Sometimes you feel like some kink, sometimes you don’t. When I picked this up, I felt like some kink.
When Hanna moves across the country to live with her sister, she never imagined what she’d be in for. Not only is L.A. different from Ohio, but the people are too. Including her sister. When she’s mistaken for her sister by billionaire Cross Phillips, she discovers a whole new world. One where she’s inexorably drawn. One where she can find her true self.
So fair warning, the beginning of this book is slow. Super slow. Skimming slow. So so slow.
Yeah…
There was way too much info dump and some of the descriptions read like something out of a first year writing class. For example:
I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the windows as I walked toward the baggage claim. I’d cut my blue-black curls short when I went to college, a style similar to the one Juliette had been sporting the last time I’d seen her, though her hair wasn’t curly. I wondered how much we still looked alike. We both had light violet eyes, similar features. We were both tall, with Juliette topping out at almost six feet, four inches taller than my own five-seven. I hadn’t filled out until I was in college, but I was fairly sure Juliette and I were even built the same way – curvy.
So… where do I begin.
Let’s start with the look in the mirror trope. Pro-tip to authors… don’t do this. It’s cliché. Seriously. Super cliché and is shoddy writing. Find other ways to describe the character. Sprinkle in the description like breadcrumbs for the reader.
Next, some of this description doesn’t work. The author is trying to set up how alike the sisters look except they don’t. Straight hair vs Curly and the height difference would stand out. This is actually a plot point later.
Finally we have the Mary-Sue alert in the “violet eyes.” I think I need to start keeping track of violet-eyed characters.
The more unusual eye color a hero or heroine has, the more I think they’re anime characters. Now there’s nothing wrong with that… but in the right context. And well… this isn’t it.
So for the first quarter to a third of the book, the story dragged. However everything picks up once the heroine and her sister go out to a BDSM club. It’s as if a light has been flipped and the story comes into its own. The stilted prose gives way to smooth flow and the plot picks up. The characters were okay. Nothing to write home about. Even writing this review I’m trying to come up with something, and all I can say is that they were just there. I did like how the BDSM scene was portrayed and the acknowledgment that it is all about trust and that the Submissive decides what is okay and what isn’t. Fair warning, this book is a short read. I finished it in a little less than two hours. There is a large preview of the next piece, and I wonder if this padding is to make it eligible for various marketing sites. In fact, I suspect the huge preview (like 35% of the book) is there to leave you on a cliffhanger…. which leads me into my next bit of advice.
If you get this book, stop when it ends. It has a very good Happy for Now leading to HEA ending. The preview… well… lets just say that if I’d been reviewing THAT book, I’d be giving it one star.
Because Cross turns into a raging douchecanoe who forgets the first rule of BDSM – communication and trust. He leaps to conclusions and doesn’t bother to even talk to Hanna before going full nuclear on their relationship. Seriously.
Want to know what I’m talking about?
Of course you do!
So… Hanna and Cross fly to her parents’ house in Ohio for Thanksgiving in Cross’s private jet. While there, Cross finds a positive pregnancy test in the shared bathroom and immediately thinks it’s Hanna’s. Then, when he rushes off to confront her he spies her talking to another man and even *GASP* giving this man a hug. Because men and women can’t be friends… Nope… he sees this and nopes the fuck out of there in his private jet stranding Hanna in Ohio with no way to get home.
Yep… the hero pulls a fucking Cartman and does a screw you guys I’m going home. At least with Cartman we’re not supposed to like him. With Cross, we are.
Yeah…. That’s when I noped the fuck out of the series.
The first book wasn’t bad.
But because of the weak beginning and Meh characters I can only give it Three stars.
You can get the first book for FREE on Amazon. Stop there. For all that is holy. Stop there.
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