Making this review slightly pains me. It started out so well and I was truly excited about where this was all headed. But, unfortunately there were a handful of items that did not work for me and turned this initial 5 star into a 3 star. The smut as well as the side character, Nick kept this story interesting. I am curious about Nick’s story and learning more of what is going on between him and Ellie? The unknown between the two was great on the Author’s part, to leave the reader’s wanting more about what exactly is the nature of their relationship; as well as Nick’s commentary on her.
Now, I want to point out that an element I found cute, were all the little nods to Alice in Wonderland. They were subtle and if you are familiar with the story, then I think it’ll bring a little knowing smile to your face as did mine when I recognized them.
I will have a slight spoiler moving forward, due to me having a pretty big issue with something that was added into the plot, the spoiler is unavoidable for me to discuss my issue. But, I still feel it isn’t a massive spoiler. Regardless, if you don’t want to risk it then I advise anyone to stop reading past this point.
Alice, she was a character that I was quite unsure of upon meeting her. She is 17 years old, quiet, seemingly scared of her own shadow, constantly biting her lip, her cheeks reddening, and always speaking very softly. As this is a Novella, the direction of the plot is pretty plain to see early on, that Alice will be having a relationship with her twin Step-Brothers. So, the issue I had with how the Author carved out this relationship was:
1) I feel that she convinced me to accept that Alice was somehow scared of her feelings for her Step-Brothers (whom she has had extremely low contact with). And I was rolling with it, because I did in fact fall in love with both the twins (one more-so over the other, but that’s not important). But then, Alice describes her connection to Vasily, her step-father (and of course biological father to her step-brothers). It is well defined how much Alice loved and adored Vasily because he made her feel safe. So, when Alice began making inner dialogue on how she was confused about her feelings for the twins…it begged the question. Does she actually feel something for the Twins? Or just because they remind her of Vasily? Because where was the connection having ever being created when the twins and Alice had only been around each other maybe twice in person over the time their father was married to Alice’s mother? These are elements that snag my attention. Why not pull back a bit on Alice’s feelings for her step-father to allow room for the twins? This just muddied the waters for me, which I didn’t care for.
2) *Spoiler* There is a smut scene where all three are involved. And out of nowhere, Alice calls one of the twins “Daddy”. Now, trust me I don’t mind this in books! But, in this instance it didn’t work for me. Because I was already on the fence if Alice was into the twins because of their own personalities and qualities and not because they were reminders of her step-father…which again I don’t mind (this is a Taboo book after all). BUT, it completely deflated all the hard work that the Author took in building this relationship between THESE three characters. So, I did not care for that part whatsoever.
Amongst this, there were just a lot of things that unraveled this story, making this book lose its quality. There were grammatical errors continuously. Repetitive use of words. The Author had mixed up eye colors. Some things were brought into the plot that had no evidence to support it. Such as the raccoons? Am I the only one wondering how tf they knew it was raccoons fighting? And why was that even in the story? The raccoons throughly confused me.
I think the ultimate breaking point for me was that Alice is 17, the twins are 12 years older, making them 29 years old. I needed Alice to feel less like a child and more like a woman, which many author’s have successfully done with age gaps such as this. But, I didn’t see that and was desperately seeking for it. She talked like a valley girl, someone who didn’t seem like a Senior in High School actually at all; but rather Middle School. Which, didn’t work for me. I no longer became convinced that these two, hardened twins, who deal with dark matters in their line of work would worship this immature, underdeveloped girl. I just feel completely deflated because I feel that the missteps cost this story for me.
I am going to continue with The Game, maybe not right away. But, I am interested in this Author’s work. I feel like over time, her work has the potential to become cleaner and stronger. Although I did have a lot of criticism, I do not feel like this was a terrible book. I just think there are things that need work in my personal opinion.