Edit: made an error with TW (my fault, not authors. Just correcting my post to reflect the TWs correctly).
I had the privilege of being an arc reader for "His Christmas Bunny" by Billie Jade Kermack.
It came with a trigger warning of cheating, descriptive sex scenes, vulgar speech, spanking, voyeurism and breath play.
I think I purely signed up cause I haven't read many books that dabble with voyeurism/exhibitionist and I love those two KINKS. 🫣
The first page reminded me of those freeze frame narrations in movies or TV shows. Unfortunately it kinda struggled to work for the first page and I had to reread it a few times to get the jist of it.
By the first 3% , I got the vibe that Mia is "I'm not like other girls" with her whole slut shaming, and describing herself as the "nerdy best friend."
I know the trigger warnings read as a mature story but when I rolled onto the 5% mark, it started to feel more like YA.
Why is Mia so angry? Like almost every remark she marks is with a tone or some sort of annoyance. Like damn..take a happy pill, girl.
By the 17% mark, I was getting really annoyed at her constantly mention that she was a virgin or up until a certain hadn't experienced sex, let alone a kiss. I get it..up until that point you were a virgin. Being a virgin shouldn't be your personality..
This story reads as convenience..the whole "he knew my boyfriend was bad".. the whole "oh, why are you here, I was told you weren't be." , the whole "I left xyz out and now he sees it."
I didn't think it was possible to be annoyed at seeing "plastic bunny friend" but guess I am..why not just say vibrator? There is only so many times a girl can read plastic bunny friend before she questions her own sanity.
OMG! By the 35% mark, I felt like I had had enough of this story. How repeative do you need to be? How many times does a reader need to read "xyz years ago, he punched my now ex" or "xyz years ago, this is the reason behind my scar." Or "if it wasn't for xyz reason we would've been together." Almost every paragraph was the almost same wording.
By the 43% mark, I started to question..how does Mia know what he does or even sounds like when Logan's serving in the army? 🤔 I know its mentioned that she online stalks him but how does she know "only the laugh he saves for the military" or "the tone he uses to command his team." ?
I know I hadn't finished the book but at the 53% mark I felt like the cheating, spanking and voyeurism weren't needed. Even with the voyeurism it was hinted at but again, it's not expressly clear like the author thought it'd be. The cheating I sorta understand cause not every reader like cheating but each to their own..
When the sex scene appeared on the pages, it wasn't as detailed as I thought it'd be.
Wait..I'm confused..at the 88% mark, it says "there are mum and dads", I thought they were at the parents house? It was mentioned earlier in the book, that they were at the parents house.
I wish the author best of luck with their writing career, but their not an author for me.