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Surprisingly good!

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 03-31-25

I bought this on a whim for audible’s daily deal. Usually, I find those books to be lousy. But this one was very good! I plan to finish the series!

This is my first time reading this author, so I didn’t know what to expect. I mainly bought it because I love the narrators - and they didn’t disappoint.

It’s worth a listen.

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Meh

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 03-26-25

Nothing special. The development is weak and the characters are weak. I usually love Shane East, but he fell flat for this book. Maybe it was because the book was weak?

It was just ok.

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Terrible

Overall
2 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 12-30-24

Edited review: it took forever to finish. The plot predictable every step of the way. Diem too naive. I rolled my eyes throughout. I don’t think I will finish the series.

The series is enjoyable overall, but Cole is a weak writer. Plot is predictable and Diem and the others are terribly characterized,

Cole relies upon everyone keeping secrets and speaking in riddles for no reason. Diem is too naive - at this point in her development she should be much smarter and aware of the world around her. Relying upon her age and mortal upbringing only worked for the first book - at this point, she should be more self aware and aware of others. Or, the reader should have the story told from multiple perspectives. Perhaps if the reader wasn’t purposely kept in the dark, the dramatic irony would be helpful and thoughtful. Instead, the reader is only meant to know what Diem knows, but the reader is smarter than her, and it is frustrating that Diem can’t get out of her own way. At each “clue” I am literally rolling my eyes — Yes, Cole, we get it, move on.

She also relies upon convenient “fixes.” These people are immortal, except for this rare metal that poisons them….etc etc.

In the world of Romantacy, she is no where near Maas, Yarros, or Armentrout.

And even though I find Cole’s writing weak, I still like the overall story. I just would like to see more finesse and character growth.

The narrator is mostly great. I think some of my frustration was based on how she read for Diem. Perhaps if she wasn’t weepy in some scenes, the self doubt might be more believable.

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Very good - no SJM

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 12-17-24

This is a fun series with some interesting characters. It definitely tries to be A Court of Thorn and Roses and Fourth Wing, but not as well executed as either. Diem is too ignorant and naive. It is established that she would be unaware of the world she’s entering, but it’s just too much that even not knowing isn’t enough to justify her actions.

Jumping tropes here - but she would not survive one chapter in Game of Thrones. That’s what I mean by - not as well executed. For example, it is clear she is being played by all the people who want the throne (hence the GoT comparison), and she knows it, but then a simple con throws her off. The connections are superficial and easy to figure out, yet diem can’t manage to stay level headed? And the slow burn between her and Luther is too basic. I like slow burn stories, but her reasons for not trusting him are so superficial and incredibly weak. She can’t trust him yet she will make a blood bond with his father who she clearly knows is manipulating her? Or Henry sees two men in a room and Diem assumes it’s Luther? Wouldn’t most people say, “which guy?” Just weak writing.

However, I still like it. I will finish the series. But Cole is no Maas, Martin, or Yarros.

This is my first time with this narrator and I really like her. I am not caught up on her voices at all - I believe each voice is a different person. Excellent narration!

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Insecurities became too much

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-17-24

The story was meh. The FMC’s insecurities became way too much. And both characters became way too preachy. Their long drawn out monologues became too much. Towards the end, it shifted so that the MMC had to overcome some trauma, and it ended up being about the FMC’s insecurities. “Oh maybe he just doesn’t want me anymore…” Um, he’s going through some tough stuff, lady - maybe don’t make it about you. It really frustrated me how her insecurities ended up being so consuming that she became unlikeable.

I love Teddy - so he was great. But this was not a good one for CJ. I usually like her, but she did not do great in this story. But that could be the bad character development.

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Narration awful

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
1 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-08-24

The writing was good. The narrators awful. Once it became clear that Andrew is similar to Ryan Reynolds, all the writing made sense. The lines matched exactly what I’d expect from a Ryan Reynolds performance. The narrators came no where near the delivery. Instead of coy and funny, they made him sound like an idiot.

I am also from Binghamton and went to the university. So that’s the main reason I listened - never saw Binghamton in a story before! Quinn was decently accurate too. Sure, some things were off (Binghamton is known for spiedies (true), carousel capital of the world (true), Nirchi’s pizza (hell no!) - how about the home of Rod Sterling or IBM!) Also, no one says I go to Binghamton University here in Binghamton. We just say The University or BU. And we often shorten Binghamton to Bingo. And Bingo is not in the tri-state area, that’s downstate where the state meets two other states (PA and NJ). There are some other small things like that — for the most part though - pretty accurate.

I just wanted to give a shout out to Bingo Pride. And that is the only reason I finished the book. The narration was just so terrible.

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It dragged

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 08-26-24

All the reasons people loved it, I was so annoyed with.

First - tighter editing was needed. I zoned out for a good portion of the book. It was so hard to want to listen. So much dumb stuff just could have been removed or lessened. How long do people just stand around while Sera has a million internal thoughts? Cut it down! Or why do I need to know how the food tasted or the spread of food or the quality of the food? Just say “as we ate dinner… blah blah blah.” This kind of stuff just really got on my nerves.

Second - the trauma. People really seemed to like this — I hated it. I don’t read romance for trauma. And it got dark and long. Granted, in this regard it was well written, I’ll give the author credit, but I don’t want to read it. So, if you like that, be my guest. But I read romance for a lighter touch. Same with all the threats of sexual violence. Again, Game of Thrones? Sure — I expect that. Romance? No. It feels like Armentrout is trying to jump from romance to general fiction. I’m not here for that.

It took forever to get started. I didn’t like the story until there was about 9 hours remaining. So, back to tighter editing.

I love smut - but all the sex scenes were just dumb. So, we have a person dealing with sexual trauma, ok, awesome — let’s have sex. Really?

I also can’t stand the narrator. She is always so tough for me to listen to. She has Sera all wrong, and she can’t seem to act at all. Her lack of acting could be part of the problem I had with the book.

I loved this series. I feel like this book just could have been done better.

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Terrible narrator

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-24-24

I found the book - meh. But I think that’s more because I did not like the narrator. She doesn’t act. Her voices were fine - nothing off putting there. But she just had no comedic timing, no charisma, and bland acting.

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Just meh

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-17-24

This book is widely raved about. And all the reviews here will talk about how amazing it is — well — I disagree. It’s just meh.

The story is too fast; there isn’t much development. And although I don’t like things to be too dark, I really didn’t find this to be all that dark. Sure, there is gore and they are serial killers, but that’s what makes it dark. There is no real villainy — it’s like following mafia bosses that fight drugs and get drug dealers off the streets. That isn’t really dark, just like this book.

Honestly, it’s just a reimagining of Dexter.

But I don’t really mind the lighter side of dark; the story just didn’t develop at all.

Narrators are fantastic. That’s why I even bought the book and why I finished. They can make any mediocre book interesting.

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The worst one

Overall
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
1 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-12-24

I enjoyed the series. Nothing special, but an enjoyable listen. This one was the absolute worst. There was no story at all. There was potential, but nothing was developed. It was all surface stuff.

I have never really loved these narrators, but they didn’t bother me too much. Good God they were terrible for this one. In previous books, Poe was described as having a nondescript accent. I always found what these guys did to be annoying, but he wasn’t a major character, so I didn’t think much of it. Now, listening to this entire book and having the main character, who is Russian, sound like he has some sort of impediment drove me up a wall. What kind of accent was that??

This book is worth skipping. Nothing really happens and the closure that the series is given can be summed up in one sentence. I won’t put it here and spoil the worthless ending, but it is completely guessable.

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