Emily McIntire

It starts so strong, so gritty, so dark, but that second half is... pain. It's tonal whiplash. I was handling Peter Pan being the dad of Wendy and Wendy getting attracted to Hook, don't get me wrong, weird fanfiction, but I could almost vibe with it. Then it was extremely vanilla when it wasn't murder and stalker energy.

Wendy is not-like-other-girls. She's that tried and true foul-mouthed girl with no self-defense classes and no way to back up her foul mouth. A sassy damsel, which is now a show more dime a dozen. Whenever she's looked at, people magically know she's Peter's daughter. I find that to mean she's either appearing like a gender-bend of Peter or she's so well known it's weird people don't know who she is.

Also Hook is a tsundere for Peter, so much so I'm not the only one who expected Hook to cry out Peter's name during sex with his daughter. Hook straight up is the 'I don't like him, I hate him, what are you, a baka?!' meme. He dreams of defiling her having sex so rough it scars and deforms her insides and ruins her for all future men and then sending her back to her dad. He fixates quite a bit on breaking Wendy, especially in front of Peter or to the point Peter will see his daughter being fucked. So he's into making Wendy's dad a cuck...
Aight.

"The daughter of the man whom I've been keeping tabs on since I was eleven years old." Sounds like a child genius but this is never elaborated upon. He's literally a child, surely he's stalking this guy when he's not on kid sites and violating COPPA law to play Neopets or playing solitaire and minesweeper while waiting for a grown adult Peter to surface.

"I've no interested in damaged property." See above where he wants to damage and defile her and ruin her body. Okay? Gross. Nasty. No thanks.

Hook kidnaps Wendy's rude customer(s) and kills them because only he can objectify her. Ah, yes, finally. Some retail worker escapism. Finally, some peace. Only Hook can be a scumbag over this shit. He alone is allowed to harass Wendy. Also, everyone is thrilled over this happening and Hook gets a massive boner from this as well, he's so aroused to take a life. No red flags here!

I can accept murderous bad guys, I'm just burned out from how many times the good guy gets with them because the bad boy is:
A murderer.
A stalker.
A rapist.
A racist.
A genocidal tyrant.
A sexist.
A psychopath/sociopath who sees no value in them.
These are not sexy, they are abusive things. "Dark Romance" doesn't have to mean he's Hannibal Lector or a Nazi. It can be forbidden, monster stuff(vampire, werewolf, etc) or so on. But it's all become one thing: serial killer is the romance option.

I'm tired of it.

Hook's dick is constantly summarized as a "monster cock" and at least once as a "bomb" he wants to explode inside of Wendy. As he's having sex with Wendy he's not about to cum but then he thinks of having sex with Wendy in front of Peter Pan before he kills him and nuts really hard. Gosh, just go get with Peter, Hook. It's so obvious this is either a hardcore cucking fetish or pining hard for a man who went on and lived a life he felt like living.
At this point I'm convinced he's Peter's ex and Peter saw through Hook when they had a fling or something -or Peter dated Hook's dad- and he's after Peter's attention so much he'll do anything, even have sex with his female clone child who looks enough like him that Hook can pretend he's doing Peter.

Kidnapping happens, but it's okay because he's so vanilla and gentle, he basically cradles her and says he won't hurt her. He just needs to see her dad again - it's all about her dad! So he pampers her as if she's not completely at his mercy and his prisoner.

"-and my enemy's daughter choking on my cum." Peter is the star of this fantasy! It's all Peter Peter Peter.

Wellll... Peter never realized Wendy was kidnapped or gone. Nor did Tina Bell. Aight. Tina is trying to be friendly with Hook because she's a blonde dummy and somehow also Tinkerbell. She's oblivious to there being a kidnap, sex, basically anything. Like, I really don't care about Wendy's fate here. Peter is dumb, Tinkerbell is dumb, and Hook is a tryhard killer.

"When I was a little girl, my dad used to bring me acorns."
"And I collected those acorns, like kisses."
I should have DNF'd this thing right then and there. I should have walked away. I should have left. But I was already close enough to the finish. This is so bad. This is terrible. I'm not one starring this book because it's become a comedy after that halfway mark. Maybe it was always a comedy.

I think by brain broke but he spits into her vagina??? Like hocks a full lougie into it. The fucking horror that induced.

"I won't set the world on fire, but I'll stand at your back, and hand you the match." Yo, this isn't the 2000s. "Darling, if I'm the dark, then you're the stars." I cannot handle this. These are serial killer tumblr one liners.

And then she tries to kill her parents. Or does. My brain went full 404 screen at this point.

2.5 stars. Edgy dark story that became a comedy. show less

I wasn't too bothered by this book when I started it, literally only started it, because I wanted to fall asleep. Then I woke up and couldn't stop thinking about it, I finished it within the day.
It was quite enjoyable, I loved how things like pixie dust, lost boys, croc etc have darker meanings, completely skewing the loveable children's story into a darker, underground story. I enjoyed the back story of the 'villain' and the epilogue, and how the protagonists were morphed into completely show more unrecognisable personas, with twinges of the memorable Disney characters.
Overall I'd say this book is 4.75, as I was hoping to find that the father hadn't just 'stopped caring' for his child, that he either never did, and the acorns were from the mum, or that he always did but he was trying to make a better life for her. This is the only reason for the -0.25 rating. Which I guess says a lot more about me, and my issues, than it does about the book. show less

What is hate but obsession tinged with fear?

Pretty sure Emily McIntire's Never After series is just pure crack. I could not put this down! One more chapter and then sleep...okay, one more chapter. Before I knew it, I finished the entire book. Scarred is a SLOW burn, but in the best ways. Sara and Tristan are enemies to lovers and each interaction gets steamier. Per the author's recommendation, I went in blind to the TWs, and while I usually prefer to know them ahead of time, I found the book show more was a better read being surprised at each turn. I haven't read a Lion King/Hamlet twist, but I loved every little subtle reference from the character's names from either, the use of lions, hyenas, elephant bones, and fire. I could tell who each character and what each scene was modeled after, which made the fractured fairytale all the better.

Scarred is dark royal romance taking place in 1910 in the country of Gloria Terra, under the Faasa monarchy. There is definitely some graphic content as Tristan is "unstable" at times in his passion and his endeavor. While he is still a villain, you cannot help but cheer for him throughout. I was pleased with what I viewed as his redemption at the end. This is the Lion King book I didn't know I needed in my life. show less

Yasmin Karam and Julian Faraci

Review:
In this Aladdin twist, I can't believe how many times the author had me guessing at who would actually wind up being the love interest! A brilliant tale of love, money, and lies - and easily one of my favorite books in the series! I loved every page and couldn't put it down, but it now lives rent free in my head. The anger and passion I felt with the FMC was real and palpable.

Quotes:
“I love capturing memories. Emotion that's usually fleeting being show more frozen forever in time. The wisdom in the gaze of a person who's lived a full life.”
“I want the rest of your firsts and your forever.”
“She could burn Sultans to the ground with me inside, and I’d die happily, knowing she was queen of the ashes.” show less