hann_cant_read's reviews
432 reviews

I borrowed it from Libby and it ran out before I finished. I WILL finish it when it comes back in!

I have so many thoughts and tbh most of them aren't great.
I'll start with the good. I actually like the story line. Is it predictable? Absolutely, but I'm a firm believer that predictable doesn't always mean bad.
Now for the bad stuff. Everything else. 
I do not like a single character. If they all died I'd shrug my shoulders and move on. They're just so annoying that I cannot bring myself to care about them.
Lor is so weirdly self-aware of her trauma, and she keeps explaining how her behaviors are trauma responses to the audience. Her constant "I hate you" for no reason is giving me whiplash. I swear to god she's trying to gaslight me with the way she keeps talking about how she was fooled by the Sun King in the last book and that's why she can't bang it out with Nadir now. Like girl, I was there too. You literally spent the entire time talking about how it would be stupid to trust him and it was just sex, just like it was just sex with the random dude from the prison. Atlas tricked you (I guess? He was pretty clear about keeping his motivations secret though) but either way it had nothing at all to do with sex.
Also her trauma felt cringey? I know that's a terrible thing to say, but the way it was written / she talks about it it was just there for shock value, not to actually add anything to the plot.
Nadir is dumb as fucking rocks and doesn't deserve to run the kingdom any more than his dad. I'm all for a possessive MMC, but it was the

added "without my permission" to the end of "no one else touches you" that gave me the biggest of icks. Is there an instance where you would grant someone permission to touch her?!

Their entire covert operation plan was doomed from the start. The didn't even give her a fake name. He almost got caught calling her inmate and STILL didn't think to stop using it. The king apparently tortured her for weeks and she's got a pretty distinct scar on her face, but they put no effort into her being subtle/hiding her AT ALL.

The romance was very meh. The two characters were just randomly mean to create this "enemies to lovers" tension instead of them having any real conflict. The conversations just didn't make any sense either. One minute she'd be telling him he's hot, and the next she'd be like "he can't know I find him attractive." Like, what?
To top it off, them

"hiding" their fae selves because it was safer also makes no sense. It very clearly wasn't safer when they almost died multiple times and it wasn't even a thought.

I understand that the flashbacks are supposed to provide important context to the present day, but I could not bring myself to care about them.

Serce seems like a power-hungry idiot,

and I felt myself skimming through them. Maybe it was the pacing, but it just felt jarring to be ripped back and forth instead of helpful. 

I liked it, but I didn't love it.
I think the premise was okay, but it really felt like it needed to be a little more fleshed out. There was a lot that we just needed to accept as "this is how it works in this world" for no real reason.
As far as characters go, I feel like our FMC was inconsistent.

Based on the "secrets" she knows that she isn't telling the audience it feels like she'd be more savvy / have a better idea of what is happening, so it's weird that the reader could sus things out quicker even without having as much insider info.

The book is 1st person, so it was also strange to me when she would have revelations that didn't have much build up.

Like "I" thought the Sun King was sus from the get-go, but she was lusting hard, until suddenly she was like " there was always something off" Girl I was in your head, you were way too in your own head / with your own hangups to suspect he had an ulterior motive past just being horny.

She also is supposed to be 24, and yes I know she's lived in a prison for half her life so there is going to be trauma behaviors with that, but there was a weird level of self-awareness about her behaviors, like she'd been to therapy or something.
Other characters were also kind of off and I can't place them. I can't tell whether we're supposed to like Gabriel or not, he's so inconsistent. He's an ass, but then sometimes he looks at her nicely and that was enough for her to be cool with him? I think he was supposed to have a bit of a teasing older brother vibe but I don't think it succeeded. He's just a dick.
The world feels so vague. A lot of it can be chalked up to our FMC not knowing shit, but also she was 12 when she was imprisoned, not 4. She should have some idea of the world around her.

Again, I get the impression she knows a lot more than she's saying, but for some reason her inner monologue is still confused.

My other complaint isn't just a this book problem, but it feels like "New Adult" is written less as YA with Spice, but like Middle Grade with Spice, which gives those scenes a weird icky quality even though they're technically happening between adults.
I'll give book 2 in the series a chance I think, but I really need to see some real world building and character development/growth to go any further than that.

ugh. I should have just dnf'd.
It's the miscommunication trope, but it also just doesn't make any sense to any logical thinking person.
To start, Maya and Sam had a fling when they were 18 - and then the night when they're gonna "go all the way" her bitch ass friend Cat lies to both of them and convinces the other that they each are "breaking up" through her.
And then Sam proceeds to bang it out with Cat, and date her on and off for 5 years.
Maya stops being friends with Cat that night, because she hooked up with Sam despite knowing about Maya and him. So she knows Cat is terrible, but her being a super random breakup message deliverer is just never questioned, even years later?
So Maya's dumb. Established.
But Sam just sucks man. Yes Cat is a cartoonish style villain, she lied and she'll keep lying forever. But Sam, idk. Like your girl's friend randomly tells you she doesn't want to be with you anymore so you hook up with said friend? It's framed like we're just supposed to blame Cat but that's an objectively shitty thing to do. Yet somehow Maya is out here apologizing?
To make matters weirder, Sam really doesn't care about Cat but continues to date her anyway, even as he's getting jealous over Maya etc. He's in a relationship 80% of the way through the book and then has the audacity to say he didn't cheat on Cat. Like, yeah bud. Emotionally (and almost physically a few times) you really did. She sucks for sure. But just end it. She's framed as super toxic, mentally and emotionally abusive, but because she was just so cartoonish it really fell flat as to why he would even stick around and deal with it.
The entire "rebuilding" of Maya and Sam's relationship isn't growth, it's just whiplash. They keep starting to joke around but then "remember" that the other one actually is so grossed out/disgusted by them that they randomly just act super mean. 
Also the side plot. Listen, Maya I know you don't want to be an accountant anymore. But like, a part time ski instructor really won't cut it. Your job doesn't need to be your passion. The Resort NEEDS an accountant! Why is this glossed over?!  Then you can make a livable wage AND have your passion project. 

TL/DR Maya is kinda dumb, but Sam really kind of sucks and she deserves better.