Overall Non-Biased
Overall Vibes
“Morally gray is my favorite flavor, and red is my favorite color. Flag, that is.”
Today I’m going to be reviewing Haunting Beauty by K. Loraine & Meg Anne. This book made me decide to add a new form of reading to my book reviews. So I am going to write them based on how I feel they are, just as a book, taking my more personal feelings and experience out of it. Then, I will also include the vibe rating, which will be how much I enjoyed it and a more biased opinion.
Plot 2/5
For the plot, I really had to be honest with myself and give it a two out of five. This book is a dark romance, why choose style, but it is not a very serious book at all. If you have read Den of Vipers or Haunting Adeline then you know what I mean when I say more serious dark romances. This is not one of those, the main character is in a love square with a Dragon, Viking, broody man and a Shapeshifting beast. With these fantastic elements, the book lends itself more towards a lighthearted vibe and it definitely fits the bill. Now just a little disclaimer just because I gave the plot a two out of five does not mean I didn’t have a lot of fun reading this book Vibes alone, and my personal enjoyment I would rate this to be four out of five, however, I want to give the best review I can for those where deciding if this is worth a picking up or not. So, if you were someone that wants your dark Romance to be very serious and very heavy this is probably not going to be your cup of tea however, if you’re open to something a little more lighthearted and fun I definitely think you should try it!
Structure 4/5
As far as the structure goes, I gave this a four out of five. I think, for what the book was intended to be, it stood on the same premise the whole time. The whole story is about the main female character ending up in a psych ward, but she soon starts to realize that maybe not all of these people are crazy and, more so, have abilities and powers they can’t control. The book really does not sway from this idea at all, and all the main points remain pretty consistent throughout the whole thing. There were a couple of points where I felt that elements were glazed over a little quickly, and we’re just very accepted by the female main character, whereas I originally would’ve thought these things would’ve taken her more time to process, but other than that, the structure was pretty good.
Characters 4/5
For the characters, I also gave it a four out of five. I really enjoyed the characters in this book. They were a lot of fun and all of them really did feel real to me. I especially loved the pirate. His banter was hilarious! I found myself enjoying most of the characters. I think there was only one character that I may not be as connected to as I would’ve liked to be, but for the first book, that is to be expected, in my opinion. I really loved the main character; again, you have to take this book for what I believe, it was intended to be as a more lighthearted twist of dark romance, so she is pretty witty and full of humor throughout the whole book so I urge you to make sure you were going into reading right frame of mind.
“This is real life, and in real life, happy endings are never guaranteed.”
Feeling 2/5
As for the feeling of this book, I gave it a two out of five. This book has some heavier themes as it is a dark romance, and they are all in a psych ward. There are also some disturbing visions of dying people and ghosts. However, the fact that the female main character kept full of humor throughout the whole book made it a little hard to feel super empathetic towards her; this is also a fantastical scenario that none of us would ever find ourselves so it was a little bit hard to relate. Again, I also did feel that the female character just accepted things for how they are a lot more than I would’ve, but that doesn’t negate the fact that some serious things happen to her.
Spice 2/5
For the spice, I had a very hard time rating this. There is sexual talk throughout the entire book, and that is a massive element of the whole thing, however, actual sexual acts and experiences were not as common. The best way I can describe it is that there is sexual talk in pretty much every chapter of this book; however, where there are maybe four chapters that actually contain explicit material. So, I had to give it five because the actual act was not as prominent, but if you were sensitive to sexual material at all, including talking about it, this is not for you.
Overall Non- Biased 3/5
Overall, my technical and more unbiased rating of this book is a 3 out of 5. This book had a lot of points that were left very vague. I also personally expected a darker book rather than one that was not as serious. This did throw me off a lot at the beginning, but I did get used to it and once I changed my thinking, I really did enjoy it.
Overall Vibes 4/5
For my vibe and just how much fun I had reading this book I gave it a four out of five. I had a lot of fun reading it and it was very different than what I was expecting. I do plan to read the next book and would highly recommend this to someone for a different take on “dark romance”.
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