3⭐️
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Expectations:
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✨ Royal Scandals/Drama
✨Gaslighting
✨Mentions of Sexual Assault
✨Attempted Murder (at least on three different occasions)
✨Revengeful Behavior
✨Depictions of Schizophrenic Symptoms
✨Discussions on Terrorist Behavior
✨Several Annoying Characters
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Thoughts:
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It is officially time for me to accept that I am going to be an outlier when it comes to this book as well as this series. In all honesty, only 5% of me truly understand how and why both books #1 & #2 has 4⭐️ & 5⭐️ ratings. Both books are very well written and, sometimes, the drama is both entertaining and hilarious. But, the rest of me, the other 95% of me, wonders if I am reading the same series as everyone else. It took me 15 days to finish Book #1 and 7 days to finish Book #2 (I cancelled major plans just to finish this book over the weekend). For each book, I could only read four chapters at a time with a three hour break in between. I was bored most of the time. The majority of the characters are annoying and disrespectful (for no reason might I add). And the plot for both books is EXTREMELY lost on me. Like seriously, WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE THESE BOOKS REALLY ABOUT??? I spent EVERYDAY contemplating on whether I should DNF after every chapter. Though I am happy that I allowed my completist personality trait to push me forward, I know that I am going to be in a reading slump for the next week. 😔😔😔.
So. Book #2. Only slightly better than Book #1 but, NOT BY MUCH. 😬😬😬. Where Book #1 felt disorganized and disjointed in several areas, Book #2 is where this series has FINALLY found its focus. Book #2 is all about revenge. Book #1 ended with the revelation that a royal family member is out to destroy Evangeline “Evan” Bright all because she is the daughter of the current King of the British Monarchy and they are afraid of losing their spot in the line of succession (at least that is what’s been hinted at throughout both books). Once Book #2 starts, 6 months have passed and the royal family is in shambles and said evil Royal family member is back to continue their mission. As said Royal family member continues to destroy Evangeline, she soon finds herself truly alone. No matter how many people she informs about her thoughts and theories about the Royal family member who hates her, no one believes her. Because of this, Evangeline waits about 85% of this book to finally tell her mom what has been happening. To make matters even worse, it takes her sister, Princess Mary 91% of this book to finally listen but not before she practically destroys her closeness with Evangeline. Other Royal family members even get caught up in the line of fire and things just spiral out of control. It is just one drama filled chapter after the next and while some chapter are more entertaining than the next, I genuinely spent this entire book lost, annoyed, and ready for it to end. Again, though this book had a much clearer focus than Book #1, I still have not idea what the point of this story is nor what the author is trying to accomplish. Similar to a few other reviewers, I had to suspend my belief to understand why common sense was missing among all of the characters as well as to understand why and what the purpose of all the hatred toward Evangeline is.
And please. DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THE FORMAT OF EACH CHAPTER. Similar to Book #1, each chapter begins with either a quote, text message conversations, two-three page Royal interviews, a gossip column article, or a twitter exchange. And similar to Book #1, it was both distracting and annoying. These pieces of information took a lot of excitement out of me wanting to hurry and read the next chapter. It just became too much after chapter 5. 😐😐😐.
Reviewing this book is really hard for me because, honestly, I am just so happy to be done with it. If you find yourself wanting to read this book then I genuinely think you should. Just make sure you are in the mood to read about misplaced anger, a lot of nastiness, and characters who will MOST DEFINITELY get on your nerves. 🫣🫣🫣. Unfortunately, for me, this is where I leave this series. I really wish Aimée Carter the best on her future writing journey as well as any endeavors she might experience. 🥰🥰🥰.
👑 Thank NetGalley and Delacorte Press for granting my request for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for my honest and personal opinion!!!👑
Publication Date: March 26, 2024