Tina

Unfortunately, I was influenced by all those reels of the famous line from this book.

"A man was speaking, so I stopped listening."

I got to the end of the book, all the while waiting for it to get mediocre. I would have settled for that.

In the year of our overlord 2025, I don't want to read this male ego stroking drivel.

A hell no from me.

I kind of got bored with the politics. Which is really the part of books I love. Such a disappointment because the story started so well...

Am I tripping or is this just a slight variation on the hunger games????

I couldn't make it past the "interviews."

I really tried but kept getting annoyed that the FMC wasn't Katniss and the MMC nowhere near as endearing as Peeta!

Thank glob this is a standalone.

One more minute of the miserable and dumb as dog doo FMC or the insufferably boring and toxic masculinity personified MMC and I would have set myself on fire.

Well, I gave a good 3 chapters and it was a big fat no thank you.

I HATED the BFF, Ava or whatever. And the whiney mc, literally bitching about the "plastics," then describing her generic "pink/goth," BFF hitting all the cliches like it's literally not the same ting.

I just can't with white women.

Look, I tried. I really did. This was my first contemporary piece by a POC so I was incredibly excited. Got up to chapter 9. Could not physically keep going.

The MC is one of the most boring and blah beings to be put on the page. I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry. I was itching to put this book down as soon as we met the MMC. I made it about a quarter way through. It's a DNF for me.

I'm all one for enemies to lovers but if a guy ever treats you like this one without any explanation, run!

Not for me.

I had to skip the unbelievably cringe and terribly written "sex scenes." They were soooooooo bad. The story was ok. I was much more interested in the politics and world building. The "romance," was unnecessary.

I really wanted to like this but oh boy, I couldn't wait for it to end.

Really cool premise, but unbelievably boring execution.

Entitled white girl, laments her bad choice, after being told explicitly NOT to do the thing she did.

Also, why is everything set in New York?

It kind of got boring after the first sexy time. I just wanted to know more about the planet, its pink trees and scary wildlife.

Also the barefoot and pregnant line and pairing off, meh, not for me.

The author's got talent and it wasn't bad, just not FOR ME.

However, I will not judge you unless you read CH books.

I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe like an old Enid Blyton type story (which it kind of is).

The story, writing and characters were beautifully written and realised. It was so different from what I usually read (romantasy, historical fiction etc) but right up my alley.

In complete contrast to the MC who is very straight laced, the rest of the cast is quirky and also entirely worthy of a book of their own.

Literally a breath of fresh air

I tried, I really did. But the grown arse man "fervently desiring" a 9 year old and marrying her a few years later was my last straw. Also all the incest and other shit. I felt physically ill reading this book, so I had to stop.

I wanted to like this so badly but all I kept thinking about while reading this was, when is it going to end.

The dragons do barely jack all in this book and the amnesia is poorly written. Also the MC's feel like someone tried to mesh all the "famous" tall, dark, handsome and skinny, strong and sassy into the these 2 generic, forgettable "people."

Whatshername (I legit kept forgetting it and not caring), wants to be Yelena from Poison Study so bad. An infinitely better book by the way, with zero dragons however. Although this one didn't really have the beasts in a competent, substantial way either.

If this had minus the dragons and was about the political intrigue, wow would it have been better.

I don't think I'll be continuing this series.

I think I will re-read Poison Study by Maria V Snyder instead.

Wow did I not think I was going to like this when I started. It was heavy and grey feeling and the MC was a whiny beyatch.

And boy was I wrong.

I think the things I didn't like in the MC was the reason I needed to read this book. They're all the things we ALL have, will or are currently struggling with. Hopelessness, helplessness and just questions of self worth.

It felt so annoying because it hit so close to home for me. By the end I was a blubbering mess and also felt my near empty cup replenishing. Found that the mere hope of it being able to be replenished, was fuel enough.

As a strictly fiction, fantasy, romance, history, adventure loving reader, who loathes self-help, modern crime and realism type stuff, I would highly recommend.

Oh wow, this was beautiful. I was right there in all of those memories with her.

A short, sweet and beautiful autobiography.