Roman O'Neil (Author of No More Hiding)

Roman O'Neil rated a book really liked it Eximius by J. L. Fraser	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Take Dollhouse and combine it with the flashbacks in John Wick. Add a naive streetwise girl and a brooding boy who suddenly catches feelings. You've got a good sense of what this book is. I highly recommend it to people who can handle a rough ending ...more
Nov 18, 2024 05:01AM · 2 likes · like · see review
Roman O'Neil rated a book really liked it Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A disclaimer, to start: This book is steeped in American politics, and I am Canadian. There may be political things that I missed. I’ve had this book in my TBR pile for a while, then decided to read it after seeing some clips from the film adaptation. ...more
Aug 08, 2024 06:28AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Roman O'Neil rated a book really liked it The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Delightful, fun read. I read bits of it over years, so I can't speak to the cohesiveness of it. Each bit was enjoyable. I definitely suggest reading it as an ebook so you can see what other readers have hilighted. ...more
Jun 01, 2024 11:47AM · like · see review
Roman O'Neil rated a book really liked it It Happened One Summer (Bellinger Sisters, #1) by Tessa Bailey (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
It Happened One Summer promises a cute, lighthearted fish out of water story. It delivers on that promise. Piper is audacious and adorable, and Brendan is stubborn with a heart of gold. Making a character as snobby and vain as Piper likeable is diffic ...more
Jun 01, 2024 10:33AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Roman O'Neil rated a book it was amazing Just Stab Me Now by Jill Bearup	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I had followed the Fantasy Heroine shorts from the beginning and pre-ordered the physical book as soon as it was available in my country. That meant I was already familiar with the basics of the story, and I was primed to like it. Just Stab Me Now is ...more
Jun 01, 2024 10:08AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Just Stab Me Now by Jill Bearup. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Just Stab Me Now by Jill Bearup <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

Roman O'Neil rated a book really liked it

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Take Dollhouse and combine it with the flashbacks in John Wick. Add a naive streetwise girl and a brooding boy who suddenly catches feelings. You've got a good sense of what this book is. I highly recommend it to people who can handle a rough ending Take Dollhouse and combine it with the flashbacks in John Wick. Add a naive streetwise girl and a brooding boy who suddenly catches feelings. You've got a good sense of what this book is. I highly recommend it to people who can handle a rough ending as long as there are enough sexy and cute scenes.

The world-building is delightfully over the top. It makes me think of John Wick or Black Widow. The plot largely focuses on the enigmatic company, which is wealthy from catering to the elite. Everyone is beautiful and everything is luxurious. Many scenes discuss Victoria regaining weight after a long period of not eating much. The scenes are described in detail, and the details don't line up with the real world at all, but it blended in with the rest of the world when it would have stood out as poor research in a more realistic book.

The main couple are Victoria and Sabastian. Victoria is a scrawny, scrappy, sweet, streetwise woman who leaves a dangerous environment. Sabastian is the man sent to kidnap her for the company training program. He'll get a major promotion if he can successfully train her and make her an employee. Initially, they don't like each other. Sabastian has never been in a relationship and has trouble dealing with it. Victoria is new to relationships and sex. Sabastian has a sweet and artsy side. Victoria has a dark and ruthless side. These characters feel so much grander than the archetypes they're based on. I genuinely enjoyed reading about their relationship.

It appears something went wrong in the copy-editing process. If typos and grammar issues will destroy your reading experience, you may struggle with this book. The most frequent issues are typos or sound-alike terms, missing commas, and comma splices. The copy editor seemed to have an order to always split compound words and remove hyphens between words, resulting in phrasing like “nick name,” “hazel nut,” or “silk like” which feel unusual. There are also instances where information appears to be repeated by mistake, like a character being described as stone-faced (actually “stoned faced”), stoic, and rarely emoting in the same paragraph. Most readers will be able to brush these issues off. I work in publishing, so I have higher standards. Hopefully, a second edition can fix these problems. The book deserves so much better!

Much of the tension in the early chapters comes from purposefully omitting information. This can be effective, but at points, the omission goes too far. For example, in the first chapter, Sabastian thinks about the last bit of the instructions his boss gave him for this job, as it will be difficult to execute. Readers are not told what the job is or what might make following the instructions difficult. Because there's no context, there's no impact. In fact, I still have no idea what he was supposed to be worried about.

As the book goes on, the tension comes from the interaction between the characters. This is more interesting. The slow burn pace allows us to discover the world as Victoria does. Seeing Sabastian worry about his conflicted feelings for Victoria is fun. Victoria gaining more confidence is also fun. Once the book settled into a rhythm I found myself eager to know what would happen next.

The ending angered me. Both what happens and how it is handled felt like a betrayal. Near the end of the book, (view spoiler)At the end of that scene, there were only six pages left. (view spoiler)

But let's end this review with some positives. I enjoyed the side characters, especially Maxwell. The sex scenes were steamy and the romantic moments were adorable. I'm curious about how this world works, and interested in reading about similar ones. The author created an incredible story.

And I hope the author doesn't take this review personally. Some of these criticisms are the editors' fault. None of this is an attack on her as a person. Writing and publishing this novel took time and effort, and loads of readers love it. If the ending had been different, I might have loved it too. ...more

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Red, White & Royal Blue
by Casey McQuiston (Goodreads Author)

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A disclaimer, to start: This book is steeped in American politics, and I am Canadian. There may be political things that I missed.

I’ve had this book in my TBR pile for a while, then decided to read it after seeing some clips from the film adaptation. A disclaimer, to start: This book is steeped in American politics, and I am Canadian. There may be political things that I missed.

I’ve had this book in my TBR pile for a while, then decided to read it after seeing some clips from the film adaptation. I started reading it just after the Republican event in Butler, Pennsylvania and finished it two days after VP Harris picked her running mate. That’s probably affected the ways I’m interpreting the book.

The plot is told almost exclusively from the perspective of Alex Clairmont-Diaz. He lives in an alternate universe version of then-contemporary America, where Ellen Clairmont (his mother) succeeded Barack Obama to become president of the United States. He’s stubborn, determined, and focused. His love interest is Henry, Prince of the United Kingdom, a soft-hearted and gentle guy willing to do anything for his country. Their romance is a slice of rom-com fluff.

Except for all the times when it gets dark.

The book tries to present itself as cute and lighthearted. Alex gives Henry silly nicknames. They go out on the town with their buddies. The rival for the election, Jefferey Richards, never interacts with the main characters, staying a vague, shadowy threat for the first two-thirds of the story.

But throughout it, there is an undercurrent of heavy real-world topics that the book can’t fully deal with. One of the secondary characters is in addiction recovery. Racism is mentioned, though never directly dealt with. Colonialism is handled in the same way. I thought the references to gay kings would lead to something more substantial, but it’s just a cute nod. (view spoiler)

The overall writing style evokes the feeling of a fan fiction. The pacing is jumpy, with what seemed to be the main draw wrapped up almost instantly. Secondary plot twists appear to make things more dramatic, but don't feel set up, so they come out of nowhere. This is clearest with the Zahra relationship plot and the Richards plot, both of which felt weirdly superfluous. Another factor lending an amateur feel is the book's constant use of swearing. Normally, I don't care, but some characters are meant to be diplomatic professionals at work. The f-bomb loses some of its impact. Sex scenes suffer from a similar issue, especially with events in the second half of the plot. They are well written and compelling, but… (view spoiler)

The afterward states that a previous draft was 40,000 words longer. (For reference, at an average of 200 words a page, the final book is about 88,000 words.) Some of the pacing issues might be caused by that editing.

My only other issues are e-book exclusive. Above, I said most of the book is narrated from Alex Clairmont-Diaz’s POV. Some segments switch to text messages, social media posts, and transcriptions of in-universe audio content. These segments are occasionally presented next to other segments. In e-book, some of the transitions between segments aren’t clear, resulting in Prince Henry speaking in Tweets.

The love story is quite well written, and I would probably read something else from the author. I would suggest this book to rom-com lovers who aren’t worried about dark topics. ...more

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The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
by John Green (Goodreads Author)

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Delightful, fun read. I read bits of it over years, so I can't speak to the cohesiveness of it. Each bit was enjoyable. I definitely suggest reading it as an ebook so you can see what other readers have hilighted. ...more

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It Happened One Summer (Bellinger Sisters, #1)
by Tessa Bailey (Goodreads Author)

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It Happened One Summer promises a cute, lighthearted fish out of water story. It delivers on that promise. Piper is audacious and adorable, and Brendan is stubborn with a heart of gold.

Making a character as snobby and vain as Piper likeable is diffic It Happened One Summer promises a cute, lighthearted fish out of water story. It delivers on that promise. Piper is audacious and adorable, and Brendan is stubborn with a heart of gold.

Making a character as snobby and vain as Piper likeable is difficult, but I think Tessa pulled it off. At the start, her antics are comedic fodder. As she dedicates herself to repairing the bar, she shows how hardworking she can be. Her bond with her sister Hannah helps humanize her too. Hannah has a concurrent love story with one of Brendan's friends.

Brendan's storyline is much more mellow. He's getting back into the dating scene after losing his wife. I was initially worried about this being too much of a bummer for a low-angst story, but it's handled in a sweet way. The hurt is no longer fresh. He knows it’s time to move on.

The characterization is bold and runs the plot… until the sex scenes start. Piper and Brendan shed their personalities and turn into total sex gods for ten pages. Everything they do is the hottest thing ever. With everything else being so character-focused, the change is jarring. Honestly, I found the sex scenes cartoonish and amateur. I skipped the ones at the end. It seems I'm in the minority here, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

The town of Westport is cute and cozy. Tessa adds fun little touches that make it feel like a real place. If it wasn’t written during lockdown, I’d think Tessa might have moved to a real seaside town for a year. All of the side characters felt fully realized.

My favourite thing about this book was the tone. Tessa knows how to balance comedy and seriousness to create a fun narrative. I kept messaging my friends updates about the latest things the characters had said or done.

Even though I liked the book, I’m not sure I’d read more of Tessa's work. If there’s a book where she keeps characterization in her sex scenes, I’d be happy to read it. I thought the book was good enough to loan to a friend, and they liked the book too. ...more

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Just Stab Me Now
by Jill Bearup

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I had followed the Fantasy Heroine shorts from the beginning and pre-ordered the physical book as soon as it was available in my country. That meant I was already familiar with the basics of the story, and I was primed to like it.

Just Stab Me Now is I had followed the Fantasy Heroine shorts from the beginning and pre-ordered the physical book as soon as it was available in my country. That meant I was already familiar with the basics of the story, and I was primed to like it.

Just Stab Me Now is a fun, effervescent ride from start to finish. The physical edition uses different indentation lengths to differentiate between the "real world" where Caroline Lindley lives and the "fictional world" where Rosamund lives. The individual plotlines are kept simple, but when they are put together, they form a compelling and cohesive narrative. The interaction between the author and the characters felt very relatable..

While the plot in the shorts and the book are mostly the same, they're not identical. Many scenes have been added, some scenes have had significant changes, and at least two scenes and one character have been removed completely. Those changes were needed for the adaptation to occur. I picked up on the additions but missed the subtractions as I was reading.

The book is full of little jokes and Easter Eggs. Some dialogue is taken directly from the shorts, while some comes from other videos Jill has made. There are nods to literature and fan culture. There is a running joke with names of minor characters in Rosalind's story that's directly mentioned in Caroline's story. I missed it because I'm not familliar with British literature.

If I had to make one complaint, it's that the religious system in the fantasy storyline is blatantly Christianity with the serial numbers filed off. This feels like Caroline's mistake, not Jill's, but there's only one subtle mention of religion in Caroline's story.

One final note: since Caroline bases characters off of people she knows, I wondered if Jill had done the same. Or, perhaps, if Caroline's job was based on something Jill had done. Turns out, no. One minor character is named after a person who helped give details about Caroline's job. I think the two love interests are visually based on heartthrobs from Jill's youth. Captain Collins is almost definitely Orlando Bloom circa Pirates of the Caribbean. ...more

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