imme_van_gorp's reviews
697 reviews

This book wasn’t necessarily bad at what it was trying to do, it’s just that none of it was really a good fit with my preferences.
I’ve noticed before that this author’s writing style just does not work for me all that well. It has this certain empty quality to it that almost makes it impossible for me to connect with either the characters or the story. 
The fact that sex seems to completely dominate the romance and overall plot is a big no for me as well. It was all rather repetitive and kind of bored me most of the time. 

Gabe was generally a likable character with his sunshiny confidence, while Marcus was very classically broody and grumpy. It was a nice dynamic in theory, but the execution was nothing to write home about. I didn’t much care for it. 
The only thing I can truly say I loved in this book was whenever Marcus was being obsessed with Gabe’s gorgeousness and infectious charm: I always love it when the grump is being adoring. Gabe was also completely smitten with Marcus, though, so it wasn’t one-sided. Gabe was actually much more assertive in making Marcus his, which I would have preferred to be the other way around. 

Anyway, all in all, this book wasn’t anything special and it didn’t hold my interest all that much. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really enjoy it either.

Also, can we talk about this guy on the cover? Because he is so fucking hot, I literally can’t. He kind of reminds me of Matthew Daddario, but is somehow even more handsome. If this is what Gabe is supposed to look like in the book then I can see why Marcus was obsessed with him after only one single glance, because um.. Same.

DNF @17%

I’m sorry, but no. I’m not doing this. I remember I used to love these, but whatever charm they used to have is absolutely gone for me.
All I could do while reading this was cringe. It’s so sexist and so uncomfortable. The way these men talk makes me want to puke.

Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure the entire premise of every single one of these books has been this:
An arsehole hockey player disrespects, objectifies and uses women all around him, but then he meets the one (whom, by the way, he treats like trash at the beginning as well), which results in the hot dude-bro getting doggie trained or something. And then at the end the lucky girl should somehow be ecstatic to have him only want her now and even have him as a boyfriend! Wow, amazing, right!?
Then also mix in some “playful” banter and we’ve reached the end of our journey.
Um, noooo thank you. I think not. Pass.

I honestly feel slightly embarrassed for the love I used to have for the first few of these books. My only hope is thinking that they didn’t used to be so bad, and maybe this one was exceptionally dreadful, but I fear that that might be lying to myself. 

DNF @57%

Besides the fact that this whole thing is terribly cringe-worthy, there is an unsolvable problem I have with this series: I hate Jimmy. And I hate Cold. I hate them both.

Their relationship itself is also very unhealthy. Neither man is right for the other, and they can’t accept their differences since they instead choose to ignore it all by pretending these differences don’t exist.

They lie. They fight. They don’t communicate. All they do is have sex, while Cold constantly barks orders which Jimmy follows blindly...
Sometimes Jimmy stands up for himself in every-day life, but then he quickly falls right into Cold’s arms and they have sex once more. And then they do it all over again. *eye roll*

They do have a few swoon-worthy love declarations, but those are always followed up with annoying statements or actions that show how bad they are for each other.

And seriously, I need more than what we got. It’s not enough. Their relationship simply means nothing to me.
I can see why some people enjoyed this, though. But I just wasn’t feeling it.

DNF @51%

I’m sorry, but I’m so incredibly bored. For a book about human trafficking, this is surprisingly uneventful.
Obviously there’s a lot of sadistic stuff going on within the organization, but we don’t get to see any of it. All we’re doing is just sitting in a room with Gray and Darius, talking about how they’re going to escape.
The horrific stuff seems to happen to the side characters, while our mains are just looking on from the sidelines.
They’re both very emotionless, especially Darius. They don’t feel like real people at all.
There’s also absolutely no romance between them whatsoever, not even a hint of affection or anything like that.
Honestly, I just can’t be bothered. It’s boring.

What a beautiful story. And such stunning narration as well. I am certain I would have never been as moved and touched by this story if it weren’t for the fact that I listened to it on audio, so I would recommend anyone else to do the same. 
The main narrator has a beautifully rich and emotive voice that swept me away, and the boy who plays The Little Prince sounded exactly as sweet and innocent as his character. It was lovely. 

This story is about a man who gets stranded in the desert where he meets a little boy who fell out of the sky. This Little Prince tells the man the story of his home planet and of all the people and animals he’s met on his travels. 
It is through these stories that many life lessons are taught: It uses metaphors to give insight into the way people live their lives and what’s wrong or right about that. More importantly, it shows the power and importance of love and hope, which is something so many adults have lost in their purest form. 

The ending was extremely melancholic and I have to admit to pinking away a tear or two.

DNF @38%

I simply don’t think this series is for me, even though I do like the idea behind it.

I mean, aside from everything else, the timeline of this relationship is already truly so bad:
August and Lucas meet and are insanely attracted to each other by chapter one, want to sniff each other’s neck and hump each other’s leg by chapter two, are entirely obsessed by chapter three, and are basically in love by chapter four.
Mind you, we’re working with moderately short chapters here.

Meanwhile, one of them is supposedly a psychopathic killer and the other is aware of that from the very beginning, but apparently this doesn’t seem to play a factor in their relationship. It’s pretty much insane and definitely ridiculous.

There is absolutely zero build-up here and everything happens way too fast for it to not feel inauthentic.

The things that happen are all pretty bizarre and outlandish. I feel like I have to suspend all my rational thinking skills, and I’m just not in the mood for that right now.

Nonetheless, I do have to say that I found August oddly.. endearing.

I also found this book quite funny. The way August’s brothers and Noah made fun of him was humorous, fun and even a little heart-warming. I definitely like the found family thing they’ve got going on.

Also just FYI, it is incredibly clear that these people are not actually psychopaths, and I cannot for the life of me understand why the author keeps insisting that they are. They’re just not.
It’s honestly just annoying when these supposed ‘psychopaths’ obviously experience a certain type of emotion, but then the author has them thinking something akin to “but obviously I can’t feel that emotion” and goes on to explain how it’s actually a different type of feeling they are experiencing, which, in truth, is basically the exact same thing as the first emotion. Like, huhhh???!?!
I was so confused every time she did that, and I was honestly contemplating whether she just thought we as readers were indifferent enough for her to get away with it not making any sense or if maybe she doesn’t understand it herself… Either way, I didn’t like it.

All in all, I just found this to be kinda unrealistic, stupid, boring, unfeeling and stand-offish.

Not even a possessive and obsessed “so-called psycho” can save this one for me. Sorry.

PS. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Noah and Adam’s cameos. I remember not liking their book all that much either (for basically the same reasons why I didn’t like this one), but they were very cute as a couple here.

DNF @35%

Okay, so I started this book almost A YEAR ago, and I have not picked it up since. I don't think it's really worthy of a DNF because it’s not super bad or anything, but I just don't feel like getting into this again after it has been so long. 

Also, the reason I stopped reading this is something that I do feel ruins the whole book. Or, at least, it ruins the romance part. It's a little spoilery though, even if it's only my own interpretation, so I'm not sure if it's actually true, but anyway, be warned: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!!
Alright, so I'm pretty sure that the main character is probably schizophrenic and he is sort of hallucinating all of his interactions with his 'love interest'. Thus, all this build-up simply ISN'T REAL. It frustrates me, because what am I even reading then? It feels weird to feel connected to characters that don’t exist or get invested in interactions that I'm pretty sure aren't actually happening. 
So... That's why I quit almost a year ago, and I never had the drive to get back to it.

Nonetheless, I do want to say that two of the side characters, Luthor and Ren, intrigue me A LOT! I would totally have continued reading this if the book focused on them instead of on Dash and the guard dude. 
Thus, when Ren and Luthor’s book comes out I do want to read it. I'll probably just skip all the rest of the series, but that particular book seems like it might be worth it. We'll see.

This is a bold, raw, direct and honest autobiography by a former child star who was pushed into the profession by her mother ever since she was 6 years old.
It recounts her career and personal life, talks about the abuse she’s suffered at home by her mother, but also shows the multiple mental health issues she’s developed, among which are various eating disorders, depression, a warped sense of self-image, anxiety, co-dependency, alcoholism, and OCD.

The writing is simple, candid, sarcastic and straight to the point, which often resulted in accurately portraying a feeling of shocking helplessness or numbness, but could sometimes also mean that certain details were missing. Thus, the style had its pros and its cons, but the pros far outweighed the cons, and it was definitely well done.

The story itself was very interesting, and, although I’ve already never had a great impression of the acting industry, this memoir really made me take a step back and realise just how fucked up it all is. And mostly, just how fucked up a parent must be to willingly put their child through that.
It truly makes me rethink just how happy and cute all my nostalgic kid shows really were.. and how much of it was actually pretty horrific behind the scenes. 

This was hard-hitting, thought-provoking, important and sad. 
I feel terrible for what the author has had to endure, but also proud for what she managed to put down in writing with this book.