*Received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
Well for a book with a really strong start, this sure did fall flat. First I was lured in by that gorgeous cover, then I read the enticing synopsis and finally I read the delectable sample chapters- I was ready to go! Unfortunately, my excitement for this was short-lived. I feel like a lot of work went into that intro… and after that… nothing much happened. And then cos nothing really happened, I got bored. And because I was bored I started to nitpick. Still the book didn’t technically do anything wrong, it just didn’t do anything right. And since I don’t want to be all hypercritical about this I’m gonna try to not let that take over this review… so for that reason this’ll probably be very short.
Like I said, in terms of plot, this was very underwhelming. Unless you’re really into hunting trips, this was very much a s-l-o-w burner. There really wasn’t sufficient drama until 70% of the way in- when the *big reveal* happened- and even that was very predictable. It took too long for things to happen, after a really strong start. By the time the plot picked up, I’d lost interest.
The world building was colourful and refreshingly different. I also thought the “three heads” was a half decent idea- yet it wasn’t clever enough to stand on its own two feet and really depended on the three main characters being compelling. However… this is what we got instead: Vesperi, the most intriguing character, but not exactly likeable; Serra, mildly sympathetic, but too bland to hold my interest; and Janto… well as far as I could tell, his sole characteristic was that he was a prince.
Then there was the romance … I didn’t buy it. Not for any of them. To be honest, this comes down to the fact that if I’m not invested in the characters, I won’t give a monkeys about the romance. So making it a love triangle didn’t really matter to me, because I didn’t care which direction it took. And (spoiler warning) really, I know I said I wouldn’t nitpick, can we please all agree that in a non-romance novel closing on a kiss is naff?
Rating: 2½/5 bananas
Released 22nd August and is available here
So this was a bit disappointing- have you read a book lately that lured you in but fell flat? Let me know in the comments!
Aw man. High expectations dropping the ball. 😒
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Yeah it really was a shame 😒
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Just how many Rebecca Farrell’s are there? I’ve never understood the whole “middle name” thing, not even for people like Alan Dean Foster. Michael Sullivan, with his “J” I can see, as there ARE other Micheal Sullivan writers. But Alan DEAN Foster, or Rebecca GOMEZ Farrell?
Come on people, you’re not pop stars or movie stars. For one thing, you aren’t nearly rich and glamorous enough…
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hehehe excellent point!! Gotta admit I didn’t really think about that (and to be totally harsh, I didn’t think about the author all that much, because I didn’t like the book enough to look her up or consider reading any of her other work)
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I try not to think about the author too much either, but sometimes….
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hehehe fair enough- I’m the same 😉
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My request for this book on Netgalley got declined which, I suppose, I should be glad for haha such a shame since the cover seems pretty cool!
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hahah yes, the cover was awesome- I just didn’t fall in love with this unfortunately
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This was offered to me, but I didn’t request it because I’m trying soooo hard to behave myself on NetGalley. I’m glad I held back, because a 2 1/2 🍌 book would have been so frustrating.Awesome review, and I hope your next book is all kinds of amazing!🤗
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hehehe yes, it took me *forever* to get through. If it wasn’t for Netgalley I’d have DNF’d, but I’d worked so hard to keep my feedback ratio up I didn’t want to give up. Thank you!! 🤗
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“Still the book didn’t technically do anything wrong, it just didn’t do anything right. ” this is why I admire you ❤ You have a way to get the points of a book and put them in perspective that's so unique and interesting!
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Aww thank you so much!!! ❤
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Sorry this was a disappointment. I literally just spotted this on NetGalley and was tempted by the pretty cover but luckily I spotted this review and resisted that request button. Thank you. I really don’t need any more books on my shelf.
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Ah I’m glad I could help!! It does have a really lovely cover, but it was a struggle to get through to be honest.
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That cover is pretty spectacular. Don’t judge a book by its cover definitely applies here! I read a trilogy once, the Winterhaven trilogy by Kristi Cook and I remember getting super excited for the third one thinking the ending would be completely fantastic and it fell flat so bad. I got mad at myself for being excited for what was supposed to be a good book!
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Yes!! For sure!! That is such a shame- I *hate* when that happens!!
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Well, I’m not really into hunting trips so maybe this is not the book for me!
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hehehehe yes, probably not 😉
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Ehhh… This does sound pretty awful. Sucks that you got lured into it thinking it might turn out to be quite good! Great and honest review as always though!! Always fun to read your rants. I’d definitely pay for a 100% restraint-free rant too. 😉
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Yeah it was a really shame, cos I do try to vet these things… but once I finished I also saw more negative reviews coming out and realised that even though on the surface it seemed like it’d be pretty good, I shouldn’t have bothered with this one
Ah well- you win some you lose some 😉
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That’s a shame this fell flat for you after seeming so promising
On a tangent: that’s interesting what you said about non-romance novels ending on a kiss… once when I was searching my books for closing sentences I only found 3 that ended on a kiss, and 2 of them weren’t romances (they had romance in them, but weren’t centrally focused on it). So that struck me as weird. In one it kind of worked because it was mixed with humour, in the other I did find it a bit naff to be honest.
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