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A review by lara_ayrolla
The Otherworld by Abbie Emmons
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Before anything, I would like to thank Abbie Emmons and NetGalley for the ARC (Advanced Reader Copy). I am extremely grateful and feel honored to have read this book before the release. I was really hoping to give it 5 stars, I'm sorry I couldn't.
For the first 30% of the book I felt like this was going to be a 5 stars review. After that, my excitement was fading gradually the more I progressed in my reading. For the last 30% I was only reading because of a sense of obligation.
The theme is well executed. The way the imagery is created, the beach related words being used to describe feelings and actions, the template of the back-and-forth between present and past... It was beautiful to read. However, the world-building only seemed to go as far as the island. The scenes in the Otherworld felt like they were a movie montage and only being thought as they were written.
The characters are interesting enough, having defining qualities and a very characteristic way of speaking and thinking. They feel alive, but not enough for me to care about them. The only character I could actually care about was Jack, and by the end of the book I didn't like even him anymore.
The romance feels rushed and forced, with a lot of telling instead of showing. Orca loves Adam for no reason way too quickly, and throughout the whole book I keep trying to understand why. I lost it when I read a passage from a few days after she met Adam in which she says she had never loved anyone as much as her father until she met Adam. That's not how love works at all.
I was constantly angry at the black-and-whiteness of the thinking, with Jack reproving Lawrence's actions and Adam embracing them when it obviously should be a middle ground. You can understand someone's reasoning without agreeing with them. Orca could still love her father and follow her own wishes. It was wrong of him to hide the truth about her mother, it was wrong of him to keep her in the lighthouse when she wanted to meet other places. Orca shouldn't feel any guilt at all for chasing after what she wanted and she had the right to be angry at her dad. She could be angry and do things putting herself first but also still love him and want to keep living in the island with him. It's not all or nothing and I hate how the ending of the book makes it seem like Orca was in the wrong for not complying with her dad's wishes when she obviously wasn't.
Jack was a great character at the beginning, making me laugh out loud and want to keep reading only to see more of him. He was ruined for me when he started being controlling and when he literally thought the sentence "She's not like other girls". I can't take a character — or a book — seriously when this phrase is used unironically.
Adam was bland and felt like every guy I went to high school with who thought he was deep for reading philosophy books and playing the guitar. Every time I saw his name under a chapter, I groaned a little bit. His thoughts were boring and his actions even more. He brought nothing to the table and I still don't understand why he was the chosen brother when Jack had so much more going on for him. He shouldn't have been a love interest at all, unless the intent was to convey a message at the end, which it clearly was not.
Is 2023, we should know better than to romanticize age gap romances like this. Orca had barely turned 18 while Adam was 28. The human brain is developing until 25 years old. Before then we're way more prone to make impulsive decisions and that's why is predatory in a way for an older adult to pursue a teenager, even when they're technically legal. Not only that, but Jack, who's the same age as Orca, says he sees Adam as a father figure multiple times, explains how he is a mentor to him in almost every aspect and go as far as to say he felt like Adam was a grown up his entire life, which makes sense considering Adam was already 10 when Jack was born.
The way both Jack and Adam keep describing Orca as pure, naive, and innocent should say it all. Adam even says he "loves her even more" after she does something that he thinks shows her innocence. I felt constantly grossed out by this almost 30 year old man talking about the pureness of the barely 18 year old girl he was pursuing. Adam himself keeps saying he's too old for her but still dates her regardless of that. His self-awareness doesn't make it any better, if anything it only makes it worse. He's aware that what he's doing is wrong but he still goes and does it anyway.
As a girl who was 18 and a month when I started dating a soon to be 24 year old, I know by experience the kind of power dynamic these age gaps hold. And ours wasn't even as big as theirs. And I haven't lived in a secluded island my entire life to aggravate it even more. It's just not okay.
I am very disappointed because one of the things I loved about 100 Days of Sunlight, Abbie Emmons' debut novel, was the fact that it was age appropriate. I even said on my review of that book that it was the bare minimum but it was still great to see, since it is uncommon to see in romance novels.
For the first 30% of the book I felt like this was going to be a 5 stars review. After that, my excitement was fading gradually the more I progressed in my reading. For the last 30% I was only reading because of a sense of obligation.
The theme is well executed. The way the imagery is created, the beach related words being used to describe feelings and actions, the template of the back-and-forth between present and past... It was beautiful to read. However, the world-building only seemed to go as far as the island. The scenes in the Otherworld felt like they were a movie montage and only being thought as they were written.
The characters are interesting enough, having defining qualities and a very characteristic way of speaking and thinking. They feel alive, but not enough for me to care about them. The only character I could actually care about was Jack, and by the end of the book I didn't like even him anymore.
The romance feels rushed and forced, with a lot of telling instead of showing. Orca loves Adam for no reason way too quickly, and throughout the whole book I keep trying to understand why. I lost it when I read a passage from a few days after she met Adam in which she says she had never loved anyone as much as her father until she met Adam. That's not how love works at all.
I was constantly angry at the black-and-whiteness of the thinking, with Jack reproving Lawrence's actions and Adam embracing them when it obviously should be a middle ground. You can understand someone's reasoning without agreeing with them. Orca could still love her father and follow her own wishes. It was wrong of him to hide the truth about her mother, it was wrong of him to keep her in the lighthouse when she wanted to meet other places. Orca shouldn't feel any guilt at all for chasing after what she wanted and she had the right to be angry at her dad. She could be angry and do things putting herself first but also still love him and want to keep living in the island with him. It's not all or nothing and I hate how the ending of the book makes it seem like Orca was in the wrong for not complying with her dad's wishes when she obviously wasn't.
Jack was a great character at the beginning, making me laugh out loud and want to keep reading only to see more of him. He was ruined for me when he started being controlling and when he literally thought the sentence "She's not like other girls". I can't take a character — or a book — seriously when this phrase is used unironically.
Adam was bland and felt like every guy I went to high school with who thought he was deep for reading philosophy books and playing the guitar. Every time I saw his name under a chapter, I groaned a little bit. His thoughts were boring and his actions even more. He brought nothing to the table and I still don't understand why he was the chosen brother when Jack had so much more going on for him. He shouldn't have been a love interest at all, unless the intent was to convey a message at the end, which it clearly was not.
Is 2023, we should know better than to romanticize age gap romances like this. Orca had barely turned 18 while Adam was 28. The human brain is developing until 25 years old. Before then we're way more prone to make impulsive decisions and that's why is predatory in a way for an older adult to pursue a teenager, even when they're technically legal. Not only that, but Jack, who's the same age as Orca, says he sees Adam as a father figure multiple times, explains how he is a mentor to him in almost every aspect and go as far as to say he felt like Adam was a grown up his entire life, which makes sense considering Adam was already 10 when Jack was born.
The way both Jack and Adam keep describing Orca as pure, naive, and innocent should say it all. Adam even says he "loves her even more" after she does something that he thinks shows her innocence. I felt constantly grossed out by this almost 30 year old man talking about the pureness of the barely 18 year old girl he was pursuing. Adam himself keeps saying he's too old for her but still dates her regardless of that. His self-awareness doesn't make it any better, if anything it only makes it worse. He's aware that what he's doing is wrong but he still goes and does it anyway.
As a girl who was 18 and a month when I started dating a soon to be 24 year old, I know by experience the kind of power dynamic these age gaps hold. And ours wasn't even as big as theirs. And I haven't lived in a secluded island my entire life to aggravate it even more. It's just not okay.
I am very disappointed because one of the things I loved about 100 Days of Sunlight, Abbie Emmons' debut novel, was the fact that it was age appropriate. I even said on my review of that book that it was the bare minimum but it was still great to see, since it is uncommon to see in romance novels.