SO MUCH POTENTIAL BUT THE EXECUTION FALLS SHORT
Done! And all I have to say is: It's… OK? If you're just after something smutty (actually more of porny, since it's dubcon), then this is a satisfying non-emotional read, I suppose. It shows a teacher getting harassed and sexually assaulted and humiliated in front of an audience in a public place, and his rather shamelessly expedited descent into depravity. It's like a sped-up quickie (yes, redundancy intended) that's trying to have a plot, and while the plot would have actually been great if the characters were given more proper development, clearly, the characters are not the prime focus of this book. This book doesn't care about making you like the characters, it just needs 2 people to do the nasty as quickly, as anti-climactically, and as nonsensically as possible, and hey. Sometimes, that's the kind of stress release we need, right? Just like a quickie (aka PWP), haha.
The storyteller side of me didn't enjoy this as much though, because I'm very character-orientated, and in order for me to believe a story's events, I first need to be convinced of the characters' motivations and drives, aspirations, etc. Their "human aspects" to make them real instead of puppets on strings. If that's what you want with your filthy smut (or porn), well, you won't get that here. There was a feeble attempt to humanise Darien at the beginning, but it was shallow and hurried. Like, it was placed there, just for the sake of some semblance of characterisation. Then the succeeding parts are all from Beau's POV, and it's not to explore or deepen our understanding of his character, it's just so readers can get a first-row-seat POV of the smutty (porny) action (and try to convince us that he's all aboard even if he doesn't admit it. At first). Then of course, there are the other elements that were blatantly ignored for the sake of insta-porn – those parts that really test the boundaries of a reader's suspension of disbelief (i.e. the school Beau is working at doesn't seem to have any other occupants other than whoever the author needs to be present at the scene, so despite all the trashing, the violent beating, the ra—smut (porn), not a single soul ever appears to check what the flying F is going on. It's… weird. Though I get it; being realistic is not as important as what the author needs to happen, which is… yeah, you get it by now, haha). Basically, the characters are just a necessity to fulfil the porn (which is a common theme in stories purely for the sake of eroticism). (Not decided yet if I want to read the second book. Maybe? If I find myself in the mood for a quickie, hehe.)
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At 70% and almost done, but I couldn't help noticing: WHY SO MANY RUN-ON SENTENCES? Like, they get plentier and plentier as the story progresses. Then there're the inconsistencies, like: US spellings and UK spellings combined? Was this book not copyedited? If so, how could the copy editor have missed all that? Such egregious errors really take away a huge chunk from the credibility of the writing. Also, semicolons would really have helped in tidying up all those clauses with different subjects that were carelessly crammed into one sentence. Yikes. Again, a good copy editor would have easily caught those. If this book had been properly copyedited (as any respectable book should be) and those slipshod sentences polished up? I would have given this book at least 4 stars, maybe even 5 (though I don't know how it ends yet so, we'll see). For now, reading on…