kiki dee
one of those YA books where you kinda have to read it all at once and avert your eyes sometimes
dont think i can rate this. there were some hits but i want to explore different collections and translations bc i didnt love this but i think i could love different bits of rilkes work more
this is basically just the precursor to black hammer. lemire goes “OOH im going to make all these assholes fucked in the head and then make them be on a a TEAM” also the most unsatisfying end ive ever read. maybe im just not smart enough for it or some shit but. eh. i expected more (this has been on my to read list for literal years)
adding this like 5 years after i first read (i think i fucked up my read dates? whatever i first read this forever ago) to say this is probs one of my favorite YA novels of all time. every time i read i notice something new that makes me giggle. truly just SUCH a romp
my first alexis hall dnf. sorry guys but paris was already kinda working my nerves and then there was the disaster date where he started falling onto like every white gays assumptions about muslim gays and it was in fact too intolerable to go on
meant to read p&p and this back to back w a fire island watch but this came in from the library first w/ p&p far behind so i. read it first. shameful etc etc. and can i say. i think ppl having mixed feelings on this book was rlly fair. most of the side characters are kind of just there and im not even familiar w the original. also i kind of thought darcy and oliver should have had a little more beef & tension than what was there. but. i quite liked it regardless so! 3 stars!
cute romance! i wont lie i was laughing over the dirty talk. sooooooo hysterical. but cute overall.
reading most ardently today made me want to go back rate this one especially high. love when the YA does NOT fuck around
you either love or hate this book i think. i couldn't stand the writing or the characters. also someone needs to talk to the various book-influencers marketing this book on social media because its ridiculous. the main couple like BARELY counts as enemies to lovers. like its a stretch. they dont even know each other up until where i got in the book. and theres so much setup for random ass bullshit we dont even really GET much magic competition. i was not a fan.
truly one of like 5 romance books which check all my boxes was SUCH a happy fuckin camper btw
edit: this is like months later but i just read a romance book i REALLY didnt like so heres my update: this is quite possibly one of my favorite romances, ever. It was a great introduction to the genre to convince me I CAN enjoy romance like everybody else, but it kind of made me annoyed about...every romance ive read since. The charm offensive is downright smart with its' satire, playful with its' romance, and thoughtful when it comes to thinking about the impacts of reality TV on its contestants. Even though the focus of the book IS the romance, very few of the characters are one dimensional, from the mains to the supporting cast we see a lot less of. We get strong platonic relationships between BOTH of our main characters and their various friends, and good platonic relationships between the various supporting cast! Genuinely a DELIGHT to read.
Also i still cackle every time I think of Lauren, 23, “former student” who's “so ready to be a mom”. And honestly! While the supporting cast of women DOES have some bits re: some of them being Stereotypical Romance Reality Show Contestants...a lot of them have depth! Even the ones taken out of the running quickly are discussed with imo lots of grace.
shoutout to VICTOR LAVALLE the only one in this bitch i respect!
but in all seriousness while i think this book isn't for everyone i also think the people who will like it will REALLY like it. my dad guessed the twist, sorta. still so so good...
tried so hard but the style reminded me too much of romance and erotica for me to get into it. sorry everyonr
the sex scenes were the most boring things ever but i would have taken them over the many MANY contrived situations these mfs got into. every other chapter it felt like something. ohhhhhh looook someone is being mean to main girl so main guy can defend her and prove himself! oh looooook contrived way to get him half naked. ANOTHER person is being mean to main girl. time for main guy to jump in AGAIN!
literally every character felt flat. the supporting cast was full of the most one dimensional characters ive ever seen.
Also way too predictable and WAYYYYY too long. could have been a novella. also the guy isnt even very demon-y. all this shit being talked about ohhhhh barbed demon dick this demon porn that and this man is literally just regular man with horns. not even a tail. MAJOR SPOILERS we later find out hes got this half-mortal sitch going on but literally all that changed in the sex scenes in this book were his horns were an erogenous zone. boring for demon sex AND boring for regular ass people sex. terrible news. AND the fake dating isnt that big like the title makes you think. AND neither of the main characters are very likeable.
BOTH mains are obnoxiously immature. everyone acted all of like 16, tops. I think the writing makes this worse because it was nottttt as humorous as it thought it was.
Also no offense but i would rather die than have another book talk about how BIG the male character is all the time like this one did. like girl. we get it. youre REALLY into adam driver. youve written reylo fanfiction before. literally WE GET IT.
also imo one of the worst things for me when fanfic authors jump to original fiction is because in fanfic readers are already familiar with the characters and world, they seem to have trouble introducing characters, plots, and concepts in original fiction, since they have very little practice in it. It feels like all of them need to told the show not tell rule like eight more times. This was incredibly prevalent here, even from the first chapter. It felt like every character had to have narration attached explaining who they are and what their deal is, and none of the side characters had ANYTHING going on besides their various assigned roles.sporty sensible best friend. energetic influencer friend. they, respectively seemed to always be coming or going from a workout or attached to a phone. And the bits we DID get that were interesting i.e. themmies (also side note. wtf is that name) classes for college and her more insensitive nature fleshing her out werent expanded on. The family is the same. Overbearing mother, disinterested father, vaguely “thoughtful, artistic” younger cousin, powerful eccentric uncle. they were all basically caricatures. It was awful. Even the main characters imo lack depth.
