Existence by Abbi Glines / The First Book I Ever HATED

Existence by Abbi Glines

Existence #1

First Published: 2004

Kindle

Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
Rating: 

Re-Readability:

What happens when you're stalked by Death? You fall in love with him, of course.
Pagan Moore doesn't cheat Death, but instead, falls in love with him.
Seventeen year old Pagan Moore has seen souls her entire life. Once she realized the strangers she often saw walking through walls were not visible to anyone else, she started ignoring them. If she didn't let them know she could see them, then they left her alone. Until she stepped out of her car the first day of school and saw an incredibly sexy guy lounging on a picnic table, watching her with an amused smirk on his face. Problem is, she knows he's dead.
Not only does he not go away when she ignores him, but he does something none of the others have ever done. He speaks. Pagan is fascinated by the soul. What she doesn't realize is that her appointed time to die is drawing near and the wickedly beautiful soul she is falling in love with is not a soul at all.
He is Death and he's about to break all the rules.

Once upon a time, all the way back in 2012, I heard about Existence by Abbi Glines. Wherever I looked, people loved it. So, naturally I thought I would love it too. Oh boy, how wrong I was. This was the book that introduced me to the concept of hating a book. HATING. I guess we all have that one. This was mine.

The crux of the problem was Pagan, the main character. She is such an awful main character, her ridiculous name the least of her problems.

First of all, she's a user. She is in love with a guy name Dank (no joke), and yet she dates this other guy named Leif (again, I swear to god these are their names). So, in my book, that makes her shady af. But if that's not bad enough, she is also a stinking  c h e a t e r  okay?? She kissed another guy while having a boyfriend.

Second, she has a fierce case of the Bella Syndrome, which is when a girl is sooooo in love with a guy that when he leaves she breaks into tiny little pieces and can't live anymore. That's pathetic. Girls are stronger than that, dammit!

So I was already hating on her when the book decided to declare her "soul" beautiful. Oh, and on top of that, she's brave and strong. Ehhh, hello? Who is this Pagan you're talking about and can we have this book be about her instead? I feel like that'd be a much better read than this pathetic mess!

Now, I'm sure you won't be surprised when I say I hated the romance. I kind of hinted toward that already, but let's go into details. For one thing, it's freaking insta love. Like, couldn't you have at least given me a satisfying relationship to hold on??? There is no why, when or how to it. She sees him and BAM she's in love.

But it wasn't even a healthy love. He became the entire reason for her existence. That's not good, y'all!!

But then, to top that off you have Dank. This guy, okay? It's supposed to be impossible for him to fall in love with a human, because reasons. Ergo, the person that makes him fall in love should be super smart, and good, and all around amazing. Well, Pagan's special alright... (e)special(ly) annoying. I guess some guys find that attractive?

The accumulation of all these annoying things is the showdown. Or whatever the hell that was.

SPOILER So, there is the whole self sacrifice deal so Dank could live. But twist! It doesn't work like that so instead she must be brave and live so that his sacrifice wouldn't be for nothing. Ahhh, but gotcha! Choosing to live without the meaning of your existence is actually the biggest sacrifice of all, and oh, how brave and strong you are Pagan to endure it. Your reward.... huzzah, he's alive! END SPOILER

When do I get to shoot myself?? Seriously, what is this crap and why do people love this?

The single endurable thing about this whole mess is the last line. The last line. It made me consider for a millisecond reading the next book before I caught myself and burst out laughing.

As for the writing... It was okay. Yeah, that's the best I've got. I often felt like Glines dragged things way too long, and occasionally the speech was completely fake and unnatural. So, yeah, I wasn't super impressed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now, I would like to backtrack a little bit. I do think that my disappointment could've been less severe if the summary didn't reveal what Dank was, and instead we had to discover it with Pagan. It could've at least given some mystery to the whole thing.

Kiss of Crimson by Lara Adrian | Book Review

Kiss of Crimson by Lara Adrian

Midnight Breed #2

First Published: 2007

Library

Adult, Paranormal Romance
Rating:

Re-Readability:

He comes to her more dead than alive, a towering black-clad stranger riddled with bullets and rapidly losing blood. As she struggles to save him, veterinarian Tess Culver is unaware that the man calling himself Dante is no man at all, but one of the Breed, vampire warriors engaged in a desperate battle. In a single erotically charged moment Tess is plunged into his world—a shifting, shadowed place where bands of Rogue vampires stalk the night, cutting a swath of terror.
Haunted by visions of a dark future, Dante lives and fights like there is no tomorrow. Tess is a complication he does not need—but now, with his brethren under attack, he must shield Tess from a growing threat that includes Dante himself. For with one reckless, irresistible kiss, she has become an inextricable part of his underworld realm…and his touch awakens her to hidden gifts, desires, and hungers she never knew she possessed. Bonded by blood, Dante and Tess must work together to thwart deadly enemies, even as they discover a passion that transcends the boundaries of life itself….

A small confession: I usually give a series somewhere around two to three books to impress me, if the series is of the intertwined standalones verity, for the simple reason that one couple/protagonist may not be my favorite, but another might be.

So it's always somewhat of a trial and error process to figure out if it was these set of characters I didn't like, or the authors storytelling (although, sometimes it's fairly obvious).

Kiss of Midnight, the first of the Midnight Breed series, was an underwhelming experience for me, especially considering the hype surrounding this paranormal series. But, this being a series of standalones, I gave it another chance... only to be disappointed again.

It's fair to say I will not be reading another book in the Midnight Breed world.

The one word that pops to my head when I think Kiss of Crimson is "meh". It was an okay story, for the most part. A fast, mindless read to pass time with that I can barely remember now, two years later. But I will give these books that - they are readable. So if you're looking for something that won't demand too much of you... pick them up.

My biggest issue with this book (and the likes of it) is the romance itself, and this being a paranormal romance... it's a pretty big deal. But I never understood Tess and Dante's love. It came about too quickly, with the physical element of it happening too fast for my liking. The startling "you're my life" type of declarations sprang out of nowhere, considering neither could name the other's favorite color to save their lives, not to mention anything more fundamental than that.

I find it really hard to swallow romances where it feels like if you were to ask our two main characters to describe each other, they won't be able to fill up more than two sentences. This isn't love - it could be attraction or infatuation or even in lust, but not in love.

Therefore, I simply didn't believe their love. And that kind of means I didn't believe the story, period.

Wolf with Benefits by Shelly Laurenston | Book Review

Wolf with Benefits by Shelly Laurenston

Pride #8

First Published: 2013

Kindle

Adult, Paranormal Romance
Rating:
Re-Readability:

Ricky Lee has no plans of getting serious about anyone, but he will protect Toni Jean-Louis Parker. Not just because he’s been hired to do so, but because it’s the right thing to do. And if that means traveling around the country with one complicated She-jackal, dealing with chocolate-eating wild dogs, instigating trouble between his brothers, and having the most amazing sex he’s ever had…well, who said his job didn’t have perks?
Toni doesn’t know how she keeps getting herself into these situations. But even she has to admit there’s something about Ricky Lee Reed that she finds kind of interesting…and downright sexy. Now they just have to survive long enough to figure out if what they have is worth fighting for…

It's not a secret that I really love the Pride series by Laurenston. Whenever I need a funny, light, crazy romance to pick me up I know I can count on her because that's exactly what her books deliver!

Wolf with Benefits is perhaps the best example of that, as it's not only trademark Laurenston but my favorite book in the series so far! A big part of that is because the romance took more time to develop between Ricky Lee and Toni, which is the only major weak point in the rest of the novels. Not here. Here, we are able to grow comfortable with the idea of them as a couple as the novel gives us time of them just being around each other and talking with each other and not having sex with each other (lol).

And of course, they worked really well as a couple. They were cute, they brought each other up, they protected each other... the whole package!

Another subject that I liked a whole lot more in this installment was the family bonds. The Pride series features totally messed up families, and sometimes, it's just slightly too much. In Wolf With Benefits, the dysfunction is more outward than inward, albeit it's not lacking inwardly either.

However, this family units around each other (mostly thanks to Toni's mad organization skills) when needed and would die for one another, a vibe that is sorely missing from some of predecessors in the series.

Eight books in and I still look forward to more books and romances set in this world (and, possibly, more love stories set in this particular family!), which is quite the accomplishment!