[ 408 ]

[katara]

Title: Entwined Within the Darkness

Series: Within the Darkness #1

Author: Charley Black

Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Vampires, Witches, Adult, Enemies-to-Lovers, Suspense

Date Started: February 12th, 2023

Date Finished: February 13th, 2023

Status: Finished

Rating: 3.8/5

Sypnosis: A wild evening goes demonically wrong…

Patience craves answers. Half a century after appearing on the steps of the witch academy, she was still no closer to recovering her lost memories and identity. Tormented nightly by visions of red eyes and burdened by dreams that, although connected, remain unclear. Patience, to distract herself, decides to defy the rules and enter the vampire club, Moarte, an act strictly forbidden for witches. Never expecting her best friend, Michael, to begin his transition into a full demon, Patience, desperate to save him, binds him to his vampiric lover.

To make matters worse, Lucius, the domineering brother of the vampire, whom Michael is now bound to, harbors a deep resentment for witches and especially for Patience. Even so, they must now work together to find a soul gem that will untether the bond before her best friend completely consumes his brother’s soul. As their unlikely alliance takes form and their attraction grows, Lucius’ presence draws out long-forgotten memories deep from within Patience. He may just be the key to unlocking her past—but will she be able to convince him that he needs her far more than he needs to kill her? Rediscovering her past and how it binds her to Lucius may just prove to be far more dangerous than either of them imagined.

Entwined, the first book in the Within the Darkness Trilogy, will leave readers in suspense. This enemies-to-lovers story will be filled with plenty of action, humor, and steam. So, prepare yourself, as the end of this novel leaves us with a cliffhanger, but not for long! Intended for 18+ readers, stay tuned to find out what lies ahead in this captivating trilogy.

Review: Haunting red eyes.

A possessive figure in dreams.

Have I mentioned I love enemies-to-lovers novels? Lately, I have been devouring these books up like they are nothing. If they have a good story, that novel is quickly grabbed. However, there are some novels with excellent premises but poorly executed and some with horribly written premises that are excellently executed.

This novel falls in between. The story is great. The characters especially Patience. I loved her character. She is smart, she is relatable, and although she has no memory of her past, she doesn't let it get to her. She is even friends with a demon.

But Patience is haunted by her nightmares. A figure with red eyes is always there whispering to her how she belongs to him. There is something about this that bothers her. No matter what she does she cannot decipher what it all means.

So one night Patience and Michael go out to club hopping and find themselves right into the vampire's den only to become entangled in its characters like Lucius, the infamous Witch Hunter.

The world-building was fantastic. The storyline was fun but the plotholes were not. There were areas of the storyline that should have been addressed. Some of them fell flat and some were just like "if you blink, the storyline is finished",

I love Lucius and I love Patience but their romance - I could not find any connection that I could feel between them. I don't know but their romance felt forced. It is really hard for me to put into words but I just felt like the whole thing was just too fast. I love slow-burn romances but this did not feel like one of them.

This story has a ton of potential and I hope that there will be some fixes in the next novel but I have definitely added the next book to my TBR.

[ 409 ]

[katara]

Title: Filthy Rich Boys

Series: Rich Boys of Burberry Prep #1

Author: C.M. Stunich

Genre: Bully, Romance, Reverse Harem, High School, Dark, Contemporary, New Adult, Fiction

Trigger Warnings: foul language and sexual scenes; any sex featured is consensual

Date Started: February 14th, 2023

Date Finished: February 14th, 2023

Status: Finished

Rating: 3.5/5

Sypnosis: Break the new girl.
That should be easy, right?
Trash like her doesn’t belong at Burberry Prep.
No, Marnye Reed is going down, and we plan to make a spectacle out of it.
Let’s see who can make her fall in love first.
Bet’s on. Any takers?

***

Take on the filthy rich boys.
They’re the idols of the school, veritable gods on earth.
Old Money. New money. A rising star.
These guys are nothing like the ones at my old school.
I might come from nothing, but I’m determined to be someone, and I won’t let them get in my way.
They say they’ll make my life a living hell; I think they mean to keep that promise.

Review: How the hell is this novel rated Young Adult? I understand the characters are young but this is not something a young adult reader would be allowed to touch by parents. I think the young adult genre should be removed.

I have no idea exactly how I really want to rate this book. Mainly, I find the Female lead to be rather stupid, never bothering to question things, and blinded by the idea of being part of something she should be awry over.

Marnye Reed has managed to do something only others dream of - win a scholarship to one of the most prestigious schools, Burberry Prep. This is the school where the creme de la creme of the filthy rich send their children to learn. This is also a place where the rich feel that the lower class does not belong and Marnye is one of those cases. They call her Charity, Working Girl, and other tormenting names. She is never really accepted and worse is that the Idols of the school have targeted her. They abuse her and treat her like garbage but Marnye tries not to conform to their world. But as she tries to fit in, the bullying is ramped up and the Idols draw bets to bring down Marnye Reed.

I am trying to really understand Marnye's way of thinking. She manages to get two friends in this school and she ends up betraying them just because she lost some gambling bet. If I had been Miranda I would never want to be her friend ever again. This is a betrayal that would cut me deep and would make me never want to trust Marnye again.

The Idols are young boys of fifteen and yet they already rule a school they haven't been to? Is there something I may be missing? I can only surmise their legendary ways started in the other school but there have been points in the book where they didn't really earn it because their parents were Idols.

I loved the premise of this novel because I have become a sucker for Bully Romance and Enemies-to-Lovers stories, but again I don't know how to feel about this one. I am just stuck on rating it.