Content Warning: sexual assault, incest, violence, child abuse, and I say this with all sincerity, pretty much any trigger you can think of. This book is riddled with triggers. This is NOT a happy book and it does NOT talk about trauma in an intellectual or informed way. Traumatic events in this book are purely plot points and are handled as such.
The Before:
I've read most of this series before. Is it fucked up that I'm considering it a romance and going to review it between Lady Chatterly's Lover and a Christian Romance novel?... Maybe, but I don't really give a shit. See you in hell.
The Feels:
This book is so absurd, you can't help but laugh. It's not good, but you can't put it down. Lifetime turned this series into a movie series and its some of the best work Lifetime has ever done. This is not a book that will make you smarter. In fact, it might actually make you dumber. But it's 2021, your country is a political dumpster fire, and you need to shut your brain off.
The Reflection:
There is a rape in this book... um so that's a yikes. This book was not written to be taken seriously. Personally, I struggle with rape scenes, but, strangely, I'm ok with it in this situation. I think this is because this book knows what it is. It is not meant to be nuanced or realistic. It is meant to be shallow trash. This book is so full of over the top trauma that you can't help but not take it seriously. Honestly, the rape scene is the scene treated with the most dignity and that could be why I have some semblance of respect for it. Every trauma that happens is just a random plot point. If you picked up this book and thought it was going to be meaningful, you would have quit long before the rape. That all being said, if you are in a place in your life where you are finding ways to cope with some trauma, this is probably not the book for you right now. However, I hope you can come to a place at some point in your life where you can read this book and be able to laugh at it in a cathartic way. I wish you the very best and I hope for you to be able to find good ways to cope with your trauma.
This book is for you if you like soap operas, Lifetime Movie Network, classic gothic novels, Downton Abbey, and 1970's pulp novels.
* I will not be review the rest of the books in this series. They are TOOO trash for me. However, I highly recommend the Lifetime movies in this series. One of those rare times that the movie is better than the book.*
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