This is my second attempt at reading the currently trending genre of "reverse harem", which apparently now gets perforce blended into high scho [image]
This is my second attempt at reading the currently trending genre of "reverse harem", which apparently now gets perforce blended into high school/boarding school settings and "bully" romance. So I was intrigued enough to try reading a few books.
Good grief. I shouldn't have bothered.
Apart from the fact, that the writing is extremely poor, and apart from the fact, that this author seems to have a major problem writing ethnicities without coming across as having prejudices, and apart from the fact, that there's no real story or plot, I came away with one major question:
Why do so many women find ANY of this even remotely sexy or attractive?
I can't wrap my brain around this.
Now, the least of what I expected was that the unsympathetic guys would get their comeuppance. Nope. We are supposed to root for them. Actually we are supposed to find boys sexy who tell us, that they are manwhores and fuck just about any pussy, whether tight or loose.
Hello author? I mean, apart from the fact there are no "tight" vs "loose" pussies unless someone suffers from one or the other disease, why the hell should anyone find such an arsehole sexy? Why all that misogyny? As a woman you get to meet a variety of such idiots IRL, why would anyone put them on a pedestal in romance novels?
What is this preoccupation with skeevy idiots who harm and bully others about?
Whatever.
Someone rec me a couple of romances which have adorable guys I can dream of, rather than men that I want to drown in vats of sulphuric acid....more
This is supposed to be one of the best dark erotic romances of the past few years.
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Dark
Nope. This is not dark, it's just plain silly, because itThis is supposed to be one of the best dark erotic romances of the past few years.
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Dark
Nope. This is not dark, it's just plain silly, because it can't conceivably happen. It's like Speak with a heroine so fucking stupid that she falls for the perp because-- Yeah, why ever?
Erotic
Nope. The sex is off-turning, not sexy, not darkly rapeish, no nothing. Well, yes, it is quite icky. Apart from that, nothing to write home about.
Romance
Absolutely not. I can't believe anyone would be so idiotic and fall in love with a stupid jock who bullies them in such a manner. Nor is that stockholming, either.
Characters
Well, Carter was just the typical cardboard cut-out, but I was angered far more by the completely insane behaviour of Zoey, who gets orally raped (yup, that is rape here) and doesn't tell her parents, nor go to the police.
Conclusion
The only thing "dark" I took away from this is that apparently the amount of stupid in US teenagers and parents is immeasurable. At least going by this here book....more
These days I keep finding books I read ages ago, thought to have reviewed and somehow they aren't on my shelves now. What's with that, Goodreads?
As toThese days I keep finding books I read ages ago, thought to have reviewed and somehow they aren't on my shelves now. What's with that, Goodreads?
As to this book, I hated the movies (toxic masculinity and the US-typical worshipping of violence) and the book for once was even worse (containing huge amounts of ridiculous sexism).
I might add, as someone who researched some of the Mafia's, 'Ndrangheta's and Camorra's doings in the real world, this book totally lacks any semblance of reality. It paints what simply is organised crime at its worst as some chivalric high order - totally obliterating the horrific things the Mafia did and does. That people practically worship this stuff is completely baffling. ...more
Yes, indeed, I *saw* the word "escort" in the title.
To my defense, I keep reading escort books in the hope of - one day - finding one which ac
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Yes, indeed, I *saw* the word "escort" in the title.
To my defense, I keep reading escort books in the hope of - one day - finding one which acknowledges what it means to be a prostitute, what it entails, what it does to people and how it changes and harms them. Because it - invariably - does so, even those who protest. It's par for the course, just as nearly all army veterans suffered the consequences of having to kill people. This is very basic psychology. There are things which, when done, will alter the psychology, the mind and heart of someone. Always.
Yes, even if the escorts are male and gay or bisexual. The number of prostitutes who manage to survive this occupation and are not in some way negatively impacted by it is so minuscule, that the medical profession calls it neglectable.
So of course, strike one against this book was that the author didn't even try to build either a layered character or a character impacted by what he does in typical manner (splintered personality, drug or alcohol abuse, problems with one's self image, problems relating to others etc. pp.). Instead we get the completely gung-ho sex-crazed idiot straight out of gay porn/porn to whom sex of any kind is just peachy, even if he has to do it for money. Rut as rut can. The author forgets that this sort of thing is not necessarily either sex-positive, or erotic.
Strike two is the representation of bisexuality. I'm so absolutely TIRED of how bi/pan-sexual people are represented in both erotica and erotic romances. Being bi/pan does not mean one has to behave like a rabid animal in heat, fucking everything which can't manage to jump up a tree fast enough. It also doesn't mean, someone automatically has the ethics of a porn actor. Yet here again we get a book which works on that premise, and sorry, but I've really had enough.
Strike three was the author's language and manner of describing sex and kink. This potentially might work for a gay/bi MALE audience, though Christopher Pierce e.g. is as over the top and far more funny and readable than Edwards, but it sure as hell didn't work for me. The sex was emotionless, loveless, unerotic and mostly sordid (and it takes a lot to make me say sth like this!), most of the described kink was downright ugly and not in any understanding or friendly way. Which to me is the worst kind of kink shaming ever. A lot of the language is not what I find even vaguely erotic either, and the descriptions of female anatomy are curiously off...putting. The latter may be a cultural phenomenon, because I dislike most sexual texts written by Americans for some reason. In this case though, the distaste was particularly marked.
I didn't stay for the rest of the story, I gave up halfway through. It was life time I spent in a manner disgusting me, time I can't get back, so there.
First you need to read the review cited below to grasp just how many layers of wrong and error-filled this series is when compared to the actual count First you need to read the review cited below to grasp just how many layers of wrong and error-filled this series is when compared to the actual country and history of the era. As with so many similar books where US writers think they can abuse European settings and history, usually believing no one notices their ignorance, people are being offended and rightfully so:
My beef with this book is however a different one. This book is being celebrated as feminist YA with a "kickass", "badass" heroine who is/should be a feminist role model for girls. A heroine who "uses anger constructively".
[image]
None of this is even in the slightest "feminist". It's just bad-tempered, self-indulgent and spoiled gender role reversal, where a lot of negative behaviour and violence are mistaken for "strength".
Negative behaviour and negative emotions cannot be used "constructively". They are, by their very nature, destructive. The only constructive thing you can do with anger is ridding yourself of it.
And a role model?
The first problem of this is that Lada is not actually strong. She just behaves as violently and destructively as men do. That's not strong, that's being toxic and unhinged, and most assuredly not being civilised and strong.
This projected idea of women being strong if they behave the same violent, angry and overbearing way men behave in the US society is harmful instead, because it is a bad role model for ALL youths. Instead boys and men should be taught to reflect more and moderate themselves. The shoe is entirely on the other foot.
And what to me is one of the worst things about this book, there already exists a female contemporary of Vlad Dracul, who is world famous for killing as ruthlessly and occupying a genuine position of power, too. A slight spot of genuine research could have reveiled her: Elizabeth Báthory. This Wikipedia article about her is not too bad.
Of course, this would have necessitated dealing with and contemplating the effect of unchecked violence on those affected by it. Báthory - like Vlad Dracul by the way - was no role model and most assuredly not a nice, wholesome person. However, I contend that recounting the life of a real powerful woman of that era would have proven far more insightful to women today than a Hollywood-style gender reversal story.
As an outsider looking in, for I am contemplating this from across the pond, the toxic masculinity and the extremeties of violence in the American culture are quite outstanding, and not in a positive manner. The toxic gendering emanating these days from the US culture washes across the planet in an unhealthy way and this book epitomises the entire problem.
Negative gendering cannot be remedied by claiming equal rights to negative behaviour. My rejection of toxic masculinity is addressed not just at women and girls, who should be or become wise enough not to engage in such behaviour. It is as emphatically addressed at men and boys, who should be discouraged from exhibiting it either, and learn instead how to better emotionally express themselves, how to solve problems without violence and how to resolve anger in a non-violent manner.
A guy nailing their turbans to the heads of ambassadors with finger long nails just to make a point sure as hell should not be raised on any pedestal, certainly not an allegedly feminist one.
"Women as dynamic characters" is a long, long way from pushing violence, torture, murder and anger at girls as something worth striving for. It shouldn't be pushed at boys either, just to clarify. It is nothing anyone should strive for if we want to achieve some modicum of civilisation as a species at all.
Lastly, and this affords me some quiet amusement, it is very gendered thinking to have "books for girls" and "books for boys". It is equally gendered thinking to gender-swap villains of the past to serve as "role models for girls". You directly buy into gendering by doing the above. To abolish gendering you have to cease thinking in these kinds of categories. And - of course - that doesn't just apply to readers. This just as much applies to writers who need to write genuine female heroines (and of course equally genuine male heroes) whose strengths are not based on our current toxic ideas of what is gender appropriate. Which means doing away with both concepts of gendered behaviour, male and female.
Herein lies the crux of the matter for me. Books like this aren't improving things. They make them worse. ...more
First you need to read the review cited below to grasp just how many layers of wrong and error-filled this series is when compared to the actual countFirst you need to read the review cited below to grasp just how many layers of wrong and error-filled this series is when compared to the actual country and history of the era. As with so many similar books where US writers think they can abuse European settings and history, usually believing no one notices their ignorance, people are being offended and rightfully so:
My beef with this book is however a different one. This book is being celebrated as feminist YA with a "kickass", "badass" heroine who is/should be a feminist role model for girls. A heroine who "uses anger constructively".
[image]
None of this is even in the slightest "feminist". It's just bad-tempered, self-indulgent and spoiled gender role reversal, where a lot of negative behaviour and violence are mistaken for "strength".
Negative behaviour and negative emotions cannot be used "constructively". They are, by their very nature, destructive. The only constructive thing you can do with anger is ridding yourself of it.
And a role model?
The first problem of this is that Lada is not actually strong. She just behaves as violently and destructively as men do. That's not strong, that's being toxic and unhinged, and most assuredly not being civilised and strong.
This projected idea of women being strong if they behave the same violent, angry and overbearing way men behave in the US society is harmful instead, because it is a bad role model for ALL youths. Instead boys and men should be taught to reflect more and moderate themselves. The shoe is entirely on the other foot.
And what to me is one of the worst things about this book, there already exists a female contemporary of Vlad Dracul, who is world famous for killing as ruthlessly and occupying a genuine position of power, too. A slight spot of genuine research could have reveiled her: Elizabeth Báthory. This Wikipedia article about her is not too bad.
Of course, this would have necessitated dealing with and contemplating the effect of unchecked violence on those affected by it. Báthory - like Vlad Dracul by the way - was no role model and most assuredly not a nice, wholesome person. However, I contend that recounting the life of a real powerful woman of that era would have proven far more insightful to women today than a Hollywood-style gender reversal story.
As an outsider looking in, for I am contemplating this from across the pond, the toxic masculinity and the extremeties of violence in the American culture are quite outstanding, and not in a positive manner. The toxic gendering emanating these days from the US culture washes across the planet in an unhealthy way and this book epitomises the entire problem.
Negative gendering cannot be remedied by claiming equal rights to negative behaviour. My rejection of toxic masculinity is addressed not just at women and girls, who should be or become wise enough not to engage in such behaviour. It is as emphatically addressed at men and boys, who should be discouraged from exhibiting it either, and learn instead how to better emotionally express themselves, how to solve problems without violence and how to resolve anger in a non-violent manner.
A guy nailing their turbans to the heads of ambassadors with finger long nails just to make a point sure as hell should not be raised on any pedestal, certainly not an allegedly feminist one.
"Women as dynamic characters" is a long, long way from pushing violence, torture, murder and anger at girls as something worth striving for. It shouldn't be pushed at boys either, just to clarify. It is nothing anyone should strive for if we want to achieve some modicum of civilisation as a species at all.
Lastly, and this affords me some quiet amusement, it is very gendered thinking to have "books for girls" and "books for boys". It is equally gendered thinking to gender-swap villains of the past to serve as "role models for girls". You directly buy into gendering by doing the above. To abolish gendering you have to cease thinking in these kinds of categories. And - of course - that doesn't just apply to readers. This just as much applies to writers who need to write genuine female heroines (and of course equally genuine male heroes) whose strengths are not based on our current toxic ideas of what is gender appropriate. Which means doing away with both concepts of gendered behaviour, male and female.
Herein lies the crux of the matter for me. Books like this aren't improving things. They make them worse....more
First you need to read the review cited below to grasp just how many layers of wrong and error-filled this series is when compared to the actual count First you need to read the review cited below to grasp just how many layers of wrong and error-filled this series is when compared to the actual country and history of the era. As with so many similar books where US writers think they can abuse European settings and history, usually believing no one notices their ignorance, people are being offended and rightfully so:
My beef with this book is however a different one. This book is being celebrated as feminist YA with a "kickass", "badass" heroine who is/should be a feminist role model for girls. A heroine who "uses anger constructively".
[image]
None of this is even in the slightest "feminist". It's just bad-tempered, self-indulgent and spoiled gender role reversal, where a lot of negative behaviour and violence are mistaken for "strength".
Negative behaviour and negative emotions cannot be used "constructively". They are, by their very nature, destructive. The only constructive thing you can do with anger is ridding yourself of it.
And a role model?
The first problem of this is that Lada is not actually strong. She just behaves as violently and destructively as men do. That's not strong, that's being toxic and unhinged, and most assuredly not being civilised and strong.
This projected idea of women being strong if they behave the same violent, angry and overbearing way men behave in the US society is harmful instead, because it is a bad role model for ALL youths. Instead boys and men should be taught to reflect more and moderate themselves. The shoe is entirely on the other foot.
And what to me is one of the worst things about this book, there already exists a female contemporary of Vlad Dracul, who is world famous for killing as ruthlessly and occupying a genuine position of power, too. A slight spot of genuine research could have reveiled her: Elizabeth Báthory. This Wikipedia article about her is not too bad.
Of course, this would have necessitated dealing with and contemplating the effect of unchecked violence on those affected by it. Báthory - like Vlad Dracul by the way - was no role model and most assuredly not a nice, wholesome person. However, I contend that recounting the life of a real powerful woman of that era would have proven far more insightful to women today than a Hollywood-style gender reversal story.
As an outsider looking in, for I am contemplating this from across the pond, the toxic masculinity and the extremeties of violence in the American culture are quite outstanding, and not in a positive manner. The toxic gendering emanating these days from the US culture washes across the planet in an unhealthy way and this book epitomises the entire problem.
Negative gendering cannot be remedied by claiming equal rights to negative behaviour. My rejection of toxic masculinity is addressed not just at women and girls, who should be or become wise enough not to engage in such behaviour. It is as emphatically addressed at men and boys, who should be discouraged from exhibiting it either, and learn instead how to better emotionally express themselves, how to solve problems without violence and how to resolve anger in a non-violent manner.
A guy nailing their turbans to the heads of ambassadors with finger long nails just to make a point sure as hell should not be raised on any pedestal, certainly not an allegedly feminist one.
"Women as dynamic characters" is a long, long way from pushing violence, torture, murder and anger at girls as something worth striving for. It shouldn't be pushed at boys either, just to clarify. It is nothing anyone should strive for if we want to achieve some modicum of civilisation as a species at all.
Lastly, and this affords me some quiet amusement, it is very gendered thinking to have "books for girls" and "books for boys". It is equally gendered thinking to gender-swap villains of the past to serve as "role models for girls". You directly buy into gendering by doing the above. To abolish gendering you have to cease thinking in these kinds of categories. And - of course - that doesn't just apply to readers. This just as much applies to writers who need to write genuine female heroines (and of course equally genuine male heroes) whose strengths are not based on our current toxic ideas of what is gender appropriate. Which means doing away with both concepts of gendered behaviour, male and female.
Herein lies the crux of the matter for me. Books like this aren't improving things. They make them worse. ...more
I thought it could while away a few hours while I had to wait for an appointment, but alas, nope. Nope-nope. So not.
Unfortunately Godwin hasn't changeI thought it could while away a few hours while I had to wait for an appointment, but alas, nope. Nope-nope. So not.
Unfortunately Godwin hasn't changed her ways over the last years. She still writes non-con/dub-con on mostly severely psychologically impacted (read PTSD) victims as BDSM (it truly makes me livid that I have to read reviews here on GR in which people consider this to be regular BDSM!). She still writes juvenile and badly written present tense. And unfortunately the sex still is as boring and as unrealistic as ever.
I guess you need to be steeped in the culture to appreciate this. To me it was boring, certainly not illuminating and definitely not erotic. Instead I I guess you need to be steeped in the culture to appreciate this. To me it was boring, certainly not illuminating and definitely not erotic. Instead I felt the need to shudder under the basic misogyny and racism of this....more
There's nothing interesting about this. It's as if someone jotted down what happens in a [image]
Vulgar Porn. Skanky characters. Atrocious prose.
[image]
There's nothing interesting about this. It's as if someone jotted down what happens in a very cheap porn flick. What's worse, the authors come across as if hating men on principle. The way men are presented, through their own POV, is biased, disrespectful, appalling and in its hatefulness quite depressing.
I can't say much positive about the content, the breeding erotica I like are of a fundamentally different kind, and far less disrespectful of either men or women. The writing gives you whiplash with how present tense and past tense are wildly mixed. This lacks warmth, charm and above all sophistication.
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Oh, and please, I like hairy men, but this cover is terminally skeevy....more
A pretty awful riff on "Sabrina". Gosh, even good, old-fashioned Bogie is the epitome of a male feminist compared to this.
If someone can explain what A pretty awful riff on "Sabrina". Gosh, even good, old-fashioned Bogie is the epitome of a male feminist compared to this.
If someone can explain what people find attractive about these arsehole men and stupid women I maybe could finally cease trying to understand. Duh....more
I'm fed up to my gills with "special people who're particularly beautiful and accomplished".1.5* rounded up.
Not really my thing for several reasons...
I'm fed up to my gills with "special people who're particularly beautiful and accomplished". One is that super-blond norse god with the chiselled body of a skier (am I supposed to think Thor? ), an Olympic winner, no less. The other is that super-special detective, the bad ass among the bad asses with that speshul snowflake "hot" panther tattoo (scars would have been hot, and a man facing those scars would have been so). Which he has because someone whupped him one with a bicycle chain - which of course never bothered him. Clash of the titans? Superhero fanfiction?
Whatever, I am fed up with special Alphas straight out of the US male box. Both men didn't feel human to me, they felt like plastic tropes. I couldn't connect with either of them, and to enjoy BDSM or erotica I have to be and stay connected.
The writing was unfortunately overwrought, gimmicky, breathy (the "I am fanning myself so hot am I"-type) and very much in the style of current fanfics. I didn't like that all one bit. Instead I prefer reticent and precise prose, which doesn't tell me what to feel and instead allows me to feel and think for myself.
There was far too much and entirely needless sex in this, and not enough painplay. What sex there was, was rape, never mind that the author later tried to do away with that. It legally and technically is rape. When Hunter told Camden to get off, Camden should have gotten off.
An aside: Firstly, no one needs a safeword. People can play without safewords all day long - as long as the top stops whatever they do the moment the bottom says "stop that". Meta-consensual play (play during which nothing will stop what happens) is indeed a (very rare) thing. However, it is halfway healthily and securely done only between longterm partners (which these two absolutely weren't), who are sure of each other and know each other's limits to the nth point (which these two absolutely didn't, either) and lastly, even then it still is a crime, even where BDSM is legal.
I did like one or two short sensual passages, but on the whole the story didn't give me much. There wasn't enough pain play. The little pain play which was there, was half-heartedly written, and, so sorry, but "pain by pegging/fucking" is so not my kink. Fucking someone into submission is neither. Not if you set this up as some sort of BDSM play. This came across as highly off to me. All the security gadgets and leather guards and what-not felt completely overblown on the other side. What happened to simply stringing up a guy by his wrists and having a go? Do American authors currently have this "curious household implements" fetish? What is this about wet towels and belts as percussion instruments lately?
I by the way disliked the allegation that women can't break men down, pain wise. I do that regularly, there is no need for superior muscle power to do that. All you need are the right implements and technique. The funny thing is that the human body is much more fragile than people think.
And I hated the notion that Cam forced himself on Hunter knowing full well that Hunter isn't gay. That's saying something I really don't much like as a statement.
The author has potential, but she needs a ruthless editor who not only helps her contain her purple prose, but also where she enters fanfiction self-service....more
Steelwhisper
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