yas_sezer's reviews
205 reviews

definitely my favourite out of the 3 so far, but am still only continuing for my friend. if it were up to me, i would have stopped after the first book.

SPOILers

- nico
- larry
- luke’s uncle???

fucked up. this book had a lot happening and i’m surprised that the mystery isn’t finalised yet? i guess that’s continuing in the following books even though i heard that’s from the other brothers povs

the romance was still really boring to me, but i could tolerate it a lot more. the sex bored me but i guess i prefer it to the first book since it’s more sensual and loving rather than sex

i enjoyed the mystery, with larry disappearing (colin still missing), brooke’s accident, jades dad coming back, the therapy, all of it.

one thing though, i’m surprised jade hasn’t figured out more of this sooner? at least predict he was one of the kidnapped kids. idk.

there are a lot of things i don’t like about this whole series so far, but a major thing is that everything would have been solved so much sooner if they actually spoke to one another. also every time they were to have a serious deep conversation, they just fucked, then went back to talking or completely forgot about it. didn’t like that throughout all 3 books so far

i don’t even know where to begin

originally this book felt like it was just a normal thriller, the writing is super easy to read, and the story flows well. but as i kept going, the eerie atmosphere of the story just kept getting more intense, but i still had no answers.

i liked how distrustful i was made to feel of every character throughout the entire story - adam, amelia, ROBIN, henry - everyone was not to be trusted

i enjoyed the whole chapel location, and liked how the author managed to misdirect the scary scenes in subtle ways (for example, the sheep eyes who we thought to be something else). it kept it interesting

i will say i got a little bored? frustrated? confused? towards the middle of the book because it felt like there were too many little things that just didn’t have an answer and i wasn’t being given any answers. however, it all wrapped up and holy shit HOW DID I NOT SEE IT COMING

i somehow didn’t suspect that robin was the wife, miss alice freeney had me wrapped around her finger thinking amelia was the wife the whole time. i had no doubt. i was out here thinking october was robin… i was so wrong

the reveal that amelia was the whore adam cheated on amelia with was so subtle and smoothly done that i had to pause reading and take a moment to gather my thoughts because i was in disbelief. after so long not receiving any big reveals or answers to secrets, it came as a shock

i knew that robin was henry’s daughter even when i didn’t think robin was robin, so i was satisfied knowing that it was actually true.

the twists were really fun, the letters with traditional anniversary gifts were fun, and like i said i enjoyed not being able to trust any character. i will say though, i don’t know if i am happy that robin and adam got back together at the end, but maybe that’s because i am so stubborn when it comes to cheating and i can’t excuse it no matter what. but good for them i guess.

can’t believe adam was the one who killed his mum by being in amelia’s car back then, and he just allowed robin to kill her… i don’t know how he would live with THAT secret.

so happy bob didn’t die

definitely want to read more alice feeney books in the future

3/5

this story is unlike anything i read before. at the start i actually really liked the boarding school setting and i think i want to read more books in that setting.

when she got to gallant, i don’t really know what i was expecting. hannah, edgar, and matthew were decent characters, but whether it’s from the perspective of the book, the length, or just the story, i didn’t connect with any of them. they just felt like names in a book. i didn’t feel the burning warmth of found family at all.

the concept was really good, even though i felt like it was lacking something. i don’t know what exactly but it just fell a little flat.

FOR ME TO REMEMBER: beyond the wall is the shadow version of gallant and the wall is the part where shadow and the real world intersect. death beyond the wall wants to come through to suck the life out of everything pretty much, and he gives parts of himself to create the death-like forms and shadows. olivia’s dad was one of the shadows death created and her mum had destroyed the tooth that death gave, which obviously triggered death. death feels as though olivia belongs to him, and she believes she belongs to gallant with the priors.

the history of gallant already being there and the priors just being drawn to it and suddenly being sucked into this world felt a bit bleh to me. i wish there was more.

regardless it was a decent read, interesting concept with a lot of potential. found it interesting that olivia couldn’t speak the whole time, but i suppose it makes sense since her dad is shadow. i liked the little bits of the shadow world trying to creep into the real world with the weeds and stuff, but again it just kinda fell flat.

starting the year off on a good note

this book was so easy to read, and i finished most of it on the last day. the short chapters, sally’s writing, i was hooked

to summarise: amanda ‘falls’ off the cliff after gabe lets(?) her fall after grabbing the usb from her that had information that would incriminate him. amanda is max’s wife, pippa kissed max, asha is the child of gabes affair. money laundering and murder were the crimes

arthur spriggs is a money laundering man, max got involved with him in the past and it put amanda in danger. a while later, his company needed money and gabe had gotten it from arthur, putting max in a shit position once again. gabe killed arthur, and max had to cover it up and fired gabe to protect his company

max is gabes uncle as max’s brother harry (who had killed himself) was gabes dad. this was a secret for years until max died.

that’s the main plot points i would say

i liked seeing amanda’s pov, and was a bit confused as to WHY and HOW we were seeing them in the first place. she’s dead, why am i getting her views? but then max killing himseld and her pov ending because they’re soulmates and reuiniting got a few tears out of me. ALSO, amanda knowing that max said he loved her when he pushed pippa off him… my heart ached for her. if only she knew it before

i didn’t expect to enjoy their relationship, as it started out as such a business transaction. i didn’t think i could root for them or even care about them; but seeing them fall in love with one another was wholesome. i don’t believe max was a bad person, if anything he was one of the better characters in this book, and i’m sad i doubted him until the end

gabe i did really like but didn’t feel comfortable with him from the get go. i assumed he might’ve had some sort of mental illness, but didn’t know what, but regardless it doesn’t excuse any of his behaviour. i don’t know how pippa managed to look past his cheating (how many times?) and actually adopt his child that he had with another woman .. i respect her for not taking it out on asha who was just an innocent baby who lost her mum, but i don’t know how she did it.

the whole journey of seeing their past together and their growth was very enjoyable, i liked the different perspectives of amanda and pippa both past and present. it kept my interest throughout the book.

as for pippa and gabe separating at the end, i don’t know how i feel. on one end, i’m happy for them as together they were quite suffocating, especially for pippa. but on the other i can’t help but feel sad for their relationship, as gabe did have a lot of redeeming qualities. but ultimately how much can you really forgive?

5 ROMANCE STARS (not in normal stars)

this book has my whole heart it was so cute. this was such a good romance, perfect balance between sexual energy and pure uncontrollable love. the world that abby created felt so tangible, i couldn’t stop reading. i fell in love with wakan just as much as alexis did, the grant house, kevin bacon, daisy, everyone. it felt so real, especially compared to alexis’ world full of riches and glamour.

daniel grant was such a perfect book boyfriend - i loved his energy, his world, the respect people had for him, his selflessness, his work ethic, everything.

alexis was a breath of fresh air because usually the female mc in these sort of books annoys me so very much because she’s either giving pick me energy, she’s “qUiRkY”, dumb or just plain naive. but alexis had a perfect balance. she wasn’t perfect, made mistakes like almost completely abandoning daniel for a world she didn’t love, but the way she realised it and came to her senses was very satisfying.

i liked that the book also focused on other elements that i think are important like therapy and how abuse can be found in different ways - neil, her dad and her mum. her dad and neil being abusive in very similar ways is something i’m glad she realised, alongside her mum being the enabler. i’m happy her mum grew some balls by the end to actually come to the wedding, even if that is a small gesture. also liz and jakes relationship was another subplot that i thought was important recognising physical abuse. i’m happy she ended up with brian because even though their chemistry was so minor, i was still rooting for them.

on the other side of the world, alexis’ friends felt so shallow and gross and completely not what i like