mssamanthanagel's reviews
136 reviews

I LOVE how Henry executed the friends to lovers trope - and I love that her books never feel “tropey.” I’m convinced she’ll never write a book I don’t absolutely adore.

Wow. This book combined my favorite genres! It was laugh out loud funny, gruesome, and strangely so deeply romantic. I LOVED the audiobook, it was hands down the best narration I’ve ever consumed, but having heard about the sexual harassment allegations of the male narrator, I do not recommend purchasing, as the author is no longer promoting the audiobook. However, if you can borrow the audiobook from a friend, it’s worth it!

Thankfully, due to juvenile writing and a lack of depth, this book was easy to get through. I found it neither particularly good nor bad. I would have DNFed if I wasn’t given assurance that the series picked up.

I was so excited for the next installment of this series - imagine my surprise when I realized that only 5% of the book carried the plot forward and it was, essentially, a filler. I think this book might have been a cute idea if the series was already finished - making this an extra book, as it is primarily a retelling of the first book from Casteel’s perspective. I highly recommend the audiobook, as reading the authors pass at a male POV made me cringe. The narrator has an amazing voice (except when he’s doing Poppy’s voice).

This book also made me feel uncomfortable at the amount of times he coerced and crossed clear boundaries of consent with Poppy.

This was a very enjoyable prequel! It helped me get to know the protagonist more, and it was fun to see the stories in this book referenced later.

I read this after ACOTAR, and it’s important to note that it is not that high quality when the series starts here. I found the first half incredibly challenging to get through, but if you can skim it, just do that.

If you wished that Bridgerton included the humor of Schitts Creek while solving a murder, then that’s what this book is! I was laughing out loud and smiling while reading this. So charming!