imme_van_gorp's reviews
697 reviews

I don't know what it is exactly that didn't make me love this a bit more, but for some reason it just didn't hit home for me completely. It was all interesting and fun enough, but I was never truly captivated or swooning. That's what was missing for me. This story just didn't really have many highlights; it was all just quite average... which is okay, but not great.

Hell no. I can handle my cheesy romance novels like no other, but this was just horrifyingly bad. It had me on the verge of screaming and ripping my hair out with utter annoyance and pure disgust. Seriously, it was that bad. 

The writing made me want to gauge my own eyes out, the plot was paper thin, the pacing of the story had me completely unnerved, the characters lacked any form of depth and the romance made me cringe more than anything I think I have ever experienced. 

To be completely frank, not only is the stupidity through the roof with this entire novel, the main guy of the story also really really really creeps me out. If I were Eden, I’d be scared out of my mind and freaking run! But of course she lacks the brain capacity to come to that obvious conclusion, so instead we are stuck with this so called romantic story, which would actually work way better were it presented as a thriller about some stalking, kidnapping rapist.

This book started off absolutely hilarious. I laughed like a crazy person, tears and all. The amazingly humorous exchange between the two main characters went on for quite a while, until eventually the humour dialled down a bit, being replaced with an intense romance. I thought this gradual shift was a nice balance between two aspects that I enjoy very much in a book.
The romance was very enjoyable as Charlee and Rath have undeniable chemistry. Charlee is extremely likable (being the reason for most of my chuckles and laughs while reading this novel), and I can completely understand why Rath fell hard for her. The playfulness in their romance was enhanced by the office-setting, seeing how their employee-boss relationship worked really well for them and their developing feelings (unlike many other romance novels trying to work with a similar trope). I do have to say that I could have done without the ‘marriage of convenience’ as it did not really add much tension for me, and rather made the shift into being more than just co-workers a little bit too easy for my liking.

The prose in this book is fairly well done, but the story and characters just make me extremely uncomfortable. The romantic interests are so unkind to one another, I could not see the appeal. Misha is basically a judgemental bastard to Ryen, which in turn makes her a pathetic weirdo for being into that. Seriously, for two people who have been writing to one another for seven years, their relationship sure does feel embarrassingly superficial. I think their relationship at times even borderlines harassment or bullying. I don’t get it.
I also really could have done without all the erotica. When you see no chemistry or healthy tension between the two main characters, those scenes just seem filthy and unnecessary. Especially when the girl constantly keeps telling the guy to freaking stop and he just doesn’t. Is that supposed to be attractive in some way? Because to me it sure as hell isn’t. The book doesn’t handle it as sexual assault since the girl seems to be ridiculously turned on by it, but this dude sure does creep me out. I’d stay ten feet away from this man at all times, no kidding.

This book was really a very interesting read. These myths are so cool to know about and it makes it even more awesome to think that people used to actually believe these stories rather than them just being regular pieces of fiction. These myths were intended to be believed instead of merely entertain. This knowledge gives these stories an extra little boost which any other 'fantasy' novel would obviously miss. It’s fascinating.

Aside from this, however, I do have to point out that the way these myths were written down in this particular book did not grip me completely. The stories were told in a rather stiff manner, never diving deep into any emotional territory. I suppose this must have been necessary to stay as close as possible to the source material of these myths and I can applaud it for that, but it did lower the entertainment aspect slightly.

This collection of poems is parted into a happy / naive side (sectioned under innocence) and a more sad / realistic side (sectioned under experience). This divide and obvious contrast between both sides really adds a lot of weight to the overall message and thoughts portrayed in this collection. It was very interesting.
I can definitely get behind most of the criticisms and observations expressed by William Blake in a lot of these poems. He seems like a pretty cool and moral dude, especially for his time. Good for him.


There are quite a few poems in this collection I really really like, and one of my favourites is probably The Clod and the Pebble:

Love seeketh not Itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care;
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hells dispair.

So sang a little Clod of Clay,
Trodden with the cattles feet:
But a Pebble of the brook,
Warbled out these metres meet.

Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to Its delight:
Joys in another loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heavens despite.

This poem is kind of simple and actually quite straightforward, but it really resonated with me and thus, felt special. I also like that ‘innocence’ and ‘experience’ meet half way and that each show their different views. It displays the intriguing contrast of both sides and is in this way quite representative of the collection as a whole.

This book was fun at first, but at a certain point it really just drags on and on, and I was utterly and completely over it. In the end, I genuinely did not care and wanted to get it done with as soon as possible.
It’s quite a shame though, as the story and characters did have potential to be fun and cute. The author should have just quit while she was ahead and made this novel way shorter. Every little interest and investment I had at first just shattered after being dragged out for so long. 
Besides, hardly anything happens that’s noteworthy and nothing gets really fleshed out properly. It’s all so flat and eventually just.. boring.

This short story is a depiction of ‘the perfect crime’ where a woman kills her husband without any preparations. Everything she does is done in the heat of the moment, and yet she is able to execute it perfectly. 
Aside from the details of the crime itself, which I will not discuss due to ‘spoilers’, I also find it interesting to consider the woman’s psyche. She’s quite difficult to read as her behaviour sends out a lot of mixed signals, and I am still not sure if she was a bad person, maybe even a sociopath, or if she had only gone crazy in the moment due to being in shock. The human mind is baffling.

This short story covers the subject of abortion in which the man is trying to convince the girl to get one. To me the story is mostly about emotional manipulation. 
The man is smooth talking the girl, saying the “operation” isn’t a big deal and it will make them happy again: basically, he states that such an abortion will erase the worry that is now preventing him from projecting his love for her. This thought is probably the main reason why the girl is even considering an abortion, hence said emotional manipulation.

This story shows an obviously deranged man after having just killed someone and who is now trying to convince us (the readers), or perhaps even himself, that he is not crazy. The man claims that he is merely extraordinarily evolved in his senses. 
Of course we learn more with each sentence that this guy is anything but sane, no matter how much he likes to believe otherwise, and we see him reach his boiling point to eventually committing his crime and later fessing up to it. 
The question that lingers, however, is: was it guilt that made his crazy pop out again in the end or was it just that: crazy? Who knows.