazillion books in my TBR, my Kindle, my Kobo plus a scary to be re-read list. I post information of why I'm passing on a book so that I don't get to accidentally buy it when the book is on discount. I need to write these non-reviews to remember and to warn my friends who hate OW (other woman) but I encourage to take a look at this book if you don't mind OW....more
TRIGGER WARNINGS ALERT Stay away from this one if you prefer safe reads. Don't read my review if the word "rape" makes you unconfortable, because I uTRIGGER WARNINGS ALERT Stay away from this one if you prefer safe reads. Don't read my review if the word "rape" makes you unconfortable, because I use it a lot, because this book has a lot of that.
[image] I don't recommend this if you feel uncomfortable reading about:
Pedophilia (view spoiler)[ Nicasius is only 13 and he's used as a sex slave. The worst is that he is supposed to be willing to be forever a sex slave because the king, his master, gets tired of children when they grow up and Nicasious is eagerly searching for a new master. (hide spoiler)]
Rape and Sexual violence (view spoiler)[ Damianos the Main character is entered in a slave contest where the loser gets raped. He gets drugged by Laurent "his love interest" so that he'll get weakened and lose the contest and Laurent can watch when Damianos gets raped...publicily!! In this book the court takes rape as a sport. Later Damiano's forced to receive oral sex from another slave to the enjoyment of Laurent. I repeat, Laurent is the "love interest". (hide spoiler)]
Stockholm Syndrome (view spoiler)[ Erasmus, A sexual slave, gets raped all the time but he supposedly enjoys being a sex pet and is all grateful when he gets to serve another master because said master treats sex-slaves "better". Sorry but in what sick world a sex-slave enjoys being a slave?How is that romantic or sexy? (hide spoiler)]
Extreme violence (view spoiler)[ Laurent, the MC "love interest", is a Prince and he gives orders to whip Damianos. This is vividly described and Damianos spends some time recovering from his injuries. How is that romantic? (hide spoiler)]
Double standards So Christian Grey gets the sh*t here in GR although he NEVER raped ANA, (although, to be honest he pushed her consent, but NEVER raped her) yet Laurent gets nothing but praise??? So dubious consent, sexual violence, and rape are okay when the characters are male? NO JUST NO!! That's not feminist at all, that's not fair. If the main character had been Princess Damiana everyone and their dog would be screaming murder. "Oh the abusive relationship in romance!" But because the victim is a male then it's okay? How is that fair?
Unsafe reads This is supposedly a slow-burn-romance between two males, but there's a lot of cheating and disloyalty. (view spoiler)[ In the sequel of this rape -fest Laurent who is Damianos owner and master, "lends" Damianos to a group of women warriors so that they can use him for reproductive purposes. Laurent's not even slightly jealous! He laughs with joy when Damianos returns to their tent worn-out from having sex with a lot of women in just one night. Damianos is attracted to Laurent but he is more attracted to women than to males. So we the readers don't get a little bit of cute jealousy and the couple doesn't kiss until way into the second book. (hide spoiler)]
I'm not the most articulated, coherent reviewer, so I invite you to read these reviews if you want more info on the problematic issues of this book.
This book makes me angry. The writing is exquisite and clever, but it's the most disgusting portrayal of an M/M relationship. Contrary to what this book portrays, Homosexual Men have healthy, committed relationships . This is not the best book to portray diverse couples, because, as it is, a lot of people think wrongly that homosexuality and bisexuality are against nature and that Bisexuals and Homosexual aren't capable of loving, committed relationships. This book only re-inforces the idea of sexually "degenerated" characters. In real life gay people aren't like this. Not at all.
I gave two stars to the sequel because the graphic rapes aren't present. It's cleverly written and it's addictive, but it's still a harsh read because poor Nicaise. It's not fair what happened to him.
Final note: There are reviewers here in GR who praise this book to no end, and yet get all angry and write rants about romances like Twilight, Hopeless, FSOG, Beautiful disaster and other romance books of the romance genre. At time it feels like some of those reviewers are trying to make the people who enjoy, for example, FSOG bad with themselves because "they are supporting a book that portrays an abusive relationship". Yet they go and praise this very abusive book.
This isn't about me having a problem with the people who like this book. I think it's okay if people enjoy this kind of books because
* Everyone has different tastes and opinions and all opinions are equally valid. You enjoy this book? That's fine. * WE ALL ARE SMART! WE ALL KNOW HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE REALITY FROM BOOKS. We all know that In real life rape is wrong. The people who love this book to death aren't supporters of rape, this is just a book. But just like the the captive prince fanbase knows the difference between reality and books, the FSOG fanbase knows better than go and get themselves in abusive relationships because of a book.
My problem is when the double standard comes:Contrary to popular GR belief the people who enjoy books that portray abusive M/F relationships are as smart as the people who enjoys Captive prince. Just saying.
So anyone who enjoys FSOG or any other bad-reviewed romance, but never says it aloud for fear of how their opinion will make them look in a site like GR where people trash "abusive relationship" books, should say it aloud. Most of FSOG bashers are top reviewers who praise this rape-fest so there's nothing wrong with liking FSOG or any other poorly-reviewed romance.
If you like me feel unconfortable reading certain topics, ignore most of the 5 star reviews, very few of them mention the problematic issues of this book and most lack trigger warnings. Read some 3 stars reviews and some triggers warnings before deciding if this book is for you or not....more
This book was such an emotional rollercoaster! I laughed, cried, raged (because OW and OM, seriously authors stop doing that!!!) swoon (repeatedly) anThis book was such an emotional rollercoaster! I laughed, cried, raged (because OW and OM, seriously authors stop doing that!!!) swoon (repeatedly) and overall enjoyed myself. I'm so reading the sequel but I can't give this book 5 stars because it has everything I hate in a book and more! (view spoiler)[ 1) Slutshaming, seriously authors you are women, too. Will you ever stop condeming other women's sexual decisions? It was particularly annoying here because h might be subject of slutshaming in other books and in real life because she sleeps around a lot! Who does she think she is to call Zoe a slut?
2) OW and OM. In real life, I can understand when people sleep around as long as no one gets hurt, but in this story everybody got hurt! This is supposed to be a romance book. I didn't need a full, graphic detail of what happened between h and Paris... I meant Connor. The romance was ruined for me, but there was something about the writing that kept me reading.
3) Heroine wasn't H's first love, and his reason to act like a douche made me think that this Vanessa girl was more important to him than Cassie at that moment. Cassie was supposed to be the love of his life so all this mentioning of OW are so off-putting. This isn't a safe read. (hide spoiler)]
It might seem that I hated the book, but I didn't. In fact, Ethan is already one of my book boyfriends, (provisionally, I hope book 2 doesn't ruin him) but I won't fancast him like I do in some of my reviews. Not until I finish book 2 and until I find a gif. I need a gif for this book. Not of the hero but of the reaction he brings on Cassie.
Does anyone have a slow-clapping-vagina gif??? LOL I'll need it for my review! Cassie's train of thought was rather silly that way.
I want to write a longer review because Cassie's first time and the things I love about this book deserve more!!! If I had to choose my top 10 defloration scenes in books Cassie's will be certainly one of them. So sweet! I felt like I was there. I also love the sexual chemistry and all the description of their casting, their rehearsals, their acting classes. It was fascinating.
I'm on book 2 now.
So does anyone have a slow-clapping vagina gif? LOL I'll need one for my longer review....more
(view spoiler)[ Hero tries to sleep with another woman after he had already gotten together with h. She sleeps with somOW AND OM SPOILERS AND WARNINGS
(view spoiler)[ Hero tries to sleep with another woman after he had already gotten together with h. She sleeps with someone else and hero could have stopped it, but he doesn't. Not enough Grovel. (hide spoiler)]
For anyone who doesn't mind OW and OM this one is very hot right now on Kindle Unlimited go for it! I'll pass but a lot of my friends have LOVED this book!:
Note: For the purpose of my reviews whatever activity with OW meaning kissing, trying to f@ck her, taking her to a hotel (even if later hero regrets it and "can't stop thinkinga bout the heroine", watching her naked counts as disloyalty and cheating IF( and only IF) THIS HAPPENS AFTER H and h get together,. I consider they're together once they have exchanged a kiss even if there's no promise of exclusivity. If it is before they kiss I have no problem, but if it's after they have kissed I hate it. It makes the Hero weak and childish. Specially when the "separation" happens for such stupid reasons. Grow up man! This guy isn't a man, he's a boy pretending to be a man.
Again, a lot of my friends like this bad-boy-type of heroes, so you might as well give this book a try. I'm searching for UNREALISTIC MEN that's why I'll pass.
Note: Due to the fact that some of my previous reviews for this author were hidden I'm posting this a back up of my original review that for the time Note: Due to the fact that some of my previous reviews for this author were hidden I'm posting this a back up of my original review that for the time being you can find here:
MY A COURT OF MIST AND FURY ACOMAF review hasn't been censored yet, but I'll add a link here. Check my review updates if you want to get an idea what kind of erotic content I'm talking about. I quoted most of the erotic scenes on my updates.
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One more time I'm here to tell you that this series is New Adult. Or if you're not familiar with the New adult genre you can call Maas' books Adult fiction.
Distrust any booktuber, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ reviewer, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ editor (the ones that are in charge of selecting the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ choice awards picks and claim to do it based on shelvings), common sense media, magazines, Kirkus reviews and in short any "prestigious" website that tells you otherwise. Distrust, in particular, the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ choice awards label. For more information on that Scroll down until you find the italic font.
The UK Cover comes with a warning of mature content.
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That warning was also in the cover of Tower of Dawn (book 6 of this series) and it doesn't mean that Kingdom of Ash will treat us to those disgusting and vulgar erotic scenes we read in Empire of Storms (book 5 of this series) A Court of Mist and Fury (Book 2 of the Court of Thorns series), A Court of Wings and Ruin (Book 3 of A Court of Thorns series) and A Court of Frost and Starlight (ACOTAR Novella). I read Tower of Dawn not long ago and despite the warning, I didn't find the sex to be as erotic as in other books written by Maas as New Adult and marketed as Young Adult by her publishers. Hopefully the sex scenes in Kingdom of Ash will be like the ones of Crown of Midnight (Book 2 of the series that contains some non-explicit sex scenes) What makes the warning necessary is the tendency of some bookstores, libraries and audiobooks retailers to categorized everything that comes from a Children's imprint in the Children's section without reading the books first.
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[image] Audible is recommending the most erotic book written by this author to
That's because usually, employees in charge of the classification of books will see the name of the imprint, the name of the author and assume the content is YA. They won't bother reading the book. If they read the book they will do it in a sloppy manner or they will be open to receive economic compensation from the publishers in exchange of classifying the books in a way that fits their marketing agenda. What' I'm saying it's not limited to this author. It's also true for other new adult books with explicit content that are currently marketed as YA (Damsel, Uprooted, Muse of Nightmares)
Common sense media, in particular, is a terrible website to get advisory information. There are more explicit scenes and violence in A Court of Mist and Fury than in A song of fire and ice (game of thrones) and they gave GOT a +17 rating and A Court of Mist a +14. Either the employee in charge of reading didn't pay attention or received something in exchange of a +14 rating for a book that is at least as graphic as fifty shades of grey. I'm not exaggerating. You can check the first 3 chapters of A Court of Mist and fury and see for yourself.
The warning is also necessary because all the characters in this book are adults the youngest being at least 20 YO. All of them face challenges proper to adults. Chaol, the Hero of book 6 of this series is 21 to 25 YO. Caelena/Aelin should be 19-21 YO. Are there YA books with adult-aged protagonists? Probably, but usually YA books with adult protagonists keep a tone that is juvenile. Nothing in Empire of storms (book 5 of the series) is juvenile. Wasn't Kaltain facing sexual harassment in book 1 and rape in book 3? Hasn't Caelena already been sexually active with at least 2 men, one of them several hundred years older than she is? Not to mention violence, prostitution, physical abuse, torture and a lot of adult themes.
Long story short this series is New Adult. I guess because six books ago there was a certain YA vibe many people who aren't familiar with the New Adult genre will make a mistake when classifying this books and shelve it as YA, but that's not because this series isn't New Adult.
If you are of age and like mature content in books I think you'll like this series. I stopped reading after Queen of Shadows (book 4) because I didn't like the way things were going. I put off reading Empire of Storms (book 5) because I read the reviews that mentioned how sexually explicit the scenes were between certain characters and that makes the books unsafe for me. (view spoiler)[ I was rooting for Manon to be with Elide and Dorian to finally man up and go for Aelin or get a new love interest that wasn't Manon. As I'm not a Rowaelin shipper, and I don't read Fantasy for erotic escapism I didn't want a vivid account of Aelin performing oral on Rowan and description of his 'velvet wrapped steel' and I dread reading a Manon-Dorian sex scene. (hide spoiler)]
I would also like to point out that many people label Throne of Glass series as High Fantasy and I disagree with that classification. The series is full of paranormal romance and fantasy romance elements. I would say Throne of Glass is closer to High fantasy than A court of Thorns but still some elements of the world building are too modern at times.
SAFETY INFO for safety gang readers who hate cheating, rape, love triangles and multiple love interests
Unsafe romance.
Book 1 Throne of Glass features a love triangle. Chaol, Caelena, and Dorian. Just when you think (view spoiler)[ Caelena is still mourning her dead boyfriend. Prince Dorian who is mentioned is a manwhore and Caelena are getting together she breaks up with him. (hide spoiler)]
Book 2 Crown of midnight. Love triangle keeps going.(view spoiler)[ Dorian has feelings for Caelena but he doesn't fight for her, she lets his "friend" get her and she loses his virginity to Chaol and has several non-graphic sex scenes with him. Back when I read this book I was into Dorian and Caelena and those scenes almost ruined the book for me. By the end of the book Caelena has broken up with Chaol and is taking a ship to a foreign land so there's a long separation for this couple but you seem to think there's still a possibility for both Dorian and Chaol to get back with h (hide spoiler)] There's also mentions of rape, but those aren't graphic scenes.
Book 3, Book 4 and Book 5
Several new love interests for the original Love triangle(view spoiler)[ Rowan is a Fae several hundred years older than Caelena. They'll flirt in book 3 in a very slow-burn romance way. By the beginning of book 4, she reunites with Chaol in a non-romantic manner and Chaol seems to be rekindling his sexual relationship with a former flame, Nesryn. Caelena (Aelin) starts a relationship with Rowan. In the meantime, Dorian has fallen in love with another woman, Sorcha who gets killed and is about to start a relationship with a 3rd woman, Manon. By the time you finish book 6, you will have seen Caelena/Aelin having graphic sex and getting married to Rowan, Dorian falling in love with Sorcha and getting sexual with Manon and Chaol getting sexual with a 3rd woman. I think there will be more switching of love interests in Kingdom of Ash. (hide spoiler)]
WHY YOU SHOULDN'T TRUST BOOKTUBERS AND THE YA GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS REGARDING THE CONTENT OF THIS BOOK? Because a vast majority of booktubers have failed so far to mention that the Throne of Glass series contains erotic/explicit content in their booktube reviews even though they always discuss "young adult books". It could be unintentionally. It could be intentionally. The reason doesn't matter. They're contributing to the false advertising.
A few booktubers are being published or aspire to be published by the same IMPRINT of this new adult series. Others booktubers and book bloggers seem to want good relationships with the publishing industry. Even here in goodreads a lot of people aspire to be published or feel the need to "support" book sales, reviewers like that aren't independent and their reviews might show a bias towards certain popular authors. They won't say anything that can hurt the marketing agenda of the big publishing houses. Note: Bookables, Benji Alderson and Polandbananas have mentioned this series is New Adult, so of course a lot of booktubers can review books with honesty. I remember the Carve the Mark controversy and how people attacked the booktube community as a whole and I believe that's unfair. There's good and bad in any group and booktube isn't an exception.. Distrust only the booktubers who label A Court of Mist and Fury as Young adult.
On the other hand, The goodreads choice awards editors ignored the shelving system when they selected the categories for the goodreads choice awards last year. In the goodreads feedback group they told me that's how editors select categories: based on shelving.
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At the time of the awards A Court of Wings and Ruin (the other new adult series by this author) was shelved primarily as fantasy and romance by GR users, but still the editors made it compete on the young adult category. Not in romance (primary genre), not in fantasy (secondary genre). They selected Maas books to be part of the young adult category even though there were more shelvings as Fantasy and Romance. You'll see Kingdom of Ash nominated again this year, but that doesn't mean the book is Young adult or that the content will be appropriate for the young adult market.
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This review isn't meant to discouraging people from reading/buying the book. On the contrary. I'm inviting you to read this series if you don't have problems with sexual content and abusive relationships. Despite all the problems I have with the false advertising I enjoyed this series . And I have high hopes for Kingdom of Ash. I personally believe that after publishing two terribly-edited books the author will deliver a good conclusion to the series that launched her career. But again I'm warning you
ÓË� NEVER trust the information that you see on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, Common sense media. and booktube. In case you haven't noticed Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ has become a new releases marketed-oriented platform and not all the people who post reviews are independent reviewers.
If you like me have limited time to read books and you get triggers that ruin your reading experience here's a tip:
Don't look at the ratings, some amazing books have ratings below a 4.0 average and some books that I wouldn't recommend get inflated ratings by the authors fanbase. And as I said some reviewers might not be independent of the publisher's marketing plans.
Instead, go to the Amazon page (not anyone can post a review on Amazon, you'd need to make purchases constantly), make a search using a keyword for your specific trigger (in the case of YA books you can search for "sex" or "language" or "Inappropriate" ) See the information and then reach your own conclusion.
If there aren't enough reviews in amazon (the book releases on October 23rd) put the book on hold until there's more information available.
If this author is an automatic buy for you and/or don't have triggers, obviously this isn't for you. But if you like me are a picky reader I hope this review can help you to save yourself from a disappointment....more
Grrrr! I'm so angry. Another one to cheating shelf. Or in this case disloyal, weak hero wants to hurt the person he claims he loves. Careful wi[image]
Grrrr! I'm so angry. Another one to cheating shelf. Or in this case disloyal, weak hero wants to hurt the person he claims he loves. Careful with this one my safety gang!!
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I'm so upset that I wasted time on this book. It was free and I asked a friend from a smut reads club if there was cheating in this book and she told me no. That's why I read it. It's not like my club-friend lied to me, it's just that I'm extremely sensitive to disloyalty and weakness and most romance readers aren't. "Technically" Aidan the hero (view spoiler)["did not have sexual relationships with that woman" (hide spoiler)] *sighs
As I said in my Paper Princess review: After hero and heroine have kissed any kind of physical contact with another woman is 100% unacceptable. That only makes the hero weak and flickery and speaks volumes of the lack of ability of a huge majority of self-published erotica authors to create drama that doesn't involve a separation from the couple.
UPCOMING RANT!
You must know that I became addicted to romance when I discovered the twilight books in my eleventh birthday. I was 15 when I read Master of the Universe nowadays known as FSOG and later I fell in love with Gideon Cross from the Crossfire series and Travis Maddox from Beautiful disaster. Yes, I know that these books portray manipulative, unhealthy relationships that in real life would have ended in restraining orders, divorce, and physical violence, IN THE FICTIONAL REALM thESE couples work. Imperfect, flawed, stalkery people fall in love too and usually a good hero changes for / with the love of the heroine and we get our happy endings as we should.
But how the hell would Katie Ashley fix this mess in the sequel of this train-wreck? Not after he treated her so badly. I didn't like Emma much, she was, as a huge bunch contemporary erotica heroines are, disgustingly agreeable to the point of weakness and a slut-shamer. But I at least could understand where she came from and was interested enough in seeing her succeed to end the story. Now, after that twist at the end, the sequels are ruined for me. If she forgives that kind of conduct she doesn't deserve to have a happy ending. Not after (view spoiler)[the very pregnant heroine caught the father of her baby trying to fuck another woman, the very day he failed to be there with her for an ultrasound. The dog is more loyal than the hero. (hide spoiler)]
Seriously self-published erotica authors, can't you think of another way to bring drama that doesn't involve cheating? Haven't you noticed that for all the shit they receive in goodreads Edward, Christian Grey and Gideon CroSs NEVER CHEATED, NEVER SLUTSHAMED OTHER WOMEN AND ONCE THEY MET THEIR HEROINES DIDN'T HAVE EYES FOR ANOTHER WOMAN? That's what makes them so likeable, that's why these books have cross-over appeal. CHEATING IS NOT ACCEPTABLE AND MAKES YOUR HERO UNLIKEABLE AND WEAK and overall FORGETTABLE. Thrown to the bad-bookboyfriends pile.
I don't care if they were on a break, in this case they weren't. I don't care if the hero has been drugged, drunk, depressed, confused, weakened by a disease, abducted by aliens, imperiused, bewitched, tortured into submission, blackmailed, deceived or "trying to protect the heroine". That's just stupid, unbelievable and again, if your hero can't fight against the urges of his dick (and if he's in love why would he have to have urges for another woman?) then he doesn't deserve the heroine. He doesn't even deserve to be called A MAN. He can go with the other boys pretending to be grown ups that abound in New adult/erotica fiction.
Let's get this straight. Romance is a genre that should be all about swooning, fangirling, laughing, having fun and finding unrealistic, strong, flawed, charming MEN; emphasis in men. I'm not into boys in romance unless they are super-mature and cute, (I'm looking at you Will Herondale), I'm into men that you wouldn't find in real life, or at least you wouldn't find them often. So what's the point of reading a "romance" book if the hero will act like any cliched TV Manwhore?
Slutshaming is starting to become a deal-breaker for me because it's becoming so cliche even if in the past I've rated 5 stars slutshame-fests like Beautiful disaster in which Abby slut-shames not only every female around, but also acts like Travis deserves to be punished for sleeping around, therefore slutshaming him too. Slut-shaming is a form of discrimination not different than homophobia. All people should be treated equally and with respect disregarding, creed, fashion choices, race, economical status, physical apperance, and sexual decisions . A woman's or man's worth is not based on how many times or with whom they have sex. Sex isn't a sin, sex is not a taboo and people who sleeps around could be as moral and worthy as people who don't. But see? In Beautiful disaster both Abby and Travis are young, they are in their school years so they can grow up into open-minded people who don't slut shame and anyway Travis is just adorable (although he also almost cheated, but they were on a "real", we'll-never-ever-ever -be-back-together separation. In this book the couple is supposedly near their thirties so why they don't have more maturity than plenty of YA, even middle-grade books couples?
I honestly should stick to classic romance written by authors that have been writing romance for decades (case in point Susan Elizabeth Philips or Lisa Kleypas) or good New adult authors like Colleen Hoover. "Adult" erotica is full of immature MC's. I think I might give up the adult (characters over 22) self-published contemporary romance for good. I just end up pissed-off and having no fun from those reads. I want to read a good steamy romance in which adults act like adults. Update October 8th. I was just being dramatic. I found a good New adult/Erotica read called The deal by Elle Kennedy and a couple of short stories that made me remember that comtemporary erotica is fun when it's well done.
Now, I think that the first sex scenes of this book are good and steamy, and anyone who doesn't mind slutshaming, separated couple, disloyal hero, adults acting like teens, might enjoy the book. Most romances on KU are like this one and still get good ratings so I'm perhaps too much into unrealistic heroes, to understand why this book has such high rating. So don't take me too seriously. The book is free so you might like it more than I did.
TRIGGER FOR DATE RAPE VICTIMS I hate when this happens. When everyone loves a book that I don't. I hate being minority. I signed up to goodreads to fanTRIGGER FOR DATE RAPE VICTIMS I hate when this happens. When everyone loves a book that I don't. I hate being minority. I signed up to goodreads to fangirl over books with other people, to like the five star reviews and ignore the haters.
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I love when all my friends read the same book and love it as much as I did.
I hate to rate this book. A lot of my goodreads friends have LOVED IT! And I can see why. For the most part of the book I loved it, too. Then the twist happens and everyone still loves the book, but I don't. I'm left outside. So, yeah it sucks to be minority.
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I hate giving bad ratings. I'd rather not finish a book than give a bad rating. However if in other occassions I prefer not to post a review or even a rating because a) I don't want to waste more time than the book deserves or
b)I can't pinpoint what I didn't like,
In this case I think I have to warn other readers who might have the same problem than I have. If you are warned, you might enjoy the book more than I did. In addition, I can tell when the book was ruined FOR ME. If you are warned of what you will find you might even give a 5 star rating, that I think the authors deserve because for the most part their book is not bad.
I think everyone will love this book way more than I do. People should give it a try. The authors have a way with words and for the majority of the book I THOUGHT THIS WAS FANTASTICLY compelling and AWESOME, I never considered not finishing it because the emotions, the characters, the journey were so good that I just couldn't put the book down. I would recommend this book to anyone who isn't a freak like me: A freak who has a high sensibility on (view spoiler)[CHEATING. (hide spoiler)]
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Why? Oh Why? Can't authors think of another way to create drama? Everything was going so well, then that twist. IIt ruins the sequels for me. I asked a refund from amazon and I'm not continuing with the series. Again that's me. I'm extremely sensitive to (view spoiler)[cheating. When I read a romance I want to root for the couple and I don't want the hero to have eyes for anyone but the heroine. I'm the kind of freak that thinks of Travis Maddox as a cheater and same from Kayden from the Coincidence of Callie and Kayden and Drew evans from Tangled . Yes those guys weren't with the heroines when they tried to/or slept with someone else, but once the hero has kissed the heroine EVERY INTERACTION WITH ANOTHER WOMAN even a kiss is for me a form of cheating. In this case Reed goes way beyond what Travis, Kayden and Drew did. It makes him undreedemable for me. (hide spoiler)] I wish there had been a warning for that twist. I hate hate hate hate when the authors (view spoiler)[ make heroes cheat (hide spoiler)]
This is also a NA book marketed as YA. I'm okay with sex scenes, actually I get bored if a NA book doesn't have at least a bit of sexual tension and I prefer self-published authors because they cross the YA/NA boundaries more often than traditional published books. I just think the ethical thing to do is to warn the readers that there's sex in the book so people who like sex will buy it, and people who prefer "clean" reads stay away. Readers under 18 should stay clear from this book as it contains (view spoiler)[ drugs and rape scenes. (hide spoiler)]
This book reminded me of Tijan's fallen crest series, except the twist I mentioned. I think that I wouldn't have hated the ending as much as I did if I haven't been so involved with Ella and Reed. If you don't mind (view spoiler)[cheating heroes, if you don't mind cliffhangers (the sequel will come out soon) (hide spoiler)] and you like Tiijan give this book a try. If you hate when NA is labeled as YA then this book might not be for you....more
I love war and Peace. People think it's a difficult book, but I got good tips from a fantastic English teacher and once I started I could finish it inI love war and Peace. People think it's a difficult book, but I got good tips from a fantastic English teacher and once I started I could finish it in a couple of days. He made us watch documentaries on Napoleon, the Zars, The russian wars, the history and setthing behind the book and gave us so many information so that we didn't get confused. We also watched videos from the movie. We didn't start reading war and peace until we were familiar with history and setting and that made the reading easy. Not only that, I enjoyed war and peace thoroughly, I fell in love with Prince Andrei and ended up liking the different families that appeared in the book. I won't re-read but I liked it.
Ana Karenina? Nope. Not even watching the movie helped. I won't finish it. Life is too short to read books that I don't enjoy. I hated the heroine. I'm still furious that this book is considered feminist fiction. Just recently someone told me that Ana Karenina was feminist fiction because all the things these woman had to suffer. Yeah? And what exactly did she do to change that destiny? Don't tell me that she couldn't do anything because of the times. Jane Eyre did a lot for her and was incredibly strong in spite of the limitations imposed by society. Tess, too. Even Rebecca and the woman from scarlet letter. Ana is just a wimp, even worse than Emma Bovary. I've said this before and I'll say it again. If Like water to chocolate and Ana Karenina are considered feminist fiction then Breaking dawn should be considered feminist fiction, too. Bella in vampire form would kick the asses of every fictional heroine that serves as role to feminists, and that includes Katniss Everdeen and Lisbet Salander. She didn't let the supernatural creatures that surrounded rule her life and they tried hard to rule Bella's life but she didn't let them and when it became her turn to become a supernatural being herself she was the one who saved the day.
T0lstoi is a great writer. I hate Anna Arkadyevna Karenina with all my soul and that I hate that she is a cheater and so weak. I've said this before, besides the rules of prose and writing and the standards of good literature, any writer who creates emotion in the reader is a genious. However I'm not the kind of person who thinks that classics should always receive at least 3 stars. This was a DNF for me and I won't ever resume....more
You can finish this book in one sitting and as a soap opera it works. It's so addictive! I just don't recommend if you prefer:
*Likeable characters * NoYou can finish this book in one sitting and as a soap opera it works. It's so addictive! I just don't recommend if you prefer:
*Likeable characters * No slut-shaming * HEA's * No cheating, no disloyalty
I read it back in 2012 and initially rated it high, because it's a fast, entertaining read and the writer is extremely talented. Besides every one was raving about this book back then and I can tell you why: Tarryn Fisher makes you feel her character emotions!
I just got rid of my paperback copy to make room to other books. Read if you like fast-paced, angsty well-written books....more
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