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A review by lenoreo
Stepbrother Dearest by Penelope Ward
Did not finish book.
https://celebrityreaders.com/2019/02/12/stepbrother-dearest-by-penelope-ward/
DNF @ chapter 8 (24%) — Okay, I’ll be honest…this one was always likely to be a stretch for me, since I’m not actually into alpha assholes or bad boys. But I was intrigued by the blurb, and every once in a while I want to give books outside of my wheelhouse a try just in case they’re exceptions. Alas, this was not an exception for me.
Reasons that had everything to do with me: I don’t get turned on by physical appearance alone, and Elec’s behavior/attitude was not attractive at all. Now, I’m sure that there was “more to him” and all that…but there’s a line of behavior that I just can’t get over, and he was kind of straddling it with the way he spoke to Greta, and how mean he was. I’m also not big on the back and forth shiznit, and even at 24% I could tell there was going to be a lot of that (meaning he’s mean, he’s nice, he’s mean, he’s nice). Also, I’m not a fan of slut-shaming (even if it’s really subtle), and this book had a lot of judgement to it already. I don’t understand Greta’s friendship with her best friend, she didn’t always feel that nice to her in her head. And while it wasn’t overt, the way both Greta and Elec spoke about the “easy” girls was already rubbing me the wrong way. And after a few books by this author (some co-authored), I can confidently say that she has a problem with women who don’t have natural boobs. This is the 4th book where fake boobs have been mentioned disparagingly, while natural boobs have been touted as glorious. I just don’t understand why the qualities the hero is attracted to in a heroine have to be compared disparagingly to other women’s features. Why we gotta put down other girls to make ourselves (or in this case our heroine) look good? *sigh* I’m really tired of that… It’s not that I didn’t probably do that when I was younger, but now that I’ve opened my eyes, it’s hard not to notice it all the time.
As one last aside, I didn’t really like the writing style in this one. It felt…well, it felt like the author’s first book. I never know how to describe it, but it was just very perfunctory (this happened, then this happened), without much emotion or depth. I’m also not a fan when authors leave the end of chapters with leading sentences (like “but nothing could prepare me for what happened next.”). It kinda felt like I was reading a straight up erotica instead of an erotic romance (there is a difference).
So yeah. Gonna give up on that. No judgement on anyone who loved this book, it just hits buttons for me, so I knew to get out before I got genuinely cranky.
DNF @ chapter 8 (24%) — Okay, I’ll be honest…this one was always likely to be a stretch for me, since I’m not actually into alpha assholes or bad boys. But I was intrigued by the blurb, and every once in a while I want to give books outside of my wheelhouse a try just in case they’re exceptions. Alas, this was not an exception for me.
Reasons that had everything to do with me: I don’t get turned on by physical appearance alone, and Elec’s behavior/attitude was not attractive at all. Now, I’m sure that there was “more to him” and all that…but there’s a line of behavior that I just can’t get over, and he was kind of straddling it with the way he spoke to Greta, and how mean he was. I’m also not big on the back and forth shiznit, and even at 24% I could tell there was going to be a lot of that (meaning he’s mean, he’s nice, he’s mean, he’s nice). Also, I’m not a fan of slut-shaming (even if it’s really subtle), and this book had a lot of judgement to it already. I don’t understand Greta’s friendship with her best friend, she didn’t always feel that nice to her in her head. And while it wasn’t overt, the way both Greta and Elec spoke about the “easy” girls was already rubbing me the wrong way. And after a few books by this author (some co-authored), I can confidently say that she has a problem with women who don’t have natural boobs. This is the 4th book where fake boobs have been mentioned disparagingly, while natural boobs have been touted as glorious. I just don’t understand why the qualities the hero is attracted to in a heroine have to be compared disparagingly to other women’s features. Why we gotta put down other girls to make ourselves (or in this case our heroine) look good? *sigh* I’m really tired of that… It’s not that I didn’t probably do that when I was younger, but now that I’ve opened my eyes, it’s hard not to notice it all the time.
As one last aside, I didn’t really like the writing style in this one. It felt…well, it felt like the author’s first book. I never know how to describe it, but it was just very perfunctory (this happened, then this happened), without much emotion or depth. I’m also not a fan when authors leave the end of chapters with leading sentences (like “but nothing could prepare me for what happened next.”). It kinda felt like I was reading a straight up erotica instead of an erotic romance (there is a difference).
So yeah. Gonna give up on that. No judgement on anyone who loved this book, it just hits buttons for me, so I knew to get out before I got genuinely cranky.