imme_van_gorp's reviews
697 reviews

This was not at all what I thought it would be. I thought we would get some insight into Riden’s thoughts and feelings about Alosa, but this chapter completely focused on his dedication to his brother. 

Fair enough, it’s literally the first time him and Alosa meet, so there’s actually something rather good to be said about the fact that it was not an insta-love situation for Riden, but still… I would have preferred it then if the author had chosen a different chapter to write from Riden’s POV, one later on in the story, so we could have understood his love for Alosa better.

That said, I do think this chapter gave us some needed understanding for how Riden views his brother and why he kept defending such a vile creature in the first book. It looks like he truly thinks Draxen is a good person underneath, and the monster is all an act (or something that can be pushed back), but I doubt Riden will be able to lie to himself about this much longer… I guess we’ll see in the sequel.

This was honestly such a fun and engaging read! It’s actually quite a simple story with rather straightforward writing, but I think there was something very pleasant about that. It’s super easy to follow along with and even easier to get lost in. 

It’s about a fiery, stubborn, badass girl who gets herself kidnapped on purpose so she can steal an important item for her father, The Pirate King. Nobody can know she’s a willing prisoner and neither can she reveal how skilled she is, so she has to keep herself in check most of the time. Still, she really isn’t capable of turning off her sass and snark, so her imprisonment is certainly an interesting experience and definitely far from boring.

I honestly really liked the heroine, Alosa. She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, she never doubted herself, she had confidence in spades, yet she was never needlessly ruthless or cruel. She was a genuinely good person, but not one who had to make herself feel or act small to be liked. She was just really… cool.

When it comes to the romance though, I do think there could have been much better development. I really would have preferred a deeper, more meaningful connection between her and Riden, and I have to say it was unfortunately veering a little towards insta-love territory. That said, they did have some pretty fun banter sometimes and their overall dynamic was one I mostly enjoyed. It wasn’t anything special, but I liked them together well enough.

➛First read: October 2021 | ★4.0 stars
➛Second read: October 2021 | ★4.0 stars

Oh, this was good. This was really really good. 
This play leaves so much unsaid yet says so much. It's truly fascinating, and it completely enthralled me. 

There isn't much happening plot-wise, but that's not the point. The play is more like a character-study and a great one at that. 
The characters are truly all so interesting and.. sick or broken in their own twisted ways. I was curious about them all from the jump and they only got more enrapturing as things went on.

I love the concept of not being able to distinguish imagination from reality and it's done so well here. The play leaves you wondering, it leaves you confused, but not confused enough for it to be frustrating. 

I really loved it. I don't have many complaints or any big critiques.
This play might be rather old, but it definitely still holds up.

This was so mind-numbingly boring and truly beyond frustrating. I wish I could get the time back that I wasted on this book, but alas. 

As you might expect, this was your typical chick-lit with unfunny humour, over-the-top clumsiness, forced cheeriness and just all-around cringe. You always hope you’ll find that rare chick-lit that genuinely has you laughing out loud, infuses you with warmth, gives you all the feelings, and genuinely has an entertaining story, but unfortunately it’s safe to say that this was not one of those rare finds. The writing and story here was so flimsy and empty, it honestly felt like I was reading <i>nothing</i>.

The entire plot of this book literally goes like this: 
The heroine is a high-powered career woman who gets into a major problem at her job, which leads her to have a huge meltdown, therefore resulting in her fleeing away and getting a job as a <i>housekeeper</i> by lying to everyone about her real life and credentials. 
Thus begins the rest of this entire book where we see the heroine attempt to cook and clean, but failing miserably at it every single time. I swear, this woman is incapable of doing the most basic things and we get to hear about it in detail. 
But, of course, along the way she realises that cooking and cleaning is actually the only thing in life that can bring her happiness so she decides to give up her entire career to become a housekeeper (even though she didn’t even know how to do something as basic as cook an omelet, operate a laundry machine, use a clothing iron, or literally do anything involved with keeping a house until a few weeks ago). 
You’d really think the most logical thing for her to do was simply go back to having an actual career but just attempt to find a better work-life balance (basically just stop being a workaholic but still do something she’s actually been trained for), but apparently that’s too difficult a solution for her to come up with. Thus, in the end, the heroine literally had some sort of existential breakdown and serious midlife crisis (at 29!) and saw that as a sign to throw her whole life away, but somehow I’m supposed to think this was a happy ending… Okay.

Also, if you expect any type of romance in this book: DON’T. There’s nothing here. The “romance” doesn’t even start until halfway into the book and even then it’s the most meaningless, boring, passionless and boring “romance” I have ever seen.

Do not waste your time here. Seriously.

This was the most addicting train wreck I have ever witnessed and I simply could not look away! It’s non-stop, idiotic drama, but I couldn’t get enough of it. It was so fun for some reason. 

That said, the angst between the main couple did feel very repetitive sometimes, and I was constantly waiting for that moment where either of them (preferably Magnolia) would <i>truly</i> snap and just finally break the never-ending cycle between them. That never happened, though. Magnolia let it go on and on forever, even though she shouldn’t have. She even let him blame <i>her</i> eventually, even when she was genuinely in the right about every fight they had. 

I have to say that this whole book honestly reminded me a lot of Gossip Girl. The rich socialite lifestyle and the entire vibe of the book was very similar. Moreover, the relationship between BJ and Magnolia was a lot like Chuck and Blair’s with their extreme toxicity, unconditional love, constant push-and-pull, and never-ending tendency to hurt each other. However, Magnolia’s personality was definitely completely unlike Blair and much more like Serena, so that did make their dynamic a little different.

Magnolia might have been a little self-absorbed, but she had her heart in the right place and I honestly felt bad for her. She deserved better. That said, I had actually started to forgive BJ quite a bit throughout this book, even though he was incredibly unreasonable and hurtful and selfish, but then the final revelation came at the end, and there’s really no coming back from that. Before that, I have to admit that I wanted him and Magnolia to work it out somehow; I thought their love might have been bigger than that one mistake. But when I finally learned the details of that mistake, and the <i>why</i>, I fully realized that I don’t want Magnolia to ever get back together with him. She <i>can’t</i> after what he did. Especially since he did it for no reason while showing no care for her in the moment. I truly hope this book will give her a new love, someone who will make her forget that slutty man-child, and I hope he will do nothing but suffer while watching her live her best life.

All in all, every character in this book was a complete mess and not particularly likable, but I didn’t <i>dis</i>like them all either. A few of them did have some redeeming qualities or something that still endeared them to me a little bit. The only side characters I truly could not stand were Jonah and Paili. On the flip side; Henry was definitely my favourite. Or maybe the sister, Bridget; I really liked her too.

This had a very slow start for me, but that was completely my own fault. I read the first book a couple of years ago, so I had forgotten most of the side characters and details of the plot, leaving me extremely confused trying to catch up with this sequel. 
This normally wouldn’t have been much of an issue for me, but this book had about a trillion side characters and heavily relied on the previous book in terms of the story, so I was fully scrambling trying to follow along, which wasn’t much fun. However, like I said, that was completely my own fault, so I won’t hold it against the book itself.

I would say it was around the halfway point that I really started to feel myself get immersed into the story again and like I truly had a stake in what happened to the characters. I finally managed to feel that connection again, and once that happened I was reminded at how much I enjoy these characters and the plot! 

All in all, I think this had a cool story with lots of action, but I would have preferred a little more character building, especially between the two mains. Kazi and Jase were separated during almost the whole book, which means we only got a limited amount of interactions between them, which I thought was kind of disappointing. I also expected more drama to happen between the Ballenger family, but we really didn’t get many interactions with them either. 

In general, I feel like this book was a little too plot-focused and would have benefited greatly from more care and detail put into the characters and their relationships to each other. Especially since I genuinely do like the dynamics between everyone a lot!

Honestly, I did kind of like the tension and the chemistry between them at the beginning, but after they had sex for the first time it all became super bland. And it’s not even like there were only sex scenes after that, but it’s just that I didn’t get a deeply romantic vibe from them. 

Luckily it did take them a while to get to the sex stage, but once it did, I was super bored and I lost all investment in their relationship. It suddenly felt a lot more superficial and forced, and they just didn’t interest me whatsoever.

Also, I really struggled with the tone of this book sometimes; it’s like nobody was ever capable of having a real, genuine conversation with meaningful emotions. Like, for example, when her dad finds out she’s been groomed as a teen by her doctor and sister’s husband, he just… jokes about it? And doesn’t mention it again?? Nobody takes it as seriously as you’d expect and that really threw me off. 

Weird situations like that happened quite often in this book and it made it pretty hard for me to feel connected to the story or the characters. It made everything seem pretty lame and silly.

Furthermore, I kind of hated how Summer let everyone walk all over her. I know she’s supposed to be this sweetheart with a giant heart, and I do like her because of that, but it also really frustrated me when she was so forgiving towards people who genuinely treated her like trash.

Lastly, Rhett truly behaved like a child 99% of the time. He could be pretty gentle and galant towards Summer, so I didn’t hate him or anything like that, but he was just so childish and petulant that I honestly couldn’t respect him. It’s like Rhett’s one goal in life was the be as stubborn as he possibly could. He also never really took other people’s feelings into consideration, and it made him seem so immature. This dude was literally destroying his own body for no reason; he was doing it just because he was so damn desperate for attention. Thus, like I said, I just couldn’t respect him.

All in all, this was a disappointing and lackluster read for me. It wasn’t terrible, but it was just super underwhelming.

This book proved that you really don’t need constant, over-the-top love declarations for a book to be insanely romantic!

Khai is autistic, and because he has never processed emotions the same way as other people do, he has convinced himself he has a heart of stone and can’t feel anything at all, but nothing could be further from the truth. He actually experiences things very deeply, and is capable of extending a tremendous amount of care. I mean, even though it isn’t until the end of the book that he is finally able to recognize he has loved Esme this entire time, it was already so obvious through his subconscious actions and thoughts towards her. It was such a touchingly sweet and gentle story, and I loved it from start to finish.

I also thought it was a very nice detail that Esme never really learned what autism was, and never saw Khai as different in any way. She fell for him exactly the way he was, and she didn’t need any excuses or explanations. It was honestly adorable; Khai’s broody cluelessness and Esme’s bubbly naivety truly made for the cutest couple.  

Well, shite. What a big disappointment. Especially after I had such high hopes…

This book really started out promising; it was gentle and sweet and delicate. Archer was such a broken but heartbreakingly kind man, and Bree was the sunshiney goodness he needed in his life. They were both so pure and warm, I instantly loved them. I adored seeing their quiet but strong connection grow over time; it was so endearing to see Archer find a safe place and a person he could talk to. It was sad, but also really beautiful.

However, the minute these two decided to get intimate in a romantic way was the same moment the whole book went downhill. Gone went all of their sweet and meaningful interactions, and in its place came nothing but horniness, smut and the occasional love-bombing. Sex was all these two seemed to do with each other anymore and their love declarations felt a little over-the-top and underserved; the book just lost all depth and beauty for me, and it simply became boring and repetitive. Super disappointing.

Also, I got really frustrated with their relationship near the end. At first, Archer seemed to think Bree hung the moon and stars and adored her with a fiery passion. This woman was his whole world and you’d think he could never live without her. But then, randomly, and without reason, this man decides to leave her for <i>months</i> because he loves her too much and needs to learn how to live on his own…?? EXCUSE ME!? He literally just left her. With a dumb, weak note. For months. Bree had no idea if he’d be back, or when that would be, and he even said he didn’t expect her to wait (so apparently he was fine with her moving on??? What the hell??). But obviously she does wait, and when he comes back she doesn’t even get mad. Nope, she welcomes him back with open arms like nothing happened and they live happily ever after. 
And I guess their happy ending was that Archer now learned to love her less, so he won’t be afraid of losing her, and that’s… good somehow? I dunno. I thought it sucked. And honestly just kind of ruined their whole relationship dynamic for me.

Lastly, the plot of this whole book was insane. You’re telling me Archer’s dad and uncle shot each other, but nobody ever thought to ask the only witness, Archer, what the hell even happened? Even if he couldn’t speak, they could ask him to write it down! Jeez. How incompetent is the police department in that town??

Oh my god, this was awful. It felt like it was written by a 14-year old girl who didn’t even bother to check whether any of her writing made a lick of sense before publishing it. The sentences had no structure whatsoever, the plot gave me whiplash, and the characters were as ridiculously unbelievable as possible. 
The romance had to be the most random and underdeveloped thing I’ve ever encountered; it’s a bully romance, but the book starts with the bully being halfway in love with his victim from the get-go, so the very first time we see them interact he says “sorry”, they hook up, and start a relationship. This all happened in the first damn pages, and it was simply insane.

Anyway, after I’d read about 20% of this book I knew it was utter trash, so I decided to skim the rest of it. I’ll just recap the gist of the plot, because wow, it was so dumb and I feel like people need to know just how dumb it is before choosing to waste their time on it:
Okay, so the book starts with the arsehole bully having an epiphany about lusting after the guy he’s tormented for years, so he decides to have some sort of hate make-out session with him (which the victim was totally okay with for some reason?), and then they immediately start dating and talking about love. It was super random and had no build-up. However, it gets worse, because some big “misunderstanding” happens that has the victim running away for five years, which leads to the bully being all pissy and angry at him (hypocrisy is a foreign concept for him, I guess). Anyway, this means that after the victim comes back he spends the whole rest of the book groveling and trying to win the bully back. Like… excuse me!? You’re telling me the bully gave his victim severe anxiety, OCD and dissociative disorder with his abuse, but the book decides to focus on the grovel the VICTIM gives to the bully? A grovel we NEVER got from the bully in the first place?? And the victim has to grovel for leaving for <i>very valid reasons</i>, because who can blame the guy for not assuming the best about his abusive bully when everyone tells him horrible lies about what the bully was planning to do to him?? I’d have left too! Well, I’d never have forgiven the bully in the first place, so the whole point is moot, but still. Just… What a mess. So frustrating.

P.S. The victim’s dad casually ended up dating and impregnating his recently legal son’s closest friend, which was totally accepted by everyone and the dad was considered the <i>good guy</i> in this story. I feel like that should tell you all you need to know about the quality of this book and the decency of the characters.