Good story but ANNOYING Lead Female!

I read this authors work before and loved it. What bothered me in this series was how weak, stupid and stubborn the female lead was. I gave her a break in the first book. However, her stupidity just grew as the books went on. Her curiosity always came a day late and a dollar short. She just NEVER seemed to ask the right questions! She would encounter terrible situations, yet she would never learn from them. She was a flat character , who was a constant victim with no sense of survival skills. I found myself irritated with her and cheering on her villains. The guys characters were great but most of their storylines were underdeveloped as well. I can’t believe I am also saying this, but the balance of sex and plot were off as well. I am never the one to say there is too much sex in a book. There were also a lot of unanswered plot questions that seemed to be forgotten. For example Richards shady threats but nothing really came of it. I did enjoy the narration and the plot! I read all three books so there is something here! There is great potential in this series. The lead character made me so mad I had to write a review. This author is good so, I had to let her know I don’t want to encounter another weak, female lead like this again! Characterization is key and balance is a must!

2 people found this helpful

Alright Book

Entertaining enough to finish but I won't ever listen to it again. Some sex but not well written enough to make your belly clinch. The story line and characters we're alright. It was just missing something to make me care more. It did not draw me in enough.

1 person found this helpful

Good storyline but....

The main character was very annoying as she cried non stop about everything! It was so aggravating to listen to. Stories with female MC’s that are strong and smart are much more interesting to read about. I don’t want to picture myself or a main protagonist as such a weakling that she has to cry about everything.

1 person found this helpful

It is worth it overall to read, with caveats

The third book has the same review as the first two. I liked it overall, but it had some tropes I don't personally like. I figure I would give a list of things I would change and then copy the original review at the bottom if you hadn't seen it for Broken Wings and Broken Trust.

Things I would have changed:
1. Increase the age by 10-15 years at the very least. This would wipe out a huge chunk of my issues. No, you aren't a badass at the age of 20 no matter how rich and trained and experienced you are. Also, no one puts you in charge of a corporation at the age of 21. It is also creepy to have "badasses" beat up high schoolers (yes it's an academy that goes into college-level). Just up the age and move it to a private advanced adult academy.
2. Make it a full reverse harem story. I didn't mind that the other three of Riley's "boys" loved her so much and treated her like one of them. I just would have preferred that she had a relationship with all of them. Not a failing on the author, I see she does reverse harems so obviously just a story decision.
3. Who the hell was Evan even? I realize the story is about Riley, and her focus was Beck, but even Jasper had more of a personality. Evan talked occasionally but honestly didn't really even seem he was important to the group.
4. Please no power suits for women... Felt very 80s vibe to me (and I lived in the 80s). You don't look like you are powerful at the age of 18, no matter how you are dressed. Oh wait am I harping on age again?
5. The addition of a serial killer was not necessary in the third book.

While I have those complaints, there is something about her writing that kept me listening (audiobook). I just am glad I work from home during the pandemic, otherwise, I would be terrified of my headphones giving out and the sex scenes play loudly across my office and coworkers ;).

I have pasted my original review for the first two books below just in case you wanted more detail.

To be honest, I really wanted to dislike this book and series after reading the jacket. I needed an easy listen and I figured it might be something to pick apart and dislike (sometimes I do hate-read, it is a thing), and the first part of this review will sound like I do. However, for whatever reason it still got four stars from me so evidently, I liked it.

I am not super familiar with most romance tropes yet, so maybe things I have a problem with are normal for the genre and that hopefully will explain to you why I am surprised about them.

The vast majority of the problems I have with this book deal with the ages of the characters. The main character is 17 1/2 (still legal in NY state) and the men are all about 20 years old that comprise Riles's group. That is my problem, 17 and 20-year-olds are not that interesting, and making them interesting strains credulity (and since I love urban fantasy, sci-fiction, and traditional fantasy, I have a lot of credulity that can be strained).

If you want a school setting, just flip it make Riles a full-grown woman whose family all died except a sister that needs intense medical treatment, and Riles's birth mother Katherine comes out and says she will take care of it if Riles agrees to go to take over for her, but first, she has to attend a private university to gain a degree to help her on the board when she does takes over. See, we still have a university setting, but without questionably underage people present.

The guys themselves are a huge problem. No one at age 20 is a badass. I have friends that were in special forces at an earlier age, and I still wouldn't call them a badass at 20. This is especially true for rich boys. Sure their life has been in danger, but I would put someone who has been over in Afghanistan for two years fighting for the US military over some rich boys who had training and might have had a few incidents.

Make the "boys" older. There is no reason to be 20 years old. If Beck is to be that badass, make him in his mid-30s. That gives you 15-20 years of living as an adult and that would qualify him (and the rest) as being a "badass".

Also, a note for authors here. I grew up around very dangerous men. The kind people write books about (Vietnam Vet, 1% MC Outlaws) and not once did they ever call themselves badass. They were the goofiest set of guys you would ever be around... until shit hit the fan. No one who is a badass calls themselves "dangerous", let alone calling themselves dangerous so many times.

Back at the age thing again, no one is taking over the board of a world controlling corporation at the age of 21. Especially since their parents are probably not any older than their early 50s at the most. Making the boys older and perhaps having them take over at the age of 35, or more likely when their parents are too old makes more sense.

The age thing goes on like this about details that bother me, and this really is 70-80% of the problems I have with the book.

The non-age problems mostly come into the emotional/verbal abusiveness that happens in the first two books between Beck and Riles. I don't know if Bully Romance is really a thing, but maybe it's just my taste that runs a little bit against that sort of thing. Although if that sort of thing bothers you as well, I can give you a spoiler that it mostly goes away in the third book.

The positives are the sex scenes are fairly interesting (but like I said, maybe there are way better ones out there since I am relatively new, but I enjoyed this) and to be honest something about the way Ms. Eve writes the story makes me want to keep reading (well listening because it's the audio version I have).

She does well with the writing, I enjoyed it a lot and bought the next two without even pausing. I actually bought the next two before I was halfway done with the first, even while I was complaining about the age of the characters. If only she wrote this about older people, that would have gotten it a higher mark.

1 person found this helpful

Just wow!

I was hooked from the first line in Broken Wings. amazing storyline. I have never read/listened to a book quite like this. I hope another comes along.

1 person found this helpful

I loved this book!!

Ok so this series is super awesome! I love this series so much. The story was amazing, the narration was awesome, and overall I’d recommend reading this series. If you like this series I’d recommend the Boys of Brayshaw High by Meagan Brandy. Thank you!! I really hope there are more books!

1 person found this helpful

Loved it!

This series kept me wanting more! The characters were believable and each brought their own personalities to the story. I didn't want the story to end!!!

Great ending!

I loved everything about this audible. Jarred and Marnye do such a great job with the characters. I love the extra touches like the phone calls/radio/TV voices. The story is fantastic. I seriously could not stop listening to this audible. I was on the edge of my seat throughout this book. Definitely some suprises in the book. i could jot have asked for a better ending!

OMG

so fricking good
I wish there was more!!! I live these 5 so damn much
the books and narrators were amazing. definitely relisten later because they were soo good. I love tate james.

A very good book and read properly

Very interesting could not put it down excellent book
Would recommend this book to everyone