Smiley: A Morally Gray Novel

by Anna Lynn Hammar

Willow Thistle had been underestimated her entire life. She was small, pretty, and quiet. A perfect Background Character if she had not been sorted into Villain. Despite her lack of socialization, Willow was a genius, creating bombs and developing other useful tools to help her be the best Villain she could be. With the help of her brother, Warren, Willow was unstoppable. Of course, she also didn’t have a Hero to stop her. However, when reconnecting with a childhood crush, Elias Valder, Willow finds herself falling into a delicate routine with all three Valder children and growing closer to Elias than she believed possible. Just to add to her wonderful life, Willow received her first Hero. Not just one, though. Multiple. Willow was immediately made into enemy number one, putting not only herself, but her loved ones at risk.

Smiley is a continuation of the next generation from Morally Gray, taking place in the same superpowered universe with the same corrupt ideas of right and wrong. Will Willow live up to her status as a Villain? Or will she die trying?

Genres: Fantasy

220 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 29, 2023

About the author

Anna Lynn Hammar is a fantasy author based out of Connecticut. She lives there with her black poodle and library of books. When not writing, she spends her time at museums, at the beach, or playing dungeons and dragons with friends. Her trilogy, The Cursed Fates Series, debuted in the spring of 2022. Since then, she has been fueled by new worlds she has yet to show to the world. You can learn more about this series and future ones on her Instagram and TikTok @AuthorAnnaLynnHammar

Reviews

[pineapples & Pages · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Anna,
You have cause me severe distress. You will forever be the first author to receive my therapy bills.

Sincerely,
Pineapples & Pages

Jfc. I don’t think I will ever recover from Anna’s books. I LOVED this story. Willow and Elias’ love story is one to be envied. It was so wholesome so beautiful and so devastating.
Willow is the girl that no one noticed and couldn’t even be assigned a Hero. After years of waiting she was finally assigned a Hero. However, that turned out to be more than she bargained for. Elias had always watched Willow from afar. Coming from a strong line of Valders, he was ruthless. Especially when it came to protecting Willow. His quiet love for Willow grew until he couldn’t stay away from her any longer.

This is truly one of my favorite reads for the year. Found family, fated weaknesses, touch her and ☠️ and so much more.

If you’ve read Morally Gray (which is highly recommended) you’ll definitely want to read Smiley.

As always, read the TWs.

[Bridgit · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75

This was such a strange experience. A fun, parody of the hero/villain stories that got surprisingly dark real quick. It was actually going to be 4 stars until about 3/4 through and some plot issues were just ellipsised over.

[Samantha North · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Loved Morally Grey! Finding out there was a sequel I jumped right into reading it. Finnished and devoured every word in under two days. Anna makes your shopping list of wants and needs from Violence, to Stalking and everything in between!

[Lex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored Morally Gray and immediately bought this sequel. The way this did not disappoint and now I'm adrift without another 😭😭😭 ... So flipping good!!!!

[Bella Barcellona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Between the trigger warning page and the chapter titles I should’ve know the emotional roller coaster I was getting into. This book made me sit for a solid 10 minutes after finishing it to just think about what happened. I was given a warning to make sure I didn’t listen to the final 2 chapters in public and I am so glad I listened to that. Get ready to cry and unfairness of it all cause nothing better sums it up than: we support women’s wrongs!

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book felt like a complete copy of the first book. Female character who is raised by non-villain parents and then finds herself a villain. Add into that mix that her home life/childhood was "surprise" abusive and it's like I'm reading Jinx's story all over again. The only difference aside from the way the characters look is that Willow at least has a solid relationship with her brother. Elias was a carbon copy of his dad in every way but his eye color. I mean, even the way he dresses and his villain costume is almost an exact replica of Ren's.

Willow just read like a mash up of different character types and while I feel like it did in ways work for her, she just felt cliche at times. A girl who for all points and purposes is girly in the way she dresses but yet despises pink just feels overdone. Then she's got that sweet innocent face and a frail, wispy body so she's the unassuming villain which makes her more dangerous. Top it all off with the fact that she's basically a genius with an overactive brain that solves equations and can't quiet down giving her anxiety and insomnia and I'm bored with this cocktail that was Willow. Would she have been more interesting if she were plus size or not the social outcast she was depicted as? Maybe. Elias felt so much like Ren that it felt like I was reading his dad all over again and I just wanted something more from him.

What I loved about the first book was the way that this world of heroes and villains was built and how it showed that not everything is black and white in the realm of good and evil. But this book was completely uninteresting and honestly a task to get through. I feel like I would have enjoyed it better had it been from Warren's POV (Willow's brother) since he was a henchman. Give me that dynamic of a henchman in love with a villain or better yet, I'd like to see the POV of an actual hero in this universe. Show me the way they are praised by the city of Honorville and give me the torment they feel on the inside for how villainous they feel for the way they treat those weaker than them.

This book felt rushed at times and at other times just a way to say how in love with each other Willow and Elias were. I mean, the big bad isn't' even really resolved in this book. Willow is targeted because she figured out how the sorting works but I don't see how that was a bad thing. It's not explained, just glossed over as the reason why she was a target. It's not even revealed who is behind the sorting, just stating that everyone knows it's a person.

The grammatical errors in the book were annoying. Again I overlooked it in Morally Grey because the plot was entertaining and it did read like a debut novel so I tend to give a lot of grace for that, but to find out that this author had written a few other books it makes me wonder who is editing for her.

Maybe it's the designer in me (I got my degree in Graphic Design) but I feel like the covers for this series could have been more cohesive which didn't bother me for the first book because it read like a debut novel but really grated on me after this one. The cover for Smiley honestly gives me Blink 182 vibes but after reading this book, I think it did actually fit the story quite well. But it doesn't match the cover for Morally Grey at all and if you're building a series or novels that revolve around the same world then the covers should reflect that.

Overall this book was just a let down for me and the ending felt like a slap to the ending of the previous book.

[Treyonna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book DOES NOT have a happy ending, so be forewarned. The sex scenes were bad BDSM, FMC is a virgin but being called "whore/slut" and having dick shoved down her throat her first time. There was no discussion of safe words or how she would let him know if something he was doing was going too far for her. Like the girl just had her first kiss and chapters later she has a loaded gun wet from their victim's blood being shoved up her vagina, while his magic has her suspended in air and unable to move. The MMC went from this super sweet boy next door type to hardcore Dom/Sub kink with no discussions of boundaries, safe words or safe gestures. That made me feel icky, she didn't know what she was getting into or signing up for because there was no discussion had nor does she have previous sexual experience to compare it to. She's just going with what the more experienced person wants to do and that feels like dubious consent to me. In this story she enjoys it but she also says that she would basically let him do whatever he wanted to her as long as it brought him pleasure. That line of thinking is deeply unhealthy. This book was not as good as the first book and was significantly darker.
Spoiler alert to how the book ends:
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EVERYBODY DIES! I was not expecting that ending, not one main character was left alive. Everybody died tragically, ending with the FMC blowing her brains out while holding the MMC's lifeless body. I have never read a book where every character in the story dies in the last 10 minutes of the book.

[Kaneisha Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Broooooooooooo!! What?….no seriously what??! I am NOT okay. I am unwell.
Heart? Ripped out and torn to pieces. What is hope? What is good? Nothing…nothing.

Anna Lynn Hammer…I must give you credit. I was invested. I was in love with Willow, she was me (minus the genius traits) but Eliasssssss😮‍💨 “Would you burn the world for me?” Yes 1000x yes. Won’t even bat an eye 🙃.

Did I enjoy this book? I really did. Idk if my reaction up top gave that away but this is a must read! Smiley is an interconnected story in the same world as Morally Grey, if you haven’t read that it’s totally fine but you should read that too 🤷🏽‍♀️. The concept of this story was refreshing and different from most of what’s currently out there.

You will feel a lot of emotions with this, you will fall in love not only with our MCs but the side characters. You will be rooting for every single one of these “villains” and rethink what the meaning of “Hero” truly means.

I have to say thank you to the author for sharing this and allowing me experience this as an ARC. Of course this opinion is mine in its entirety and probably rambling in nature. I am still trying to accept my feelings at this moment and haven’t had the chance to call my sister to scream.
Oh and of course, check your TW/CW!!

[Jade Emberz · Rating 4 out of 5]

x-posted from the Zon

(A Great Alt-Universe... ARC Review - no spoilers)

I truly enjoyed the Villain and Superhero take in this book. When you read it, you won't feel like you have a comic book in your hands at all. It was refreshing to get out of the usual fiction which tends to be amongst the humans w/out powers realm I've been immersed in lately. Willow (FMC) is brilliant, exceptionally so. The way she takes glee in all of her devious plots made my dark soul smirk. The connection she has with her sibling Warren is one that everyone should be able to experience. Elias (MMC) has this swagger to him that you can absolutely envision as you're reading the story. They have a very Gomez and Morticia vibe to their dynamic. It's romantic, steamy in a couple of sections of the book (not many in case you are averse to that, easy to skip over), and such a twist that has left me thinking of the last quarter of the book at all hours. Dive into this Universe. It might be bittersweet and a tad heart wrenching for some but it's absolutely worth the experience. Thanks Anna, for once again creating a realm and book that I will think of for many months to come. *cries in hidden*

[Chrissy Kullmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm still trying to untangle the emotions I'm feeling after reading this story. You develop all these feelings for the MCs to the point where you're like it's ok they killed someone they're villains, it's what they do. You even laugh in the ways they do it, willow being all sweet then sticking bomb stickers on the heros face - she's cute it's funny it's ok. Then the love you feel when weaknesses are identified, the passion they share with each other, I actually blushed a couple of times. The MCs are relatable and justifiable. The turn the story took though, my jaw dropped, my eyes watered, I stood from my chair clutching my pillow to my chest. Heros are the villains to the viIlians, they're just as bad as villains - it's all perspective. and let me tell you the anger you feel towards the heros in the end, the betrayal of those you thought you could trust and the just lack of needing life after watching your weakness's light diminish.... This story does NOT have a HEA, it gives you all the emotions *chefs kiss* Ms Anna Lynn Hammar *chefs kiss*

[Madeline Buteyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are small spoilers in this review.
Typically in sequels we are shown the same characters and continue with the MCs of the first book. What I love about this sequel is that this follows the CHILDREN of the MCs of the first book. Now the MFC is not one of their children but is the weakness of one of their children. The ending is truly heartbreaking because there is no HEA. Though most people want HEAs in every book they read and not giving readers that could hurt the reviews and numbers of the book, I think if Anna Lynn Hammer gave this book an HEA it would not have been true to the story. Not everyone can have a HEA, whether that is in a book or real life.
Another thing that I loved about both this and the previous book was how it shined a light on the bad things that even the Heros do and are forgiven for because they are "good". Both of these books showed how even "villains" can love. Both of these books show that no one can be wholly good or wholly bad, we are all morally gray.

[Jami Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superhero fantasy that can be a standalone (but it’ll be a better read if you read Morally Grey first.) It’s a quick book and you follow Willow Thistle, her brother Warren, and the Valder children. What I LOVED about this book is the ending. It’s an edge of the seat, ready to think something is going to happen, and you are smacked in the face with THE END. It’s the ending it needed to have! I love quick reads and I enjoyed the characters, but more would have been alright, but it didn’t stop my enjoyment of the book. It’s a 4-star read, light on the spice but a good romantic superhero story.

[Alisha Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

The morally gray series was one of my favorite series I’ve read so far. Smiley was so relatable to me as an autistic person, the way Anna portrayed Willow made me feel seen. I loved everything about Morally Gray and I love everything about smiley. Except the ending. You can’t make me love characters so much and take them away like that it’s cruel. The relationship between Elias and Willow was exilerating, and don’t get me started on the spicy scenes. Chefs kiss for this book and chefs kiss to the author, absolutely phenomenal.

[N L Hiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it when the couple is obsessed with one another, but one has no clue that the other is interested, even through all the looks and lingering smiles. Also, Willow is giving Jinx from Arcane and I'm so in! And Elias! Just yes. Yes, to it all. The ending was beautiful, visceral carnage. In a word, Smiley is EXPLOSIVE, and I'm here for it. I cannot wait to read more from Hammar! I'm giving Smiley 5/5 stars with an exploding sticker thrown in, too.

[Amanda McFeeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I throughly enjoyed this sequel! I love the world of Morally Gray and was so excited to dive back in. I really enjoyed the new cast of characters, especially Willow who is unlike any other protagonist I’ve read before. Good amount of action and spice although the spice didn’t really seem to match sigh Willow as a character. The ending has me staring at the wall, so wild.

[Katie Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great follow up to Morally Grey. In the same universe we meet the quiet Willow who likes to stay out of the spotlight. That is until her childhood crush comes back into her life. Get ready for an explosive story with Willow stepping out from her safe place and finally trying to live up to her Villain role.

[Alicia Wessell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg, I loved this book so much!!!! The love connections were amazing and I adored Elias ♥️ the ending had me in a chokehold though, but I still loved EACH. AND. EVERY. MINUTE. OF. IT!!! Great job Anna, you knocked this one out of the park!!!! ♥️♥️♥️

[Sunshine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written but...

I love Anna Lyn Hammar's style of writing. When I can sit down and read, it's like watching a movie in my head. That being said, the ending caught me totally off guard, and I'm sad it ended the way it did.

[Kayla Korte · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way I inhaled this book was insane! I love this universe and Willow and Elias love *chefs kiss* oh my god I’m going to start crying again. Everyone needs to read this book!(as long as they are good with the trigger warnings)

[Brinklee Mixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first review on Goodreads and I just came here to say, with tears in my eyes, this short book fucked me up. This book drop kicked me off a 15 story building into shark infested waters. Why did you break my heart like that..
Sincerely, someone who needs to go to therapy now.

[Anna Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will admit I put 5 stats so often but this book had me in a CHOKEHOLD. Lol
It was so good the story line was good. Could have used some more details cuz I got a little confused at points but I figured it out along the way, hahaha.
So good. Ending had me geeked. Reccomend.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

honestly during the book i was thinking ‘oh this is not half bad i kinda like it’ but then also at the end i was just unsatisfied. could’ve been better but it wasn’t too bad if you’ve got a lot of free time and ur bored

[Anna Hammar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm the author and I think I did a good job :)

[Lauren Landry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing I highly recommend reading this book. It had just the right amount of plot and spice.

[Ashley Rabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book I loved and it’s been written really well

[Eden Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually probably the worst book I’ve ever read lmfao. And they all die in the end. Suffered through this because I had to finish but it was a forced read for sure.

[Jessica]

holy shit what did I just read

[Nyashia Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never emotionally recover from this book, EVER!
if you are in a bad mood please do not read.

[Isabel Zamora · Rating 4 out of 5]

WTH Batman!

This was probably so screwed up. How can you give it a Romeo and Juliet ending?!

I’m so morally gray. But the story was funny.

[Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

WHAT