Despite the low rating, I truly appreciate you taking the time to lay out what you thought.
I can say that the reason Sakina overlooks Talbumosuke's actions while criticizing Taeko's boils down to intent: Talbumosuke's destruction of City Hall was a complete accident (and a side effect of coming to Earth). Taeko was committing murder in the first degree.
Also, nobody told me to toss the sex scene between the leads in. I honestly wanted to show that the characters were in love. This is self-published. Not including the love scene would've actually helped me avoid making this a New Adult novel. That said, saying Violet was "egged on" misses what was actually going on. Violet realized that Ryan was too much of a gentleman to impose the idea on her. So, she took the initiative when this was pointed out to her. To say she was egged on misses the point that Violet can sometimes be a very aggressive and blunt person. That conversation could've easily been "Hey, so my friends and I talked" but instead she jumps right to "It's okay. I know it's been on your mind. I'm ready."
Fair call out on Stefan feeling like he was tacked on. I can't spoil for the series, but I can say that if I didn't introduce him in THIS book, he would've felt like a case of the trope Remember the New Guy.
I know the politics wouldn't be for everyone when I added them in, but I simply looked at what was going on in the world, and realized that the world we live in was unconducive to the story and characters I wanted to exist in it. So, changes to historic events needed to be made. I could go into greater detail, but that's the short version.
Nevertheless, despite your misgivings, I hope you will enjoy subsequent installments of the series. Thanks for not being afraid to speak your mind.
I can say that the reason Sakina overlooks Talbumosuke's actions while criticizing Taeko's boils down to intent: Talbumosuke's destruction of City Hall was a complete accident (and a side effect of coming to Earth). Taeko was committing murder in the first degree.
Also, nobody told me to toss the sex scene between the leads in. I honestly wanted to show that the characters were in love. This is self-published. Not including the love scene would've actually helped me avoid making this a New Adult novel.
That said, saying Violet was "egged on" misses what was actually going on. Violet realized that Ryan was too much of a gentleman to impose the idea on her. So, she took the initiative when this was pointed out to her. To say she was egged on misses the point that Violet can sometimes be a very aggressive and blunt person. That conversation could've easily been "Hey, so my friends and I talked" but instead she jumps right to "It's okay. I know it's been on your mind. I'm ready."
Fair call out on Stefan feeling like he was tacked on. I can't spoil for the series, but I can say that if I didn't introduce him in THIS book, he would've felt like a case of the trope Remember the New Guy.
I know the politics wouldn't be for everyone when I added them in, but I simply looked at what was going on in the world, and realized that the world we live in was unconducive to the story and characters I wanted to exist in it. So, changes to historic events needed to be made. I could go into greater detail, but that's the short version.
Nevertheless, despite your misgivings, I hope you will enjoy subsequent installments of the series. Thanks for not being afraid to speak your mind.