Reviewed by Amanda on
And Vivien's family. Holy crumb, I wanted to throw the book down and stop reading because her family was truly awful, and she kept enabling their bad habits by attempting to clean up their messes. They were pathetic, and Vivien should have walked away long ago.
And then there's Ivan. Ivan, who pursues Vivien with ruthlessness the entire book. He was always purported to be evil, and yet... well, he was a toad and terrible. But he could have been eviler... a more malevolent force.
Instead, having him spout "You'll be mine" all the time, ironically, made it seem less terrifying? The key to a good villain is seeing their reasoning and why they came to belief what they did. What do they say? A villain is the hero in his own story? Ivan just developed an obsession with Vivien, and I'm not sure why -- other than she was well liked by the ton, though that wasn't enough for me.
Aden. Aden, Aden, Aden. I felt like there was more to the story of his birth than we were able to see in this book, and I would have liked to see more with his mother, especially toward the end, when that thread seemed to drop off. And then there was his steadfast refusal to "get involved" even as he got involved.
I may have eye rolled a bit.
Despite my frustration with this book -- and I totally did try to stop reading -- the story itself was interesting, if lacking on the execution.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 25 June, 2015: Finished reading
- 25 June, 2015: Reviewed