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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Why do I keep buying these awful books? No more...What a waste of money and time.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Finally. Although, is there a book written by MB that doesn’t have the word turgid in it?
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Picking up the third book in a series, you'd think that I would be lost. But I have to give Banks credit on the fact that I don't feel like I missed out on anything by skipping the first two.
This is an incredibly cheesy and predictable book that served as a nice filler for me. Definitely has its fair share of adult content sprinkled throughout the last half, but if you know who Maya Banks is, you should know what to expect.
This is an incredibly cheesy and predictable book that served as a nice filler for me. Definitely has its fair share of adult content sprinkled throughout the last half, but if you know who Maya Banks is, you should know what to expect.
Kept was a surprising roller coaster ride of emotions that had me wrung out by the end! Banks definitely had me going through the gauntlet with this one. I found myself amused, distraught and annoyed within the span of a few chapters. As always, Banks weaves a tale full of redemption. Silas believes himself to be damaged goods, unworthy of love. When Haley barges into his life with her innate goodness and gentleness, he finds it difficult to continuously push her away. He doesn’t make it easy on her, he tests her limits and demands nothing short of perfection, yet she takes it all in stride and he finds himself falling for her despite his reservations. Since he’s been a solitary person, save for his band of brothers, he finds letting her into his life hard but she slowly gets him to open up about his difficult past. He blunders along the way but more than makes up for it in the end.
Haley was one of those characters you just have to like. Not naive but hopeful in a way that makes her sunny disposition despite her odds enjoyable. She was determined yet not headstrong or bitchy. The woman could give as good as she got but not in a way that made her come off as rude or annoying. Even though Silas took every opportunity to confuse her with his hot and coldness, she never lost her edge or her zest for the life she knew she deserved. I loved that about her. Her unyielding loyalty and goodness.
Dare I say how much I’m loving this series? I don’t want to jinx it, but damn, this had everything I’m looking for! I can’t wait for more!
I give Kept by Maya Banks 4 stars!
Haley was one of those characters you just have to like. Not naive but hopeful in a way that makes her sunny disposition despite her odds enjoyable. She was determined yet not headstrong or bitchy. The woman could give as good as she got but not in a way that made her come off as rude or annoying. Even though Silas took every opportunity to confuse her with his hot and coldness, she never lost her edge or her zest for the life she knew she deserved. I loved that about her. Her unyielding loyalty and goodness.
Dare I say how much I’m loving this series? I don’t want to jinx it, but damn, this had everything I’m looking for! I can’t wait for more!
I give Kept by Maya Banks 4 stars!
This book gave me everything that I wanted. It gave me an alpha male that thinks he is undeserving of love and affection. It gave me a down on her luck female character that was very independent and prideful. And the usual the alpha male swooping in to save her and her hour of need. I understand how books like this can be Hella problematic. But the romance novel love her and me is OK with that.
As per usual, it takes me a while to get used to the authors style of writing as she can be very long-winded and descriptive. But once the plot gets going, then the story is full steam ahead and her book becomes a complete page turner. Silas and Haley were adorable and meant for each other. There were times where Silas is dominant persona was a bit cheesy but again this is what I expect from a book by this author. I will say that Haley‘s pride was not annoying in this book because she unlike characters from other books like this that I have read had no problem taking help when needed. And she constantly reminded Silas that while she understood his need for control she was fully capable to make the decision of whether or not to be in a relationship with him knowing his lifestyle was dangerous and could bring her harm. That was the best thing about her character in this book and I am happy that she had her say and made Silas understand this in the end.
The ending to this book was super cheesy but again I fully expect this from this author. This was a good read to dive into for a good story without thinking too far into how far the story is from actual reality. Of the three books in the series this one was definitely my favorite.
Trigger Warning: violence against women, reliving childhood trauma and abuse, alpha males (a lot of them)
As per usual, it takes me a while to get used to the authors style of writing as she can be very long-winded and descriptive. But once the plot gets going, then the story is full steam ahead and her book becomes a complete page turner. Silas and Haley were adorable and meant for each other. There were times where Silas is dominant persona was a bit cheesy but again this is what I expect from a book by this author. I will say that Haley‘s pride was not annoying in this book because she unlike characters from other books like this that I have read had no problem taking help when needed. And she constantly reminded Silas that while she understood his need for control she was fully capable to make the decision of whether or not to be in a relationship with him knowing his lifestyle was dangerous and could bring her harm. That was the best thing about her character in this book and I am happy that she had her say and made Silas understand this in the end.
The ending to this book was super cheesy but again I fully expect this from this author. This was a good read to dive into for a good story without thinking too far into how far the story is from actual reality. Of the three books in the series this one was definitely my favorite.
Trigger Warning: violence against women, reliving childhood trauma and abuse, alpha males (a lot of them)
*sigh* Silas. My bull-headed, alpha, overprotective, OTT love.
This book was way better than the two before it, most likely because I liked the characters more. Despite that, it still wasn’t great. There were several times I felt like I read the same sentence 15 times in 15 ways. I get it, no ones going to hurt her without getting through you, blah blah, but it wasn’t as bad as the first two where the whole book seemed to endlessly repeat itself. Hayley is a much better and far more relatable female character. Evangeline just didn’t do it for me, she was so weak. Fragile. Despite her backstory I really gauged zero independence or self worth from her. Hayley was not like that at all. She stood up for herself and knew her worth. I definitely did not miss the endless pity paragraphs of “how can a man like him ever love a small town girl like me.” I still really didn’t care for the writing.
This isn’t my first Maya Banks book; I’ve read her before and enjoyed her work. So I’m surprised by how little I liked this book. I couldn’t stop reading it, which is in its favour, but the book as a whole just felt…weird.
Firstly, I’ll say that whilst the writing style is engaging, the dialogue is very stilted and formal; some of the turns of phrase come across as old-fashioned and archaic. This made it very hard for me to take some of the interactions seriously.
The plot is exactly what it says in the blurb, but it didn’t work for me. Nothing about the build up of the relationship between Silas and Haley felt natural to me. Yes, it was an instalust/instalove type of relationship, but it wasn’t even that it felt rushed. I just felt like there was no build up, especially from Haley’s perspective.
Character-wise, I found it hard to like either of them. Silas is a very dominating, possessive character, which I fully anticipated going into it, but there was something weird about it. Haley is put on the biggest pedestal possible, and pretty much treated like a child throughout, with no consideration given to her thoughts or opinions. Haley as a character felt very flat. She’s a doormat, but sassy about it, except the sassiness felt very false, and came and went.
One of my main issues with the relationship was the complete lack of communication throughout. The major source of conflict between Silas and Haley is Silas’ relationship with his friend’s wife, Evangeline. Evangeline and Drake are the main characters in the previous two books in this series, and whilst the relationship between Silas and Evangeline is not remotely romantic, it does cause a lot of conflict between Silas and Haley as. The way this story played out was infuriating to read.
Then there’s the attitude in this book towards sexual violence. Firstly, Haley is really put through the wringer in this book, with. It felt very crowbarred in when it came to how Haley was treated. I also think that Silas’ backstory and his childhood sexual abuse was treated very insensitively. I don’t think it needed to be described as graphically as it was. None of it came across like it was there for any reason other than shock value, or for the sake of it, because this was a dark romance.
The thing is, I’m not really squeamish about dark romance; I know going into them there’s going to be heavy topics and that the romance will not always be healthy. It comes with the territory. But this book didn’t work for me on any level. Beyond the sex – which, to be honest, wasn’t that well-written – I didn’t get what Haley got out of her relationship with Silas. There were a lot of references to him spoiling her and taking care of her, but I didn’t think the book showed that. To me, it mostly showed him breaking her down and forcing her into the same closed-off, lonely existence that Evangeline lived in, because he loved her so much. The thing with romance, especially dark romance, is that it must convince you that these characters need to belong together. But I genuinely thought both characters would be better off without each other. I had other issues with the book, but I wasn’t convinced by any of it, and the whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth.
Content Notes: Instalove, instalust.
Warnings:
Other:Condom use once then switch to no condoms, FMC on birth control, no discussion of STI status. , virgin FMC, age gap , OW drama of a sort The MMC is very close to the wife of one of his closest friends, who are the main characters in the previous two books in this series. Although the MMC has no romantic or sexual feelings towards this OW, he spends a lot of time with her on friendly ‘dates’ and spends a lot of time prioritising her safety and needs over that of the FMC due to his loyalty to his close friend. This causes major conflict between the MMC and FMC but nothing romantic/sexual happens between the MMC and any other woman in the book..
Firstly, I’ll say that whilst the writing style is engaging, the dialogue is very stilted and formal; some of the turns of phrase come across as old-fashioned and archaic. This made it very hard for me to take some of the interactions seriously.
The plot is exactly what it says in the blurb, but it didn’t work for me. Nothing about the build up of the relationship between Silas and Haley felt natural to me. Yes, it was an instalust/instalove type of relationship, but it wasn’t even that it felt rushed. I just felt like there was no build up, especially from Haley’s perspective.
Character-wise, I found it hard to like either of them. Silas is a very dominating, possessive character, which I fully anticipated going into it, but there was something weird about it. Haley is put on the biggest pedestal possible, and pretty much treated like a child throughout, with no consideration given to her thoughts or opinions. Haley as a character felt very flat. She’s a doormat, but sassy about it, except the sassiness felt very false, and came and went.
One of my main issues with the relationship was the complete lack of communication throughout. The major source of conflict between Silas and Haley is Silas’ relationship with his friend’s wife, Evangeline. Evangeline and Drake are the main characters in the previous two books in this series, and whilst the relationship between Silas and Evangeline is not remotely romantic, it does cause a lot of conflict between Silas and Haley as
Spoiler
Silas repeatedly puts Evangeline’s safety and needs above Haley’s, mainly out of loyalty to – and at the request of – Drake.Spoiler
I could not f for the life of me understand why no one introduced Evangeline to Haley at any stage, or would even talk about her. For a character that plays such a massive, defining role in the relationship between Silas and Haley, it felt like a very odd choice to only have Evangeline appear in one scene during the entire book, right at the end. As a reader, I did not get to know Evangeline, unless I had read the previous book in the series. It was clear that Evangeline was put on the same pedestal as Haley, but was living an extremely closed-off, lonely lifestyle, cocooned in a bubble of protection enforced on her by her husband, Drake (Drake, it’s worth mentioning, came across like a terrible, selfish character with no redeeming qualities. I spent most of the book wanting to punch him.) The conflict over her character felt extremely forced.Then there’s the attitude in this book towards sexual violence. Firstly, Haley is really put through the wringer in this book, with
Spoiler
not one but two attempted rapes on-page, and a man who sexually harasses her for much of the book and attempts to physically assault her when she rejects himThe thing is, I’m not really squeamish about dark romance; I know going into them there’s going to be heavy topics and that the romance will not always be healthy. It comes with the territory. But this book didn’t work for me on any level. Beyond the sex – which, to be honest, wasn’t that well-written – I didn’t get what Haley got out of her relationship with Silas. There were a lot of references to him spoiling her and taking care of her, but I didn’t think the book showed that. To me, it mostly showed him breaking her down and forcing her into the same closed-off, lonely existence that Evangeline lived in, because he loved her so much. The thing with romance, especially dark romance, is that it must convince you that these characters need to belong together. But I genuinely thought both characters would be better off without each other. I had other issues with the book, but I wasn’t convinced by any of it, and the whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth.
Content Notes: Instalove, instalust.
Warnings:
Spoiler
Death of a parent (in past), cancer (parent, in past), murder, violence, gun violence, blood, child sexual abuse (in past but descriped in detail very graphically on-page), rape of a child, forced prostitution of a child, sexual harassment, attempted rape (on-page, two separate occasions), sexual assault (on-page), hospital scenes, injuries, PTSD, nightmares / flashbacks, references to drug use.Other: