cluckieduck's reviews
298 reviews

Style over substance.

This was ok. It was equally too long but not long enough. Certain aspects would have benefit from a bit more fleshing out and a lot could have been cut - I did end up skimming quite a bit by the end because it just got a bit too repetitive. 

I didn't find any of the harem particularly engaging and have no desire to finish the duet because those characters seem even less so.

While not a perfect book, I really, really enjoyed this one.

I understand the negative reviews bemoaning the lack of character growth, but I disagree. This is no hero's journey - Sadie & Sam are two highly flawed individuals, traumatized individuals who are so stuck in cycles of grief and/or dissociation that they cannot break away from which, to me, is a much more realistic portrayal of human character (seek trauma-centred therapy, you two!!).

Did I like them all the time? No, not particularly, and both conduct questionable behaviours/actions throughout, but I sure did empathize with them. I was quite taken with the point Sadie brought up about how:

"We're all living, at most, half of a life...the life you lived, which consisted of the choices you made. And then, there was the other life, the one that was the things you hadn't chosen."

So many times in this book had instances where you wonder what could have been had the other choice been made. There were just so many layers, and call backs, and foreshadowing that helped round out an engaging story on what it is to love and be loved.

The Villainous series was already over the top, but this is just that much too extra and I'm not enjoying it. A plot "full of intrigue and twisty turns" is more like miscommunication overdrive, and neither character is doing it for me.

I love this series, but having a look back at the last few releases and seeing that I didn’t give them any ratings is a bit telling…I think Patricia has lost the plot a bit. 

This latest one is quite convoluted, and I found breaking up each chapter with Interludes to keep us abreast of other plot points made for quite a stilted read. It was too much and not enough at the same time. 

Some point soon I’d like to go back and read the beginning of the series again to remind myself of what I’m missing (hello, Stefan, where are you??) and fall back in love. 

Nothing groundbreaking, but super cute. Marcus is everything you want in a himbo. 

Backman has a way with writing engaging stories about curmudgeons. Lucas is almost like a 30-year old Ove but, being a short story, we don’t get any backstory as to why he’d rather be alone, which makes him a little less likeable. 

This story really just showcases how bureaucratic systems can get in the way of common sense, to which Lucas is the perfect foil. 

I found it a bit heavy handed in the messaging Backman shoved in - the grass isn’t always greener; you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone; first impressions aren’t always accurate; you are the author of your own story. One (or two) too many, that made this just an okayish read for me.

So much wasted potential!!

My time is more valuable than finishing this drivel. 

It’s very dated (late 00’s), filled with internalized misogyny, fatphobia, boomer-Karen musings that I do not care to read about; living through that time was bad enough 😅

Well this was delightful, and I think Vince & Crossbody are my new favourite couple, or are at least tied with Seb & Larkin!

Full disclosure - Goliaths is my least favourite series of Lily's that I've read. While they are, for the most part, enjoyable, and I can tell that Lily must be having such a blast writing them, the type of humour prevalent in this series isn't really my jam. I was a little underwhelmed with the last entry, Cheap Heat, in particular my buy-in on the relationship between Dan & Rafe. I also thought the side characters got too much page time and detracted from the overall flow of the story.

Well, the course has corrected for me with this one! First of all, I found this very worthy of the enemies-to-lovers tag. It's hard to do well and either comes off as either rivals-to-lovers or secretly pining masquerading as hate. No, these two truly hate each other, which leads to some very delicious hate-sex throughout the first half of the book.

Side note: is this the earliest Lily has ever incorporated sexy time?!?! Because holy hot stuff, I think it's within the first 5% of the book that they have their first hate-sex encounter and it just keeps climbing in frequency and intensity. It's seriously 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 this one.

I'd been reduced to nothing but a hole for him to fuck. A cumdump. I'd never felt so satisfied in my life.

"You're my little slut, aren't you?"
"Yes," I breathe, lust thrumming through my veins from hearing him call me that. I loved it. I still wasn't entirely sure why I loved it so much - being called a slut, a whore, a cumdump - but it made me almost frantic with need.

Once they moved from hate towards friendship (thanks Corey ;) ) I felt they were a well-matched couple (yay childhood trauma) and the respect they developed for one another was apparent. They also spend A LOT of time together, but I felt there could have been a bit more substance to their time. It was a bit repetitive and I can't pull any distinctive instances of personality growth (Crossbody also sometimes reminded me of another pale, pretty, prickly MC of hers)...just that it's all okie dokie by the end.

Even though new wrestlers were introduced, I'm glad we didn't get bogged down with stories involving them. They were just perfect side characters. Some lovely Holt-isms thrown in, I'm obsessed with Kit and all their quirkiness that keeps popping up (this time mostly snack-related!), and I very much enjoyed the side story with a certain pervy incubus, who it seems we'll be seeing much more of very shortly.

"So I guess...uhh..."My voice was shaking with nerves and something else - something more intense, but exhilarating. "We're not just fucking anymore."
"No." He smiled wide. "We are not just fucking anymore."

I received a free copy of this book from the author and am leaving this review voluntarily.