Ladies and gentlemen, HER.
Anyway, I present to you another ARC review:
THE MMC IS FRENCH? Cue my most giddy of screeches. We are so underrepped in Romance despite having THE most romantic language and Paris being the city of love. (It’s not, don’t go there. There are much much more romantic places in France to visit, just throw a dart at the country and you’ll find a city more romantic than Paris.)
“Touch her again and I’ll kill you where you stand.” Call me Arabella because, baby, I volunteer as tribute.
Hell on earth, I can’t believe I actually had the thought “the best thing he could’ve done for his daughter was sell her.” Like thank the gods above she’s away from him. That man is winning NO father of the year awards. Hell, he’d be lucky to get a father of the DAY award.
I relate to this main character so hard. I, too, have the social skills of a rabid hamster. And being bullied for loving to read? It does a weird type of psychological damage especially when you’re using reading as a coping/escape mechanism.
The author presents detail in a very interesting way between POVs. For Sebastian, his violence is noted as “I did x, y happened” (obviously much better written than that very simple statement) but the same moment when thought about in retrospect by Arabella is more accurate to the moment, “he gurgled, blood splattering from his lips”. It’s interesting to note because it shows how commonplace it is for our MMC, just a part of his every day life. For our FMC, it’s a horrific and shocking thing. I love the duality of the narrative in that way.
Okay, Chip. I see you… (This take aged exactly as I thought it would.)
I love that Sebastian is clearly a person outside his obsession with Arabella. Yes, she consumes him, but he still has motivations that have nothing to do with her. He doesn’t pause his entire life the second he decides he wants her. He still focuses on his family and his work, showing how narrow his world view is, but regardless, that narrow view is important to him. He’s not just a flesh suit for the FMCs pleasure.
The side characters, namely Langdon and Caden, are just as compelling and well written as the main characters. I’m so obsessed with them, namely Langdon. Every scene he’s in has my interest and I’d read an entire book of him shopping for groceries at this point.
What kind of woman not only condones but orchestrates that kind of treatment toward another woman? Absolutely vile and despicable. Death to you.
THE VIAGRAAAAAAAAAA. Oh, I’m so here for it. I’m so so here for it. Repeat after me, kids. The only good rapist is a dead rapist.
Mmmm, Arabella’s mother hurts me. As a mother, my deepest fear is leaving my children without me. I’ve dealt with depression for as long as I can remember, even tried to kill myself. When I was pregnant with my first, my number one fear was having to explain my scars to my child one day. Now that my son is here, my only thought about it is that I am so grateful I failed. I still have depression, I still sink deep into it some days and it feels like I’ll never pull myself back out, but every time the thought comes to mind that it would be so easy to end it all, all I can think of is my children not ever really getting to know me as a person, only as a memory relayed through other people. How a mother can take her own life is beyond my comprehension. My children are the only thing worth living for. No matter how hard it is sometimes. They’re always worth it. Arabella deserved to feel worth it. I can’t even fathom the trauma of that moment for her. Hard read through that bit.
“To see the resemblance […] To see my brothers, and my mother.” The way I screamed.
Ugh. I hate being right about the character I love. It was always going to be him. He was too subtle. When a character makes you want to throttle them, chances are, they’re too obvious of a choice. When a character makes you want to like them but shows all the telltale signs, it’s always going to be them even though you’re praying it won’t be.
I really hope there’s more coming from this story. I would go absolutely feral for a novel about Caden or Langdon. FERAL. This was just so good, I love the way the author paints the characters and how individual they all feel. I had an ungodly amount of fun reading this. Stayed up WAY too late to finish it. Langdon, I love you.
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