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A review by betwixt_the_pages
His to Haunt by K.J. Devoir
2.0
Rating: 2.5/5 Penguins (rounded down)
Quick Reasons: interesting concept with potential; I struggled to connect to the characters or the story; random, unexpected introduction of vampires; I left this read more confused than with answers; this just didn't work for me
HUGE thanks to K.J. Devoir and Voracious Readers Only for the title! My review is voluntarily written and in no way impacted or altered by the gesture.
Unfortunately, this book just wasn't the read for me personally. The writing is atmospheric, pretty, purple in all the right places. The story-line is intriguing, and I feel like if it had been done in a different way, I might have really enjoyed diving into this read. The characters are complex, well-juxtaposed, and intriguing. I was ensnared by the blurb, wanting to know more about how the character became trapped, why no one could hear her if she screamed, what types of whimpering he enjoyed hearing... I was SO ready for a DARK, broody, morally challenged read.
Curvy trim wraps the base of each level, and shingles cover the upper half, but not the brightly colored mermaid kind of cute storybook Victorians. This hulking giant is painted in shades of grey, the scales mimicking reptilian. A weather-vane with a turquoise sphinx oscillates in the breeze atop a high-peaked gable, the clouds forming a dark halo above.
The problem I found, however... The blurb does not have anything to do with the story we were given in these pages, for one. A lot of this book was a toss up between "I need to figure out these secrets and I need to stay away from him because he's dangerous" and "I need to be with him because he's THE ONE and we're meant to be." This was instalove, except...not even really that? They have little to no real conversation; his driving force is that he NEEDS her to be his model; they sleep together but it's more him assaulting her than anything. While there are appropriate triggers, I wasn't nearly sucked into this story enough to appreciate where the "romance" left off in this book. I couldn't connect with the characters, and there were a lot more questions at the end than I had answers from the read. And....again....the blurb? I don't know where the blurb is even from, but it wasn't this book so far as I could tell. Oh, and also, there were suddenly vampires where I thought this was a completely contemporary setting? How did that happen?
Sadly, this just didn't work for me. I felt like there were too many unsolved riddles and too much "fatal attraction" minus the actual ATTRACTION (let's be honest...he may be attractive, but our FMC is very clear about not really being ATTRACTED). While the writing was pretty, the story felt all over the place and disorganized, and I just couldn't make that connection I need to really FEEL a book. That all said, that doesn't mean this book won't be right for YOU--so if you're into dark, broody romances, random appearance vampires, and dangerous liaisons, this book just might be for you! Are you ready to be haunted, Penguins?
Quick Reasons: interesting concept with potential; I struggled to connect to the characters or the story; random, unexpected introduction of vampires; I left this read more confused than with answers; this just didn't work for me
HUGE thanks to K.J. Devoir and Voracious Readers Only for the title! My review is voluntarily written and in no way impacted or altered by the gesture.
Unfortunately, this book just wasn't the read for me personally. The writing is atmospheric, pretty, purple in all the right places. The story-line is intriguing, and I feel like if it had been done in a different way, I might have really enjoyed diving into this read. The characters are complex, well-juxtaposed, and intriguing. I was ensnared by the blurb, wanting to know more about how the character became trapped, why no one could hear her if she screamed, what types of whimpering he enjoyed hearing... I was SO ready for a DARK, broody, morally challenged read.
Curvy trim wraps the base of each level, and shingles cover the upper half, but not the brightly colored mermaid kind of cute storybook Victorians. This hulking giant is painted in shades of grey, the scales mimicking reptilian. A weather-vane with a turquoise sphinx oscillates in the breeze atop a high-peaked gable, the clouds forming a dark halo above.
The problem I found, however... The blurb does not have anything to do with the story we were given in these pages, for one. A lot of this book was a toss up between "I need to figure out these secrets and I need to stay away from him because he's dangerous" and "I need to be with him because he's THE ONE and we're meant to be." This was instalove, except...not even really that? They have little to no real conversation; his driving force is that he NEEDS her to be his model; they sleep together but it's more him assaulting her than anything. While there are appropriate triggers, I wasn't nearly sucked into this story enough to appreciate where the "romance" left off in this book. I couldn't connect with the characters, and there were a lot more questions at the end than I had answers from the read. And....again....the blurb? I don't know where the blurb is even from, but it wasn't this book so far as I could tell. Oh, and also, there were suddenly vampires where I thought this was a completely contemporary setting? How did that happen?
Sadly, this just didn't work for me. I felt like there were too many unsolved riddles and too much "fatal attraction" minus the actual ATTRACTION (let's be honest...he may be attractive, but our FMC is very clear about not really being ATTRACTED). While the writing was pretty, the story felt all over the place and disorganized, and I just couldn't make that connection I need to really FEEL a book. That all said, that doesn't mean this book won't be right for YOU--so if you're into dark, broody romances, random appearance vampires, and dangerous liaisons, this book just might be for you! Are you ready to be haunted, Penguins?