I couldn’t finish

The narrator sounds like she’s reading slam poetry the entire time, holy crap it drove me crazy. I gave up, I can’t finish it. I’m confused and I had difficulty remembering who is who and what is even going on. Why does Oil, or whatever her name is, sound like she’s on the verge of going into war and making her last speech. The author tries so hard to make the character relatable and just fails miserably. “I’ll never have an 8 pack because I JuSt LoVe cHoCoLaTe SOoo mUch”. Instant eye roll at her “tiny pouch” of a stomach she describes. What is likable about this character? The author legit has her complain for the first 3 chapters because how she hasn’t eaten in 4 days…..4 days…..yeah okay…..very realistic considering that still didn’t shut her up. She’s annoying, whiny, will not stop talking about how she sacrificed sooo much for her bonds so they should be grateful, even though they have zero idea of what she’s supposedly done. How does a reader enjoy reading in the perspective of such an awful personality? Are we reading about some babe who grew up on the run for the past 5 years, or are we reading about some 12 year old girl who angrily writes in her diary every night because ScHoOl iS hArD. She complains about every, Gino’s girl because they’re making heart eyes at the bonds she doesn’t want. She’s a pick me girl, I rest my case. Booktok owes me a freaking credit because I’m so over their horrible, shallow taste in books. I feel better now, I shall take my leave….good day sir.

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17 people found this helpful

Almost DNF but....

Okay first, the performance is really good. Very happy with that. But it was brutal sitting through this book tbh. The amount of times the F word is used and the constant constant talking about killing in a joking or passive aggressive reference was BRUTAL to listen through. I have no problem with blood and gore and cussing, but listening to Oli talk and her inner monologue just was bordering on insufferable. HOWEVER, I stuck it out because it didn't seem as if the author was just failing to come up empty handed with other ways to say things, it seemed very purposeful and about the individual character. so I just crossed my fingers and kept pushing through.

PAY OFF at the last hour and a half or so. And I will say the next five books are SOOO worth it. I was hooked and couldn't stop. I'm not waiting for book six to come out and while I listened to the next two on Audible I switched to kindle to read book 4 and 5, and as soon as those come out on audible I'll be listening to them again!

This is a very slow burn RH. There is more spice in the following books. More character development, relationship development, and the plot gets thicker and much more engaging in the following books!

On the note of the RH. I've read two other RH series now, and I barely made it through those. I don't really care for RH but this book series has completely changed my mind! It was done SO well. So if you're on the fence about RH books, give this one a try!

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10 people found this helpful

I’m officially wary of book recommendations

I’ve been reading paranormal romance books for years and for the longest time I didn’t get book suggestions from social media. I was doing pretty okay by myself. Lately though, I’ve been listening to these suggestions and I can honestly say that MAYBE one suggestion has led me to a series I enjoyed. The premise of the Bonds that Tie series is really interesting. The execution is the problem. While I’d like to know where the series will go, I won’t continue because:

1) This is a case where the author draws out the story line unnecessarily for the sake of writing more books. I refuse to purchase six novels that could have been condensed into two. Words need to be purposeful. Although people are buying them, so the model works apparently.

2) I don’t think the author is honest about who the main character is. What I mean by this is that she presents the main character as if she’s strong, resilient, and powerful, but then writes her as if she’s a petulant child (her dialogue would easily fit with a smart-mouthed 16-year-old). Some of her bonds accuse her of this very thing, but we’re supposed to be led to believe that they’re wrong because we don’t know what she’s sacrificed for them. However, it is clear through the author’s writing that her “sacrifice” is based in fear and an unwillingness to trust those who are best suited to protect her. Therefore her strength in enduring their mistreatment is more likely self-punishment.

3) In line with my point above, the author is very aware of how her main character is behaving because the language she uses when the bonds describe the main character’s actions are spot on for how she’s actually behaving. I can’t then sympathize with an inauthentic lead.

4) I really struggle when the author calls attention to poorly executed dialogue. For example, if Oli has been holding her tongue and quietly enduring verbal abuse, when she “finally snaps” she should say something impactful, not childish. It’s the author’s build-up to the verbal lashing that raises expectations. This happens several times throughout the first and second books. It’s the equivalent to someone sticking their tongue out at you because they can’t figure out what to say.

All of that is to say, I will be going back to choosing my own books for a while by synopsis and / or cover art 😂

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7 people found this helpful

Oleander for the Win

J Bree did it again. I enjoyed this book when I read it before purchasing the audiobook. The story is well-paced and the characters are unique, well-written and have complexity. This is my first time listing to a audiobook narrated by Kasi Hollowell and she was fantastic.

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2 people found this helpful

This is a review for the over all series

Let me start by saying iv read a lot worse but WAY WAY better. The first 4 books were really good and kind of sucked you in while the character building was happening but then the series fell flat and I mean fell hard. It felt like the story was trying to be stretched to fill more books and it lost its meat and potatoes and just turnt into filler crap like tofu 💁🏻‍♀️😂. The main character became whiny, her bonds and herself, continuously second-guessed there bonds no matter how many times it was made clear or stated otherwise. She starts caring a gun like shes a bad ass but there was never any evidence of gun training or her ever using one and her bond called her out on it . It was like the author couldn’t decide if she wanted her to be the victim or a bad ass and it just fell short and became muddled. Then when the antagonist from the later books come in to play, there were so many times when the whole bond could’ve been taken out buy them but right when the bad guy had the killing blow they just walked away or some crap. Major plot holes and i could give a crap about dry wall and tile. Just saying. I try not to leave bad reviews but when I get so sucked into a book series only for that series to fall flat it is so irritating and this is a prime example of one of those. I wanted to love this series so bad but the last 3 books killed it. The narration was very good though

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1 person found this helpful

Much too long

It was tiresome to continue hearing about Ollie’s powers; it took too long to reveal what was going on with her. Could use a male narrator for male characters; which the next book in series has. After not wanting to use her power for apparently why? Couldn’t figure out what the big deal was once she decided to use it. Hope the next book is better.

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1 person found this helpful

Flawed

Personally, I really enjoy this story so far. However, I only rate it 3/5 due to the flaws that I see that can ruin this reading experience for others. This is my first review so take this all with a grain of salt, as these may be things that I see, but others don't.

1. ) It takes a really, long time, for the plot to really pick up. Up until maybe the last four chapters does the real plot happen. When the thing she's so scared of happening HAPPENS, it all picks up and it's so GOOD. Her powers are awesome and when the rest of the bonds powers are revealed they are also awesome. Speaking of hers, we know very little about her powers until the end and what happened to her to make her think the way she does.

2. ) Little to no character development. Even with the mc. It's a lot of self deprecating humor and beliefs, which can make it hard for the reader. It's the same thing almost every chapter. With a few moments of the love interests having connections. It's small and far in-between. Sure the mc has a little development as she learns to stop taking so much shit.

3. ) With that last one, there's a lot of cursing. This doesn't bother me as I curse nearly every other word, so it's fine to me. But I read other reviews stating they didn't like how MUCH they curse.

4. ) The narrator I am a bit hit or miss with. At times I think she does a really good job and I enjoy the tone, but others I'm cringing with the delivery.

These are all things I'm able to get passed as I personally enjoy a lot of angst and the pain LOL

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1 person found this helpful

Very good

The main character can act very naive and childish sometimes in this book with how she underestimated or doesn’t see certain situations. But it is still really good other than that

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My favorite

Love love love this series and I don’t mind similar stories to this please and thanks

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Stockholm syndrome andexual assault at slow pace

Serious trigger warning for abuse, sexual assault, and age gap. MC is an unwilling prisoner who is constantly verbally and mentally abused by her "bonds." When they aren't egotistical assholes demanding sex from her, they are shaming her publicly and allowing the rest of their society to do so as well.

MC is only 19 and at least two of her bonded are well over that age (although their age is never mentioned) which makes the sex assault scene even more disgusting. 0/10

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