sotnasck's reviews
413 reviews

I could elaborate but I will not. If she writes a book for Jake though I might read it, there's still hope.

Really enjoyed this. It's slow but in a good way. I like the Finestra and Fonti gang, I like Alessa as a character, her relationship with Dante and him as a character is great too. My only disappointment (more like a missed opportunity) is with Dante's ending. For me it would've been cool if

he came back from the dead changed and darker

but of course what happened makes sense and I'm looking forward to his arc and the conclusion of the story in the next book.

When I started this one I was sure I'd write a review (so much to say) as I did for the others, but now that I've finished and it took me such a long time my will to write a review has passed. So here goes: it was a nice read.

I'm sure that going by my history with romance books, one could raise some questions like: why I keep reading these books? Why do I put myself through inumerous vices of the genre that I dislike? Why not go read books that I'd wholeheartedly enjoy? Why bother criticizing and complaining so much? (Valid questions by the way that I have asked myself before). And let me tell you why. The answer to all of these questions is that there's always one book that makes going through countless eye rolls worth it. There is always one book that it's so good that you can simply ignore all the others. None of that "nitpicking" matter anymore, I've found this book! Forget about all that crap, this one is worth it.

Finishing Idol, I was excited to go into the second book because Scottie is one of the saving graces of the first book and I'm glad that he delivered.

I enjoy this character for many reasons that sets him apart from the members of the band. The biggest one: his maturity. Scottie is seen as cold and distant and an "old man", and while he is indeed cold and distant, let me say that he is surrounded by guys who are immature and so that makes Scottie, a grown man embodying his age, seem old. And before it can be misunderstood that I think people are not allowed to be young, it is not about that at all but about being more than crude jokes. Let me get into the fact that the other male characters in these books are constantly joking about their dicks, constantly talking about sex (we get it, you have a big dick and lots of sex, who cares?), childishly flipping each other off, they cannot have a meaningful conversation if there are more than one of them in the room. And maybe that's what's considered banter for men from the author's perspective, but let me tell you it is possible to have conversations around other subjects, hobbies, interests, to joke about a story from your past that does not involve you hitting on a woman (I'm part of a group where me and my girl are the only women among 6 men and they only sometimes make sexual jokes, I swear they are funny in other ways, it is possible!). I don't get why this is something so common in romance books to be honest. Let male characters joke about something other than their dicks because it is not funny. Almost as bad as the comedic timing of Marvel movies. We are tired of it.

But back to Scottie... What a man. Respectful, intelligent, caring, professional, a strong personality, I honestly could go on. He is a good character and to learn more about him and his past, his struggles, was very enjoyable. And to follow his growth with Sophie and his friends was honestly great.

The reason why the rating of this book is not higher is because some writing issues remained from the first book. Especially related to pacing. If in the first book it was too fast, on this one it felt too slow sometimes, the plot dragging a bit because not much happened. And the other reason is that I was not that invested in the romantic relationship.

Sophie as a character is great, she's funny and stands her ground, I like her very much. But I could not shake the feeling that something was missing with them, something that clicked. It's a good relationship, but it's not two characters that together can make it great. Doesn't mean I didn't like it, I did. But it feels like the relationship you have to prepare you for the one at the end of the line, the one that makes it all worth it.

Oh well, still managed to enjoy it. Thanks Scottie!

I haven't been writing "proper" reviews for quite some time. I simply cannot be bothered anymore so I rate it and call it a day, but this series was a recommendation from two friends that are really into this series and wanted to share it with me for the longest time (bless their hearts they do not give up on me no matter how bitchy I always am towards romance books)... So here am I writing a review again.

And where to begin? Guess I should say that the book is not terrible. Is it good? No. But frankly, I can see why people love it... And it has a lot of potential, the issue lies of course on said potential not being explored.

Everything. Happens. So. Fast. So much stuff happening without being processed, without the plot breathing, that I've read this book not a week ago and have already forgotten what the hell happened for most of it. Possibly nothing did happen. Everything is touched only on the surface. (Except for sex, we're on that all the time, and here is important to say that there is a difference, for me, between the characters being horny and the narrative being too sexual, and unrelated but worth mentioning the slightly sexist layer in some instances in the book).

I could see that there was greatness buried underneath the clingy relationship but the book never went there and that's very frustrating.

And if I say clingy, I mean it. Not only it happened ridiculously fast but it went downhill fast too. From their meeting (honey please don't take the naked drunk inside your house, that's unsafe as hell) to the instant "I must have you in my life so I will pressure you into coming out of your comfort zone so I can have what I want" to the instant "the only thing that matters in my life is this dude I met not even a summer ago" etc, etc, and if I keep saying instant it's because it felt that way. It was like the world would end if they were not together for a minute. The only thing worse than these two is the ridiculous baby doll pet name, I honestly wanted to throw my phone across the room everytime I had to read that, and it was way too many times. It added to my dislike of the character that it was already high on its own without having to deal with him calling his girlfriend the most ridiculous names. Bringing me to, Killian. What a disappointment. No, scratch that, to be disappointed I'd need some expectations and there was none, I was not sold from the start. (There was for Libby, who started as witty and funny and ended as, well, none of that because she blended herself into that bland relationship)... Killian is incredibly selfish, self centered, he thinks he's funny and charming but he is just annoying. Anyway, enough of these two.

Let me talk about the positive stuff because there is some! Music and how it's connected to the story, characters and relationships. A few of the characters make up for the protagonists. Some themes are good, even though superficially touched. And it was an easy book to read, it flows, no unnecessary dramas.

All in all, it's okay. Reading the rest of the series because my friends convinced me that it gets better. And spoiler! it does.