Elizabeth Knight (5)

There were so many things in this book that bothered me. I didn't like the writing or the plotting and I found all the heroes and our heroine to be very boring.

Going into this book, I was interested because of the assassin element. Our heroine Finley is, in theory, an assassin but that is so unimportant to the plot. There's a bit at the ending and a bit at the beginning and that's it. The way she responds to things at the end makes her seem ridiculously stupid as well. She is a bad show more character who makes all the wrong choices.

The heroes were bad too. When I read omegaverse, I like protective heroes but I also prefer a more family-like dynamic. You do not get that here. The hierarchy of the pack in this is so strict. At one point, Finley just doesn't answer a question and the alpha drags her into a room to spank her like she is a misbehaving child. I don't like spanking as an undiscussed punishment because it seems so infantilizing. It made me really dislike the heroes. There's also other stuff about how because Finley is an Omega she has to obey alphas and she can't tell others what to do. It made the whole relationship seem somewhat dubious consent-wise but also never fully leaned into that in a way that was interesting. It just seemed to make Finley in a biologically-determined doormat of a character.

No spoilers for the ending but this is a cliffhanger of a ridiculous magnitude. The book basically just ends in the middle of a scene with no satisfying wrap-up. I know this is a series but each book in a series should stand on its own plotwise and this does not. Nothing happens through the whole middle of the book. It was so boring only my anger was compelling me to finish this.

Some other petty things I disliked. There are a set of twins in this book and they constantly refer to each other as "twin" like they'll say, "hi twin, how are you?" I am not a twin but I do have a sister and never in my life have I ever been like "hi sister, what's up? It made it seem like the author was definitely an only child and she had never interacted with siblings before. Truly an incredible feat.

Also, the author was clearly at parts trying to go for a "supernatural creates as a metaphor for oppressed minorities" thing, which can work very well but it so so surface level here and so poorly incorporated into the actual story that it just seemed kind of gross and it annoyed me. Take this paragraph for instance,

Now, if a doctor or teacher was outed as a super, they would lose their jobs. Despite many supers’ attempts to educate the public, many people still believed they could be changed by a simple touch. If that wasn’t the case, then they feared us, thinking we couldn’t be trusted with vulnerable populations because we were “monsters.”

This is basically the rhetoric around gay men during the AIDS crisis and to see it here when no other work goes into making that a part of this world and story really made me kind of mad. It felt very much in the vein of X-men two where they do something similar but at least they kind of pulled it off.

Between a TSTL heroine and heroes who couldn't decide whether they wanted to be aggressive or protective, I just didn't enjoy this. If the author wanted to write a more violent, dub-con story, she should have fully leaned into it. If she wanted the soft protector alphas, she should have made that clear. Instead, we get a muddled mess with annoying characters. Even though this ends with a massive cliffhanger, I definitely won't be continuing. show less

If you read my reviews then you know that two-star review from me is kind of scary. The problem is I am at odds with this book. The formatting is atrocious. I am used to reading books with clear paragraph breaks. This book had none of that. And I've looked at some of her other books and they are the exact same. So formatting has to go. This one constant large ongoing paragraph is not only annoying but migraine inducing.

And then we come to the CUM VS COME issue.
And for all those out there who show more are going to jump to her defense about the language barriers or that maybe she doesn't have the same education and blah blah blah blah. Don't bother. She uses the terms correctly throughout her entire book however there are places where she skipped over it and used the wrong term. So she knew what she was doing. She knew the proper words to use. She just got lazy and skipped over them. So I find that disrespectful not only to herself but to her readers. And I can't even blame a proofreader on that because she used the correct terms several times throughout her book but then use the incorrect terms practically right afterwards. I'm not going to educate you on the proper terms because I've done it several times in many of my reviews and if you want to look up my reviews go ahead because it gets really boring having to have the same discussion over and over and over.

To be fair I did like the base story. Which is why I gave it to stars. As a foster kid, as well as a child abuse survivor, I do understand the pain that Cambi was going through. So I recognize the behaviors and I could agree with a lot of the behaviors because I've gone through them. So when I read other people's reviews about how she's childlike etc etc then yes I do see their point but I do agree with the author on how she wrote out the characters identity.

I also liked the alphas. I found them to be very on roll. Or on point?

The character savo I'm really holding out hope that he's a good guy. And that he does the right thing. I guess I'm going to find out in the next book right?

I didn't like the fact that she seemed like a whiny little child. I mean it's okay to have emotion and cry and feel vulnerable but at some point get a backbone. It seems like a few times that she did have one but then she'd have a meltdown right afterwards. That's not a heroine that is a victim.

And this government stuff, the government official. Obviously his hero father right? That's not a spoil alert that's just me you know musing.

But for those people out there that get all wiggy I will mark it as a spoiler alert how's that?

See what I mean by I'm at odds over this book? Part of me likes it, it calls to the little girl in me that suffered but the other part of me, the stronger side, survivor, thinks that was just too much to be questioned about this book. Too much unenjoyable things going on, especially the paragraph issue, made it less enjoyable for me. Does any of this make sense?

Anyway, I'm hoping that I will like this next book I am going to give it another try. Cuz I want to find out what happens to cambi.

To be totally honest with you I don't know if I would suggest this book to any of my friends. I will wait till the end of the next book to give my opinion. show less

This the first time reading a book by Ms. Knight and I wasn't disappointed. Lainey is just trying to make a living doing the only thing she is good at, being a con artist. I enjoyed this aspect because I think this the is the first time reading a book were the main character is in this profession. As the story goes on she has to do what she can to make sure survives. I'm glad she does get her hea. Side note I want a Tator-tot.

If you are a new reader to this series, you really do need to read these books in chronological order. This story does pick up after the events in the prior book. Additionally, you will have established a relationship with the characters by reading the prior books.

I liked this book but did feel that it moved really slowly. There was not a lot happening. It felt like more dialect driven. Regarding Cass, she is good, and I like her, but I felt like she was a bit timid. For someone who had show more gone through what she has, I would have expected her to have a stronger presence.

To be honest, other than Vasin, I don't really have a favorite or favorites among the men. For those who like fantasy and want to try a reverse harem story, this is a series you might try as the steam level is mild. show less