Shy

(Skipped parts)

I really liked the “Skeleton” of the book, and K. Allison is really good at writing conflict, angst, and high tension scenarios that just suck you in.

Things just felt slightly underdeveloped, and I was left a bit emotionally unsatisfied. Honestly with every conflict in the book I felt like I didn't get a resolution worthy of the level of angst that I (or Sophie) were put through.

GAH!! Eve Dangerfield has just solidified her status in the top 10 of my —Favorite Authors: I would read their shopping list—list lol. Shes just so good, she really can't miss!! Like this book had a plot line that should have required a lot of disbelief suspension, but there was none. I was just sucked in, and everything written on these pages could have actually been happening in real life for all I knew.

I want to sincerely thank Namera The Literary Invertebrate for her recommendation and let me just say and holy hell, I was not ready

So I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree with a lot of the reviews I've seen that were disappointed in book two, because I thought this second book was just as stunning as the first. I thought it was both very tasteful in how it handled the heat scene, and very realistic in depicting Indie's recovery.

Why I think this was such a realistic depiction of Recovery:

Indie's recovery was motivated by a lot of things:

-Wanting to be strong enough to be independent

-(Vanity) Wanting to look good standing next to her pack
Even if someone's ED is not centered around their own body image, but instead motivated by control, OCD, or other mental health issues, an ED can turn someone into a very vain person, and is largely fueled by self hatred. It's not pretty, but sometimes the same demons that arise in the height of an ED can be the same force motivating you to do better for yourself.

-(A desire for Normalcy) Wanting to be able to eat, unbothered just like she saw the people around her do demonstrate.
Again this could also have been motivated by some “ugly” feelings. Vanity. Jealousy. Pride. “Why can they do it, and I can't”? This wasn't how Lyra Cole went about it, but either choice would've been realistic.

-She didn't have to fight for love and appreciation anymore.
Indie wasn't alone anymore. She had people that cared about her well being. They cared about where she was, if she was eating, how she was feeling. It may seem silly, but for someone who went from being ignored by everyone she loved, to loved deeply by both her pack and her friends, and cared about by the school staff. She went from someone living in a beta world with little physical affection, to the ABO world with an abundance of it. She was taught in this new world that she was allowed to give love and affection and that it would be reciprocated. Sometimes to be convinced you are worthy of love, it takes someone actually loving you.

Some people say they were disappointed that “Indie was healed by love, or by a guy” but I didn't feel like that was what happened. My interpretation was that their love motivated indie to do better for herself. Indie's whole ED was triggered by feeling like like no one she loved gave a shit about whether she lived or died. She found people who gave a shit, and she was motivated to change. It may sound simple, but coming from someone who is living in recovery and from what I know of others living or having lived with ED it can sometimes be “that simple.”

-Indie did recover quickly, but it didn't feel that way
While I do think the timeline was kinda quick, if it the book hadn't told us that the plot was spanning a couple of weeks, I would have thought months had gone by. Nothing felt fast. Emotionally it felt like we “hit all the milestones” to be blunt about it. Even in the epilogue we see that Indie has been weight restored, but still struggles. This felt completely reasonable to me.

We saw all of this happen over the course of the two books. In fact I highlighted several points which just resonated so strongly with me, and maybe I'll insert quotes in the future, but I think Indies ED was handled phenomenally. I honestly think the only thing that could've been done better here, is I would've liked to see more of a heart to heart between Indie and her friend who had Bulimia. I think that would've been very delicate and challenging to do (what type of tone would this conversation have taken?) but I would've loved to have seen it.




As for the heat scene:
At the time of her heat Indie still didn't see herself as a sexual being. Honestly, as a reader who connected very intimately with Indie, I would feel uncomfortable with a heat centered on sexuality. The heat instead felt centered on love, closeness and intimacy. To me, this was a perfectly emotionally satisfying way to handle this.

All in all, I'm disappointed that others were disappointed, but I loved these books so much, I'll definitely be buying hard copies.

Gah. This was so fucking cute.

There were a few editing issues and inconsistencies but those were easily overlooked because I fell head over heals for closet cinnamon roll hero Tate!! I was really in the mood for something a bit bully/angst-y, and this gave me everything I wanted, and then some.

This was the first bully book I think I've ever read where I actually felt like the hero actually internalized the consequences of his actions and redeemed himself. I loved Letty (I'm a big sucker for a low self esteem heroine, shoot me). I thought the push and pull between her and Tate made a lot of sense! It was a bit frustrating when she would continuously pull away from him right when they were making progress, but honestly, it made complete sense and I couldn't blame her for it one bit. She was a very strong heroine to continuously be able to be upfront about her trauma, voice her feelings even though it might hurt Tate's.

I think this was also the first romance book that I have ever enjoyed which only had the heroines POV. I am usually of the opinion that the MMC's POV is more interesting. However the way Charlotte Stein wrote it really worked! Tate was such a softy and Letty was able to read him like a book, so it was almost cuter this way! He was so obviously head over heels for her and he couldn't hide it! I love love loved it!


The only thing I wish is that there was some sort of epilogue, or bonus chapter or something! The ending left me salivating for one more teeny tiny taste of their HEA.

Holy hell I can't believe this is the first thing I've read all the way through in months... but at the same time I really can lol.

Like others I was pretty unsatisfied with the groveling, buttttt the plot was solidly interesting, the way the heroes hurt Evie also felt pretty unique (the unhealed bite scars and holding out for an ex lover), and the prose and imagery were really immersive and lovely. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how well Evie and Damien were fleshed out as characters and the quality of writing within each chapter. The world building felt nice and comfortable, not overwhelming like it can with some omegaverse. All in all it was a nice, unassuming novel with a strong heroine and that delicious (and somehow comforting??) hurt comfort drama that is now classic of the genre.

The cons:
-Like I said before the grovel was really, reeeeeeeaaaally not cutting it. All though it still somehow felt less offensive than in other books I've read.
-My biggest complaint actually is that the transitions were pretty rough. I'm pretty sure the “Evie checks her scars in the mirror” transition happened at least 3 times, and a similar thing happened with a chapter starting with Damien's super bratty inner monologue.
- Also the other three Heroes kinda were non-descript at times. Like they had different character traits, and were distinguishable from one another, but they kinda just acted as a single foil to Damien rather than actual characters themselves.

I have so much nostalgia love for this book. I worked as a librarian's assistant in middle school and so I was able to order this book from the local high school to read (even though I think I was supposed to need permission from someone to read this book because it was “more mature”) . It was the first book I had read with such a wild, confident, loose-cannon type heroine and a more mature level of romance than what was available in the middle school library and I instantly fell in love. I remember really liking her dynamic with the male main character. I'll have to re-read so I can give it an updated review, but even just looking at the cover brings back good memories for me.

I would give it like 4.5 for now, If I get a craving to reread it in the next couple of months Ill bump it up to a 5.

I really liked this one, the plot was chaotic and a little all over the place, but it felt unique and interesting enough to keep me hooked.

I just have one thing to say though, if you're one of those people who thought there wasn't enough groveling in Pack Darling (this is not me, I thought there was an appropriate amount) then this will have you absolutely frothing from the mouth in dissatisfaction lol.

I felt very strongly like most of them didn't grovel enough, and some one in particular definitely did not grovel enough to be accepted into sexy times with open arms.

But I think I still liked the overall vibe enough that I was able to like get over it... kinda... not really. No, I'm not really over it, and thats probably why its hard for me to give this a 5 lol. I think if the tension had more time to be resolved this would've been an easy 5 from me.

3.75 (ish?) Rounded up. I think it was a unique and sweet story. I likes the world building. I think it was interesting to hear about a darker omega verse and its human rights issues and lack of protections for Omegas. I think the relationships could've used more development. Honestly if it was only Miles and Thane in the book, I probably wouldn't have noticed so much.

But Fox felt slightly stereotypical/one dimensional and I honestly don't think the book would've changed at all if Levi weren't in it. His presence had no effect on the story one way or another. He even acknowledged that he hadn't really spent time with or gotten to know Riley, but then nothing happened to address that, which just made the line a bit ironic.

Overall it was a good, quick, sweet omega verse that hits the spot if you are only in the mood to feel happy things pretty much. There are stressful moments but all the problems become resolved in the end.

My original review after reading the teaser:
Pace is already it for me I swear to god.

After finishing the book:
I was young and foolish. Pace is, in fact, not it for me.

So I want to start off by saying I totally understand all of the people who didn't like this one.
However, I do think this is one of, if not my favorite book in the series, but at this part in the story I wouldn't consider it a romance.

From my perspective though, this is nothing new. In the Royals series so far, that there is always a point in each trilogy where this is true for me. For example I didn't think of Killian and Story's relationship as romantic until deep into the second book, if not later. A similar thing was true of Nick. So maybe in the past I would only feel this with one or two characters at a time, but I actually think the Princes, while none of them have a romantic relationship with Verity yet, have more going for them in this regard than previous heroes.

Let me explain.

What I think Sam and Angel did masterfully is show how deep the relationship is between the Princes themselves . Their relationship felt far more dependent, caring, and complex than any of the previous heroes. I think the three royal men always have a close brotherly relationship with one another, that always helps to shine light on their good character traits even when they're being shit humans more generally.

I think this is even more true in the Princes book than any other. They said multiple times like they felt like they “owned” one another, or felt like they were all parts of the same person, and I truly understood that by the end of the book. Protecting each other came first to them, even if they had to sacrifice themselves or Verity to do so. So, I think what may come across to others as Verity being weak and taking whatever the Princes through at them, to me just seemed like she was slowly becoming one of them. Thats what the Princes do. They would pay any price to protect one another.

The Prince's relationship gave me the clear perspective that these boys are capable of caring for someone and deeply. The whole “sleeping together like a nest of rats thing”, was perhaps the most endearing and sad metaphor that felt, at the same time, so true to the characters that I couldn't help but find them worth caring about on their own merit. This is also probably the first book that this has happened (at least so early on in the trilogy). Killian didn't have that for me. Nor did Nick. Or Sy, when he fucked up, or Remy. When these characters were, frankly, straight up evil, I couldn't extract myself from the heroine's pain to empathize with them. Most of the time I would just think about how the heroine deserved better.

In this one though, Verity played a bit of a background role for me, and for the Princes too. I think that this is the problem that a lot of people might be having with this book, which again I can completely understand. However, there were many small moments when they wanted to care for her, and wanted her to become one of them. Seeing the way that the princes care about each other, gave me this sense of anticipation that when the time is right, the Princes might have the most intimate and caring relationship of all the other couples.


As an aside:

I think this book really works because of the Prince's Dynamic. I would actually be really interested in seeing a Royals book where the heroes aren't close at all. Maybe they don't even know each other. Maybe they even play mind fuck games with each other and use the heroine to do so. I think it would be very interesting to see Sam and Angel develop this relationship from scratch, along with the heroine's relationship to them. Or maybe the heroine even has an advantage and is already in a romantic relationship/super close with one of the heroes but not the others.

I would really be interested in seeing if I could still come to love Royal men that don't even love one another yet.

As an aside II:
Sorry for the long rant like I could honestly write an entire essay about this book. The abundance of maternal imagery, even associated with Verity and the Princes. There's a lot to unpack with this one.

5% On pause until I gather the patience to read this book

I'm glad its not just me not feeling this one. Coming from a solid 10/10 with Willa and Cade, this book felt so promising.

Let me just embarrass the shit out myself here and say that In my lifetime, I have probably read more Jasper Whitlock x Bella Swan Twilight fiction than any other piece of literature (Yes I called it literature

Partial review, will finish later:

This book felt like a strong 5 for 90% of the book so im rounding up. The last bit felt a bit rushed and unbalanced which was a bit jarring because the majority of the book had pretty great pacing and balance of perspectives.

It just felt like a lot happened in the last bit, especially having to do with Sonny being kinda shitty and so little time was left to address all of my upset feels lol.

I'm still not mad and feel pretty satisfied, and this is really my only complaint.

Damn.

Me before reading this book:

Omegaverse? My favorite Genre!
Reverse Harem? Of course, what other types of relationships exist?
Paranormal romance? What's not to love?
Dark/bully romance? That one stretched my boundaries a bit, but now I'm in love, so lay it on me! Monster romance? Sure why not I'm down!

But Alien smut, no way! Now you're going too far, its too weird, to many inhuman features. How is that even compatible, aliens aren't even real. Thats where I draw the line, I'm not that depraved!


Me after reading this book:

Sigh... This was great. Very cute. I loved it.
Theres another? Yeah sure I'll read it...

I feel pretty much every emotion you could possibly feel about this book. To me Shirley Jackson is the queen of minor anxieties, and so this book was exhausting, unnerving, thrilling, confusing. Some of the stories hit too close to home, and made me angry, others made me laugh, or gasp in shock and horror. After every short story I wanted this book to be over I could be released from it's grip, but I also wanted it never to end.

I'm still feeling a bit dazed and confused about this book. Can I say I really enjoyed it? I'm not sure. I have this deep feeling that it is one of the most important books I've ever read, and I almost feel a compulsion to read it over and over and over again. But I also feel like I might need a break from it for sometime.

I absolutely devoured this book. Elizabeth Dear did everything “the right way”. This series feels both familiar and like it hits the spot as an enemies to lovers/bully/secret heiress book, but it also felt nothing like a book that I've read from those genres before. The plot was quite intricate, and the world building was phenomenal. Written by someone else, this book could have easily become something that felt too juvenile or overly corny/cliche, and that just shows off how talented the writer is. Heroine is kickass in a way that reminds me of Lips from J.Bree's Hannaford Prep series. Pacing was incredible, writing sucked me in, I'm salivating for book 3.

Felt like the drama really overwhelmed the characters to the point where I didn't really feel like they could stand on their own. I couldn't really tell who they were beyond their playful banter, what their morals were or, how they would react in certain situations. I didn't feel like I really knew them well enough to like them (or even dislike them) very strongly. Which was pretty sad because I thought the chemistry/ plot was really cute.

The drama just kept on coming, and I felt like the situations defined the characters and their actions rather than the other way around.

Ummm yoikes..


This was pretty engaging, and the “rejected mate” trope was carried out in a deliciously angsty way to the point where I was willing to overlook any weirdness and or plot holes and or silliness...
This was a 3.5-4 star for me up until about 80% through

But when Liliana goes to save Randy and kinda does but then instead of, you know completing the rescue that she got herself all beat up for, she decides to go have a mini boink sesh with the old mates, I kinda lost my shit.It was so dumb, so unnecessary. The sex scene wasn't even enjoyable cause I was just screaming in my head “WHAT ABOUT RANDY” the entire time. Like I , unlike Liliana, did not forget her best friend was there and her life was in mortal danger. The whole thing was uncalled for, and honestly my intelligence felt insulted lmao.

Edit:
Previously I gave this 2 stars but that was actually before I had finished the ending, the quality of the writing essentially turned into soup after the whole Randy bit so it was so so hard to finish. I had to detract a star for how much effort and suffering I went through to read the last 30 pages or so...

Sooo January...I really didn't know what to think about her for a while.

The whole thing with her was slightly campy, a bit silly, just a tad over the top... but then I remembered (after reading 90% of it) that January is supposed to be the analogue of a Disney princess and then it all fell into place for me.

She was just so simple minded, so innocent, so “I'm kidnapped so I'm gonna sing in my prison cell”. Like, Eve Dangerfield really succeed in injecting a Disney princess into a dark romance. At first it bugged me cause it just felt like, ridiculous, but then I understood where Dangerfield was coming from, decided to hop on board, and it was smooth sailing ever since!


But let me tell you! Even when I was feeling kinda Meh about January as a main character this book still sucked me in. The Darkness in this dark romance, and the nasty in these men is the closest I feel like I've come to getting the lords or princes from the Forsyth royals series. Especially Doc?? Whoo buddy that man... he's got so many good lines I would quote him here, but I'm still lying to myself and pretending like I'm a modest girl who doesn't read mostly smut

Was superbly written. I would give the writing 5 stars, but the main character was just so painfully bland . I know this is intentional, I know that one could teach an entire course dissecting his thoughts and actions, but I really couldn't bring myself to care.

I wouldn't even call the narrator unlikeable, really. I felt nothing for him, nor about him. The world he lived in though was intensely interesting, and I found every other character in the book to be more worthy of a story about them than the narrator.

TL;DR I cared more about whether or not the old man ends up finding his dog than whether or not the main character has his head knocked off in the middle of the town square and quite frankly to construct a story where that's the case takes talent in and of itself...

I'm pretty disappointed. I really wanted to like this book and I liked the male characters but I found Lyric so so so unlikeable. Detestable really. I don't mind a Mary Sue, (in fact I enjoy this type of character more than I would like to admit) but Lyric was just really really not it for me.

I liked the first chapter hearing about her experience teaching kids music. Like another reviewer said, she comes off as neurodivergent, and as someone who is as well, I thought her perspective seemed thoughtfully written and well developed. After that chapter though I started to really find her distasteful.

In fact, I noticed that this part of her, seemed to get less and less attention throughout the rest of this book and the second book. So then it comes off across like she was just a shallow “autistic savant” cardboard cutout. She quickly became one dimensional, whiny, and annoying. She was never allowed to grow as a character, while all the male characters matured and became more human, because no one was ever allowed to hold her accountable for anything! Her faults were either ignored, deemed unimportant, or they didn't want to hurt her sensitive omega feelings.

I mean, I'm honestly debating with myself whether that is a valid excuse? If the author was trying to really emphasize up that this is what it means to be an omega, then sure, I guess. But I've read a lot of the genre and this definitely doesn't have to be it.

On that note, I also saw a review mentioning Lilah from Pack Darling, and Lyric is certainly no Lilah. Period. Like I feel bad even putting their names in the same sentence. If you like Lilah, that certainly does not mean you will like Lyric, and this is coming from someone who re-reads pack darling religiously. It's one of my favorite books, and I adore Lilah

So I guess what I'm saying is, I'm fine with Mary Sues being worshipped so long as I find their characteristics worth worshiping. Other than her musical abilities, nothing about Lyric seemed worthy of the utter rapture of all of the male characters, and her musical ability wasn't central enough to the plot line for me to also find it worthy of excusing her irrational, self centered, and general poor behavior. She also didn't seem to “morally struggle” ever. She just made poor choices and then hated herself for making poor choices. We didn't really see her debate with herself over whether or not she was making the right/wrong choice. I feel like that would've helped with this problem, and helped to humanize her at least a little.

I think I'm being kinda harsh now because I was so damn disappointed. I'll try reading this again in the future when I've forgotten about it lol.

Thank god for Elizabeth O'Roark, she and Elsie Silver are in a league of their own. I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately, enjoying the plot of several books well enough, but feeling emotionally detached and a bit checked out.

Then! I remember I haven't finished the Devils series.

Then I D E V O U R two of them in just as many days. Staying up all night, daydreaming about Ben and Gemma's happy ending... sigh...

Elizabeth O'Roark can do no wrong in my eyes, I only wish I got to see a bit more of Ben's pining from his POV, but I concede that part of the trauma this book caused me was due to only getting Gemmas POV so I understand the choice...

On to Keeley and Graham <3

I really, really liked it until about 75% of the way through. The resolution if the conflict felt very deus ex machina, and very rushed.

I loved how the author wrote our disabled heroine, the world building was solid, and most importantly for me I really liked how scenes “felt.” The traumatic incidents the heroine went through were so well described I really felt for her, and felt like I was experiencing it alongside her.

I thought the ending was rushed, the couple needed more time to develop their chemistry. It really didn't ever feel like the heroine came close to forgiving the hero, until all of the sudden she just did. It felt very jarring and the depth of emotion wasn't up to the same level as was shown by the author in the first half. I think ill try something else by this author, because she really had me by the heart for a minute.