2.5 stars. Books where a female disguises as a man are just so funny to me as a concept. Before going in, you just know that everybody and their mother is gonna be blind at best, hella dumb at worst and delusional as an immutable law.
all the characters: what do you mean it's obvious she's a woman? 😮🥺 But she wears those bindings around her titties 24/7, she chopped her hair off and her voice is gruff as hell!! 🤡 How tf are we supposed to figure out that she's a woman when the girlie did such a good job turning into a believable (military!) man? 😍 she can do push-ups too, 😍😍 wdym an hourglass figure is uncommon among men? SHUT UP 😡😡
Researches that identified that there are 6,500 genetic differences between men and women: 😮
6,500 genetic differences between men and women: are we a joke to you?
trans people going through the transitioning process: huh?
Anyway, I'm cutting RK characters some slack here because, apparently, they're no scientists. Our military guys were too busy building their muscles to notice a woman dressed up as a man parading right in front of their eyes and training with them for days/weeks/months. 💪🏻
Pls don't mind me trying to make sense of the inner workings of the "female in disguise" trope in particular and RK's book universe in general. I know it's not that deep, and everyone who's familiar with RK understands how absolutely crucial it's to practice suspension of disbelief before even thinking of delving into her books.
I just love clowning myself and following in the footsteps of my fav man Sisyphus —repeating the same meaningless task , in my case — trying to find common sense in the contemporary romance genre only to come up empty. 😍 A fan of Greek mythology and absurdism inside me is too strong of a bad influence.
But before I proceed to briefly highlight my likes and dislikes,
IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when I realized that RK included at least one character with two functioning brain cells in this book and that character, blessed be his soul, turned out to be our Russian mafia prince hero — Kirill. He immediately discovers what a big fat terrible secret Sasha has up her sleeve so no "wtf, am I gay" hysterical revelations for us from this guy. ❤️ Thank god for small mercies, love me some originality (but in strictly small doses).
the plot
I would have lowkey loved how action packed this book is in comparison to most of this author's other stories if the said action wasn't so painfully predictable: Sasha fucks up, Kirill deals with the consequences.
Let's just say that every precarious situation the MCs had to go through was 100% sponsored by the heroine's inability to listen, systematize and analyze basic information and her insubordination. Insubordination and lack of discipline IN THE ARMY that go unpunished? HUH? 🤡 Babes, those are fundamental for that institution. It was so unprofessional of Kirill as her superior to let those major fuck-ups slide.
Sasha literally kept putting her (mostly) and her team members' (occasionally) lives at risk throughout the whole book. Ok, bitch, you fucked up one time. Two times. Three times BUT IS THERE A LIMIT? 🙂
If a chimpanzee can learn, why not Sasha? 😭
Was her defiance supposed to make her look like a badass female? Because a naive me thought that a badass in the traditional sense of the word means
— having the balls to acknowledge your mistakes, learn from them, accept them and, if needed, follow the orders of a man who's older and has more expertise and experience than you ESPECIALLY because hello, bitch
🎵A vacation in a foreign land, Uncle Sam does the best he can
You're in the army now, oh-oo-oh you're in the army now🎵
I'd love the action scenes more if the dramatic and edgy quality to them didn't rely solely on Sasha's lack of basic comprehension of ANYTHING..
Sasha
It's almost embarrassing that Sasha, our naive little doll with debris inside her skull, manages to fool everyone except the hero into believing she's a man when she literally has zero self-control, strategy or sense of purpose and direction in life. 😂
Pls don't tell me she's supposed to find and exert revenge on her family's murderers with her feeble deductive skills. She barely manages to survive in the Russian army, which is not even her proper achievement. If it weren't for Kirill's soft-heartedness that takes pity on this poor, begging female creature at his feet... (or rather his subconsciousness, responsible for calculating how her female anatomy could be of use to him in the future.. my wild guess) we'd be reading about our girl in some criminal chronicles... 😏 Woman power at work, bitch. 👄
I wish one day authors would understand that kind-hearted, naive but strong heroines aren't necessarily tantamount to reckless little Mary Sues whose survival and salvation are the courtesy of the plot armor and the hero's long-term plans to dick her down.
Honestly, this girl needed a bodyguard herself. The fact that Kirill hired her as one just shows how much men think with their dicks. 🤣
I mean... that's kinda cute and wholesome of him to protect his own bodyguard so I gotta stop bitching. I love that type of protective shit. But, boys and girls, hear me out. He should be protecting her from a real danger, not from her rotten brain ok 🥺
Kirill
I really liked Kirill, he has some funny lines and the scene where he fucks Sasha from behind with his fogged glasses on might arguably be a solid explanation as to why this book is worth your reading time. I mean... check your priorities first.
He is an efficient captain for one, we love a smart man, and his dirty talk didn't leave me completely impartial either. Hearing "Solnyshko" falling from his lips... Mans knows his game, gotta hand it to him. 👄👄
Overall, I liked Sasha and Kirill's dynamics.
That being said, I thought that Kirill doesn't live up to his image of a manipulative "cold-blooded monster". He is a cinnamon roll in the making, he lets the girl he likes ENDANGER AND FUCK UP HIS MISSIONS without batting an eye. Maybe he's not as manipulative and in control as he likes to think because people jeopardizing your work need to be fired or put on a leash. Maybe making them orgasm 19299020 times a day ain't an effective tactic. 😮😮 Shocking, I know.
Plus the pure comedy of RK believing that she knows how to write dark male characters never ceases to amuse me. 😂 It's ALMOST endearing, that ABSOLUTE DELUSION she harbors. The only triggering factor in her books that might actually cause a real long-lasting damage is that writing style of hers.:D
Anyway, if you like softies who everyone considers a baddie, you'll be in for a treat. Watered-down anti-heroes for the win. 🥳
last but not least.. the SLOW-BURN
What's this? Have I somehow ended up in a parallel universe?
"The space between her legs" starts tingling only at 28% mark *gasps audibly*.
Mark this day on your calendar, finally RK heroine that has some real fucking STAMINA, which isn't saying much, to be honest, but still. ✌🏻 Y'all, she's a true soldier, she waits a little before she starts drooling on her monstrous prince charming. 😭✊🏻
And no shit, the main characters start talking about sex only at appr. 60% mark and actually wait respectfully till 70% mark to start fucking in earnest.
Colour me surprised: them waiting before acting like horny rabbits in the last chapters is giving
✨ slow-burn ✨
The trouble is that I didn't feel much chemistry between Sasha and Kirill outside the bedroom.
Their sex scenes were VERY HOT ngl. Something about Kirill taking charge and Sasha being all sweet and submissive in return hits different (fucking FINALLY she follows his lead at least somewhere. Her submissiveness in other matters would have come in handy on more than a few occasions too, but alas).
Kirill's possessiveness and physical attraction toward her come out of nowhere. He sees her half-naked form for the first time, calls her a "she" in his head for the first time too and that's all it takes to fall for her.
I'm not exactly complaining: I just didn't feel any sparks flying between them neither before nor after that scene. Slow-burn is all dandy and cool when it has some proper buildup with a lot of tension-filled moments and chemistry involved, otherwise it's just smut put on hold till the last chapters.
Overall
I found some aspects pretty enjoyable, but I struggled with the book.
It was boring and bland in parts, and I'm not a fan of drama and action relying on characters' stupidity. It detracts from the thrill and unpredictability of the plot per se.
I must admit the writing style here is better when compared to most of RK books, and I love that for us. ✨
Less space is given to wacky poetry, though you can bet your ass RK still waxes poetic about how "cold-blooded" and "monstrous" her cinnamon roll of a hero is. I guess we should collectively congratulate RK: I bet all my money on the fact that never once in her life has she had to deal with real cold-blooded monsters. But as I said, there isn't that much inner monologue that would include the "blood monstrosity" narrative to make it completely insufferable. The glass is half full. ✌🏻
Moreover, I think it's sort of bold and badass of RK to write about Russian characters in a positive light, considering the current geopolitical circumstances. It's cool to see that not everyone chooses a safer option of villainizing the whole nation in a public space. Who'd have thought RK's thinking is so progressive.
The storyline doesn't revolve around sex and is pretty original, so don't let my review dissuade you from reading it, besties xx