4.25

Loved it. Some areas that felt slow to me.
The areas of 'Withholding the truth/lack of Communication' bothered me even though I realize it was necessary for the story and Embry had good reasons. It felt unfair to me for both of them.

Super steamy and great flow. ( )

Ugh, this was kinda of a disappointment! I went into the really expecting, and hoping, to love this one. I almost gave the first book five stars and I was excited to see how the relationship established in that book would develop in this one. Unfortunately, that isn't really the plot I got.

I'm going to try to write a review without any spoilers for book one but a lot of my problems from this book stems from the fact that I felt like the plot of this book didn't follow well from book one. The first book ended on a cliff hanger that seemed like it would be a very interesting plot. However, the main part of that conflict is resolved relatively quickly and there were so many flashbacks that I kept getting taken out of the plot. In book one, I would be so sucked in that I could read a hundred pages at the time and not realize it. Because I didn't really care for the flashbacks, anytime one came up, I would want to stop reading.

There also were some huge character issues for me in this book. Embry came off as so self-loathing which made this whole book so hard to read. It used a plot device that I really hate that made me hate his perspective even more. Essentially, it was a forcible lack of communication where Embry is being convinced into not being honest with Ash and later it happens again when he is blackmailed into not being honest with Ash and Greer I thought we were going to see some development in their relationship but Embry starts of the books being self-loathing and doubting the relationship and that's how he ends the book.

Also I should say that there is some stuff that I would describe as consensual non-consent Greer gets kidnapped and then when Embry rescues her, he pretends to be the man who kidnapped her raping her as well as an actual rape, as far as we know right now Abilene drugs and then seems to have sex with Embry and then it later turns out she's pregnant, maybe with his kid. There are also some sex scenes that happen while the characters are actual mad at each other, which I never love The video of Embry and Greer having sex after she's kidnapped is released and Ash is mad at her about it and initiates a scene with her while he is mad. In any sex scene between our main characters there is always a safe word/sign but I wanted to mention this stuff because I assumed that this book would be a similar level of dark romance but I think things got a bit more extreme. Also, less of a trigger but there's some things in this book surrounding pregnancy that kind of weirded me out. I'm very touchy about pregnancy stuff so I figured I'd mention it here if anyone else has similar feelings Greer forgets to talk birth control (which is also something that's in many books and never seems realistic to me) and thinks she might be pregnant, Abilene gets pregnant, maybe through rape, and Morgan got pregnant when she and Ash slept together (they're siblings).

The last chapters of this book also got a bit ridiculous. This series isn't exactly rooted in realism but the end of this book took it even farther and I thought it got a bit silly. I can't describe the events without spoiling but I'll put them after the spoiler tag. Greer thinks she might be pregnant but isn't, Embry gets blackmailed by Abilene to say they're dating, breaking him off from Greer and Ash, Abilene breaks in, drugs him, and rapes him (we think), Abilene gets pregnant, Embry announces the he loved Ash the whole time and that he and Abilene are getting married, Embry is resigning from the vice presidency to run for president with the Republicans, Embry announces the Morgan got pregnant with Ash's (incest) kid. The last chapter was especially crazy and made me hesitant to continue with this series. I think I'll read some reviews first and see what others think.

I went into this really wanting to continue to like this series and I'm really sad that I didn't like this one as much. I'm hoping that the third book will bring me back around but I guess we'll have to wait and see.



( )

Damn Embry Moore! Just damn! #teamlittleprince ( )

This is all about the psychology of the Ash/Embry relationship touched on in American Princess, and a furtherance of this modern rendering of Morte d'Arthur begun in that book. There is sex. There is, once again, super smutty sex. What there is not, is hot sex. This is fraught sex. It is sex that is happening for REASONS.

The fraught nature of the sex creates a weird paradox. The underlying story in this book is wildly absurd. Really. And also absurd is the concept that there are one or two people in the universe you are irretrievably drawn to and you are powerless to deny the "love. But then there is an undeniable verisimilitude in the motivations of these characters, all of them, to act the way they act (until the end, which is ridiculous even if you are trying to create a modern Lancelot) and to beg people to hurt them, to scar them, to cause them real pain. The first Embry/Greer sex scene is freaking sick and horrifying, and triggering, but it also makes sense. I have seen a lot of pat answers in BDSM romances about why people need, or at least crave debasement and physical harm (giving or receiving) and some of them are so ridiculously Psych 101 (50 Shades comes immediately to mind, but there are many others) that all one can do is roll their eyes and move on. This series, and especially this book, comes closer to Tiffany Reisz than EL James. It is fascinating climbing inside the skin of these people.

Another plus for me - the author is smart, has a nuanced knowledge and understanding of English lit and mythology. (I enjoyed the lit exposition at least as much as the clit exposition in these books.) Petroclus rarely makes appearances in books with good 3-ways. Its too bad really. He is an intriguing character, as are most characters damned to hell.

All in all worth a read, but not nearly so fun as American Princess, nor as sexy -- IMHO not much hot happens in this book despite the frequent pulsing, pushing, gripping, dripping, shooting and clenching. Yes, I did check out the final book in this trilogy and its next on the playlist so let's see where we end up.

**** Note that I got these on audio through Hoopla, and the male reader of this book is really bad. He is supposed to be Embry, and there are two major issues. The first, his "Ash voice" is laughable, its so affected, like a child imitating a teacher -- a not very smart teacher. The second, Embry is supposed to be cultured and old-money. The reader does not properly enunciate, which would not be typical in Embry's circles. Servants would be expected to speak more precisely, and certainly favored sons would not get away with such sloppy articulation. The biggest issue is all the dropped "t" sounds. So "little" is "liddle" "important" is "impordand" "persistent" is "persisdand." Its not a few times, it is consistent, and it is off-putting. Educated people, especially Harvard grads who spent time at Oxford, speak properly. ( )

5 stars

Sweet holy hell. Taboo. Twisted. Epic. Unbelievable... I could go on and on with single adjectives and A LOT of swear words. This series. My heart. My world is rocked. This is a love story for the ages. Definitely, going to my all time favorites list. This is a whopper of a cliffhanger. I'm not seeing how this is going to end well for anyone. ( )