Book Review: A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark #1)

 

A Hunger Like No Other

Kresley Cole

Overall: 1.5/5

Plot and themes: 1/5

Characters: 1/5

Writing style: 1/5

Attention-grabbing: 2/5

A Hunger Like No Other is the first book in the Immortals After Dark series but I think it can be read as a standalone like it follows separate couples. I saw it recommended on TikTok as like a fun kind of enemies to lovers book with a cool magic universe and a dark male protagonist and uh yeah kind of missed the mark on that one for me. Lachlain is a werewolf, basically the king of them all, but he has been imprisoned for a hundred and fifty years by the vampire king. He escapes when he senses his soulmate close by and basically rips his own leg off to get to her. That's really where him being selfless kind of ends. Emmaline is on a journey to discover her past and the werewolf wasn't really part of these plans. 

Like, this wasn't cute. It was like a car crash so I couldn't really look away, but I don't think it was well-written or well-planned. Even if you look past the fact that this should definitely come with trigger warnings because I feel like Lachlain's actions could definitely be perceived as sexual assault, the entirety of everything was so basic and straightforward. Literally everything that you thought might have happened happened in exactly the format that you expected. I like a happily ever after but this was just stupid because I couldn't even feel a real conflict.

So I don't know how it has such a high rating, I kept waiting for something to happen and nothing really ever did. Also just a general FYI, mentioning the concept of Stockholm Syndrome does not automatically absolve the character from getting it. The power imbalance and the way he separated her from her family? It all just felt icky and Emmaline simply telling us she was no longer meek and easily pushed around does not by any means guarantee that as a reality. Overall, I was really disappointed by it and definitely would not recommend it.

 

Book Review: The Kiss Thief

The Kiss Thief

L.J. Shen

1/5

This was another book I saw on Tiktok- either under enemies to lovers or the I hate everyone but you trope. I can confidently say that this was my least enjoyable read of 2020, like I kind of DNFed so I debated even reviewing it but I got to the end despite flipping through some scenes so I think I can take a strong position against it. This is a contemporary romance despite how it may first appear following Francesca, the daughter of a basic mafia leader, and Wolfe Keaton, a United States senator. The two are placed into an arranged marriage and forced to deal with one another. 

Toxic is the best way to describe it I think. I don't like using that word because I feel like a lot of people use it when it isn't all that necessary. Francesca is 19, incredibly sheltered and naive despite her intrinsic strength. Wolfe is 30, a seasoned senator who consistently remarks on his lack of ability to care for a teenager. Like that's textbook wrong I should have DNFed right after that but I was wondering if maybe he would be vilified and she'd end up with the more age appropriate guy. There's a difference between enemies-to-lovers and taking advantage of someone. 

He wasn't even nice about it. The age difference could have been surmountable if he had been understanding in any way. She went from being totally controlled by her father to totally controlled by him and then pretended she had a say in it. Also the politics of it all were completely unrealistic. I wouldn't call it a political thriller at all because it was closer to made up than it was to American democracy. 

All in all a wild disappointment that had only the possibility of righting wrongs keeping me till the end. I wouldn't recommend getting into it, there are a lot of uncomfortable situations that really did not feel correct at all in any circumstances. If age differences and all that was going on is your thing, that's all good, but I really think there should be a better description provided.

Book Review: Beguilement (The Sharing Knife #1)

Beguilement

Lois Bujold

1/5

Big no from me, this entire book felt like a huge warning sign. I don't know why I even finished it, mostly I think because the biggest reveal on age didn't come till 80 percent into the book. That was done totally deliberately too because that age difference is too far to be quirky, it's just alarming. 

I was already skeptical at the beginning when Fawn was in such a vulnerable position. Alone, hurt, and had been recently betrayed by someone who she thought she could trust. Dag is older, I originally assumed like ten or fifteen years which isn't ok but also could be justifiable in the context of different species that she was setting up. But the gap kept stretching and the differences between their two groups kept getting smaller. I'm not even sure what makes them so different, other than the ability to use groundsense which Fawn's aunt could also kind of use? It doesn't seem as though the differences were enough to rationalize that kind of difference. 

<spoiler> Lots of fantasy books have sketchy age differences because of the differences in lifetimes. At least those have a romance that transcends the differences. Fawn and Dag had such a sketchy vibe to them, and it felt like their marriage was only motivated by Dag wanting to own Fawn/give Fawn power among her family. Fawn's entire complex with her family didn't really feel justified either, they seemed to care about her well-enough. They were a little rude but she is also eighteen, not really old enough to be as wise as she and Dag thought she was. Also, HE'S 55 AND OLDER THAN HER FATHER. </spoiler>

But yeah, I don't know why I finished it but I wouldn't really recommend it for anyone. They never even resolved the central conflict in anyway, just deferred it in favor of the creepy romance. Disappointed in the author and in myself for wasting my time.

Book Review: Seeing Mary (Dalton Family #1)

Seeing Mary
Sarah Adams
1/5

This is an extremely short novella following a week(ish?) in the life of Mary, the wary daughter of a duke, as she falls for Robert, a "mysterious" earl who sweeps her off her feet.

Kindle Unlimited novellas are probably not the way I should go but I was bored and it was a quick read. I had the usual problem which I have with novellas but at a greater magnitude, the characters had no substance. The earl was supposed to be mysterious, which is an annoying enough trope on its own, but he wasn't even mysterious he was just a basic guy. Her tragic backstory wasn't tragic at all and her hurt felt so weird and fake. Their love story? No chemistry, no build-up, nothing that made it all that interesting at all.

I also don't know how it's a novella that's an introduction to the series because why wouldn't they get their own full-length? It doesn't seem as though the characters in the next book are more important or more deserving of a full-length novel. It's all confusing and felt cheap and just pointless. I usually don't finish books that I think deserve 1 star but it was so short that I finished it just cause it was faster than not doing so.