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“The ending was dumb. The Soviet leader was going to use nuclear weapons to ensure a favorable peace, so the KGB organizes a coup. Then the new leadership sues for peace, and everything goes back to normal. If everything was going back to normal anyways, why did the leader want to use nukes? That seemed counterintuitive to me.”
“I can see that,” Andrew admitted.
“That’s it,” I said. “Thanks for the recommendation. Okay, your turn.”
Andrew finished his margarita and refilled his glass—and mine—from the pitcher. “I didn’t expect you to have such a positive opinion on my book.”
“Really? Why not?”
“I don’t know.” He looked at his notes. “Your book was good. We don’t have to go into the details.”
“Aw, come on! Tell me what you think. It’s okay if you didn’t like parts of it.”
He grimaced, then picked up his notepad. “All right. I’m not sure where to start…”
“First, tell me what you liked about it,” I said.
“Um.” He cleared his throat. “About that…”
“Wait. Did you hate the entire thing? Andrew!”
“Okay, yes! I hated it!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t want to hate your favorite book, but I did. And now I’m afraid I’m going to hurt your feelings.”
I patted his leg. “That’s sweet of you, but I’m a big girl. I can handle some criticism.” I took a very long pull from my drink. “Okay, now I can handle the criticism. Go. Seriously, hit me with it. Don’t hold back.”
“Okay…” He scanned his notes. “I wasn’t a fan of the writing style. Every single thing the characters did was like a dramatic scene from a soap opera. Phrases like I clutched my heart, and I shuddered were used dozens of times. There were a lot of run-on sentences, too. It was distracting.”
“Fair enough. What else?”
“The world-building was really vague. They have magic, but it’s never really explained. There aren’t any rules. Also, nothing really happens until the last quarter of the book. Before that, they just kind of meander around aimlessly.”
“I guess I can see that,” I admitted.
“Oh, and the villain was a complete idiot!” he said heatedly. “The villain finds Claire, who she thinks is the main character Feyre, and tortures and kills her. Makes sense. But then when the real Feyre arrives, the villain suddenly decides to give her a chance! It was like in those old James Bond movies where the villain has already won, but decides to give a long monologue that allows Bond to escape. It made no sense. Why did she give her a bunch of trials? Why didn’t she just kill her the way she did to Claire? It was like she wanted Feyre to succeed. There were several times where I was yelling at my Kindle. I’m surprised you didn’t hear me.”
“Ah. I didn’t think she was that dumb…”
“Feyre is also a really bland heroine. She’s constantly getting rescued at the last minute in the worst possible deus-ex-machina way. I understand that this is the Young Adult genre, but I didn’t connect with her at all. Also, speaking of the genre, it was a lot more graphic than I expected. Which is great and all, but it shocked me considering the genre.”
“I thought you would like the sex!”
“I did! But that just confuses me as to why it’s marketed to, like teens.”
The fervency in which he disliked the book stung a little. “I suppose I can understand where you’re coming from,” I said curtly. “It gets better in the second book, though.”
“That’s good to know,” Andrew said. “I assume they go deeper into Feyre’s relationship with Tamlin?”
“Not at all. In the second book, she ditches him and hooks up with Rhysand.”
“Oh my God. Then what was the point of this book? Why is everything a drawn-out series these days? A book should be good all by itself!” Andrew glanced at me, then let out a long sigh. “I hurt your feelings, didn’t I?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“You told me not to hold back!” he argued weakly. “I thought you would dislike my book too, and we would have some good banter back and forth about it.”
“I’m surprised you hated it that much, but I’m not offended.” I refilled my drink from the pitcher. “Although my opinion of you has dropped significantly.”
He tossed his notepad aside and grinned at me. “I guess I’ll just have to win you over again.”
