This is the first ever book that I finished, closed, then IMMEDIATELY opened up and started reading all over again 🤩 

It’s giving everything every lovable YA book gave, back in the day, but with adult themes thrown in there too.

I’m honestly obsessed with Oleander, she’s like a swearier Katniss Everdeen 🤣 

Love this book and the only reason it’s not getting a full 5⭐️ is because I’m livid at how much I’m going to have to fork out for the rest of the series. Can’t seem to find second hand versions anywhere and with each of the later books all costing between £16.99- £19.99, this new  addiction will likely set me back almost £100 💀💀💀💀 (absolutely not gonna be able to stop me though 😅)

 Are y'all ready for a different side of me? No but seriously, I normally stick to posting about books I love, but I read a book that has been on my TBR forever and I had high hopes for it. I love the cover and I thought this would be a nice little spicy read. Little did I know this would be one of my most hated books. If you like this book, maybe skip my review? You've been warned.

Yeah umm no. Nope, nuh uh, 1 star. Where are the trigger warnings? I thought maybe it was just because I listened to the audiobook, but nope. I just checked the Kindle edition and there's none. From what I can tell there's none on the author's website either. There's sa, literal sa, in this supposedly spicy book, and that's the extent of the smut, a r* scene. F* this book.

Olli, our main character is insufferable. Constantly whining, complaining and unnecessarily using the word freaking every other sentence. She's 19 but acts like a child.

The book feels so repetitive and goes nowhere. The main character is supposedly super powerful and scary but has to hide it all away and can't tell her fated bonds a single word about any of it. They all treat each other horribly and even the one guy who's decent, I'm sitting here wondering when he's gonna flip. Toxic with a capital T all but the one.

The r* culture just being accepted and acceptable is beyond wild. The fact that Olli is sa'd and the author goes above and beyond to convince us and the characters that it wasn't actually sa makes me so mad. The author could have done something really good with that narrative and spoken to what a victim of sa goes through, but instead gaslights Olli, her bonds, and us.

Among other triggers is k*dnapping, emotional ab*se, physical ab*se, mis*gyny, g*slighting, t*rture, domestic ab*se, cl*ssism, false impr*sonment, conf*nement, v*ctim blaming, and probably a whole lot more I'm forgetting.

On the language side of things, "freaking" appears 179 times, "b*tch" 55 times, "f*ck" 466 times, "sh*t" 181 times, "a*shole" 62 times, "d*ck" 34 times, and "d*mn" 63 times.

Originally this was just meh, like a train wreck I couldn't look away from. I was alternating between 3 and 2 stars. After finding out there's no trigger warnings whatsoever, it's a 1 for me. This may just be my new hated book on the same level as Haunting Adeline. I picked up book 2 from Libby because apparently I like torturing myself. I thought it had to get better. We'd turn around the plot on the r*ist and do something about him, but no. She's just crying over her freaking leather boots she couldn't live without that she lost in book 1. Like what?

Olli is a total mean girl, not a girl's girl.

The only good thing going for this book is that the cover art is gorgeous. So maybe we should stop judging books by their covers. Smh. 

I found Oli to to be such a let down as a main female protagonist. She's all thought and no action. Never once did she try to plan this grand escape to get away after being found. She says f*ck constantly or "I could die". She's 19 but acts like she's 13, which makes sense to the story given the age she ran away. It makes for very boring and repetitive internal dialogue. The biggest problem I had with this book was Oli hiding her power from the reader the WHOLE book (expect the last chapter). I get her hiding it from those around her but it doesn't make sense to hide it from the reader. I think it would have made the character easier to understand and empathize with, if we as the reader knew her ability. I know the author probably did this to build suspense for but doesn't offer any value, imo. Lastly, I would consider this book to be a YA for sure which I don't think it's marketed that way. 

The Bonds that Tie series by J Bree is a now complete six book RH series that I am struggling to put down. I am nearly done with book four, and I started the series two days ago. It is that good. 

PROS: 
🖤The gifted system 
🤍The fact the gifted have a rift that reminds me of the X-Men VS The Brotherhood 
🖤Everyone has their own lives and trauma that predate the story being told and help shape it. 
🤍Sage 
🖤All the unique gifts 

CONS: 
🤍The Bonds not giving Oleander the benefit of the doubt about running away when they know the Resistance exists 
🖤The Resistance 
🤍The fact people treat any of the other gifted like they are lesser or scary or anything other than just equal. 

👢👢👢👢👢 out of five perfect pairs of thrifted boots 

This book is awful but addictive. None of the characters are likeable but it’s like a trainwreck you have to finish the series. 

ok like entertaining, even though it read like a YA and the author used the word “freaking” over 175 times. 

The bullying was way more abusive than I thought it was going to be, once I learned it was a bully romance. I didn’t mind most of it, but the constant “freaking” and “bitches” felt really juvenile. And the SA scene felt really gratuitous. We already knew the guy was an asshole, we didn’t need to go that far. It was a bit triggering for me. The end finally picks up when you learn about her gifts and they are cool, I just wish the whole book wasn’t “I ran away from my bonds (at 14) and now they hate me but I can’t share why”.