3.5 Tell me something about Octopuses Stars ⭐️
Spicy Level: 🌶️🌶️.5/5

I AM CONFLICTED...

Like I couldn't put it down but like SHE IS FULL OF PLOTHOLES AND PROBLEMS...

𝙎𝙮𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙨:
So we have Farrow, but her name might as well be Ella because she's basically a modern-day Cinderella. BUT not like the Disney version where she has supremely intelligent rodents who help her, but more in the version of Hilary Duff's "A Cinderella Story". She lives with her stepmom and her two stepsisters, who treat her completely and utterly vile, (and act almost exactly the same as Duff's stepmom and sisters treated her). Farrow is in a 4-way partnership with her stepfamily, running her late father's cleaning business - but she's the only one doing any work, while her stepmom and siblings take all the profits. The book opens with Farrow trying to steal back one of her father's prized possessions that her stepmom sold without her permission, something that holds a lot of sentimental value to Farrow. However, that item also has a lot of sentimental value to Zachso when he catches her in the act, and the two flirt over a game of Go. Intrigued by who she is and insulted she tried to steal from him - he tracks her down and blackmails her into working for him as a maid, so he can "own her".

𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙁𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨:
So I TOTALLY judged the book by the name and thought I would be getting a "DARK" romance. The blurb read like a dark romance- the chapter he blackmails her has all the right language of a dark romance... but like WHERE THE FUCK WAS THE DARK ROMANCE? This is a cocky arrogant alphahole who has too much money to throw around and while he does have a little repressed childhood trauma - it's just a straightforward story of him falling in love with the help. This is a contemporary romance!!!!

Let me elaborate... I expected this to go another level and I feel a little lied to - HE USED QUOTES LIKE...
- “Not only can I outsmart you, I can also out-kill you. And I am currently very tempted to do so, little thief.”
- “You’ll be working for me—under me—at my whim, you’ll serve, obey, and cater to me. Paying off your debt for trying and utterly failing to steal from me⁠—”
- “In this world, there are masters, and there are servants. I’m a master. You’re a servant. Act accordingly, and I will let you go.”

BUT LIKE NONE of this ever really came to fruition. BUT Zach also doesn't get all dominant on her or make her the " slave" he threatens to make her... he just kinda ignores her so she can do her own thing in the house...Farrow agrees to be his maid - alone as no other maids or cleaning staff are ever mentioned or seen in the book and her job is to CLEAN HIS GINORMOUS MANSION... but then she still has time to take afternoon naps and watch movies in his house? I know you don't always have to clean everything every day but if you have like 20 bedrooms and only one person to keep it clean and free of dust - there is no time for them to be sitting around eating popcorn almost daily.

For most of the book I didn't like the relationship between her and Zach - he treats her awfully, I mean the man announced his engagement on her bday and then told her to go wash the windows. He thinks that the best way to win her affection is to buy her a crap tonne of stupid expensive shoes and then is upset when she is upset about the events of the day and never really stands up for her. BUT the man pulled out some super sweet stops for her and was cute and adorable and exactly what you would see done in a romcom....so I can't make up my mind...

Farrow never really stands up for herself. She is so afraid to stand up to Zach and her stepsisters and her stepmom - as everyone walks all over her... but she does have a little spunk and bite and it almost feels like the type of aggression a homeless dog will have because it's been neglected its whole life and it doesn't know how to act when someone is nice to them...

I found the fencing plot and conspiracy a little crazy and ridiculous and I hated that the one person she had who was close to her outside of her fucked up life was using her like that...

The thing is, as much as there was a lot I hated - the book had this quality that kept me reading in the same way I want to watch a car crash... I couldn't put it down - even though it wasn't deep - it was still super addicting...

𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨:
▶ Dual POV
▶ Who Did This To You?
▶ Strangers to Lovers
▶ Forbidden Romance
▶ Morally Grey MMC
▶ Interracial/Multicultural Romance
▶ Cinderella Retelling (Billionaire Romance/Rich GuyXPoor Girl)
▶ BossXEmployee

𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙧𝙤 𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨:
▷ Hold on to the...
▷ Spicy/Steamy Water Scene
▷ Mine
▷ Good Girl
▷ Cages her with his arms

So really I dunno how to feel - I am going to read book 1 cause the characters of Dallas and Romeo intrigued me and too see how obsessed Romeo is towards Dallas and hearing the snippets of their story... I WANNA KNOW.... I also wanna know what happens in Oliver's book. So while this wasn't perfect it was filled with drama that will make any soap opera-loving girl happy while also having swoony moments and moments of stupidity... It kinda balanced itself out with the fact that the writing is addictive... and fast and quick to digest. So EVEN if the book kinda lies about what type it is - it's still readable...