Indulgences

Doppelgangers #2

by Weslie Jensen

Princess Scarlet now lives in SHOTS, New York, under the guise Scarlet PinHeart.
As she begins to adjust to the new atmosphere, she discovers that a group of cannibalistic villains have infested the inauspicious town and are not to be underestimated.
While her mysterious partner, Shiloh Reux, begins to turn into a stranger, Scarlet is forced to face the choice of discovering answers alone.
Even if it means she goes traitor.

533 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2017

About the author

I hope when people open my books they will become inspired to follow their dreams (and possibly slay a few Doppelgangers along the way).

Reviews

[Magnolia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to write an in-depth review of Indulgences after reading it, while it was fresh in my mind. Unfortunately I spaced it and have since then read two other books. Better late than ever, so here we go!

Overall:
I like this book more than its predecessor. Its story structure makes it flow better and although it is a longer book than Doppelgangers, I found it to be a quicker read. We are able to submerge ourselves in the wonderland world of SHOTS, and understand understand the world Weslie has built. The characters we only got a glimpse of in book one are brought fourth, and keep us entertained while we strive for clues to the lives of the characters from book 1 part 2.
The dialogue in some parts could use a little cleaning in my opinion (there's a chapter where the dialogue says the word 'just' about nine times) But I supposed high schoolers do talk like that.
Now for the fun stuff:
Warning spoilers from both books.

Plot
As I mentioned it was easier to through than its predecessor. It also covers more surface area in my opinion. I liked it better than the first book, but it is lacking the cliffhanger from the first book. (somehow I'm grateful for that, I don't think I could be tormented again)
Characters
Scarlet and Shiloh are still around, and are in my opinion brought down a notch for a while, when we get a break from Alaysia and enter high school. We have this playful Halloween party, before things get serious and sort of nasty. Their friendship is tested, and I love it, we see their true colors. I'm also a big fan of when a character is put in a tough spot, and for me this was Scarlet throughout the second book. During my first read I was screaming "What is she doing!?" But during this second time around I understood her reasoning a lot better, and sympathized with her.

Allan is the comic relief character though Indulgences and I adore him. His rivalry with Evan gave both characters personality, and helped shaped the personalities of the main characters. I wouldn't say Allan is a main character in this book, but who knows what is to come.

I hope to god Evan is Evarius because I think he's great. During my first read I hated him, but this time around I found myself liking him more than Evarius. Evarius is this 'perfect angel', and Evan is the personality that Evarius has been lacking because he's been trying to fit this cookie-cutter prince image. If he's not, then I am team Evan all the way.

Trik, Melody's brother wins the award for 1. my favorite character in this book, and 2. the one who made the greatest impression. After the death of Melody, I didn't think another character who had such a short amount of time in the story could make the same sort of impression. I think I was more devastated over the death of Trik because Scarlet had worked the entire book to make this bond with him. He was also the last thing Scarlet had of Melody.

Cheshire, he is this anti-hero type that I'm enjoying. I'm keeping an eye on him and his relationship with Shiloh because I have a feeling that he is the key to learning more about Shiloh.

All the other characters either, didn't make that great of an impression or I hated, with the exception of....
The villains.
These crazy maniacs are the most entertaining group. I don't understand their motives yet, and they don't seem to be the real villains of the series, but they sure are interesting and are an obstacle for Scarlet through most of the book. My favorite is Cocoa.