Loco Reads’s Reviews > Brutal Serpent > Status Update

After experiencing a few more of this author’s works, I’ve realized that her style is intentionally OTT. Her books are strictly for the vibes, not for deeper analysis! 🫣 She definitely isn't meant to be taken seriously- which I unfortunately did at first. 🤷🏻‍♀️Brutal Serpent was my first book by her, and I was misled by the "dark historical romance" label. I approached it expecting true historical depth, which was a big mistake! Knowing what I know now, I might reconsider my initial harsh appraisal. If I look at it through the lens of a satire or a wild parody, it makes a lot more sense!

Hahaha! You're not the only one, a LOT of the HR community took this very seriously and of course it is a catastrophe from that perspective. It's kinda like when I read my first Loki Renard book and I was like "What the f*ck just happened?!?" That still doesn't mean you'll love the book, not every Kate Raven or Loki Renard book is my cup of tea, but it does help knowing what to expect at least!

Loco -(I’ve been following your reviews since you were Lori here! 🤗) The right approach and mood are everything, but proper marketing for a book is just as important. Authors and publishers often list books in a certain genre intentionally, even when they don’t belong there! Let's be real, who actually has the time to comb through tons of negative reviews just to find out what a book is truly about?! Knowing your hard limits and having a book properly marketed is so incredibly important!!

Anna wrote: "Loco -(I’ve been following your reviews since you were Lori here! 🤗) The right approach and mood are everything, but proper marketing for a book is just as important. Authors and publishers often l..."

You can definitely still call me Lori, that is my name, I just changed it to make it less searchable should some more conservative family members stumble across my profile. 😅

You are absolutely right about the marketing, but I think that's part of Kate Raven's thing. She has "The Catcher" listed as a "Bully Grovel Romance" and SO many people are like "This grovel is AWFUL! There is no groveling!" and I don't know if you've read it, but if you're thinking of a traditional romance grovel, he does a TERRIBLE job and really doesn't do what anyone would think of as groveling in a romantic sense, but he DOES do "his" version of groveling which is hilariously underwhelming. At one point, he gives her a tortoise in a box and says "See there, I'm groveling, now you can't be mad at me!" I can't fully explain why it's so funny to me and I think it's very niche' humor, but I just really enjoy anyone or anything that doesn't take themselves too seriously.

I do see your point that it makes it confusing for the reader and I don't blame anyone for not liking the book or not "getting" it and leaving a review indicating that. I don't think the author herself does. I'm friends with her on several social media sites and I think she's just an avid reader like us who writes what she wants and doesn't much care about making it big in any real way and probably just laughs it off. I've never seen her really respond to negative feedback or address any of it, so for better or worse, I think she's just like "Here you go, take it however you want, IDGAF" which is in and of itself hilarious to me.

I totally agree, when I'm in a reading binge, I rarely sort through all the reviews and such to figure out of I'm gonna like it. Heck, I've sometimes not even read the blurb, just saw the cover, the tropes and the premise and download it. Ah, the freedom of KU! It's usually not until after i start reading and I have questions that I come to the reviews to get some clarity about things. I'm such a mood reader (Thanks ADHD) that if i analyze it too much, i might talk myself out of a book i might like before i even open it.

Anyways! Great convo and thoughts as always, Anna!

❤️Same Lori! Now I have to check The Catcher! 🤫😝It’s nice to see authors not engaging in reader’s spaces (on subjective opinions!) or throwing shade or being spiteful towards readers! I completely understand your approach not over analyzing and reading for “vibes” only - and I was successful in doing so, many years ago, but recently-maybe is my acute ADHD or hormones 😵‍💫or just being done with some bullcrap from real life- I cannot overlook or even stand to see some tropes(I absolutely hate cheating between main characters! Absolutely not, there’s no excuse or suspension of any belief, that will make me find this romantic- dealing with so many women being cheated and destroyed by their partners IRL - there is absolutely no “catharsis”for me in such stories nor do I like reading about detailed intimate scenes with OW prior or after main characters meet! I just can’t - I was able to tolerate it before- not anymore! 🤷🏻‍♀️)
Wishing you a great week and best reads! 🤗❤️