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The Pawn and The Puppet #1
The Pawn and The Puppet
The Emerald Lake Asylum is not a place most desire to go. Nineteen year old, Skylenna, however, made a promise that she must keep. Once hired, she only has one purpose—prove to the council that barbaric treatments, such as waterboarding, scalding baths, and beatings, are no longer the answer. But that all takes pause when she meets the source of terror in the asylum. A patient with a split personality—on one side, he’s the bloodthirsty genius, Dessin. On the other, a hidden persona that is buried deep in his subconscious.
When Dessin is caught in an attempted cell break, he faces execution if Skylenna can’t bring out his core personality and reveal his humanity. She has ninety days to save his life, and the only way to do that is to let him consume her into his world of moves, counter-moves, and master puppeteering.
With each passing day, their bond deepens, a forbidden attraction forming against her best judgments. Little by little, Skylenna uncovers the sinister secrets of his past that turned him into the monster everyone else fears. And Dessin proves to have one weakness despite the terrifying, indestructible persona he presents to the world: her.
When Dessin is caught in an attempted cell break, he faces execution if Skylenna can’t bring out his core personality and reveal his humanity. She has ninety days to save his life, and the only way to do that is to let him consume her into his world of moves, counter-moves, and master puppeteering.
With each passing day, their bond deepens, a forbidden attraction forming against her best judgments. Little by little, Skylenna uncovers the sinister secrets of his past that turned him into the monster everyone else fears. And Dessin proves to have one weakness despite the terrifying, indestructible persona he presents to the world: her.
347 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2022
2676 people are currently reading
32927 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,468 reviews
April 5, 2022
we should ban booktok until we figure out whats going on
April 14, 2022
This book's primary purpose was the shock value it created. This book is problematic on so many levels it is unreal.
The trigger warnings in this book are not enough. Please proceed with extreme caution when you are choosing to read this book. Some themes contained in this book that are not mentioned in the warning include; rape of a minor, child prostitution, grooming of minors, transphobia, homophobia, incest with a minor, and racism, among many other topics.
Another thing that stood out to me at first glance was the author's note. In this note, the author states how she wants this book to be eye-opening for people who fear or do not respect those with DID but then says that what is written in her book is an inaccurate representation of DID. This statement is true for other mental illnesses mentioned as well. Only the extreme stereotypes of each mental illness were what was brought to the forefront.
The writing style was okay for a debut novel, and besides favoring shock value over plot, it had good bones. However, if I were the editor, I would be extremely embarrassed and maybe consider a new career field. Here are the top 3 reasons is why I say this:
1.) The sentence structure is extremely rudimentary and juvenile. The amount of sentences starting with and, but, and she is ridiculous. If I made it into a drinking game, I would be at the hospital before page 40.
2.) An editor should have mentioned to the author about their overuse of similies. Especially since 98% of them were related to water. Not to mention there are so many errors in the content. One example of many that should have been told to the author is how seafoam is not found on the ocean floor (p. 44).
3.) Also, a major continuity check is needed. One of the biggest examples of this is when we are introduced to Nile in chapter 12. Literally, on the first page of the chapter, it says he is both 23 and 21 years old. Which is it?
Overall as mentioned before, I think this book has good bones if it takes out all the problematic and unneeded aspects of shock value.
Another thing that is important to mention about the book is marketing. The author did an amazing job of marketing this debut novel. It was on the Barnes & Noble bestsellers list within hours (I personally bought my book here during the first hour of its launch). I know that personally fell into the marketing hype and pretty cover. Before reading it, I listened to the trailers and prompted the book blindly on my social media. When reading the synopsis at the time, I had no idea how problematic it was on the inside. Honestly, I am embarrassed by my blunder. I should have never promoted it blindly without doing proper research. That is on me and is the main reason why I wanted to post an authentic and honest review. I want people to have a clear picture of what they are getting into. I believe that many other people fell into the trap I did, and we're not given all the facts before going into this book.
The trigger warnings in this book are not enough. Please proceed with extreme caution when you are choosing to read this book. Some themes contained in this book that are not mentioned in the warning include; rape of a minor, child prostitution, grooming of minors, transphobia, homophobia, incest with a minor, and racism, among many other topics.
Another thing that stood out to me at first glance was the author's note. In this note, the author states how she wants this book to be eye-opening for people who fear or do not respect those with DID but then says that what is written in her book is an inaccurate representation of DID. This statement is true for other mental illnesses mentioned as well. Only the extreme stereotypes of each mental illness were what was brought to the forefront.
The writing style was okay for a debut novel, and besides favoring shock value over plot, it had good bones. However, if I were the editor, I would be extremely embarrassed and maybe consider a new career field. Here are the top 3 reasons is why I say this:
1.) The sentence structure is extremely rudimentary and juvenile. The amount of sentences starting with and, but, and she is ridiculous. If I made it into a drinking game, I would be at the hospital before page 40.
2.) An editor should have mentioned to the author about their overuse of similies. Especially since 98% of them were related to water. Not to mention there are so many errors in the content. One example of many that should have been told to the author is how seafoam is not found on the ocean floor (p. 44).
3.) Also, a major continuity check is needed. One of the biggest examples of this is when we are introduced to Nile in chapter 12. Literally, on the first page of the chapter, it says he is both 23 and 21 years old. Which is it?
Overall as mentioned before, I think this book has good bones if it takes out all the problematic and unneeded aspects of shock value.
Another thing that is important to mention about the book is marketing. The author did an amazing job of marketing this debut novel. It was on the Barnes & Noble bestsellers list within hours (I personally bought my book here during the first hour of its launch). I know that personally fell into the marketing hype and pretty cover. Before reading it, I listened to the trailers and prompted the book blindly on my social media. When reading the synopsis at the time, I had no idea how problematic it was on the inside. Honestly, I am embarrassed by my blunder. I should have never promoted it blindly without doing proper research. That is on me and is the main reason why I wanted to post an authentic and honest review. I want people to have a clear picture of what they are getting into. I believe that many other people fell into the trap I did, and we're not given all the facts before going into this book.
April 4, 2022
We are all clearly not reading the same book. I was so excited about this book and got caught up in the hype via TikTok, but this book is just bad.
-The plot? Where is it because I couldn’t find it. The author bounces around from plot point to plot point with no explanation of the last in a matter of sentences causing it to be a jumbled mess that I couldn’t keep track of.
-Patient 13? More like patient snooze fest. He’s not scary at all, and the tension or flirting he is supposed to have with Skylenna is laughable. I fell asleep when they were supposed to be falling in love.
-Oh, and Skylenna? She’s a pick me character who was ready to drop her drawers for Patient 13 before she had even met him! Dude could have been a scaley lizard person for all we know at that point.
-The inconsistency of the world is dotted through the entire storyline as well. Do they have electricity? Why are they in a buggy one second, and then he has a motorcycle? Also, the grammar, formatting, and spelling is atrocious.
-Don’t even get me started on how this book took dark too far just for the shock value of being dark. If you read the book, just think bleach, and you’ll catch what I’m saying.
This book was all hype before even being released, and I’m very disappointed in the authors writing (which is not good) and the entire story. Try better next time, I guess.
-The plot? Where is it because I couldn’t find it. The author bounces around from plot point to plot point with no explanation of the last in a matter of sentences causing it to be a jumbled mess that I couldn’t keep track of.
-Patient 13? More like patient snooze fest. He’s not scary at all, and the tension or flirting he is supposed to have with Skylenna is laughable. I fell asleep when they were supposed to be falling in love.
-Oh, and Skylenna? She’s a pick me character who was ready to drop her drawers for Patient 13 before she had even met him! Dude could have been a scaley lizard person for all we know at that point.
-The inconsistency of the world is dotted through the entire storyline as well. Do they have electricity? Why are they in a buggy one second, and then he has a motorcycle? Also, the grammar, formatting, and spelling is atrocious.
-Don’t even get me started on how this book took dark too far just for the shock value of being dark. If you read the book, just think bleach, and you’ll catch what I’m saying.
This book was all hype before even being released, and I’m very disappointed in the authors writing (which is not good) and the entire story. Try better next time, I guess.
July 2, 2025
Disclaimer: before I start getting into the problems I have with this book, I am a transgender male with mental illnesses (but not DID or OCD which were in this book). So no one can tell me that my feelings and my thoughts on this book (the transphobia) are invalid because of my identity. Carry on reading, thank you. Also, I finished the ENTIRE book. It ends in a cliffhanger, but honestly, it's not that much of one???? I don't really care about what happens next to Skylenna and Dessin.
EDIT: I forgot to add a section, so the section "Writing style" is added. I have to speak about the way she writes.
If you have been on booktok in the past, oh, 4 weeks, you might have seen this book floating around. It is by a booktoker indie author. I believe this is her debut novel. I don't know, because she has me blocked! She blocked me a few months ago because of SJM things.
The Pawn and the Puppet is supposed to be this dark fantasy/thriller set in an asylum. The main character is supposed to help this ominous "Patient 13". Sounds cool, right? It's not a bad premise by any means. Yet, the author turns this into SUCH a problematic book. Other 1-star reviews sum it up nicely, but I will also be summing up everything wrong with this book.
THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN SOME OF THESE SECTIONS. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
PLOT AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Going in, this book, I will admit, has an interesting premise. Set in an asylum? Sounds pretty f*cking neat. However, there is literally no plot to follow. We jump back and forth from plot point to plot point. There were instances where we went from one thing to another within literally 3 or 4 sentences. It just felt so flat in terms of plot compared to other books. Some characters also really have no development and really serve no purpose? Like I don't know why they were included. They added nothing to the story. I gave no sh!ts to any of the characters except Ruth. And we don't even MEET her until probably like 60% of the way through.
WRITING STYLE
The writing style in this is clear it's a debut (at least to me). The overuse of similes and metaphors, to be frank, was annoying. In the first chapter ALONE there are six similes. I don't mind similes used, but when there are six used in a five-page chapter? That is overuse.
I also want to point out this paragraph in chapter 15 "The Mad Men's Muse".:
"This hallways curves like a spine plagued with scoliosis, walls creaking from the repercussions of patient trauma, and vents expelling a stench of dried sweat and ammonia."
I think the use of comparing a curved hallway like that of someone with scoliosis is gross. Why do you need to use this simile? It could have just been a curved hallway. There was no need to describe a building like that of a serious medical condition. Scoliosis is a serious condition, and to use it as a way to describe a building? No. Get out of here with that. It is gross for you to describe an inanimate object as a serious, life-threatening medical condition.
PATIENT 13 AND SKYLENNA
This guy. He is SO flat. He seems like he's supposed to be this scary, large, and sexy man. Uh yeah, no. He's not. He is this tension-ridden man acting like a teenage boy around Skylenna. Their romance is so boring. I literally did not give a sh!t if they ended up together at the end. They have literally no chemistry. There is quite literally more chemistry between me and my phone.
As for Skylenna, oh man. She is such b!tch. I do not like her character at all. I was messaging friends while reading, and multiple times I was like, "awh man she was about to die and didn't. BUMMER I don't like her." She is the definition of a "pick me girl". She wanted to drop everything for Patient 13 and yet she hadn't even MET him yet. She is one of the most annoying protagonists I have ever read from. And that is saying a lot since I hated EGOTISTICAL PUCKBOY from earlier this year with 2 horrible protagonists.
WORLD BUILDING AND SOCIETY
Oh, man. This world-building on its own for a star rating is maybe a 2 (being generous). It felt so choppy. Is there electricity? I don't know. Do we have cars? They are described as buggys. And yet, probably about 70% of the way through, there is a random @ss motorcycle. So, this world has buggy cars, a motorcycle, and yet they use candles? What? Make it make sense bro. This is horrible.
The society. Oh, f*cking man. We are told right from the start that women are expected to be stick thin, skip multiple meals to keep their slim build and have long nightly routines. Their nightly routines can take anywhere from 1 hour and a half to 4 hours. Also on the roads, there are apparently comfy benches (maybe couches? IDK I don't remember the term specifically) meant for women to pass out because of exhaustion/hunger. Why do you need to have this society that is very fatphobic? It is a fantasy world. Why do you feel the need to fat shame the MC when Skylenna is not even a fat woman? She is described as being skinnier, but she is larger than the other woman because she was raised in the "woods" with her father and then with Aurick (a friend). Also, the f*cking RACISM in this society. Every single character is white except one of the patients in the asylum (whose name is also Chekiss). It is stated that women should have "porcelain skin", aka being white as f*ck. I get wanting to write characters that share your skin colour, but why make one character not white? Who is also a patient in the asylum?
MENTAL ILLNESS REPRESENTATION
I won't spend much time on this section because the illnesses represented here are not ones I have. There is OCD and DID as the main ones. There might have been ones I'm forgetting.
In the acknowledgments, Brandi states she had help from an individual who has DID. I don't know if this is true, but to me, it seems like it might be false. Brandi states in her author's note that she used DID rep as "a morally grey, dangerous character." And that it is "NOT an accurate representation of DID." The representation was definitely meant to be seen as dangerous. I don't know why it had to be someone with DID, to be honest. I won't add any speculations here but...I do have some.
(SPOILER FOR CHAPTER 9) As for the OCD, it was very brief, like one chapter and then she's gone. Sun Ravendi is the one who has OCD. She is shown in chapter 9. She is said to have been brought to the asylum because she would use bleach on her and her 3-year-old daughter to get rid of germs. But oh, that is not all. She is also said to have sodomized her daughter with objects soaked in bleach (found in the autopsy). I'm sorry, was this necessary? I don't think this was necessary to add. You could have just had that she used bleach to clean herself, and it was getting too bad for her. Why add the daughter? Oh right, shock value. Well, it's disgusting.
TRIGGER WARNINGS
Alright, y'all. One of the biggest things wrong with this book. The content warning list at the beginning of the book is INCOMPLETE. Brandi does not mention MAJOR trigger warnings. Here is the list that Brandi has in the beginning:
"This book contains: gratuitous violence, depression, suicide, torture, domestic violence, eating disorders, hallucinations, misogyny, poisoning, sexual assault, mention of pedophilia, romanticized mental illness, gore, death of a loved one, child abuse, decapitation, female oppression, hostage situation, body shaming, panic attacks."
Seems like a pretty extensive list, right? Well, let me tell you it is missing MAJOR trigger warnings. The ones missing are:
- rape of a minor
- child prostitution
- grooming of minors
- transphobia
- homophobia
- racism
- incest with a minor
- SA with inanimate objects (to a child)
- Childhood SA
- GRAPHIC scenes of torture (including hydrotherapy, chair binding, simulated drowning, scalding hot water treatment, hanging toe treatment, acid baths, genital dismemberment, and more)
- and SO MANY MORE
Please please PLEASE proceed with caution if you still want to read this book. There are so many graphic scenes that are NOT on the content warning page. I'm not someone who gets triggered easily by things in books, but some of these scenes are so graphic it is disturbing the author wrote them.
CHARLOTTE & TRANSPHOBIA
Now, onto the entire reason that this review is being written. I went into this book knowing there was transphobia in it. If I didn't? God this review would be a lot angrier. I am a transgender person living in Alberta, Canada. I deal with transphobia almost on the god damn daily when I am not at home. So when I pick up a book, I don't expect transphobia in it. This book? F*cking disgusting that this made it past editors and was published. Many people have said that beta readers for Brandi TOLD HER EXPLICITLY to not keep this part in. She did not listen, so I will NOT stay quiet about this. It is disgusting that Brandi did not think about deleting it from her book. It was clearly a plot point meant for shock value. And it is frankly f*cking disgusting and vile that she used it.
The transphobia in this story revolves around the past of Niles, one of the patients that Skylenna connects with. Niles is a sex worker and used the money he got to support his family after his father left them when Niles was young. When Niles is sixteen, he is requested for service by a woman named Charlotte. It is said Charlotte paid handsomely for Niles service and offered to leave some fine jewelry to take home to his mother. She is said to have been born a man. Niles says, and I quote, "I've seen many odd things in my time at that mansion. Many. At the time, this wasn't the strangest I'd seen, and so I was not bothered. Charlotte stayed in heavy make-up..." And in the next chapter, when it is revealed that Charlotte is actually Charles Offborth (from the necklace Charlotte gave Niles), Skylenna's first response is, "...Niles spending three days with a woman with male parts..." Skylenna is disgusted not with the fact that Charlotte is Niles' biological father, she is disgusted with the fact that Charlotte is transgender. She also misgenders Charlotte constantly in chapter 13 ("Cupid's Love").
The transphobia in this f*cking book. Transphobia is in multiple parts. First off, the way she is characterized and criminalized as a transgender woman. This is playing into the stereotype that all transgender women are predators and just want to r@pe cisgender women. That is NOT the case and to play into this stereotype, in simple words, is vile. And the comment about "male parts" is frankly f*cking gross. Why do you need to do that? Brandi tried to say in an Instagram post that the characterization was intentional. It was supposed to be a shock value in the plot. Brandi clearly made Skylenna's view IGNORANT and TRANSPHOBIC. She used the ONLY LGBTQ+ representation in her book as a predator because she is "a female with male parts." Also, why did you need to make her related to Niles? That was unnecessary.
Also, Niles story itself is not listed in the content warnings at the beginning of the book. Incest with a minor? Not there. Child prostitution? Not there. R@pe of a minor? Nope. There was absolutely no need to have Charlotte be Niles biological father. There could have been a different storyline that IS NOT transphobia.
OVERALL
At the end of this very long review, I ask of you to just think for a moment. Why should you read this book, and maybe promote it? Why should you read a book that is harmful to the LGBTQ+ community and people with mental illnesses?
This book is not worth your time. Go look for a book with GOOD LGBTQ+ and mental illness representation, like ICEBREAKER by A.L. Graziadei. This book is not worth anyone's time.
EDIT: I forgot to add a section, so the section "Writing style" is added. I have to speak about the way she writes.
If you have been on booktok in the past, oh, 4 weeks, you might have seen this book floating around. It is by a booktoker indie author. I believe this is her debut novel. I don't know, because she has me blocked! She blocked me a few months ago because of SJM things.
The Pawn and the Puppet is supposed to be this dark fantasy/thriller set in an asylum. The main character is supposed to help this ominous "Patient 13". Sounds cool, right? It's not a bad premise by any means. Yet, the author turns this into SUCH a problematic book. Other 1-star reviews sum it up nicely, but I will also be summing up everything wrong with this book.
THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN SOME OF THESE SECTIONS. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
PLOT AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Going in, this book, I will admit, has an interesting premise. Set in an asylum? Sounds pretty f*cking neat. However, there is literally no plot to follow. We jump back and forth from plot point to plot point. There were instances where we went from one thing to another within literally 3 or 4 sentences. It just felt so flat in terms of plot compared to other books. Some characters also really have no development and really serve no purpose? Like I don't know why they were included. They added nothing to the story. I gave no sh!ts to any of the characters except Ruth. And we don't even MEET her until probably like 60% of the way through.
WRITING STYLE
The writing style in this is clear it's a debut (at least to me). The overuse of similes and metaphors, to be frank, was annoying. In the first chapter ALONE there are six similes. I don't mind similes used, but when there are six used in a five-page chapter? That is overuse.
I also want to point out this paragraph in chapter 15 "The Mad Men's Muse".:
"This hallways curves like a spine plagued with scoliosis, walls creaking from the repercussions of patient trauma, and vents expelling a stench of dried sweat and ammonia."
I think the use of comparing a curved hallway like that of someone with scoliosis is gross. Why do you need to use this simile? It could have just been a curved hallway. There was no need to describe a building like that of a serious medical condition. Scoliosis is a serious condition, and to use it as a way to describe a building? No. Get out of here with that. It is gross for you to describe an inanimate object as a serious, life-threatening medical condition.
PATIENT 13 AND SKYLENNA
This guy. He is SO flat. He seems like he's supposed to be this scary, large, and sexy man. Uh yeah, no. He's not. He is this tension-ridden man acting like a teenage boy around Skylenna. Their romance is so boring. I literally did not give a sh!t if they ended up together at the end. They have literally no chemistry. There is quite literally more chemistry between me and my phone.
As for Skylenna, oh man. She is such b!tch. I do not like her character at all. I was messaging friends while reading, and multiple times I was like, "awh man she was about to die and didn't. BUMMER I don't like her." She is the definition of a "pick me girl". She wanted to drop everything for Patient 13 and yet she hadn't even MET him yet. She is one of the most annoying protagonists I have ever read from. And that is saying a lot since I hated EGOTISTICAL PUCKBOY from earlier this year with 2 horrible protagonists.
WORLD BUILDING AND SOCIETY
Oh, man. This world-building on its own for a star rating is maybe a 2 (being generous). It felt so choppy. Is there electricity? I don't know. Do we have cars? They are described as buggys. And yet, probably about 70% of the way through, there is a random @ss motorcycle. So, this world has buggy cars, a motorcycle, and yet they use candles? What? Make it make sense bro. This is horrible.
The society. Oh, f*cking man. We are told right from the start that women are expected to be stick thin, skip multiple meals to keep their slim build and have long nightly routines. Their nightly routines can take anywhere from 1 hour and a half to 4 hours. Also on the roads, there are apparently comfy benches (maybe couches? IDK I don't remember the term specifically) meant for women to pass out because of exhaustion/hunger. Why do you need to have this society that is very fatphobic? It is a fantasy world. Why do you feel the need to fat shame the MC when Skylenna is not even a fat woman? She is described as being skinnier, but she is larger than the other woman because she was raised in the "woods" with her father and then with Aurick (a friend). Also, the f*cking RACISM in this society. Every single character is white except one of the patients in the asylum (whose name is also Chekiss). It is stated that women should have "porcelain skin", aka being white as f*ck. I get wanting to write characters that share your skin colour, but why make one character not white? Who is also a patient in the asylum?
MENTAL ILLNESS REPRESENTATION
I won't spend much time on this section because the illnesses represented here are not ones I have. There is OCD and DID as the main ones. There might have been ones I'm forgetting.
In the acknowledgments, Brandi states she had help from an individual who has DID. I don't know if this is true, but to me, it seems like it might be false. Brandi states in her author's note that she used DID rep as "a morally grey, dangerous character." And that it is "NOT an accurate representation of DID." The representation was definitely meant to be seen as dangerous. I don't know why it had to be someone with DID, to be honest. I won't add any speculations here but...I do have some.
(SPOILER FOR CHAPTER 9) As for the OCD, it was very brief, like one chapter and then she's gone. Sun Ravendi is the one who has OCD. She is shown in chapter 9. She is said to have been brought to the asylum because she would use bleach on her and her 3-year-old daughter to get rid of germs. But oh, that is not all. She is also said to have sodomized her daughter with objects soaked in bleach (found in the autopsy). I'm sorry, was this necessary? I don't think this was necessary to add. You could have just had that she used bleach to clean herself, and it was getting too bad for her. Why add the daughter? Oh right, shock value. Well, it's disgusting.
TRIGGER WARNINGS
Alright, y'all. One of the biggest things wrong with this book. The content warning list at the beginning of the book is INCOMPLETE. Brandi does not mention MAJOR trigger warnings. Here is the list that Brandi has in the beginning:
"This book contains: gratuitous violence, depression, suicide, torture, domestic violence, eating disorders, hallucinations, misogyny, poisoning, sexual assault, mention of pedophilia, romanticized mental illness, gore, death of a loved one, child abuse, decapitation, female oppression, hostage situation, body shaming, panic attacks."
Seems like a pretty extensive list, right? Well, let me tell you it is missing MAJOR trigger warnings. The ones missing are:
- rape of a minor
- child prostitution
- grooming of minors
- transphobia
- homophobia
- racism
- incest with a minor
- SA with inanimate objects (to a child)
- Childhood SA
- GRAPHIC scenes of torture (including hydrotherapy, chair binding, simulated drowning, scalding hot water treatment, hanging toe treatment, acid baths, genital dismemberment, and more)
- and SO MANY MORE
Please please PLEASE proceed with caution if you still want to read this book. There are so many graphic scenes that are NOT on the content warning page. I'm not someone who gets triggered easily by things in books, but some of these scenes are so graphic it is disturbing the author wrote them.
CHARLOTTE & TRANSPHOBIA
Now, onto the entire reason that this review is being written. I went into this book knowing there was transphobia in it. If I didn't? God this review would be a lot angrier. I am a transgender person living in Alberta, Canada. I deal with transphobia almost on the god damn daily when I am not at home. So when I pick up a book, I don't expect transphobia in it. This book? F*cking disgusting that this made it past editors and was published. Many people have said that beta readers for Brandi TOLD HER EXPLICITLY to not keep this part in. She did not listen, so I will NOT stay quiet about this. It is disgusting that Brandi did not think about deleting it from her book. It was clearly a plot point meant for shock value. And it is frankly f*cking disgusting and vile that she used it.
The transphobia in this story revolves around the past of Niles, one of the patients that Skylenna connects with. Niles is a sex worker and used the money he got to support his family after his father left them when Niles was young. When Niles is sixteen, he is requested for service by a woman named Charlotte. It is said Charlotte paid handsomely for Niles service and offered to leave some fine jewelry to take home to his mother. She is said to have been born a man. Niles says, and I quote, "I've seen many odd things in my time at that mansion. Many. At the time, this wasn't the strangest I'd seen, and so I was not bothered. Charlotte stayed in heavy make-up..." And in the next chapter, when it is revealed that Charlotte is actually Charles Offborth (from the necklace Charlotte gave Niles), Skylenna's first response is, "...Niles spending three days with a woman with male parts..." Skylenna is disgusted not with the fact that Charlotte is Niles' biological father, she is disgusted with the fact that Charlotte is transgender. She also misgenders Charlotte constantly in chapter 13 ("Cupid's Love").
The transphobia in this f*cking book. Transphobia is in multiple parts. First off, the way she is characterized and criminalized as a transgender woman. This is playing into the stereotype that all transgender women are predators and just want to r@pe cisgender women. That is NOT the case and to play into this stereotype, in simple words, is vile. And the comment about "male parts" is frankly f*cking gross. Why do you need to do that? Brandi tried to say in an Instagram post that the characterization was intentional. It was supposed to be a shock value in the plot. Brandi clearly made Skylenna's view IGNORANT and TRANSPHOBIC. She used the ONLY LGBTQ+ representation in her book as a predator because she is "a female with male parts." Also, why did you need to make her related to Niles? That was unnecessary.
Also, Niles story itself is not listed in the content warnings at the beginning of the book. Incest with a minor? Not there. Child prostitution? Not there. R@pe of a minor? Nope. There was absolutely no need to have Charlotte be Niles biological father. There could have been a different storyline that IS NOT transphobia.
OVERALL
At the end of this very long review, I ask of you to just think for a moment. Why should you read this book, and maybe promote it? Why should you read a book that is harmful to the LGBTQ+ community and people with mental illnesses?
This book is not worth your time. Go look for a book with GOOD LGBTQ+ and mental illness representation, like ICEBREAKER by A.L. Graziadei. This book is not worth anyone's time.
April 24, 2022
The transphobia in here is disrespectful and the blaming on “I had to hand in my manuscript” is stupid.
One, yes that one reader shouldn’t have shared copies around but that doesn’t “excuse” the blatant negative stereotype of a trans person in here.
Also if you come here saying “be happy for the representation”, then shut the fuck up. You have no right and also do you even hear yourself???
Negative stereotype are not fuckin representation.
Also all these non trans people can’t, just like me, expect this apology. The author isn’t apologizing to us. Learn to respect who this apology is for and stay in your seat.
And that one tiktok that was made saying “what if it was a white straight male” you clearly don’t want to nor will ever learn what this is about.
Learn about the past and why negative stereotypes are bad before coming here and comparing the majority and the oppressor to the trans community that has been oppressed and shamed for decades.
Now if you excuse this pls unfriend me.
Now that’s not even the half of it. You can go on tiktok under the hashtag and see multiple ppl point out the slight graphic scenes with a minor which is weird and gross.
This book should not have been published and yes the sensitive reader weren’t doing the correct thing but the author needs to take responsibility.
One, yes that one reader shouldn’t have shared copies around but that doesn’t “excuse” the blatant negative stereotype of a trans person in here.
Also if you come here saying “be happy for the representation”, then shut the fuck up. You have no right and also do you even hear yourself???
Negative stereotype are not fuckin representation.
Also all these non trans people can’t, just like me, expect this apology. The author isn’t apologizing to us. Learn to respect who this apology is for and stay in your seat.
And that one tiktok that was made saying “what if it was a white straight male” you clearly don’t want to nor will ever learn what this is about.
Learn about the past and why negative stereotypes are bad before coming here and comparing the majority and the oppressor to the trans community that has been oppressed and shamed for decades.
Now if you excuse this pls unfriend me.
Now that’s not even the half of it. You can go on tiktok under the hashtag and see multiple ppl point out the slight graphic scenes with a minor which is weird and gross.
This book should not have been published and yes the sensitive reader weren’t doing the correct thing but the author needs to take responsibility.
May 7, 2023
this book is so problematic. there are sensitivity readers for a reason
July 12, 2023
I think the concept and premise of the world and story is … intriguing and I was so hopeful for that aspect of the book. But then it starts to falter.
Sound job with the world building; it was fine, but every time the buggy was mentioned I definitely pictured a golf cart. There were too many inconsistencies, there were times I couldn't at all picture the world we were in. I couldn't connect with the world, and every time I felt a sense of the world around me, I was sucked right back out again.
Ultimately I had to DNF at chapter forty-something out of fifty-something. And honestly I really just can't tell you what was going on where I left off. I think it might have been just after the dinner party, which I believe was supposed to be an iconic, turning point scene, but it completely fell flat in my opinion.
Apart from topics I will discuss further down that include spoilers, the main reason I DNF'd is because I simply wasn't gelling with it. I am aware of the content and was prepared for these things. But a lot of it I felt was just added purely for shock value. Kind of like Brandi thought, 'I'm going to write a super dark, taboo romance, let's see how far I can push it'. Overall I just thought a lot of it was unnecessary (Niles's story really takes the cake for this and I will go into detail with it further down) and therefore could not click with the book.
Plot lines and characters just fell flat. It was just what was written on paper, there was no depth to it. To me, it seemed like Brandi would mention something and leave it at that. I don't think we ever get any meaningful information, and if we did it didn't stick, or I simply couldn’t care less.
There is so much telling, so much being said, but in the end none of it means anything. Like there's too many words and still nothing is happening. However at the same time too much was happening? But nothing felt relevant? I don't quite know how to explain it, but I really had no idea where the plot was going, or what I was actually reading. I ended up skimming over most chapters...
The characters just didn't make any sense for me. For example Scarlet? the sister... i just didn't get her story and I feel like we got nothing from her at all. I mean, yeah she's dead, but why is she always brought up, what is her relevancy? I just don't understand her character one bit and I feel like I should have known what her deal was before three-quarters or so through the book. I'm sure if I continued things might have started to work out, but I just couldn't make myself read it anymore. I got this same feeling from most, if not all, characters in the book. I was never able to grasp a sense of who or what their motives were.
I felt like I was forcing myself to read this book, and I hate how awful that sounds, but it's true. Reading a book should not feel like a waste of energy or like it's draining everything out of me.
The Pawn and The Puppet criminalises the mental health and LGBTQ+ communities, I will not be following this series as the rest of the books come out. And I really hope the author takes some accountability.
*this portion includes a spoiler and trigger warnings included (and not included) in the given list*
The list of trigger warnings offered with this book is already incredibly long, and if you thought that an entire page worth or warnings was enough to cover all the content in the book, then you're wrong. A list of trigger warnings is not accurate if you only list some and not others.
I am going to tread around this topic as lightly as possible while still sharing my honest thoughts and telling you about the real content of the book. What I am about to discuss did not sit well with me at all. Before reaching this part of the book I was warned (spoiled by my own request, which I am beyond thankful for) by people who also left this chapter with the same sick feeling. I do believe whole heartedly that if I hadn't been warned about this portion of the book, I would have thrown it across the room. I would honestly advise everyone to read this as I think the warning is extremely necessary. And also, something must be said about this because it is not okay in any way.
Niles is a sex worker and uses the money he earns to support his family after their father walks out on them. When Niles is older he is sold to a transgender woman named Charlotte (who is described as being a "female with male parts"... transphobic af) for three nights, she tells him repeatedly that he has grown up so well, and he is a handsome young man (not direct quotes because I can't remember them). My issues are not at all with the fact that Charlotte is a transgender woman, it's the way she has been characterised and criminalised, and the comments made towards Niles which my weariness grows. At the end of their period together Charlotte leaves Niles with a large sum of money and a necklace with two names on them. One of the names being Niles's mother's; the other being Charles, the name of his father. I'm sure we can all put two and two together...
Niles's story is extremely dark and comes with many of the listed trigger warnings, except for two that have been left out. His story explores child abuse, sexual assault. Both of which being part of the long, long list provided. But we cannot ignore the blatant transphobic language and inc*st. These were NOT listed under the content warnings for the book. Initially I had wondered why it wasn't listed, but then again I guess it's because if you pick up a book and it says inc*st somewhere in it, chances are you're not going to read it. Now, is this just "smart marketing" or did Brandi just not see an issue with it? And even more so, how did beta readers not pick that up and think, 'this has most definitely crossed a line'...? I definitely think this topic which very clearly is in the book, needs its own content warning. Or honestly, take it out of the book. I'm sure there were ways Niles's story could have been reworked without the obvious inc*st and have the same effect.
But that's not even what had the main character, Skylenna, reeling.
Brandi went on to say in an instagram post that the characterisation of a trans-woman was intentional. Brandi has made Skylenna INTENTIONALLY ignorant with her views on transgender peoples, with the intention for Skylenna to challenge these dystopian beliefs and grow to learn and re-educate herself in the future. BUT she branded the only LGBTQ+ represtation as a predator, something otherly, something inhumane because she was "female with male parts". And yes, that is a direct quote. There is so, so much transphobia in just these few sentences. If this is intentional, meaning Brandi knew exactly what was written was harmful, where were the trigger warnings?
Sound job with the world building; it was fine, but every time the buggy was mentioned I definitely pictured a golf cart. There were too many inconsistencies, there were times I couldn't at all picture the world we were in. I couldn't connect with the world, and every time I felt a sense of the world around me, I was sucked right back out again.
Ultimately I had to DNF at chapter forty-something out of fifty-something. And honestly I really just can't tell you what was going on where I left off. I think it might have been just after the dinner party, which I believe was supposed to be an iconic, turning point scene, but it completely fell flat in my opinion.
Apart from topics I will discuss further down that include spoilers, the main reason I DNF'd is because I simply wasn't gelling with it. I am aware of the content and was prepared for these things. But a lot of it I felt was just added purely for shock value. Kind of like Brandi thought, 'I'm going to write a super dark, taboo romance, let's see how far I can push it'. Overall I just thought a lot of it was unnecessary (Niles's story really takes the cake for this and I will go into detail with it further down) and therefore could not click with the book.
Plot lines and characters just fell flat. It was just what was written on paper, there was no depth to it. To me, it seemed like Brandi would mention something and leave it at that. I don't think we ever get any meaningful information, and if we did it didn't stick, or I simply couldn’t care less.
There is so much telling, so much being said, but in the end none of it means anything. Like there's too many words and still nothing is happening. However at the same time too much was happening? But nothing felt relevant? I don't quite know how to explain it, but I really had no idea where the plot was going, or what I was actually reading. I ended up skimming over most chapters...
The characters just didn't make any sense for me. For example Scarlet? the sister... i just didn't get her story and I feel like we got nothing from her at all. I mean, yeah she's dead, but why is she always brought up, what is her relevancy? I just don't understand her character one bit and I feel like I should have known what her deal was before three-quarters or so through the book. I'm sure if I continued things might have started to work out, but I just couldn't make myself read it anymore. I got this same feeling from most, if not all, characters in the book. I was never able to grasp a sense of who or what their motives were.
I felt like I was forcing myself to read this book, and I hate how awful that sounds, but it's true. Reading a book should not feel like a waste of energy or like it's draining everything out of me.
The Pawn and The Puppet criminalises the mental health and LGBTQ+ communities, I will not be following this series as the rest of the books come out. And I really hope the author takes some accountability.
*this portion includes a spoiler and trigger warnings included (and not included) in the given list*
The list of trigger warnings offered with this book is already incredibly long, and if you thought that an entire page worth or warnings was enough to cover all the content in the book, then you're wrong. A list of trigger warnings is not accurate if you only list some and not others.
I am going to tread around this topic as lightly as possible while still sharing my honest thoughts and telling you about the real content of the book. What I am about to discuss did not sit well with me at all. Before reaching this part of the book I was warned (spoiled by my own request, which I am beyond thankful for) by people who also left this chapter with the same sick feeling. I do believe whole heartedly that if I hadn't been warned about this portion of the book, I would have thrown it across the room. I would honestly advise everyone to read this as I think the warning is extremely necessary. And also, something must be said about this because it is not okay in any way.
Niles is a sex worker and uses the money he earns to support his family after their father walks out on them. When Niles is older he is sold to a transgender woman named Charlotte (who is described as being a "female with male parts"... transphobic af) for three nights, she tells him repeatedly that he has grown up so well, and he is a handsome young man (not direct quotes because I can't remember them). My issues are not at all with the fact that Charlotte is a transgender woman, it's the way she has been characterised and criminalised, and the comments made towards Niles which my weariness grows. At the end of their period together Charlotte leaves Niles with a large sum of money and a necklace with two names on them. One of the names being Niles's mother's; the other being Charles, the name of his father. I'm sure we can all put two and two together...
Niles's story is extremely dark and comes with many of the listed trigger warnings, except for two that have been left out. His story explores child abuse, sexual assault. Both of which being part of the long, long list provided. But we cannot ignore the blatant transphobic language and inc*st. These were NOT listed under the content warnings for the book. Initially I had wondered why it wasn't listed, but then again I guess it's because if you pick up a book and it says inc*st somewhere in it, chances are you're not going to read it. Now, is this just "smart marketing" or did Brandi just not see an issue with it? And even more so, how did beta readers not pick that up and think, 'this has most definitely crossed a line'...? I definitely think this topic which very clearly is in the book, needs its own content warning. Or honestly, take it out of the book. I'm sure there were ways Niles's story could have been reworked without the obvious inc*st and have the same effect.
But that's not even what had the main character, Skylenna, reeling.
Brandi went on to say in an instagram post that the characterisation of a trans-woman was intentional. Brandi has made Skylenna INTENTIONALLY ignorant with her views on transgender peoples, with the intention for Skylenna to challenge these dystopian beliefs and grow to learn and re-educate herself in the future. BUT she branded the only LGBTQ+ represtation as a predator, something otherly, something inhumane because she was "female with male parts". And yes, that is a direct quote. There is so, so much transphobia in just these few sentences. If this is intentional, meaning Brandi knew exactly what was written was harmful, where were the trigger warnings?
April 9, 2022
"It is so bad, I want to give you a zero, but that's not possible, so I give you a one."
Echoing another reviewer, are we all reading the same book? I'm about a quarter of the way in and STRUGGLING to continue. After the hype on TikTok, like many, I was excited to start reading. This book is poorly written and very problematic. The ONLY thing it has is an interesting premise, and the writing kept me from even caring about that. First of all, the overuse of similes is hard to get past. I'm talking more than one per sentence at times. The point of figurative language is to help paint a picture, and the similes hardly ever help the reader's understanding. The author misuses words at times, as if replacing words with the Microsoft Word thesaurus. There is often incorrect grammar as well. IF you can get past all that, let's focus on the content. The writer will contradict herself paragraphs after information was first introduced, as if she hadn't even bothered to reread. The world building? Confusing and almost nonexistent. I have no clue what kind of world this takes place in, other than one that encourages women to have eating disorders. The main character has to deal with this, but so far, it never comes back up. She begins the "Lady Doll regimen," but we get no insight as readers how she's doing with it or how it affects her, because so far, there are ZERO subplots. No character exists yet except to pass time for the MC. The names of things are ridiculous. Their country is called "Dementia?" Seriously? The writing is choppy. Time skips are frequent because, again, nothing matters until Skylenna meets Patient 13. There is nothing to even make me care about the MC yet. The author TELLS us everything and shows us nothing. We're just supposed to accept that the MC is more empathetic than anyone else in this world, without being shown this firsthand.
Ok, same TWs that exist in the book ahead and spoilers ahead. There are so many visible opportunities to add depth that I cannot believe the author didn't. For example, Skylenna is abused by her father, and her sister abused by their mother, but she feels total empathy with zero conflict watching people who abused and murdered their children undergo their "treatments." These abuses often feel added for pure shock value (bleach, anyone?) and not at all for plot. The only explanation I can think of for why people aren't more horrified by the content of the book is that it wasn't well written enough for them to flag how horrific it actually is. There is BLATANT transphobia. I don't care if it's the "fantasy world, showing how the society thinks." For the author to focus more on the "horror" of Charlotte being a trans woman than for her to sexually assault her own underage son??? Disgusting. And for it to be presented as totally understandable for a father to kill his wife and daughter because they are better off dead than have eating disorders??? Disgusting.
This book desperately needed a line editor and a content editor. My one compliment to the author I guess is that she's a good marketer. Unfortunately for me, she's a much better marketer than writer.
Echoing another reviewer, are we all reading the same book? I'm about a quarter of the way in and STRUGGLING to continue. After the hype on TikTok, like many, I was excited to start reading. This book is poorly written and very problematic. The ONLY thing it has is an interesting premise, and the writing kept me from even caring about that. First of all, the overuse of similes is hard to get past. I'm talking more than one per sentence at times. The point of figurative language is to help paint a picture, and the similes hardly ever help the reader's understanding. The author misuses words at times, as if replacing words with the Microsoft Word thesaurus. There is often incorrect grammar as well. IF you can get past all that, let's focus on the content. The writer will contradict herself paragraphs after information was first introduced, as if she hadn't even bothered to reread. The world building? Confusing and almost nonexistent. I have no clue what kind of world this takes place in, other than one that encourages women to have eating disorders. The main character has to deal with this, but so far, it never comes back up. She begins the "Lady Doll regimen," but we get no insight as readers how she's doing with it or how it affects her, because so far, there are ZERO subplots. No character exists yet except to pass time for the MC. The names of things are ridiculous. Their country is called "Dementia?" Seriously? The writing is choppy. Time skips are frequent because, again, nothing matters until Skylenna meets Patient 13. There is nothing to even make me care about the MC yet. The author TELLS us everything and shows us nothing. We're just supposed to accept that the MC is more empathetic than anyone else in this world, without being shown this firsthand.
Ok, same TWs that exist in the book ahead and spoilers ahead. There are so many visible opportunities to add depth that I cannot believe the author didn't. For example, Skylenna is abused by her father, and her sister abused by their mother, but she feels total empathy with zero conflict watching people who abused and murdered their children undergo their "treatments." These abuses often feel added for pure shock value (bleach, anyone?) and not at all for plot. The only explanation I can think of for why people aren't more horrified by the content of the book is that it wasn't well written enough for them to flag how horrific it actually is. There is BLATANT transphobia. I don't care if it's the "fantasy world, showing how the society thinks." For the author to focus more on the "horror" of Charlotte being a trans woman than for her to sexually assault her own underage son??? Disgusting. And for it to be presented as totally understandable for a father to kill his wife and daughter because they are better off dead than have eating disorders??? Disgusting.
This book desperately needed a line editor and a content editor. My one compliment to the author I guess is that she's a good marketer. Unfortunately for me, she's a much better marketer than writer.
April 11, 2022
This book is problematic. Some things should not be written and the way the author framed the LGBTQ+ community is horrific. Shame on her.
April 15, 2022
I would give this book zero stars if I could. The first red flag for this book and author is that she reviewed her own book on GoodReads months before it was published. She encouraged her followers on TikTok to rate it 5 stars before it was ever released. Considering Brandi has also encouraged those followers on her lives to go after people who leave negative ratings, I hesitate to even leave this review.
The writing is atrocious. The beta readers were lying to her the entire time they told her it was a good book. The prose, excessive use of similes and complete inability to give the reader a clear picture or story to follow makes it obvious any feedback provided by betas, editors or ARCs was ignored completely, if Brandi even bothered to get these components.
The list of trigger warnings is woefully inadequate, on purpose. Rape, molestation, encouragement of eating disorders, child abuse (extreme), transphobia, racism, and homophobia are never mentioned in her list of warnings. I have to wonder why - perhaps she knew if she'd included those warnings, people would not want to read this steaming heap of sh!t.
It is clear Brandi has done the absolute bare minimum to research for any sort of respect or accuracy in this book. I'd hazard a guess she didn't even do that. She has written about several already marginalised groups in the community and then plucked the worst stereotypes she could possibly find to profit off them. It's disgraceful and shows her character. Shame on you, Brandi.
If you are part of the LGBTQI+ community, this book is not for you. If you are a woman, this book is not for you. If you are POC, this book is not for you. If you are a parent, this book is not for you. If you have any training in the mental health field, this book is not for you.
This book is not for anyone.
The writing is atrocious. The beta readers were lying to her the entire time they told her it was a good book. The prose, excessive use of similes and complete inability to give the reader a clear picture or story to follow makes it obvious any feedback provided by betas, editors or ARCs was ignored completely, if Brandi even bothered to get these components.
The list of trigger warnings is woefully inadequate, on purpose. Rape, molestation, encouragement of eating disorders, child abuse (extreme), transphobia, racism, and homophobia are never mentioned in her list of warnings. I have to wonder why - perhaps she knew if she'd included those warnings, people would not want to read this steaming heap of sh!t.
It is clear Brandi has done the absolute bare minimum to research for any sort of respect or accuracy in this book. I'd hazard a guess she didn't even do that. She has written about several already marginalised groups in the community and then plucked the worst stereotypes she could possibly find to profit off them. It's disgraceful and shows her character. Shame on you, Brandi.
If you are part of the LGBTQI+ community, this book is not for you. If you are a woman, this book is not for you. If you are POC, this book is not for you. If you are a parent, this book is not for you. If you have any training in the mental health field, this book is not for you.
This book is not for anyone.
April 10, 2022
The reviews I see here make me wonder if I actually read the same book as everyone else.
April 20, 2022
This was so bad I want to give you a zero, but that is not possible, so I will give you a 1.
Thank god Storygraph will let me give 0.25 stars because I definitely needed it for this one.
I will have a very long review incoming but in the case of tl;dr, this book is bad and I implore you to not support it or read it.
The Pawn and the Puppet is a dark forbidden romance coming from a prominent BookToker that gained enough traction to, according to the author's Instagram, hit #4 on Barnes and Noble’s Top 100 Bestsellers List in all categories and #1 in Fantasy & Science Fiction when it went up for preorder nine weeks ago. It was a B&N Bestseller upon release and supposedly hit the Amazon bestseller list. (To be taken with a grain of salt, I suppose, since it was published on April 1st. Lord, how I wish this was a joke.)
So when I heard it was terrible and problematic AND discovered it was on Kindle Unlimited, I couldn't not pick it up. My friends are of the opinion that I will read anything, and I am nothing if not predictable.
I'll start with the trigger warnings. I expect dark romances to come with a lot of trigger warnings. They're dark, after all. But the list provided by the author is nowhere near sufficient. In fact, based on surrounding controversy, I've been led to believe that this has been done on purpose. Based on how much of the book is built on shock value and disgust, I'm unsurprised. Transphobia and incest are two huge trigger warnings that are left out, and I was horrified to learn that the transphobia included was INTENTIONAL, but I'll circle back on this later. If you're going to include a list of trigger warnings for your book, you cannot let it be incomplete to shock and potentially trigger your readers. They aren't even rare trigger warnings. I also believe that rape and sexual assault should be labeled differently, and also believe that child rape/sexual assault should be its own category, but even if you disagree with me on that, transphobia and incest having the place they do in this book means you cannot just 'forget' them.
But, on to the actual book. This romance follows Skylenna (I know), a 19-year-old girl reeling from the recent death of her sister who decides to fulfill her last wish and change the way patients are treated at Emerald Lake Asylum. After 80 pages of fucking around and terribly fulfilled exposition we finally meet her love interest: Patient 13, or 'Dessin,' who is supposedly the most dangerous and feared patient in the entire asylum. Dessin has DID (Disassociative Identity Disorder, called split personality disorder in the book) and checked himself in four years ago. He has been unresponsive to the torturous treatments but after he tries to break out, Skylenna is given 90 days with her kinder method to find the name of the host and give him control back. Her failure means his execution, and the growing attraction between them just raises the stakes higher.
Intriguing plot, right? Sure. I'll come right out and say I never thought a patient-caretaker asylum romance could end well, and I'm both horrified and delighted to see I've been proven right. This book starts off with an Author's Note about how the portrayal of DID is purposefully given to a dark, murderous character who is treated badly to reflect our society. I doubt Brandi herself has any experience with DID or the written portrayal would not be as heinously despicable as it is, but who knows. I personally don't think anyone without DID has any business writing about DID, especially if this is what they're going to do with it. Brandi is nowhere near skilled or nuance enough and instead added another entry to a long list of horrible, malicious DID representation in media.
While we're on the heavy hitters, I might as well go and discuss the transphobia. I am a trans reader, and because I suffer from a chronic case of hating myself I decided to read the book myself and see exactly how bad it was. You'd never guess, but it was to my joy (sarcasm) even worse than I feared! I'll set the stage for you so you yourself don't have to read it. Warnings for transphobia and incest.
In order to get to Patient 13, Skylenna is tasked with the other patients in the asylum to work her way to his room. One of these is Niles, a man who believes himself to be Cupid, and was arrested for kidnapping men and women and locking them in basements until they starved. Skylenna speaks with him until he finally admits the source of his belief. As a child, Niles was trafficked as a child sex worker in order to feed his family after his father abandoned them. One of his customers was Charlotte, a trans woman. She is described as strange and odd with heavy make-up and later referred to as "a woman with male parts." This child predator is revealed, as a shocking twist, to be Niles' transitioned father. Disgusted by the treatment, he decided he couldn't handle a world where that was the only love he knew and decided to become Cupid.
I was horrified enough by this and genuinely had my entire day ruined thereafter. Trans women and trans femmes already have such limited rep, and when they do, it's often horrible things like this. I was further disgusted to learn that the author said in an Instagram post that this choice was INTENTIONAL and done despite the author knowing it was wrong. She made the character purposefully ignorant on transwomen with the intention for Skylenna to "challenge" these views and grow in the future. But when your only trans representation is a predator, something dangerous, disgusting, and humane, you are not setting up any of this to be accomplished. I don't believe a cis writer has any fucking business writing an evil, monstrous trans woman, and there was absolutely no reason for this rep. Skylenna does not grow or change in her views on trans women because there are no other trans women in the book besides Charlotte to give her the opportunity for it. Charlotte's inclusion is purely for shock and disgust, clear by every single bit of writing framing the scene.
This is the only prominent bit of LGBTQ+ rep in the book, but there is a throwaway paragraph about Skylenna's sister Scarlett that describes her choosing to "mate with the same sex" because men only care about women spreading their legs. If Charlotte's depiction wasn't already giving me radfem/TERF vibes, this would have sealed the deal. I'm not accusing anyone of anything, but I'm just saying. I have a special poison in my heart for the idea that women “choose” to be with other women to escape men, mostly because it still centers that attraction around men (even if it’s a rejection of them), and to top it all off after Scarlett goes off and sleeps with other women she comes home and scrubs herself raw. It might be her history of sexual abuse, or it could be homophobia, and Brandi's shitty writing means I have no idea which it is. This is yet another case of shitty rep remaining unbalanced by positive rep in the book. Maybe just don't have it at all. You in fact do not have to force yourself to grapple with the idea that trans women and sapphic women exist if all you're going to do is portray them through a lens of disgust and horror.
At least now I get to talk about the fun stuff because even beyond the problematic aspects of the book, it's just god-awful. First of all, can we PLEASE talk about the names. Skylenna? Dessin? DeiSzek? Suseas? And those are just CHARACTER names. The fact that her dark dystopia asylum story is set in a country named DEMENTIA had me rolling with laughter. The 'Survivah' faction of bureaucrats was also a Choice. I get I'm supposed to feel bad for no one but Dessin getting Skylenna's name right, but honestly, Sky or Skye would have been much better than what we ended up with. I unfortunately cannot feel any sort of heat for a man named after the French word for drawing.
The world-building and plot both fall apart under the barest hint of pressure. The plot jumps around at random and I have no idea how Dessin keeps escaping despite being the scariest patient. How he doesn't have 24/7 surveillance, especially after his escape attempt and ultimatum set forth, is beyond me. And to that point, he's not even scary! There is no sense of darkness or 'mind games' promised in the blurb. He's just evasive and annoying. The character art is beyond laughable-- how a man confined for 4 years and regularly tortured manages to have rippling pectorals and biceps for days, not to mention a wonderful tan, is again beyond me. The tone and pacing of this book are never consistent and lead to an all-around poor reading experience. How we go from an 80-page build-up to her wanting to drop her panties immediately... is, for a third time, absolutely beyond me.
The world-building itself is also just... bad. Women are held to impossible ideals in Dementia and are subjected to basically government-mandated anorexia, leaving them weak and feeble to the point where city streets have fainting couches on corners. I ignored the ridiculousness of this for my own sanity, but Brandi seems to add this dystopia element for the sole purpose of Skylenna being oppressed for having boobs, an ass, and "golden skin" (whatever that means). Her being stick thin and still having double Ds, according to the character art, was certainly a choice and just proves to me that Skylenna and Dessin are copy-pasted romance ideals set against a shocking, gory background like that's supposed to make them shine any differently from any other romance book I've ever read.
Listen. It's clear the book does not pride itself on accuracy, well-conducted research or a thought-out world, so let's hold off on that and judge it for what we are apparently all here for: a sexy, dark, forbidden romance. I saw this was promoted by the author using the forced proximity trope but she could have just dropped proximity from that entirely. This romance was drier than a desert in August. I felt no build-up, probably because there wasn't any, and I put myself through 351 pages of drivel for not a single spicy scene, which at this point is another problematic aspect that targeted me personally. Dessin is little more than a bottom of the barrel, bargain bin Rhysand and taking one look at Brandi's Instagram and Tiktok is enough to prove the connection. We even get the added bonus of his tragic backstory revolving around atrocities committed against his mother and his sibling, like that's what we really needed in 2022.
In conclusion, The Pawn and the Puppet reads like a Wattpad draft that I cannot believe was published in this day and age. I'm unsurprised to learn that Brandi ignored beta readers with relevant degrees in the elements she chose to portray in her work in favor of the ones who were patting her on the back, which I can understand. It can be a little tough to hear that your self-insert OC x Rhysand fanfiction isn't quite up to par, but it's the truth. Even beyond the mind-bogglingly problematic aspects and the "dark" elements that have completely crossed the line in this book, there is none of the dark allure that will keep a reader wanting to turn the page. In the end, I wanted to commit myself for the emotional spiral this book send me on.
I'd recommend you don't pick up or promote this book for your trans friends, but if you don't have any, do it for yourself. Your sanity is worth more than this.
Thank god Storygraph will let me give 0.25 stars because I definitely needed it for this one.
I will have a very long review incoming but in the case of tl;dr, this book is bad and I implore you to not support it or read it.
The Pawn and the Puppet is a dark forbidden romance coming from a prominent BookToker that gained enough traction to, according to the author's Instagram, hit #4 on Barnes and Noble’s Top 100 Bestsellers List in all categories and #1 in Fantasy & Science Fiction when it went up for preorder nine weeks ago. It was a B&N Bestseller upon release and supposedly hit the Amazon bestseller list. (To be taken with a grain of salt, I suppose, since it was published on April 1st. Lord, how I wish this was a joke.)
So when I heard it was terrible and problematic AND discovered it was on Kindle Unlimited, I couldn't not pick it up. My friends are of the opinion that I will read anything, and I am nothing if not predictable.
I'll start with the trigger warnings. I expect dark romances to come with a lot of trigger warnings. They're dark, after all. But the list provided by the author is nowhere near sufficient. In fact, based on surrounding controversy, I've been led to believe that this has been done on purpose. Based on how much of the book is built on shock value and disgust, I'm unsurprised. Transphobia and incest are two huge trigger warnings that are left out, and I was horrified to learn that the transphobia included was INTENTIONAL, but I'll circle back on this later. If you're going to include a list of trigger warnings for your book, you cannot let it be incomplete to shock and potentially trigger your readers. They aren't even rare trigger warnings. I also believe that rape and sexual assault should be labeled differently, and also believe that child rape/sexual assault should be its own category, but even if you disagree with me on that, transphobia and incest having the place they do in this book means you cannot just 'forget' them.
But, on to the actual book. This romance follows Skylenna (I know), a 19-year-old girl reeling from the recent death of her sister who decides to fulfill her last wish and change the way patients are treated at Emerald Lake Asylum. After 80 pages of fucking around and terribly fulfilled exposition we finally meet her love interest: Patient 13, or 'Dessin,' who is supposedly the most dangerous and feared patient in the entire asylum. Dessin has DID (Disassociative Identity Disorder, called split personality disorder in the book) and checked himself in four years ago. He has been unresponsive to the torturous treatments but after he tries to break out, Skylenna is given 90 days with her kinder method to find the name of the host and give him control back. Her failure means his execution, and the growing attraction between them just raises the stakes higher.
Intriguing plot, right? Sure. I'll come right out and say I never thought a patient-caretaker asylum romance could end well, and I'm both horrified and delighted to see I've been proven right. This book starts off with an Author's Note about how the portrayal of DID is purposefully given to a dark, murderous character who is treated badly to reflect our society. I doubt Brandi herself has any experience with DID or the written portrayal would not be as heinously despicable as it is, but who knows. I personally don't think anyone without DID has any business writing about DID, especially if this is what they're going to do with it. Brandi is nowhere near skilled or nuance enough and instead added another entry to a long list of horrible, malicious DID representation in media.
While we're on the heavy hitters, I might as well go and discuss the transphobia. I am a trans reader, and because I suffer from a chronic case of hating myself I decided to read the book myself and see exactly how bad it was. You'd never guess, but it was to my joy (sarcasm) even worse than I feared! I'll set the stage for you so you yourself don't have to read it. Warnings for transphobia and incest.
In order to get to Patient 13, Skylenna is tasked with the other patients in the asylum to work her way to his room. One of these is Niles, a man who believes himself to be Cupid, and was arrested for kidnapping men and women and locking them in basements until they starved. Skylenna speaks with him until he finally admits the source of his belief. As a child, Niles was trafficked as a child sex worker in order to feed his family after his father abandoned them. One of his customers was Charlotte, a trans woman. She is described as strange and odd with heavy make-up and later referred to as "a woman with male parts." This child predator is revealed, as a shocking twist, to be Niles' transitioned father. Disgusted by the treatment, he decided he couldn't handle a world where that was the only love he knew and decided to become Cupid.
I was horrified enough by this and genuinely had my entire day ruined thereafter. Trans women and trans femmes already have such limited rep, and when they do, it's often horrible things like this. I was further disgusted to learn that the author said in an Instagram post that this choice was INTENTIONAL and done despite the author knowing it was wrong. She made the character purposefully ignorant on transwomen with the intention for Skylenna to "challenge" these views and grow in the future. But when your only trans representation is a predator, something dangerous, disgusting, and humane, you are not setting up any of this to be accomplished. I don't believe a cis writer has any fucking business writing an evil, monstrous trans woman, and there was absolutely no reason for this rep. Skylenna does not grow or change in her views on trans women because there are no other trans women in the book besides Charlotte to give her the opportunity for it. Charlotte's inclusion is purely for shock and disgust, clear by every single bit of writing framing the scene.
This is the only prominent bit of LGBTQ+ rep in the book, but there is a throwaway paragraph about Skylenna's sister Scarlett that describes her choosing to "mate with the same sex" because men only care about women spreading their legs. If Charlotte's depiction wasn't already giving me radfem/TERF vibes, this would have sealed the deal. I'm not accusing anyone of anything, but I'm just saying. I have a special poison in my heart for the idea that women “choose” to be with other women to escape men, mostly because it still centers that attraction around men (even if it’s a rejection of them), and to top it all off after Scarlett goes off and sleeps with other women she comes home and scrubs herself raw. It might be her history of sexual abuse, or it could be homophobia, and Brandi's shitty writing means I have no idea which it is. This is yet another case of shitty rep remaining unbalanced by positive rep in the book. Maybe just don't have it at all. You in fact do not have to force yourself to grapple with the idea that trans women and sapphic women exist if all you're going to do is portray them through a lens of disgust and horror.
At least now I get to talk about the fun stuff because even beyond the problematic aspects of the book, it's just god-awful. First of all, can we PLEASE talk about the names. Skylenna? Dessin? DeiSzek? Suseas? And those are just CHARACTER names. The fact that her dark dystopia asylum story is set in a country named DEMENTIA had me rolling with laughter. The 'Survivah' faction of bureaucrats was also a Choice. I get I'm supposed to feel bad for no one but Dessin getting Skylenna's name right, but honestly, Sky or Skye would have been much better than what we ended up with. I unfortunately cannot feel any sort of heat for a man named after the French word for drawing.
The world-building and plot both fall apart under the barest hint of pressure. The plot jumps around at random and I have no idea how Dessin keeps escaping despite being the scariest patient. How he doesn't have 24/7 surveillance, especially after his escape attempt and ultimatum set forth, is beyond me. And to that point, he's not even scary! There is no sense of darkness or 'mind games' promised in the blurb. He's just evasive and annoying. The character art is beyond laughable-- how a man confined for 4 years and regularly tortured manages to have rippling pectorals and biceps for days, not to mention a wonderful tan, is again beyond me. The tone and pacing of this book are never consistent and lead to an all-around poor reading experience. How we go from an 80-page build-up to her wanting to drop her panties immediately... is, for a third time, absolutely beyond me.
The world-building itself is also just... bad. Women are held to impossible ideals in Dementia and are subjected to basically government-mandated anorexia, leaving them weak and feeble to the point where city streets have fainting couches on corners. I ignored the ridiculousness of this for my own sanity, but Brandi seems to add this dystopia element for the sole purpose of Skylenna being oppressed for having boobs, an ass, and "golden skin" (whatever that means). Her being stick thin and still having double Ds, according to the character art, was certainly a choice and just proves to me that Skylenna and Dessin are copy-pasted romance ideals set against a shocking, gory background like that's supposed to make them shine any differently from any other romance book I've ever read.
Listen. It's clear the book does not pride itself on accuracy, well-conducted research or a thought-out world, so let's hold off on that and judge it for what we are apparently all here for: a sexy, dark, forbidden romance. I saw this was promoted by the author using the forced proximity trope but she could have just dropped proximity from that entirely. This romance was drier than a desert in August. I felt no build-up, probably because there wasn't any, and I put myself through 351 pages of drivel for not a single spicy scene, which at this point is another problematic aspect that targeted me personally. Dessin is little more than a bottom of the barrel, bargain bin Rhysand and taking one look at Brandi's Instagram and Tiktok is enough to prove the connection. We even get the added bonus of his tragic backstory revolving around atrocities committed against his mother and his sibling, like that's what we really needed in 2022.
In conclusion, The Pawn and the Puppet reads like a Wattpad draft that I cannot believe was published in this day and age. I'm unsurprised to learn that Brandi ignored beta readers with relevant degrees in the elements she chose to portray in her work in favor of the ones who were patting her on the back, which I can understand. It can be a little tough to hear that your self-insert OC x Rhysand fanfiction isn't quite up to par, but it's the truth. Even beyond the mind-bogglingly problematic aspects and the "dark" elements that have completely crossed the line in this book, there is none of the dark allure that will keep a reader wanting to turn the page. In the end, I wanted to commit myself for the emotional spiral this book send me on.
I'd recommend you don't pick up or promote this book for your trans friends, but if you don't have any, do it for yourself. Your sanity is worth more than this.
Read
April 23, 2022I refuse to support this book (and this author). If you want to know why, watch this video: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTd46HKWf/
April 26, 2022
This was absolutely terribly written.
VIDEO RANT REVIEW: https://youtu.be/p0yJdVlY-lk
VIDEO RANT REVIEW: https://youtu.be/p0yJdVlY-lk
Read
April 21, 2022Problematic, transphobic, harmful portrayals of mental health, lack of tw for incest, graphic 🍇, child SA, and overall is just poorly written
April 9, 2022
DNF ~10%. I couldn't focus through the writing style, which I found to be unnecessarily wordy and very much "tell not show". From the very start I found myself glazing over paragraphs instead of becoming immersed. Just not for me, I guess.
April 10, 2022
Wanted to love this book. But it is problematic. Has transphobic and homophobic themes. The premise was interesting but the writing fell flat.
April 3, 2022
OH. MY. GOD.
I have not been so consumed with a book world since last year, and even that is nothing compared to how obsessed I am with this.
I had been waiting to read this since I came across the author’s TikTok account and saw her posts about her book. So you know damn well I had to read it as soon as it came out.
Dessin and Skylenna HAVE ME ON MY KNEES. I am utterly consumed by them and reread all of their interactions (that’s a lot) at least 3 times over because I really am obsessed. This is the romance to end all romances because it just cannot get any better than this. I’ve read multiple sci-fi/dystopian romances but have never come across anything remotely similar to this in terms of world-building and plot.
The mystery aspects have me wanting to somehow magically summon a copy of the next book before July because I NEED answers just as much as Skylenna.
Also, guys, when I tell you the TENSION!!!! It is everything. They are everything. Skylenna is a sweet soul at heart who has been through so much but still wants to help the inmates at the asylum and free them from the horrible treatments. Dessin is the ominous, dangerous, patient 13. He hates everyone and they all fear him…so why does he seem to keep protecting Skylenna?
Guys when I tell you the scenes where he protects her, cares for her, blow almost every romantic interaction I’ve read OUT OF THE WATER, I’m not kidding.
Tropes:
-protection trope
-heal your wounds trope
-a more extreme/dangerous version of grumpy/sunshine
-who hurt you trope
-sweet terms of endearment
-animal “sidekick” that everyone fears but loves her
And SO many more, but I can’t get into those without spoiling so you’ll just have to read it yourself.
I’m telling you, the smallest acts of intimacy, like a hug, or her touching his jaw, MEAN EVERYTHING!! I reread so many of those scenes because they truly are the definition of love against all odds.
I do not know what more I can say to convince anyone to read this book. Just know, our heroine is defiant against society and what the people around her think of her, and for that, I love her. Our hero is this mysterious persona that we get to know more through his attachment to her. And the storyline itself will be unexpected, but you’ll be drawn into it so quickly that you won’t be able to stop reading until you find yourself finished with the book. At least that is how it went for me.
It is currently 3 AM, I just finished, and cannot shut up about this book in my head. I honestly might go reread some passages because I do not know what to do now. This is that type of book that makes you rethink things and just cannot be compared to any other book, so what am I supposed to read now?
I will be here…waiting (not so patiently) for the next book in the series to come out in July.
All I have left to say is…READ IT!!
(Please be aware that this is pretty dark, so take a look at the trigger warnings in the beginning of the book before reading. It is definitely 18+ as it does mention and describe in detail some serious topics.)
I have not been so consumed with a book world since last year, and even that is nothing compared to how obsessed I am with this.
I had been waiting to read this since I came across the author’s TikTok account and saw her posts about her book. So you know damn well I had to read it as soon as it came out.
Dessin and Skylenna HAVE ME ON MY KNEES. I am utterly consumed by them and reread all of their interactions (that’s a lot) at least 3 times over because I really am obsessed. This is the romance to end all romances because it just cannot get any better than this. I’ve read multiple sci-fi/dystopian romances but have never come across anything remotely similar to this in terms of world-building and plot.
The mystery aspects have me wanting to somehow magically summon a copy of the next book before July because I NEED answers just as much as Skylenna.
Also, guys, when I tell you the TENSION!!!! It is everything. They are everything. Skylenna is a sweet soul at heart who has been through so much but still wants to help the inmates at the asylum and free them from the horrible treatments. Dessin is the ominous, dangerous, patient 13. He hates everyone and they all fear him…so why does he seem to keep protecting Skylenna?
Guys when I tell you the scenes where he protects her, cares for her, blow almost every romantic interaction I’ve read OUT OF THE WATER, I’m not kidding.
Tropes:
-protection trope
-heal your wounds trope
-a more extreme/dangerous version of grumpy/sunshine
-who hurt you trope
-sweet terms of endearment
-animal “sidekick” that everyone fears but loves her
And SO many more, but I can’t get into those without spoiling so you’ll just have to read it yourself.
I’m telling you, the smallest acts of intimacy, like a hug, or her touching his jaw, MEAN EVERYTHING!! I reread so many of those scenes because they truly are the definition of love against all odds.
I do not know what more I can say to convince anyone to read this book. Just know, our heroine is defiant against society and what the people around her think of her, and for that, I love her. Our hero is this mysterious persona that we get to know more through his attachment to her. And the storyline itself will be unexpected, but you’ll be drawn into it so quickly that you won’t be able to stop reading until you find yourself finished with the book. At least that is how it went for me.
It is currently 3 AM, I just finished, and cannot shut up about this book in my head. I honestly might go reread some passages because I do not know what to do now. This is that type of book that makes you rethink things and just cannot be compared to any other book, so what am I supposed to read now?
I will be here…waiting (not so patiently) for the next book in the series to come out in July.
All I have left to say is…READ IT!!
(Please be aware that this is pretty dark, so take a look at the trigger warnings in the beginning of the book before reading. It is definitely 18+ as it does mention and describe in detail some serious topics.)
April 15, 2022
If you have religious trauma, do not read this book.
Do not.
To have a Catholic/christian faith (that mentions Christ specifically) in this made up fantasy world makes absolutely no sense, nor does it have any reason to be this guiding light for the story with absolutely ZERO context. There is no backstory to it at all or why it would exist. It is just thrown around like every reader would understand and relate to its importance and power. Which for those of us with religious trauma can be SUPER triggering. At one point the lord's prayer is used to quell a panic attack, which honestly gave me one.
Not to mention karma and Cupid are also mentioned with no context on how those concepts from their respective religions would exist in this fantasy world either.
However, my one star is not purely because of the heavy religious undertones but also because of the poor writing, excessive un-necissary darkness, poor world building, overall lack of plot and the desperate need of a sensitivity reader. There are major transphobic and homophobic problems with this book.
For example, this is a line directly from the book 'Scarlett used to say that men only have one motive on their minds. Procreation. There is no romance. No passion. No pure forms of love. . . THUS BEING THE REASON SHE CHOSE TO MATE ONLY WITH THE SAME SEX'
And it goes on to talk about how disgusted she was in herself for that.
Additionally, the main character sees herself as this savior of the patients of the asylum because she barely talks to them and they are miraculously better. Which made the book even harder to get through as it felt rather belittling to mental illness in that way.
The main character also never has a reasonable reaction to anything. Not to the asylum, being tortured, her sisters death, being nearly mauled by a beast or being assaulted. None of her reactions make any sense at all nor hold any gravity.
I am not trying to bash on this book or author, but I went into this without the warning and it was genuinely painful in more than one way. I think the concept could have been really interesting if explored well which, unfortunately, it was not. I also deeply wish that it would have been labeled as a Christian book in any way so that readers could be better equipped for what they are diving in to.
There are trigger warnings at the start of the book that do address some of the other brutal and dark themes
I do commend the author for reaching out to someone with DID to aid in her research I just wish the rest of the story would have been treated with the same care.
Do not.
To have a Catholic/christian faith (that mentions Christ specifically) in this made up fantasy world makes absolutely no sense, nor does it have any reason to be this guiding light for the story with absolutely ZERO context. There is no backstory to it at all or why it would exist. It is just thrown around like every reader would understand and relate to its importance and power. Which for those of us with religious trauma can be SUPER triggering. At one point the lord's prayer is used to quell a panic attack, which honestly gave me one.
Not to mention karma and Cupid are also mentioned with no context on how those concepts from their respective religions would exist in this fantasy world either.
However, my one star is not purely because of the heavy religious undertones but also because of the poor writing, excessive un-necissary darkness, poor world building, overall lack of plot and the desperate need of a sensitivity reader. There are major transphobic and homophobic problems with this book.
For example, this is a line directly from the book 'Scarlett used to say that men only have one motive on their minds. Procreation. There is no romance. No passion. No pure forms of love. . . THUS BEING THE REASON SHE CHOSE TO MATE ONLY WITH THE SAME SEX'
And it goes on to talk about how disgusted she was in herself for that.
Additionally, the main character sees herself as this savior of the patients of the asylum because she barely talks to them and they are miraculously better. Which made the book even harder to get through as it felt rather belittling to mental illness in that way.
The main character also never has a reasonable reaction to anything. Not to the asylum, being tortured, her sisters death, being nearly mauled by a beast or being assaulted. None of her reactions make any sense at all nor hold any gravity.
I am not trying to bash on this book or author, but I went into this without the warning and it was genuinely painful in more than one way. I think the concept could have been really interesting if explored well which, unfortunately, it was not. I also deeply wish that it would have been labeled as a Christian book in any way so that readers could be better equipped for what they are diving in to.
There are trigger warnings at the start of the book that do address some of the other brutal and dark themes
I do commend the author for reaching out to someone with DID to aid in her research I just wish the rest of the story would have been treated with the same care.
April 21, 2022
I don’t know what to do with myself now. I don’t know how to carry on life as we know it.
This book struck such a goddamn chord with me, I know I will never be the same again. 🥲
A story that dives so far deep into mental health, society’s messed up standards, finding forgiveness in the darkest parts of yourself, and a love that is TIMELESS. I am wrecked forever from this insanely intricate, beautifully built, mesmerizing and mysterious story AND I AM GLAD FOR IT.
This intriguing (albeit fucked up) dystopian society Brandi has created FASCINATED ME. A society solely built upon their standards of beauty and wealth, it was completely disturbing but so well written. I had no idea that this book would have such amazing world building. There’s definitely something evil going on with the politics that was introduced perfectly in this book, and I am so interested in how it’s all going to connect…
I fell head over heels for Skylenna and all of her flaws and all of her heart. She is so deeply broken, but trying to carry on the mission of her sister to help the people trapped within the Emerald Lake Asylum who are being tortured in the most depraved conversion therapy to keep them in line.
ENTER PATIENT 13 AND THE NEWEST KEEPER OF MY HEART.
The most dangerous patient housed in the asylum, who no one has been able to break to their whims. (Obviously we know how this plays out so I will spare you the plot summary 😏)
The slowest of burns, the touch her and I’ll disembowel you and feed you the entrails, the you’re the only person not afraid of me, NEED I GO ON??????
This story was so emotionally draining, and had some very triggering, dark scenes, so please read her list of trigger warnings to know if this book is for you. If any of them sound unsure to you, just don’t read it. I don’t have triggers, and I still had to take several breaks and deep breaths through a few parts, and read others through sobs and tears.
But I will be waiting here, quietly dying inside every day until the next book and I can be back with my dearly beloveds and find out what the hell is going to happen. 🥺
This book struck such a goddamn chord with me, I know I will never be the same again. 🥲
A story that dives so far deep into mental health, society’s messed up standards, finding forgiveness in the darkest parts of yourself, and a love that is TIMELESS. I am wrecked forever from this insanely intricate, beautifully built, mesmerizing and mysterious story AND I AM GLAD FOR IT.
This intriguing (albeit fucked up) dystopian society Brandi has created FASCINATED ME. A society solely built upon their standards of beauty and wealth, it was completely disturbing but so well written. I had no idea that this book would have such amazing world building. There’s definitely something evil going on with the politics that was introduced perfectly in this book, and I am so interested in how it’s all going to connect…
I fell head over heels for Skylenna and all of her flaws and all of her heart. She is so deeply broken, but trying to carry on the mission of her sister to help the people trapped within the Emerald Lake Asylum who are being tortured in the most depraved conversion therapy to keep them in line.
ENTER PATIENT 13 AND THE NEWEST KEEPER OF MY HEART.
The most dangerous patient housed in the asylum, who no one has been able to break to their whims. (Obviously we know how this plays out so I will spare you the plot summary 😏)
The slowest of burns, the touch her and I’ll disembowel you and feed you the entrails, the you’re the only person not afraid of me, NEED I GO ON??????
This story was so emotionally draining, and had some very triggering, dark scenes, so please read her list of trigger warnings to know if this book is for you. If any of them sound unsure to you, just don’t read it. I don’t have triggers, and I still had to take several breaks and deep breaths through a few parts, and read others through sobs and tears.
But I will be waiting here, quietly dying inside every day until the next book and I can be back with my dearly beloveds and find out what the hell is going to happen. 🥺
August 7, 2022
wait, so why does this have 4.5 stars again?
fantasy is one of my favorite genres, esp. dark thriller fantasies; also I'd been really fascinated by DID ever since learning about it a few years ago, so initially I was really eager to get my hands on this book. but if you're looking for a book that educates you on DID or for a good representation of mental health, this is not it - I'd like to say the author tries, but if I'm completely honest this is just a highly triggering and disturbing novel that is 'dark' just to fit the trope. The unraveling of this novel honestly just made me progressively more uncomfortable, and I was sorely tempted to dip out and DNF several times, and in the end made myself finish just to see if my opinions would change near the end. spoiler alert: wish I could get those couple hours of my life back.
the plot is pretty predictable right from the get-go, and some scenes are high-key disturbing and just left as is without any follow-up. the entire chemistry between dessin and skylenna, the main characters just felt really forced, and the asylum structure isn't really well thought out and quickly falls apart if you think about it. what kind of security system do you have if your most dangerous prisoner gets to come and go as he pleases? TLDR: huge disappointment and an empty plot tangled beneath a web of beautiful 'dark' language and imagery.
which is why I was so confused when I remembered seeing that this book had a 4.5 star rating, and halfway through reading I jumped on GoodReads just to make sure I wasn't reading a different book than everyone else. quickly realized this was a booktok recommendation and hyped up pre-release.
so, GoodReads, this is my plea: please, pLEASE stop giving ratings BEFORE reading a book to build up hype and messing the system up for other people who are looking for good book recs.
fantasy is one of my favorite genres, esp. dark thriller fantasies; also I'd been really fascinated by DID ever since learning about it a few years ago, so initially I was really eager to get my hands on this book. but if you're looking for a book that educates you on DID or for a good representation of mental health, this is not it - I'd like to say the author tries, but if I'm completely honest this is just a highly triggering and disturbing novel that is 'dark' just to fit the trope. The unraveling of this novel honestly just made me progressively more uncomfortable, and I was sorely tempted to dip out and DNF several times, and in the end made myself finish just to see if my opinions would change near the end. spoiler alert: wish I could get those couple hours of my life back.
the plot is pretty predictable right from the get-go, and some scenes are high-key disturbing and just left as is without any follow-up. the entire chemistry between dessin and skylenna, the main characters just felt really forced, and the asylum structure isn't really well thought out and quickly falls apart if you think about it. what kind of security system do you have if your most dangerous prisoner gets to come and go as he pleases? TLDR: huge disappointment and an empty plot tangled beneath a web of beautiful 'dark' language and imagery.
which is why I was so confused when I remembered seeing that this book had a 4.5 star rating, and halfway through reading I jumped on GoodReads just to make sure I wasn't reading a different book than everyone else. quickly realized this was a booktok recommendation and hyped up pre-release.
so, GoodReads, this is my plea: please, pLEASE stop giving ratings BEFORE reading a book to build up hype and messing the system up for other people who are looking for good book recs.
April 8, 2022
I read up to 36% of the book and gave up. There is nothing amazing in it. I mean maybe for those who didn't read much about mental health or never watched any old movies/documentaries about how people with poor mental health were treated back in the day might find this book fascinating. In my case it was boring. I'm too familiar with the subject. BUT even as that I don't find it fascinating, it's overloaded with information, it's trying to make everything seem/feel dark a little bit too much, trying too hard to make everything feel horrible but nothing is really happening. What I read so far was more like one of those case study examples in psychology books. The focus was so much on room 13 and when we were finally presented with it there was nothing spectacular about it.
There was no connection between main characters regardless of their state of mind, maybe that chemistry will develop later in the book but based on what I read so far this was just not for me.
I also read that this author is tik tok personality, if I knew that I would not bother buying it. I like tik tok culture but many times what is recommended on it is pure hype with no substance.
I returned this book and got my refund:-)
There was no connection between main characters regardless of their state of mind, maybe that chemistry will develop later in the book but based on what I read so far this was just not for me.
I also read that this author is tik tok personality, if I knew that I would not bother buying it. I like tik tok culture but many times what is recommended on it is pure hype with no substance.
I returned this book and got my refund:-)
April 14, 2022
what did i just read?... this shit sucked ass.
August 1, 2022
The real scary thing is that this has so many 5 stars. This book executed everything in the most unpleasant way. It is transphobic and definitely did not depict mental health correctly.
I couldn’t get over how poorly written the world building was. I was so confused about the politics, the land, the era. It was just not structured in a way to make me excited to read any books by this Author.
I couldn’t get over how poorly written the world building was. I was so confused about the politics, the land, the era. It was just not structured in a way to make me excited to read any books by this Author.
April 6, 2022
Damn… I feel like crying… I had such high expectations for this ever since it came up on my FYP almost a month or two ago… but damn. This was kinda bad.
The writing is not the best. You can see that it’s her first book, and hopefully by the second one (which I’ll probably still read even though I didn’t enjoy this one) her writing skills get better.
She’s trying too hard. The writing is supposedly modern but here and there we’re switched to a classic, romanticized narrative, that just doesn’t fit in.
Now, the characters. Skylenna? Man, sometimes she is a drama queen. Patient 13 has his moments. But I’m not convinced.
The plot is good, tho the author is trying too hard, I feel.
Also, this was supposed to be sad? I’m sorry, but I couldn’t empathize with anyone. Didn’t even feel pity for poor Skylenna…
Also, “we did it Scarlett.” No you didn’t, in an asylum with hundreds of patients you saved two. You really didn’t do shit, but okay.
The writing is not the best. You can see that it’s her first book, and hopefully by the second one (which I’ll probably still read even though I didn’t enjoy this one) her writing skills get better.
She’s trying too hard. The writing is supposedly modern but here and there we’re switched to a classic, romanticized narrative, that just doesn’t fit in.
Now, the characters. Skylenna? Man, sometimes she is a drama queen. Patient 13 has his moments. But I’m not convinced.
The plot is good, tho the author is trying too hard, I feel.
Also, this was supposed to be sad? I’m sorry, but I couldn’t empathize with anyone. Didn’t even feel pity for poor Skylenna…
Also, “we did it Scarlett.” No you didn’t, in an asylum with hundreds of patients you saved two. You really didn’t do shit, but okay.
January 13, 2025
3,5 ⭐️
"But I can’t imagine that after ninety days, I could ever leave him. My story is now entwined with his, fused together with every fiber." - quote p. 199
To honour her deceased sister, Skylenna starts working in an asylum. The conditions and treatments there are cruel. There she meets the mysterious patient in room thirteen. Can she save him by being compassionate? What a about the connection they both seem to have the moment they met?
A unique dystopian setting, a fantasy world where women have to meet a certain standard with their looks and behaviour.
Please read the trigger warnings before reading this book!
"But I can’t imagine that after ninety days, I could ever leave him. My story is now entwined with his, fused together with every fiber." - quote p. 199
To honour her deceased sister, Skylenna starts working in an asylum. The conditions and treatments there are cruel. There she meets the mysterious patient in room thirteen. Can she save him by being compassionate? What a about the connection they both seem to have the moment they met?
A unique dystopian setting, a fantasy world where women have to meet a certain standard with their looks and behaviour.
Please read the trigger warnings before reading this book!
April 15, 2022
I don’t often review books. I don’t want to be harsh because even writing a book and having it published is a great accomplishment on its own. But this book really did not work for me. These are just my opinions, so do feel free to take them with a grain of salt.
I was so excited for this book. My sister and I like to read books together and we were counting down the days until this book was out. It sounded so fascinating and so unique! What I read was nothing like I had envisioned. In fact, the only reason I didn’t DNF this book was because my sister was so excited about it. I have a lot of problems with this book. I am not a professional book reviewer. Also I’m writing this on mobile. Apologies for any spelling/grammar/spell-check issues.
My first problem with the book is the lack of any explanation of plot. There are a lot of phrases and half-histories about the world thrown around, but they were never really explained. I kept hoping in the end everything would make sense, but instead of explaining anything at all, the author just left it in a really lame cliff hanger to be explained in what I’m sure will be a trilogy. In the last few pages, the character Kane is introduced. He is supposed to be the answer to all the questions introduced throughout the book. They constantly say “I can’t tell you the answers to your questions because the other guy in my head doesn’t want me to.” When he shows up, however, he simply responds “I can’t answer that, He won’t let me” and Sky is basically like “oh darn, that Dessin and his secrets!” And then never asks about anything else. And there’s some lazy paragraph at the end of the book introducing the possibilities of multiple alters inside, as if that’s the real reason no questions were answered.
The world building— just… what? What is going on? Yes there’s a war, something something love interest being trained as a tool of ultimate destruction. But what is actually going on? What are the consequences of the other side taking over? There is never any real danger or trouble throughout the story. There are no stakes. There’s nothing to really root for. At no point did I think anything bad was actually going to happen to Dessin. The story makes it clear he’s undefeatable and nothing can hurt him. So why bother with the dangerous situations? I’m bored.
Give me a reason why a 19 year old with no training or schooling is put in charge of the most dangerous patient in the entire asylum and is the only one who has ever considered actually talking to the patients as a means of treatment? There are no actual rules for how she does her job. She even stays the night with this prisoner, locked in his room—the most dangerous man in the entire asylum. And no one has a problem with this. Also, his room has a bathroom with running water but he’s supposed to be shackled to the wall? At one point they’re in a garden and he’s teaching her how to fight. You’re telling me all these other workers hate Skylenna so much they poison her and are so afraid of Dessin that he’s been locked up for years, but no one has a problem with this?
Also, this complaint might be due to the fact I was skimming this book trying to get over it, but I feel like chapters would end so abruptly and with no explanation. There was one chapter where the characters were in the woods looking at the stars, and Dessin makes a fire. They see the RottWeilen, they run into a couple who are trying to have sex and Dessin threatens them, and then it’s just her waking up in her bed in the next chapter. Zero explanation of how Dessin knew the RottWeilen, why he had a name for him, how she got home, etc. This is not the first or only time this happens. Another time he snaps someone’s neck for trying to assault Skylenna (more on this later), and then she just goes home and doesn’t think about it again.
The similes and metaphors. OH MY GOD. I am fond of prose. But not everything needs a metaphor! It’s as if the author thought every paragraph needed a comparison, most of which did not make sense and did not serve the plot in anyway. For example, “…gliding over the tile as if there are tiny wheels on the bottoms of her shoes” “a question sings like a violin between us.” “They hurt him. And that struck me like a bat to the cheek.” “It’s another world out there. Overlooking the forest like heads of broccoli”. Yes, these are direct quotes. And there are many more just like it.
The romance— BORING. I was annoyed by every bit of it. The explanation for why Skylenna felt there was so much chemistry between her and Dessin was so lazy.
Dessin’s powers and his “unlocked” brain potential. When a character (who is introduced briefly just to torment the main character and whose motivations are never really explained) tries to sleep with Skylenna, Dessin has a meltdown so severe she has to leave her home and be at the asylum. Yet when she is struck in the face by Aurick, he never knows until he sees the physical evidence.
Who is the leather man? Why was this never talked about again?
Similarly, why make such a big deal about the puppet and then never talk about it again except for a small bit of dialogue at the end of the book that doesn’t explain or even fit into the rest of the chapter?
Aurick’s personality changed at the drop of a hat just to serve the plot. He wasn’t a fleshed out character at all and seemed to only exist to serve as a plot twist and to traumatize the main character.
MASSIVE TW: Rape, murder, transphobia
Which brings me to the absolute worst part of this entire book. I could forgive the rest of my complaints and pass them off as petty. I have read some pretty detailed, graphic novels before. I have read some cheesy badly written novels before. But this book often reads like some attempt at torture and gore porn. Every single person has a horrible backstory where they or someone they knew were gruesomely raped or slaughtered. This is often discussed in detail. There was an entire chapter describing a graphic gang rape scene witnessed by the son of the woman—an 8 year old boy— who was then forced to murder his mother to save his brother, who got killed anyway. Why? The author describes the rapists as using instruments to sodomize the mother, and forcing her mouth open and forcing her to provide oral sex until she started choking on their semen. I get that this was supposed to be the horrible traumatic thing that caused Dessin to come to the front and protect Kane. But It had absolutely no impact but for gross shock value, because the entire rest of the book is filled with extreme details of everyone else’s suffering. This is also glossed over by the main character. She talks briefly about how sad that makes her and then it’s basically forgotten.
Not one person in this book was written without a tragic, often sexual in nature backstory. Skylenna’s sister, Scarlett was sold as a sex slave by their mother until Scarlett hung herself in the same closet where she used to have to eat drywall to survive. Skylenna herself was of course abused by their father since she was 6 years old. These kinds of stories would be actually haunting and would make a real impact if it happened to ONE character and you found out about it at the very end of the book. But No. It’s everywhere. Every single character. And it quickly loses its punch and becomes monotonous and repetitive, and you start to wonder what the authors motivations for writing this could be other than for shock value. One story is of a patient whose father left their family when he was a kid, so in order to provide for his family, he was sold into a sex slave ring and when he was 16 was forced to have sex with a transgender woman who turned out to be his father. Why, I ask you? To explain why he was in the asylum. I get it. But not every person who has a mental disorder comes from a sexually traumatic backstory. It just feels gross. Every single adult is a caricature of the worst villain you could imagine. Their motivations aren’t clear at all and usually serve no real purpose to the plot other than to provide shock value. I have a strong stomach and I have seen a lot of horrible stuff due to my line of work, but this was just not done well and really grossed me out.
Anyway, if you made it all the way through this, hopefully it was worth something and someone agrees with me. I really wanted to love this book. But no. I’m just glad I got it on kindle unlimited and didn’t buy it.
I was so excited for this book. My sister and I like to read books together and we were counting down the days until this book was out. It sounded so fascinating and so unique! What I read was nothing like I had envisioned. In fact, the only reason I didn’t DNF this book was because my sister was so excited about it. I have a lot of problems with this book. I am not a professional book reviewer. Also I’m writing this on mobile. Apologies for any spelling/grammar/spell-check issues.
My first problem with the book is the lack of any explanation of plot. There are a lot of phrases and half-histories about the world thrown around, but they were never really explained. I kept hoping in the end everything would make sense, but instead of explaining anything at all, the author just left it in a really lame cliff hanger to be explained in what I’m sure will be a trilogy. In the last few pages, the character Kane is introduced. He is supposed to be the answer to all the questions introduced throughout the book. They constantly say “I can’t tell you the answers to your questions because the other guy in my head doesn’t want me to.” When he shows up, however, he simply responds “I can’t answer that, He won’t let me” and Sky is basically like “oh darn, that Dessin and his secrets!” And then never asks about anything else. And there’s some lazy paragraph at the end of the book introducing the possibilities of multiple alters inside, as if that’s the real reason no questions were answered.
The world building— just… what? What is going on? Yes there’s a war, something something love interest being trained as a tool of ultimate destruction. But what is actually going on? What are the consequences of the other side taking over? There is never any real danger or trouble throughout the story. There are no stakes. There’s nothing to really root for. At no point did I think anything bad was actually going to happen to Dessin. The story makes it clear he’s undefeatable and nothing can hurt him. So why bother with the dangerous situations? I’m bored.
Give me a reason why a 19 year old with no training or schooling is put in charge of the most dangerous patient in the entire asylum and is the only one who has ever considered actually talking to the patients as a means of treatment? There are no actual rules for how she does her job. She even stays the night with this prisoner, locked in his room—the most dangerous man in the entire asylum. And no one has a problem with this. Also, his room has a bathroom with running water but he’s supposed to be shackled to the wall? At one point they’re in a garden and he’s teaching her how to fight. You’re telling me all these other workers hate Skylenna so much they poison her and are so afraid of Dessin that he’s been locked up for years, but no one has a problem with this?
Also, this complaint might be due to the fact I was skimming this book trying to get over it, but I feel like chapters would end so abruptly and with no explanation. There was one chapter where the characters were in the woods looking at the stars, and Dessin makes a fire. They see the RottWeilen, they run into a couple who are trying to have sex and Dessin threatens them, and then it’s just her waking up in her bed in the next chapter. Zero explanation of how Dessin knew the RottWeilen, why he had a name for him, how she got home, etc. This is not the first or only time this happens. Another time he snaps someone’s neck for trying to assault Skylenna (more on this later), and then she just goes home and doesn’t think about it again.
The similes and metaphors. OH MY GOD. I am fond of prose. But not everything needs a metaphor! It’s as if the author thought every paragraph needed a comparison, most of which did not make sense and did not serve the plot in anyway. For example, “…gliding over the tile as if there are tiny wheels on the bottoms of her shoes” “a question sings like a violin between us.” “They hurt him. And that struck me like a bat to the cheek.” “It’s another world out there. Overlooking the forest like heads of broccoli”. Yes, these are direct quotes. And there are many more just like it.
The romance— BORING. I was annoyed by every bit of it. The explanation for why Skylenna felt there was so much chemistry between her and Dessin was so lazy.
Dessin’s powers and his “unlocked” brain potential. When a character (who is introduced briefly just to torment the main character and whose motivations are never really explained) tries to sleep with Skylenna, Dessin has a meltdown so severe she has to leave her home and be at the asylum. Yet when she is struck in the face by Aurick, he never knows until he sees the physical evidence.
Who is the leather man? Why was this never talked about again?
Similarly, why make such a big deal about the puppet and then never talk about it again except for a small bit of dialogue at the end of the book that doesn’t explain or even fit into the rest of the chapter?
Aurick’s personality changed at the drop of a hat just to serve the plot. He wasn’t a fleshed out character at all and seemed to only exist to serve as a plot twist and to traumatize the main character.
MASSIVE TW: Rape, murder, transphobia
Which brings me to the absolute worst part of this entire book. I could forgive the rest of my complaints and pass them off as petty. I have read some pretty detailed, graphic novels before. I have read some cheesy badly written novels before. But this book often reads like some attempt at torture and gore porn. Every single person has a horrible backstory where they or someone they knew were gruesomely raped or slaughtered. This is often discussed in detail. There was an entire chapter describing a graphic gang rape scene witnessed by the son of the woman—an 8 year old boy— who was then forced to murder his mother to save his brother, who got killed anyway. Why? The author describes the rapists as using instruments to sodomize the mother, and forcing her mouth open and forcing her to provide oral sex until she started choking on their semen. I get that this was supposed to be the horrible traumatic thing that caused Dessin to come to the front and protect Kane. But It had absolutely no impact but for gross shock value, because the entire rest of the book is filled with extreme details of everyone else’s suffering. This is also glossed over by the main character. She talks briefly about how sad that makes her and then it’s basically forgotten.
Not one person in this book was written without a tragic, often sexual in nature backstory. Skylenna’s sister, Scarlett was sold as a sex slave by their mother until Scarlett hung herself in the same closet where she used to have to eat drywall to survive. Skylenna herself was of course abused by their father since she was 6 years old. These kinds of stories would be actually haunting and would make a real impact if it happened to ONE character and you found out about it at the very end of the book. But No. It’s everywhere. Every single character. And it quickly loses its punch and becomes monotonous and repetitive, and you start to wonder what the authors motivations for writing this could be other than for shock value. One story is of a patient whose father left their family when he was a kid, so in order to provide for his family, he was sold into a sex slave ring and when he was 16 was forced to have sex with a transgender woman who turned out to be his father. Why, I ask you? To explain why he was in the asylum. I get it. But not every person who has a mental disorder comes from a sexually traumatic backstory. It just feels gross. Every single adult is a caricature of the worst villain you could imagine. Their motivations aren’t clear at all and usually serve no real purpose to the plot other than to provide shock value. I have a strong stomach and I have seen a lot of horrible stuff due to my line of work, but this was just not done well and really grossed me out.
Anyway, if you made it all the way through this, hopefully it was worth something and someone agrees with me. I really wanted to love this book. But no. I’m just glad I got it on kindle unlimited and didn’t buy it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 13, 2022
When I first heard about this book, I wasn’t sure it would be any good. I didn’t even bother finding out its name. But then I started seeing it everywhere. Then the cover and release date came and I thought ok, ill give it a go. Then I read it.
And I am SOOO glad I did.
Not all books live up to their hype but this one did. And not everyone can pull off multiple amazing tropes in one book but Brandi did it so well.
Skylenna was amazing. I loved her personality and determination. She was scared, almost throughout the entire book but she didn't let that stop her. Total Boss Bitch energy.
Niles? Seriously I loved him the moment we met him and him with Ruth? Hilarious.
And Chekiss was a darling.
I'd love to see more of Ruth in the coming books and see how she develops as well as Judas.
Infact all these characters would make an awesome team.
The dreamer, the protector, the pawn and the puppet. I don't know what to call Ruth yet.
But Dessin? Sigh. I have no words for the amazingness that is Patient 13.
Unpopular opinion: do we need to find his other alters? I LOVE DESSIN!!! The few pages of Kane was nice as well and now I don't know who to choose. Now Graystone? Hmm… not sure about him yet. IT”S LIKE A REVERSE HAREM BUT OF PERSONALITIES ONLY!!!!
*sob* I need more!!!!
(though Im still leaning towards Dessin. IT'S NOT MY FAULT HE'S SO AMAZING!!!)
The reading style was on point. And the plot?
Naturally like any other series with many books, the first book starts off slow but the development is there and what we have so far is very interesting.
The entire time I was reading this I was getting dark academia/gloomy vibes. Like I was stuck in a dark academia world that I couldn't get out of. And it's not necessarily a bad thing. But I felt like I'd been pulled into that mood and nothing, not even upbeat music would lift that mood while I read this book.
I can't wait for the next one!!!
*Second read*
Although it took me a lot longer to finish this time around, it didn't make it any less amazing.
And I am SOOO glad I did.
Not all books live up to their hype but this one did. And not everyone can pull off multiple amazing tropes in one book but Brandi did it so well.
Skylenna was amazing. I loved her personality and determination. She was scared, almost throughout the entire book but she didn't let that stop her. Total Boss Bitch energy.
Niles? Seriously I loved him the moment we met him and him with Ruth? Hilarious.
And Chekiss was a darling.
I'd love to see more of Ruth in the coming books and see how she develops as well as Judas.
Infact all these characters would make an awesome team.
The dreamer, the protector, the pawn and the puppet. I don't know what to call Ruth yet.
But Dessin? Sigh. I have no words for the amazingness that is Patient 13.
Unpopular opinion: do we need to find his other alters? I LOVE DESSIN!!! The few pages of Kane was nice as well and now I don't know who to choose. Now Graystone? Hmm… not sure about him yet. IT”S LIKE A REVERSE HAREM BUT OF PERSONALITIES ONLY!!!!
*sob* I need more!!!!
(though Im still leaning towards Dessin. IT'S NOT MY FAULT HE'S SO AMAZING!!!)
The reading style was on point. And the plot?
Naturally like any other series with many books, the first book starts off slow but the development is there and what we have so far is very interesting.
The entire time I was reading this I was getting dark academia/gloomy vibes. Like I was stuck in a dark academia world that I couldn't get out of. And it's not necessarily a bad thing. But I felt like I'd been pulled into that mood and nothing, not even upbeat music would lift that mood while I read this book.
I can't wait for the next one!!!
*Second read*
Although it took me a lot longer to finish this time around, it didn't make it any less amazing.
April 16, 2022
the more i think about this the more confused i get
i definitely had the wrong ideas coming into the book i was low key excited for like an AHS, enemies to lovers, tension type vibe. instead i got insta love, bland characters, weird plot stuff and dragons?
i definitely had the wrong ideas coming into the book i was low key excited for like an AHS, enemies to lovers, tension type vibe. instead i got insta love, bland characters, weird plot stuff and dragons?
April 19, 2022
Guys… do not read this book. Or do and form your own opinion but I am warning you, it is brutal.
It is a caricature of mental illness to the point of changing what the actual diagnosis would be for a patient. It is grotesque in it’s torture descriptions past the point of any other dark romance I have read.
The trigger warning list is endless, but the author purposefully left out triggers, I believe either for shock value or because they would be a lot harder to justify or market. Additional triggers are for inc3st and transphobia as well as graphic r@pe, several encounters of child s3xual abuse and graphic murder.
This is not a dark romance. From what I understand the author did not listen to her beta readers warnings about this content and decided to publish anyways. I feel as if I was marketed a completely different book than the one I got. I wish I had not read this and some scenes were so harmful to read and graphic for absolutely no reason. This is worse than horror movies or anything else I can think of.
Proceed with caution and read safe, friends.
It is a caricature of mental illness to the point of changing what the actual diagnosis would be for a patient. It is grotesque in it’s torture descriptions past the point of any other dark romance I have read.
The trigger warning list is endless, but the author purposefully left out triggers, I believe either for shock value or because they would be a lot harder to justify or market. Additional triggers are for inc3st and transphobia as well as graphic r@pe, several encounters of child s3xual abuse and graphic murder.
This is not a dark romance. From what I understand the author did not listen to her beta readers warnings about this content and decided to publish anyways. I feel as if I was marketed a completely different book than the one I got. I wish I had not read this and some scenes were so harmful to read and graphic for absolutely no reason. This is worse than horror movies or anything else I can think of.
Proceed with caution and read safe, friends.
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