adhamaboudoma

** spoiler alert ** This book has many, many problems: enough to make it only the second book that I've not been able to finish. In no particular order: 1. Even though I've read the prequels, I had a hard time keeping up with all of the characters in this book. There are literally dozens, each with their own piece of the story to tell. Those storylines connect them to the main story, but every few pages (sometimes not even that) is a different character/different story perspective, so the clarity and continuity are non-existent. It makes for a choppy, non-linear read. 2. There is never a break in action. Someone is either being murdered or attacked. No lulls at all. This is exhausting. 3. There is no real romance. I made it to page 203 without anything more than 'long, lingering glances' in which both the H/h feel like there is a connection between them, but have too many personal hangups to do anything about it. Of course, this book is about a child trafficking/prostitution ring, so there really shouldn't be any room for romance, but there are so many broken characters, I would have liked to have seen a HEA for someone (I'm told this *does* happen, but I didn't make it through the book in order to experience it). 4. The heroine is annoying. Yes, she's been through hell. Yes, she has every reason to feel badly about her past and what she did/didn't do. However, this self-hatred is expressed every time the character talks to anyone or has internal dialogue; she ends up being both self-deprecating and self-loathing, neither in a charming manner, thus, she comes across as whiny with no real redeeming qualities. Her standoffish manner is supposed to hide a vulnerability, but it really just made her seem like a bitch. 5. I'm sure the Hero would be an amazing man, given the right circumstances, but throughout the entire first half of the book (I made it to page 203 before giving up) he is working on a child trafficking/pornography case with multiple victims both dead and exploited, so all we really get to see is how stressed out and burned out he is. That he also has to deal with an attraction to the h made me feel bad for him: she's not worth it. To sum it up: don't bother with this book. It's convoluted and unnecessary. But it is also a blip. Karen Rose usually writes intelligently, with emotion and guts. Every other book I've read of hers is top-notch, and hopefully her next book will redeem her.

2023-07-25 10:07