REVIEW; Rule, by Jay Crownover

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Drama

Recommend: Yes/No

Summary:

Rule Archer is a tattooed, bad-ass player. It his ritual to go out and get drunk, pull a girl and get what he wants and have her leave quietly in the morning. He turns heads when he walks in a room and most females swoon after him.

Shaw Landon has been one of those girls for over 5 years. Having loved him since she first met him at 14 years old, she could never get over him. Following the death of her best friend, Remy, Rule's twin brother, Shaw still found herself wrapped up in the lives of the Archers. 

Every Sunday she drags Rule from his latest acquisition and drives him to a family meal, in the hope she can keep his family together. They were more of a family to her than her own were, and she doesn't want to give up. 

Rule can't stand Shaw, or doesn't have much time for her. But after her spends more time in her presence and his friends and family point out her looks, Rule begins to see Shaw in a completely different light, and his feelings and thoughts about her change him. After Shaw's birthday night, their relationship changes and so begins the rocky love life of Shaw and Rule.

My Thoughts:
ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS!! It's definitely on my list of favourites. 

LOVED:

1. Rule; we're told all the girls can't help but pine after him due to his looks, but that followed through with his personality and attitude. Even with words Crownover portrayed his sex-appeal and angsty attitude that draws you in to his power. I didn't like him to begin with, as in his dismissive attitude towards women wouldn't attract me at all, but as soon as he starts to really see Shaw, we see the real him emerge from his pain and he becomes a bad-ass we can't help but love. 
2. Shaw; gotta give this girl props, she fell in love with her best friend's twin, and dealt with for years despite him breaking her heart every week when she witnessed his girls being dismissed. The girl had strength! She had awful pressuring parents who didn't listen to her and she finally was able to stand up to them and also confess her feelings to Rule.

DIDN'T LOVE:

1. Names; This won't seem like much of a big thing, but one thing really stuck out to me from the start and that was the character names- the majority were all 4 letters long!! Shaw, Rule, Rome, Remy, Nash, Gabe, Dale and others. It just lacked a bit of balance as realistically in a group of friends there is a variety in name length! It would be one thing if some were nick-names like Alex being short for Alexander but it was just something that irked me as the story progressed. 
2. Sex; this book oozed sex appeal and attitude. But as a female, I didn't really like the presentation of sexual topics in this. Rule's attitude was a huge turnoff. He wanted sex and to use girls, but put the blame on the girls being stupid enough to go home with a stranger. It's 50/50. He was a player and Crownover wrote from that POV but he was a bit too flippant that you wonder is it possible for one girl, and of course the one girl who loves him, to change his ways. Shaw had kept herself for him and her first time was absolutely brilliant and amazing... not buying that. 
3. Plot; it was a little predictable but NA/YA generally is to an extent. At times it felt like it was the same skeleton of a lot of similar stories but just dressed a bit differently. The stereotype virginal goddess falling for tattooed badboy and he of course reciprocates the feelings and is forever changed by the goddess. All the drama too- Remy's death, their mother, Shaw's parents, Gabe- all the trauma and drama surrounding the lot of them at times just seemed too much to be true.
4. Communication;  At times it really felt like I was missing a huge part of Shaw and Rule communicating. There were too many repetitive conversations about love and their relationship and not knowing what they were doing but knowing they love each other to not wanting to hurt each other, and all of this just in metaphors etc etc. It all just felt a little too much and up in the air for me. 

Although there were a few things I disliked/had issues with, it didn't really take away from the fact that I REALLY LOVED this book. I fell for Rule and Shaw together. Their relationship is depicted beautifully and their journey is far from smooth but it's captivating. It may not be the best written of novels, but it is still mighty good and the novel itself has an attitude that draws you in. 

I both laughed and cried whilst reading this and if a book can cause me to do both, then it's winner to me.

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REVIEW: The Doll's House, by Louise Phillips

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Genre: Thriller, Suspense

Recommend: Yes/No

Summary:

Criminal psychologist, Kate Pearson, is called upon for her help on a murder in Dublin city centre, where the victim was brutally stabbed and then drowned in the canal. Another murder follows in similar style and Kate and her team aren't any closer to stopping the killer.

Meanwhile, Clodagh McKay is battling with her own demons. A recovering alcoholic in an abusive marriage, coping with the death of her mother, whom she had no bond with, and having driven away her own daughter, Clodagh takes matters into her own hands and attends a hypnotist. With his help, Clodagh regresses and attempts to uncover the secrets of her family and childhood, unaware the danger she is surrounding herself in. 

Her father supposedly committed suicide thirty-five years ago, and now men in his circle are turning up dead, and Clodagh wonders how she is connected to them.

My Thoughts:
Red Ribbons was a huge success for me and I was excited to be reading Phillip's next novel. I had hoped to have enjoyed it just as much but unfortunately it was a let down to my expectations. 
Still judging the book in its own right, I couldn't ignore the details or aspects that hindered my love for this novel. 

• POV; I normally enjoy the switching of the POV but I felt the sudden but brief changes didn't work out as well. So many of the chapters were only 2 pages long and the snippets of info (sometimes pointless) got lost too easily. 

• Clodagh; gahhhh, I wanted to like her, I wanted to feel sorry for her but I really couldn't. I don't like giving criticism without being constructive but I can't pinpoint what was missing from her character description that caused my lack of sympathy, but something was. Her regression sessions were also drawn out way too long. The effort to build suspense with the dolls and the doll's house and Clodagh's hesitance, failed. Towards the end I was skimming her sessions as they were too repetitive and not engaging. (I understand IRL hypnotism sessions would be long and a slow process but for a mystery novel there needed to be a faster pace.)

• Pace; the pace of this novel started off very well, the changing of POV's were all well done. After 50% though this fell apart. I felt at times it was being rushed to get points in and then slowing down again as if remembering to build suspense. Was bearable for the most part but I felt at the end everything got windswept in an effort to close up the plot twist.

• Setting; I loved the setting of this book. Irish author and realistic setting in Dublin with references to places around town and the suburbs. The choosing of a real setting and map plan brings the story to life rather than an unclear imagined setting that holds no presence.

The novel overall was still very good though. The insight into Kate's life makes her character come to life and more human as we see her life beyond her career. There are both minor and major plot twists, some of which are integral to the story, others which don't hold much importance. 

I would still recommend this novel to anyone that loves thrillers and mystery. There is a solid story-line with twists and turns and I look forward to reading Phillips' next book.

Goodreads 
Amazon UK
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