Shy

I really need to re-read this book.

I read it in high school and it was, by far, my favorite book that I read in English class. I honestly can't remember much of the plot, I only remember more the feeling of being so intensely moved by the book that I finished the whole thing weeks before we were supposed to, and then talked about incessantly to my family trying to seduce them into reading it.

The fact that just thinking of the book evokes these feelings of energetic youthfulness make this a very special book to me.

My brain fancast Jared Padalecki as Will without my permission but it was absolutely the right decision.

Ew.

The writing really sucked me in, but I wish it hadn't. I didn't like how anything played out, I didn't like any of the characters, and yet I felt bad for all of them at the same time for having the great misfortune of suffering one another.

There was so much built up tension and conflict (some of which made no sense which lead me to believe maybe some (most?) of them were just stupid), but it all deflated out like a leaky balloon. Everyone tried to shoulder the blame for how things played out but no one tried to take responsibility.

The main character felt justly angry, (at almost every character in the book at some point) articulated the exact, very logical reason for why she was angry, and then it was kinda just magically ok...somehow...
Years of trauma, anger, betrayal repressed and then it's just kinda gone?

Ew.

I really liked it up to like the last 20%? Like I would've given it a 5. But the whole cheating plot line/execution only half way made sense and I felt like it really ruined everything the story had built up so far...

2.5 rounded down.

If you have to choose between buying and reading Atomic Habits versus buying and reading this book, I am of the belief you would find far more utility from Atomic Habits.

I really wanted this to be a book that I felt foundational to the way I structured my work going forward. Unfortunately, most of the practical information I felt was quite obvious and I already practice it. As an aspiring academic, I think maybe most useful things I learned from the book were that: memory training and other focus intensive tasks that are unrelated to your research/work can be helpful to train your brain to think more deeply on your actual work, and that there exist successful young Professors who end their work day at 5:30pm.

I went into the book already convinced of the value of deep work. As a result I found most of the content to be fairly useless. Most of the book felt persuasive in nature, as if trying to convince the reader of the value of deep work and that the techniques introduced are actually facilitative of deep work. To this second point, most of the evidence was anecdotal, and interesting but not very personal, nor deep, nor detailed. Most of it could've, ironically, been summarized on a buzz-feed article titled “30 quirky habits of the worlds most ingenious minds” or something like that.

To the first point, if you are someone, especially someone who is not in tech/startup world, who is already convinced of the value of deep work I feel you can easily skip the first half of the book. In fact I wish I had.

Overall I was quite disappointed, I think Professor Newport had a very unique opportunity as someone with a vast wealth of personal experience in high achieving environments and positions that he could've leveraged. If he wanted to support his arguments with anecdote, he could've used his own, as a Ph.D. student who graduated from MIT. I would've eaten a narrative book like this up if he supported each of his techniques with a full story of how it helped him in some unique situation, and how he developed these techniques throughout his career (much like the conclusion of the book) then supported this with sprinkles of anecdotes from other professors or scholars or something as supplements. This still would not serve the same purposes as Atomic habits which is highly centered on research supported techniques, but I think it would've offered a unique perspective worth reading about.

Overall the book was a bit of a slog, mildly derogatory, sometimes a bit finger-wavey, and pretty redundant but with some gems buried in the pages, but as some other reviewers have said these gems could've occupied 20pgs maximum if they were written concisely. The supporting evidence wasn't very supportive, so basically the techniques are more like very general tips or recommendations which are left to stand on their own merit, and could've been expressed in that many pages. In short, if you are even remotely interested in personal growth or bettering yourself, you're probably already doing most, if not all, of what this book suggests.

I liked it, both cute and suspenseful.

I took off a star because the heroine would lose her shit every so often at very weird moments. Like she was apparently a repressed hothead and something small would set her off but much larger things didn't bother her. Maybe that was intentional but it was a bit irritating to read lol.

No. Why? For what reason?

I hard Dnfed this out of anger. Unsolicited advice from your local POC, don't use black/mixed characters, and black stereotypes as a plot device to make your white heroes/heroines look like good people. (I.e. The father of Tristy's son is an absentee black father who beats his girlfriend?? Gonna be honest I skim read the rest, and is he the only black character in the book???)

Quite frankly, I have a very low bar when it comes to things like this. I mostly don't notice, and I generally take no issue reading a book where every character is white. ESPECIALLY so long as I don't have to read bullsh*t like this.

Also, don't describe half black babies as looking like “hulking gorillas” next to white babies, even if your heroine meant it in a “nice”(?) way cause shes just a tiny blonde tinker bell angel.

Thanks.

Elizabeth O'Roark does forbidden like no one else. I can't wait for this shit to come out

Good, cute, nice! Liked the FMC a lot!
Loved the plot, and great execution on the drama!

The MMC's voices in their POV were pretty indistinct though. I often couldn't tell which of the band members POV I was reading until they referred to other characters. :/

I'm still trying to get my thoughts together, so this review is a work in progress. This book had such a strong impact on me, that I want to be sure that I give a review that does it justice. For now I just want to highlight some of my favorite things about this book, and hopefully I can turn this into something more well formed later on:

Things this book did masterfully:

-Depicting an intimate relationship with a person in an ED:
The nuance around love and romanticism and eroticism was so so well done here. Lyra couldn't rely on easy characterizations of love evidenced by internal monologues like “she was so hot, beautiful, sexy, perfect, etc.” Because ED are ugly things and can turn people into selfish, prideful, ugly people. This strengthened the feeling of love between the main characters, beyond what I would think was possible to communicate in a book of this genre. The love came from the characters seeing beyond all of the ugly, and difficult parts of each other to appreciate the purest, best parts. The love was a healing love that made all of the characters want to be better for themselves and each other.

-Depicting a relationship that isn't just adding more people into a more classically heteronormative relationship structure.
The relationship Midas pack had didn't just feel like a bunch of straight guys in a relationship with a girl. (If that's your preferred take on the Omegaverse, no judgement, but you probably wont like this)
This book explored and deepened the relationships between all of the pack members, while still managing to keep Indie securely in focus as the main character.

In the afterword of the book the author said she was trying to explore how the omegaverse would necessarily have different notions of what affection is socially appropriate between males, and I thought this exploration was incredibly successful. There was an integrated sort of love between all of the characters, and even ones who would be considered to be filling a more classically male gender role were able to (after time) openly and casually bestow physical affection on their male pack mates. It was so beautiful. It made me deeply sad that I live in a world where this isn't the norm.

-Depiction of an ED:
Indie's ED was handled masterfully. Either Lyra Cole has really done her research, or she's lived this life, because there's a sensitive attention to detail that doesn't feel gratuitous, or like reading torture porn. Nothing was done for shock value, it just felt very very real.

Without going into too much detail I will just say that I have a past very similar to Indie's. I'm very lucky that I made it, and there are several moments I can recall that tell me I probably shouldn't have. I, like indie, had parents that didn't care to stop me from starving myself to death. I wasn't doing what I was doing as a cry for help, but a struggle for control. I wanted to be perfect so I could be appreciated, but I also wanted to be invisible so I wasn't a burden, I wanted to be worthy of a soft sort of love and caring I had never experienced, I wanted to die young, or freeze time and stay young forever.

It was honestly quite haunting to see my own thoughts reflected back at me, almost verbatim, so many times through Indie. But it was also so, so lovely and healing to read such a beautiful, tender story about a young woman who finds a family to care about her enough to make her want to change. I didn't have that, and reading about it feels like reading a fairy tale ending to a life I lived once too.

! WARNING !:
For those wanting to read this with a similar story to mine, take the triggers of this book very seriously . If you aren't in a place to read about numbers, and if you aren't ready to live in an ED brain again, even if it's someone else's, don't read this book . Even if you would consider yourself recovered, take a pause and check in with yourself. The writing here is very well done. I was quite literally thrown back in time, with vivid memories about what it felt like to be actively dying. I am in a place now where this only motivates me to continue to make choices that keep me healthy and happy. I don't know if I could say the same even 1 to 2 years ago, so take this shit seriously and love yourself enough to not read this if that is what's best for you.

Alternate titles for this book:

The miscommunication trope is so 2023. Have you heard about, the gaslighting trope?

Or how about:

Men can't communicate, and are then confused when the girl doesn't love them after they've rejected her/shown no interest in her/ignored her for their other love interest.

Rebecca Quinn is absolutely masterful at writing. Reading this book felt like eating cotton candy, just melting on my tongue, going down so easy. Like I could eat 10 and not even notice. However, this book left me so so so frustrated lol. I think its best I address all of the characters individually:

Jasper:I still stand by what I said in my review of the first book. His reluctance to engage in a relationship with Lucky because he was previously his Psychologist was very believable/understandable, and is probably the only time this "rejection for your own sake" idea has worked for me with a hero. Also, It was resolved well, and “in good time” with Lucky. With Eden however, it just went on and on. His self denial, self flagellation, self righteousness got old. I actually forgot why he wasn't giving it a shot with her several times during the book, then I was reminded when it was restated like 75% in or so, and I was like “oh yeah... that's pretty dumb.” The whole thing with his Ex wife was prolonged to the point it was just weird and annoying. Like she and Eden are two completely different people, and it's like he couldn't see that enough to get over himself. Also he is one of the prime suspects of the “Why doesn't she love me after I've rejected her, and embarrassed her, and she found out I'm obsessed with someone else, and probably thinks she could never have a chance?” so yeah 3/10Jayk: One of my favorite characters honestly. His character development makes a lot of sense to me, and I wish he was in the book more. 8/10 Beau: Perfect. Honestly him and Jayk seem like the only characters that actually care about Eden. Jayk wants to protect her from the others (cause they're pretty obviously treating her like garbage) and Beau wants everything to work, and wants to support Eden in getting the ~*poly relationship of her dreams*~. He works well with Eden both alone, and in the company of others. My only complaint is, like Jayk, I wish I got to see more of his POV. He only loses one star cause of his whole instalove, but Eden needs at least one decent dude on her side, and he's amazing at taking care of her so I'll let it pass. 9/10Lucky:Surprisingly my least favorite character?? I think he's supposed to be universally likable, and I was decently fond of him in the first book, but after his and Eden's heart to heart in the kitchen I was really turned off of him. For someone who says he understands how it feels to be constantly held in the balance, and in perpetual unrequited love with someone, you would think he would be able to be a bit more empathetic to Eden's situation. Eden was very brave, and honest in sharing her insecurities and how she felt about the relationship. Then Lucky just gaslights her and says she's just like Jasper. Eden's primary concern, which she actually voiced during this conversation , was that she would always be second best and wouldn't be able couldn't compete with Jasper for Lucky's love. I will acknowledge, that this was a great parallel that Rebecca Quinn made to help Eden understand how Jayk might feel, and why he might be uncomfortable with the whole sharing thing. Unfortunately, it was not handled gracefully, and Lucky threw this in Eden's face, and then didn't at all re-assure her that he loved her as much as Jasper. This scene was probably what killed him for me: "You were already his. I just borrowed you for a little while." ... "No. Eden, I panicked. That's all" [this is not what I remember happening but whatever I guess]..."Beautiful, if you want me to prove how much I want you, I'll do it right now. We can go upstairs, and I'll prove it to you in every position you can think of." He laughs, a little wild. "Or that I can think of--I'll show you every way."..."Now that he gave you permission?" I ask softly. ... "It hurts too much to come in as less, Lucky. I've done it all my life, and I just...can't." And then it digresses into Lucky being a childish brat to get his way, but not actually reassuring Eden of his feelings. Also the feelings she shared here were never actually addressed in the rest of this book He gave her no reason at all to feel that she wouldn't always be second best to Jasper, and instead of convincing her otherwise begged, and guilted her for affection. As their reader, it's easier to understand that he actually does like/love her, and what he wants out of their relationship according to his own POV. But Eden hasn't seen any of that. She doesn't know that he wants to be a co-sub (is that a thing?) with her, and have Jasper to dominate them both. He's never told her that, from what I can recall. From her POV, she feels she has no chance with Jasper, knows Lucky loves and probably wont give up Jasper for her, and now no chance with Lucky being her dom.If I were to completely ignore his point of view, and only read Eden's, only seeing things unfold from her perspective, and going of WHAT HE HAS ACTUALLY SAID TO HER, I see no reason that she should believe that Lucky is capable of loving both her and Jasper equally. In fact, I'm pretty sure if you ask any of the other brutes, knowing how obsessed Lucky has been with Jasper for such a long time, they might not be able to argue his case either. He has said he is capable of as much, but there is literally no evidence of this anywhere. 0/10All and all, I'm a bit frustrated with this second book. I know it was probably supposed to be a frustrating read, but this was a lot on all fronts. Rebecca Quinn has shown in these two books that she's a really really strong writer, so I'm trusting her to shape all of this up in the last book. But If I strip away the beautiful writing, and just look at the plot as it stands, the relationships with Eden are very fragile. In all honesty if I wanted to look at this in the most cruel light, it kind of seems like Eden isn't really the main character at all, just the catalyst for the growth of the other characters and the destruction and repair of their relationships with one another. Lucky and Jasper, Beau and Dom, Jayk and all the rest of them. Like it kinda just seems like she's there just to mobilize and deepen these relationships, but so far, her own relationships with the brutes haven't gotten the same treatment or attention on the guys end. It's hard to believe at some level that Eden is at all special to them, and that any other woman (I guess other than Heather lmao) that they were all decently attracted to couldn't have filled the same role. I know their POV show that they like Eden as an individual, and they talk about which of her characteristics they find special, and that she's essentially perfect for each of them in their own unique way, but their actions and words aren't really matching up at this point.Oh Dom: I literally forgot about him because IDK what the fuck he's doing this entire book. I get it, he's trying to keep the civilians alive, but I found him completely uncompelling. He made me stressed about everyone's survival enough to find Eden running off to bone all the dudes a bit silly and impractical. Like if he's really so stressed he can't have a conversation with anyone, do they have time for all of this butt plug shit lol? (even though it was really good...please don't get rid of it) His inability to consider his relationship with Eden a priority in the time of stress, kinda sobered the tone and made the very important character/relationship development feel a bit frivolous.Also he wants to bone Eden, but not enough to like, do anything about it, or even remotely convince Eden that he is interested in her at all as a person. Even when they were talking over coffee it was apparently him just venting all his problems and her listening. He says he can't do nice, can't do cuddles, can't do I love you. Sure. Ok. Fine. But he's supposed to be a very straightforward person. It is very hard to believe that he can't like, tell her he's interested, but isn't sure he loves her yet because it's too soon? Instead of doing all this weird “I'm interested in you, but I'm gonna hang all over Heather (even though everyone and their mom has told me repeatedly that this might hurt you/send the wrong message). I'm also not gonna address it all, but I'm still gonna make sexy eyes at you. Also please forget about the fact that the entire first book I thought you were a useless waste of space, and pretty much told you as much, and I haven't really addressed that at all...But I don't really understand why you only wanna be just friends, and you can't see that I like you more than that???” I forgot you existed/10It's like every male character in this book decides once they've changed their minds about something, that Eden should just ignore how they've been treating her the entire first book, (and majority of this one). Like they get mad at her when she guards her heart when they've done nothing but rip her apart in their own *unique* way. She's been constantly trying her best, but all of the dudes are playing in the middle of the pool, none of them want to make any moves, or do anything about anything (except Beau) and then just gaslight the shit out of Eden when they change their minds. Also I don't give a shit about heather, I really just don't lol. I can't even be bothered to capitalize her name. She's not endearing, she's not nice, not cute, her entire personality is just annoying. It's honestly quite impressive that Rebecca Quinn has created such a detestable character without employing any of the classic catty/mean girl character tropes.

There I'm done. God, I'm sorry.

Still reading on Ch 8.

Disclaimer:The first two prince books had been my favorite in the series! I thought the characters were the most complex and well developed yet.

That being said, so far though, (up to chapter 8) I'm not at all disappointed in the content/plot but the writing is just not up to Samgels standard. Some chapters have the same poetic prose and are able to just effortlessly paint pictures in my mind, just as I've come to expect from them. Others feel like they were written by another author, or are just in an “early draft”.

Maybe its the fact that there are SO many plot threads running through this book, and so the plot is overwhelming the characters, but it almost feels like the depictions of verity and the princes are just caricatures or cardboard cutouts of the beautifully developed humans we got to meet in the first two books. I especially felt this way with Wicker Lex and Verity (so most of them I guess lol). Like are all saying the things they are “supposed to say” based off of who we knew them to be in the first two books but I haven't yet felt like they were living breathing beings, at least not in the same way as I did for the first two books in this trilogy.

I know the authors had a lot going on on their personal lives while writing this one, but I think I would've preferred they take their time and take longer with this book. So far its feeling like the writing was a bit rushed. Again, the princes have been my favorite house so far and I'm a bit worried with how this is going that I'll end up disappointed in the end.

So....you know that feeling you get when you watch a live action adaptation of an anime that you know really well and just adore, and well it's just...well... kinda weird?

Like seeing a giant CGI Ryuk floating behind a super normal looking guy at the supermarket or a dude wearing an outrageously styled wig doing fight scenes in modern day Tokyo? Or dialogue that seemed absolutely perfect in the context of an anime, but then feels awkward with scenes that feel overacted as real people desperately try to translate an animated world into a live setting?

That's kinda what Marie Mackay's writing feels like to me sometimes. Both this and Havoc Killed Her Alpha suffer from this, for lack of a better term context-content mix match which is, again for lack of a better phrase, more than slightly cringe inducing at times.

Like the description of the heroes is a bit fantastical and they feel like characters you might see in an anime, and the alphas fight with auras, again feeling kinda like something that would be in an anime, but the setting and social dynamics of the society kinda feel like something analogous to modern day LA.

Then why am I giving this 5 stars?

Because, damn can she write a compelling story with a super intricate plot line. It's been a while since I've been so excited to read something that made me want to pause real life to finish it, but this certainly got me there. The cliffy has me absolutely salivating to get my hands on the next book.

The fact that I absolutely loved this book, despite it's awkwardness, actually has me wondering if Marie Mackay's writing style is a bug or maybe it's just a feature?


(As an aside: I also loved the honoring of the perfection that is Pack Darling. I know now that Marie has excellent taste, and giving respect to the giant in this way was very cute)

So the last Sam Hall book I read was her Omegaverse Good Girl, and I thought it was great! Really cute, satisfying, sweet. But Miss Hall has been quite busy since then, and let me just say it really shows!

I'm going to have to go re-read Good Girl for a more accurate comparison, but even though I remember really enjoying it, More Than I Can Bear feels leagues ahead in terms of the depth of story telling and character development!

The writing is so fluid, Sam seamlessly transitions between perspectives and scenes, and it's so easy to just get lost in the Ursa Shifters world that Sam has created! This book might fall on the side of too sweet/too good to be true for some, but for me it was just right! A perfect palate cleanser with lovable characters, not too much drama but just enough push pull/angst to keep the plot line moving at the perfect pace.

I really loved this one and I'm definitely going to have to go back and catch up on all the other Sam Hall books I've missed!!

This was really cute...why was this so cute?!?

I love this with my whole heart

I would like to thank the goddess herself Lola Rock for bestowing an ARC copy!


So first I should say that Pack Darling might just be my favorite book of all time. It is hands down my comfort book, my therapist if you will. Any emotion I'm feeling good or bad deserves a Pack Darling Moment™️. I exposed myself to my IRL bestie and bought her these books so she could sink into the depths of depravity with me. My love for this series really knows no bounds.

But because of this, I was convinced going in, that I could never love Redfang Royal as much.

I was but a young naive girl

Sooooo cute!

Perfect pacing and character development! This was such an easy, “fluid” read! It reminds me a lot of Luxuria which was my favorite Colette Rhodes book, but now it might be a tie.

This is a breath of fresh air in the omegaverse genre. As a lover of the genre, when looking for a new read one tends to face an abundance of shotty writing, one dimensional characters, and Pack Darling rip-offs.

This one felt so different than anything I had read before, but still hit the omegaverse spot just right!

I would give this a 5 for groveling, 5 for addictiveness and plot line but a 1 or 2 for subtlety, consistency and Alessandro's depth as a character.

This last point might be my fault because I'm now very spoilt by dual, first person pov books or even excellent male only pov books like Surviving Raine In my eyes the more egregious (or even just obnoxious really) the male character's actions the more I want to hear their side of the story.
Or else it ends up feeling like I'm just being battered along side the heroine with little reprieve (which this one kinda suffered from for me).

I think that the writing was very engaging and the heroine was very easy to empathize with. But, to be frank, I'm of the opinion that a male pov is more fun and interesting to read in a romance novel. I like being told from the inside how much the hero cares, not watching it from the outside, and then having his actions possibly be misconstrued so that I'm left untrusting of the hero and his motivations alongside the heroine I have little patience for this kinda thing, emotionally. If you can't trust the man, I say jump ship and be done with it.

Update: 11/11/2023
I'm honestly at a loss for words. I'll come back to give more coherent thoughts after I've digested this a bit more.
(And maybe re-read it. I already feel the burning urge to start again from page 1.)

There's just so many things that Samgel did absolutely masterfully in this trilogy. Like how the actual hell do all of the pieces always fall into place with them? Like every little detail is important, and ties back in somehow.

Right now though, the biggest thing I can't stop thinking about is that: the reason I probably love the Princes books the most so far is that they are (under all the debauchery and unhinged-ness) so relatable?

It's almost like a dramatization/bastardization of the “coming of age” deal that happens in your early-mid twenties. You start to realize how much of your identity has been shaped by your family/parents, you start to see the shadow side of this and maybe feel anger and bitterness. You try to disengage from the familial hierarchy which keeps some people weak, dependent, or unable to change. You try to ensure that you never become what you have watched your parents become, and you try to escape so that you can ultimately heal.

I feel this most strongly with Lex as he's trying to balance all of his responsibilities. Trying to uncover what he wants from what he's always been told he should want. What he knows to be true about himself, versus what hes always been told is true about him.

My only disappointment was that I didn't get more time with Lex. But Logically this made a ton of sense to me. First of all plotwise, it makes sense that he would be battling his Scratch addiction. Overall "balance" wise within the trilogy he really stood out as a favorite in the first book and so it made sense to give him some downtime. This book really made me come to love Pace. I love how obsessed he is with Verity, and how it seems like he's slowly starting to learn that being there with her in the flesh, is much better than watching her through a screen. I went into Princes of Chaos expecting to have Pace be my favorite, because this totally obsessed and unhinged Pace is who I was expecting to get in book 1. The character development was totally worth the wait though. My hope is that the third book can really bring Wicker around for me cause honestly I'm not really sold on him yet haha. Like I wouldn't choose to boot him from the Princes, but I'm not exactly seeing him as vital to the operation yet either...

Like honestly I don't care if they're explicit, if there isn't some literature professor 50 years down the line making people read these books and analyze them for a semester paper I'm going to hop out of my granny wheelchair and beat someone with my cane.




Pre Release Crying 11/9/2023
Bro this is ridiculous

God, I've fallen down the Charlotte Stein Rabbit Holeeeee~~

All her heroes are closet cuties, I adore them

The only thing one could complain about is she kinda does the Ali Hazelwood thing where all of her heroines and heroes kind of have the same description. The MMC are always giant 6 foot 5 towering, brick shit houses with thighs as long as a girls leg. But exactly like Ali Hazelwood, I don't give a shit. Book's still cute.

I'm like 1/12 of the way in and this is already a winner for me.

I fucking love Wells, the end.

Update: Just finished, and I said what I said!

I'm now off to obsess over Tessa Bailey for a bit.
For me, Tessa Bailey and Charlotte Stein do completely obsessed dirty talking hero better than anyone else <3

Umm excuse me??

Charlotte Stein has discovered some way to infuse cocaine directly into my eye sockets via kindle. There is no other way to explain my complete and utter obsession with everything this woman writes.

Umm what? So this book was definitely spicy, but I got so wrapped up in Adam's evolution as a character that the spicy scenes were pretty secondary to me. (Don't get me wrong they were definitely well done, it's just that the story felt like so much more.)

Also the development of the relationship was so well done? The main characters could've never had sex the entire time, and I'm not sure it would've had any impact on the depth of their relationship? There was also some wonderful life lessons learned by the characters, and general sentiments about society that made me introspect.

I feel like I've become a better person after reading a book about two amateur porn stars...who woulda thunk.