The Antidote by C.S. Dorsey is the first book in The Lukos trilogy. I picked this novel to read because it was classified as a teen paranormal romance, and I often like books in that genre. However, this book fell short.
I think the positive side to this novel is the potential with the story line; however, I do feel it needs to be fleshed out. What I mean by this is the characters flip-flop too quickly making the story unbelievable. One moment the main protagonist, Ale, is trying to get the attention of the new girl Francesca who won't give him the time of day, and the next she is his girlfriend.
My biggest complaint are the stereotypes used throughout the story. The teenage girls are portrayed as sluts or cockblocks, and the football players have every girl wanting to sleep with them. For example, when Francesca, the new girl in school, walks into her classroom on her first day, and I quote: "She wore all black with silver jewelry. And her boots... I don't know how she wore them. They came all the way up to her knees, with at least a four-inch heel." (quote found at 3%) I'm no prude, but this isn't the kind of outfit I'm expecting to find at your run of the mill high school. Francesca's outfit reminds me of the movie Beastly (2011) where Kendra the high school-aged witch, played by Mary-Kate Olsen, often dresses like some kind of gothic slut. I disliked Kendra's outfits in the movie, and I felt the same way about Francesca in the book. In both cases, the paranormal characters were styled way too over the top, and they would probably be sent home from school.
At another point in the book, some of the football boys are talking about a junior girl they go to school with named Kasey:
"Nah, man, you know... Kasey sweating me hecka hard right now. I had to let her down."
"You're crazy, you know she's easy?"
"Too easy." Everyone said in unison.
"She's like the walking plague," Sean said. (10%)
I find this quote particularly disgusting in the way the author has portrayed the stereotypical football player as a misogynist pig. No young girl should be called "easy" and a "walking plague". Considering this book is geared towards young adult readers, I find the portrayal of both young women and men to be very problematic. This is not what should be considered cool, and I would not recommend this book to young readers.
If by chance the girl is not portrayed as a slut and doesn't want to sleep with one of the football boys, they call her a "blocker" and "stuck-up", I quote:
"Your sister is a blocker, man, but she is fine, though."
"Hey, dude, that's my sister!"
"I'm sorry, I can't help it. I am a man. Tell him, Jay, isn't his sister fine?"
Jay stopped eating for a moment. "Man, if she wasn't such a stuck-up snob I would get with her, but stuck-up snobs and I don't mix." (12%)
I won't repeat myself again in terms of pointing out the inherent misogyny, but I find myself thinking that content such as this that is written by a woman is hegemony at work.
Overall, I found the characters and dialog to be filled with stereotypes and misogyny as well as being very tactless. I even put this book down for about three months before I picked it up to finish it. The only reason I did finish it was because the novel length was so short.
In closing, I would not recommend this book. I feel the story line could be developed into something, and the twist at the end was interesting. However, these two points were not strong enough to make me recommend this book or consider buying the second novel in The Lukos trilogy. My intent here is to not discourage the self-published author because I do feel as though there is promise in terms of story line, but I feel I need to comment on the problematic stereotypes.