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Dark Prince Road #1
My Dark Romeo
My fairy tale turned into a cautionary one.
Inked in tar and sealed in tears.
From Wall Street Journal bestsellers L.J. Shen and Parker S. Huntington comes an explosive marriage of inconvenience...between a tarnished Romeo and a reluctant Juliet.
It was supposed to be a harmless kiss at a lavish debutante ball.
A clandestine moment with a handsome stranger.
But unlike his namesake, my Romeo isn’t driven by love.
He’s fueled by revenge.
To him, I’m a chess piece. Leverage.
His rival’s betrothed.
To me, he is a man deserving of poison.
A dark prince I refuse to marry.
He thinks I’ll accept my fate.
Well, I plan to rewrite it.
And in my story, Juliet doesn’t die.
But Romeo? He perishes.
Authors’ Notes: My Dark Romeo is a standalone reluctant arranged marriage romance between a cruel billionaire heir and a feisty heiress unafraid to fight back. It is set in the decadent Dark Prince Road world.
Inked in tar and sealed in tears.
From Wall Street Journal bestsellers L.J. Shen and Parker S. Huntington comes an explosive marriage of inconvenience...between a tarnished Romeo and a reluctant Juliet.
It was supposed to be a harmless kiss at a lavish debutante ball.
A clandestine moment with a handsome stranger.
But unlike his namesake, my Romeo isn’t driven by love.
He’s fueled by revenge.
To him, I’m a chess piece. Leverage.
His rival’s betrothed.
To me, he is a man deserving of poison.
A dark prince I refuse to marry.
He thinks I’ll accept my fate.
Well, I plan to rewrite it.
And in my story, Juliet doesn’t die.
But Romeo? He perishes.
Authors’ Notes: My Dark Romeo is a standalone reluctant arranged marriage romance between a cruel billionaire heir and a feisty heiress unafraid to fight back. It is set in the decadent Dark Prince Road world.
366 pages, Paperback
First published March 12, 2023
About the author
Parker S. Huntington
30 books7,158 followersParker S. Huntington is from Southern California. She has a B.A. in Creative Writing from UCR and an A.L.M. in Literature from Harvard.
She also hates talking about herself and is allergic to social media, but you can catch up with her in her newsletter at www.parkershuntington.com.
Reach her at:
Group: facebook.com/groups/Parkerettes/
Website: www.parkershuntington.com
TikTok: http://TikTok.com/@parkerwrites
Back-Up TikTok: http://TikTok.com/@parkershuntington
She also hates talking about herself and is allergic to social media, but you can catch up with her in her newsletter at www.parkershuntington.com.
Reach her at:
Group: facebook.com/groups/Parkerettes/
Website: www.parkershuntington.com
TikTok: http://TikTok.com/@parkerwrites
Back-Up TikTok: http://TikTok.com/@parkershuntington
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 11,257 reviews
June 9, 2024
➸ 1 star
my first 1 star read of the year!! i genuinely don’t think i’ll read a worse book than whatever tf this shit was this year. 😩
honestly, if you told me AI wrote this book, i would believe you. i was vibing with this book at the start, the banter was good but it just went downhill from there and it became an excruciating read. the back and fourth was annoying, both mmcs are cringy, obnoxious, stupid and irritating. i knew i should’ve dnfd this when the fmc was only eating the cream from an oreo and he said he wanted to replace the cream w his cum or when he made her gurgle his cum (i literally physically cringed here) before she swallowed it but girly decided to keep some in her mouth and then spat it out in a cup so she could plot how to get herself pregnant w it👩🏻🦯
dallas was funny at first and i thought she would be a strong fmc but as the story progressed i could not fucking stand her. i have never encountered a more annoying and childish fmc ever. her only character traits were: being a spoiled brat, sleeping, eating, spending money that’s not hers, and wanting to get knocked up. i hate when fmcs make their whole ENTIRE personality and their only goal in life about wanting kids or when they try to baby trap a mmc who doesn’t want any kids, like i was getting the ick. like girl chill pls, you’re only 21 and don’t even have a job or any prospects. also how did girly eat all these carbs but still managed to maintain a victoria’s secret model body?? 🤨
don’t get me started on romeo this man was fr a little bitch with severe daddy issues. the fmc has him acting like some brute. he’s obnoxious, stupid and rude to his staff - no but seriously he has NO respect for his staff whatsoever and treats them like they are gum on his shoe. he constantly calls the fmc lazy (i mean she was) but he also constantly insulted her intelligence and basically insinuated that she lacked education. i, for the life of me, can’t comprehend how these two will raise children when they still act like children themselves and the emotional maturity between them both is 5. i refuse to believe that they love each other, there’s just no way. their whole relationship gave me severe whiplash. like one minute he is saying “i will never love her” and the next chapter it’s “i love her so much” like huh?? did i miss some chapters or something bc wtf 💀
now the spice omg, i truly have no words. i have never been put off by smut in my LIFE!! i hate the virgin/inexperienced heroine trope so much!!i blame RK for that bc the amount of times i've had to endure that trope with all her fmcs is INSANE
me trying to figure out how the mmc broke the fmcs hymen just by eating her out:
“i was no longer a virgin.”
GIRL WDYM HE ONLY ATE YOU OUT LMFAOOOO PLS STOP THE MADNESS 😭😭 how can TWO female writers believe that a woman’s hymen can be broken by a man’s tongue.. like who tf is this guy…venom??? this felt like it was written by a 13 year old who just discovered what sex is.
this man was so cautious about getting her pregnant and about contraceptive bc there’s still a high risk chance she can still get pregnant so in one scene they are literally having sex with their underwear still on but then throughout the rest of their honeymoon he fucks her through a bedsheet🧍🏻♀️
“this was, by far the best fuck i’d ever had.”
SIR STOP THE CAP- YOU BOTH STILL HAD UR UNDERWEAR ON.. IM CRYING HOW IS THIS BOOK EVEN REAL SKSJJSSJ
“and every night, i fucked her through a bedsheet.”
I WISH I WAS MAKING THIS SHIT UP 😭 how did he think this would be more preventative than wearing a condom?? i fear i have no brain cells left after reading this lmaoo
thank god i had rowan to suffer with bc it made the reading experience so much more fun. the way we both came to the realisation that we absolutely hated this book and it just ended up becoming a hate read but it also felt like a chore to finish 😭 both mmcs are the epitome of “dumb and dumber.” and i don't wish to suffer like that AGAIN.
「 dark prince road series 」
#1 — My Dark Romeo — 1 star
#2 — My Dark Desire — 1 star
my first 1 star read of the year!! i genuinely don’t think i’ll read a worse book than whatever tf this shit was this year. 😩
honestly, if you told me AI wrote this book, i would believe you. i was vibing with this book at the start, the banter was good but it just went downhill from there and it became an excruciating read. the back and fourth was annoying, both mmcs are cringy, obnoxious, stupid and irritating. i knew i should’ve dnfd this when the fmc was only eating the cream from an oreo and he said he wanted to replace the cream w his cum or when he made her gurgle his cum (i literally physically cringed here) before she swallowed it but girly decided to keep some in her mouth and then spat it out in a cup so she could plot how to get herself pregnant w it👩🏻🦯
dallas was funny at first and i thought she would be a strong fmc but as the story progressed i could not fucking stand her. i have never encountered a more annoying and childish fmc ever. her only character traits were: being a spoiled brat, sleeping, eating, spending money that’s not hers, and wanting to get knocked up. i hate when fmcs make their whole ENTIRE personality and their only goal in life about wanting kids or when they try to baby trap a mmc who doesn’t want any kids, like i was getting the ick. like girl chill pls, you’re only 21 and don’t even have a job or any prospects. also how did girly eat all these carbs but still managed to maintain a victoria’s secret model body?? 🤨
don’t get me started on romeo this man was fr a little bitch with severe daddy issues. the fmc has him acting like some brute. he’s obnoxious, stupid and rude to his staff - no but seriously he has NO respect for his staff whatsoever and treats them like they are gum on his shoe. he constantly calls the fmc lazy (i mean she was) but he also constantly insulted her intelligence and basically insinuated that she lacked education. i, for the life of me, can’t comprehend how these two will raise children when they still act like children themselves and the emotional maturity between them both is 5. i refuse to believe that they love each other, there’s just no way. their whole relationship gave me severe whiplash. like one minute he is saying “i will never love her” and the next chapter it’s “i love her so much” like huh?? did i miss some chapters or something bc wtf 💀
now the spice omg, i truly have no words. i have never been put off by smut in my LIFE!! i hate the virgin/inexperienced heroine trope so much!!
me trying to figure out how the mmc broke the fmcs hymen just by eating her out:
“i was no longer a virgin.”
GIRL WDYM HE ONLY ATE YOU OUT LMFAOOOO PLS STOP THE MADNESS 😭😭 how can TWO female writers believe that a woman’s hymen can be broken by a man’s tongue.. like who tf is this guy…venom??? this felt like it was written by a 13 year old who just discovered what sex is.
this man was so cautious about getting her pregnant and about contraceptive bc there’s still a high risk chance she can still get pregnant so in one scene they are literally having sex with their underwear still on but then throughout the rest of their honeymoon he fucks her through a bedsheet🧍🏻♀️
“this was, by far the best fuck i’d ever had.”
SIR STOP THE CAP- YOU BOTH STILL HAD UR UNDERWEAR ON.. IM CRYING HOW IS THIS BOOK EVEN REAL SKSJJSSJ
“and every night, i fucked her through a bedsheet.”
I WISH I WAS MAKING THIS SHIT UP 😭 how did he think this would be more preventative than wearing a condom?? i fear i have no brain cells left after reading this lmaoo
thank god i had rowan to suffer with bc it made the reading experience so much more fun. the way we both came to the realisation that we absolutely hated this book and it just ended up becoming a hate read but it also felt like a chore to finish 😭 both mmcs are the epitome of “dumb and dumber.” and i don't wish to suffer like that AGAIN.
「 dark prince road series 」
#1 — My Dark Romeo — 1 star
#2 — My Dark Desire — 1 star
July 19, 2023
2 generous stars bc algeria was mentioned😗
only spoilers !!!
there’s so much to unpack and i don’t know where to begin. i think the first point that irritated me was the writing and i kept wondering how can a co-written book be so mediocrely orchestrated with juvenile and unrealistic dialogues. it had to be satirical. IT HAD TO.
"Romeo’s penis could cure depression."
"He wanted it in my mouth? I’d hardly be able to fit the thing into my suitcase.
Maybe Morgan had broken things off because he’d sprained her jaw with it." "Remember—tonight, you are a well-bred woman."
second, how in only the first chapter the fmc dumped all the "luxury" brands imaginable and she wouldn’t shut up about it. yeah, you’re rich WE GET IT KAREN.
third, how some aspects of the storyline were without contest inspired from 'The Duke and I ' and the authors didn’t even try to hid it because Bridgerton was mentioned here and there and the fmc kept comparing the mmc to a "duke". The mmc didn’t want kids for only one reason; daddy issues, ofc🙄 and the fmc was literally desperate to have kids. he didn’t want to fuck her at first and then didn’t want to finish inside her, yeah *sigh*. she cried when she got her period obv wasn’t pregnant and even thought about using his cum when he finished inside her mouth and GET PREGNANT with it.
thank god she had morals just imagine she HADN’T.
no one warned me that this book had satanic rituals because how can someone perfectly sane open his wound let the blood rain abundantly on his partner while fucking her from behind and then just :
yup, you read it right. the freaking psycho wrote his name with his blood on her back TO CLAIM HER. i don’t know if blood is a kind of kink but if it is im literally judging anyone who gets off because of it and when i tell every freaking smut scene involved BLOOD. and let’s not forget how they fucked and he was literally INSIDE HER WITH CLOTHES BETWEEN THEM. how she kept begging him to fuck her at every chapter, literally every chapter.
last thing, how the storyline kept going and going and going and going like, all i was thinking was MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP. obviously, it didn’t and i absolutely hated how they tried so hard to paint the mmc as a "tormented hero" it sounded like a bad version of a telenovella where the hero always goes through so much to obligate the telespectator to feel sorry and with each dump trauma he didn’t want to shut up, he kept dumping and dumping and dumping and don’t forget that he kept COMING and COMING and COMING, i didn’t see the end of it.
"I was so jealous of the orphans." pls stfu was my reaction.
there’s sm other HORRIBLE POINTS to highlight but i already have a migraine from what i wrote.
~~~~~~~~~~
we wanted to laugh.. we barely did🥲 rtc when the review slump is not slumping anymore
~*~*~*~*~
buddy read with my twin lulu. wow look at us reading dArK rOmAnCe
only spoilers !!!
there’s so much to unpack and i don’t know where to begin. i think the first point that irritated me was the writing and i kept wondering how can a co-written book be so mediocrely orchestrated with juvenile and unrealistic dialogues. it had to be satirical. IT HAD TO.
"Romeo’s penis could cure depression."
"He wanted it in my mouth? I’d hardly be able to fit the thing into my suitcase.
Maybe Morgan had broken things off because he’d sprained her jaw with it." "Remember—tonight, you are a well-bred woman."
second, how in only the first chapter the fmc dumped all the "luxury" brands imaginable and she wouldn’t shut up about it. yeah, you’re rich WE GET IT KAREN.
third, how some aspects of the storyline were without contest inspired from 'The Duke and I ' and the authors didn’t even try to hid it because Bridgerton was mentioned here and there and the fmc kept comparing the mmc to a "duke". The mmc didn’t want kids for only one reason; daddy issues, ofc🙄 and the fmc was literally desperate to have kids. he didn’t want to fuck her at first and then didn’t want to finish inside her, yeah *sigh*. she cried when she got her period obv wasn’t pregnant and even thought about using his cum when he finished inside her mouth and GET PREGNANT with it.
"But leaning against my sink, observing the white thing swimming in the small cup, something prevented me from doing it.
My morals, maybe."
thank god she had morals just imagine she HADN’T.
no one warned me that this book had satanic rituals because how can someone perfectly sane open his wound let the blood rain abundantly on his partner while fucking her from behind and then just :
" More crimson drops splattered onto her back. I’d reopened my wound, and fresh red painted her spine. I dipped a finger into it, then spelled my name across her back dimples.
“Who owns your ass?” I growled.
“You.”
“Louder.”
“You.”
“Now crawl forward and show me your cunt from behind. I want to see if it’s worth my cum. "
yup, you read it right. the freaking psycho wrote his name with his blood on her back TO CLAIM HER. i don’t know if blood is a kind of kink but if it is im literally judging anyone who gets off because of it and when i tell every freaking smut scene involved BLOOD. and let’s not forget how they fucked and he was literally INSIDE HER WITH CLOTHES BETWEEN THEM. how she kept begging him to fuck her at every chapter, literally every chapter.
last thing, how the storyline kept going and going and going and going like, all i was thinking was MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP. obviously, it didn’t and i absolutely hated how they tried so hard to paint the mmc as a "tormented hero" it sounded like a bad version of a telenovella where the hero always goes through so much to obligate the telespectator to feel sorry and with each dump trauma he didn’t want to shut up, he kept dumping and dumping and dumping and don’t forget that he kept COMING and COMING and COMING, i didn’t see the end of it.
"I was so jealous of the orphans." pls stfu was my reaction.
there’s sm other HORRIBLE POINTS to highlight but i already have a migraine from what i wrote.
~~~~~~~~~~
we wanted to laugh.. we barely did🥲 rtc when the review slump is not slumping anymore
~*~*~*~*~
buddy read with my twin lulu. wow look at us reading dArK rOmAnCe
June 28, 2024
4.5*
This was too good. The banter was MWAH. No srsly I was laffingggg like a hyena on crack, it was disgusting. Hhsgsjsj His friendship group was THE BEST. Loved Ollie and Zach smmm. They need no- *deserve* to have their own books rfn.
The I-WANNA-STRANGLE-YOU-TO-WITHIN-AN-INCH-OF-YOUR-LIFE.. to.. I-WILL-HOPELESSLY-RENOVATE-MY-HOUSE-FOR-YOU was *chefs kiss*
RomeoDallas were so cuteeee and the grumpy sunshine was delicious imo. The smut was hella weird but it’s on brand with them so I’ll take it. (It did tease about the back door with no follow through tho- 😔)
Anyway, I cba writing a full review rn but i will… soon… I hope 🤞(maybe after a rr)
***
Reluctant arrange marriage?? I’m sold.
This was too good. The banter was MWAH. No srsly I was laffingggg like a hyena on crack, it was disgusting. Hhsgsjsj His friendship group was THE BEST. Loved Ollie and Zach smmm. They need no- *deserve* to have their own books rfn.
The I-WANNA-STRANGLE-YOU-TO-WITHIN-AN-INCH-OF-YOUR-LIFE.. to.. I-WILL-HOPELESSLY-RENOVATE-MY-HOUSE-FOR-YOU was *chefs kiss*
RomeoDallas were so cuteeee and the grumpy sunshine was delicious imo. The smut was hella weird but it’s on brand with them so I’ll take it. (It did tease about the back door with no follow through tho- 😔)
Anyway, I cba writing a full review rn but i will… soon… I hope 🤞(maybe after a rr)
***
Reluctant arrange marriage?? I’m sold.
November 16, 2023
I read a good chunk of this book & then just didn't pick it up again for like 3 weeks. Finally finished it tho! Tbh this book was just not really for me mainly because I really disliked the male love interest for a huge chunk of the book. In general, alphahole male love interests aren't super my thing. Love me a morally grey man but for my personal taste, Romeo bordered on cruel & rude for the first half.
I'm glad I finished it and didn't DNF it tho! In the end we got to see Romeo's loving sweet side & get more backstory on him which made me understand him better. But this one was an *almost* DNF
I'm glad I finished it and didn't DNF it tho! In the end we got to see Romeo's loving sweet side & get more backstory on him which made me understand him better. But this one was an *almost* DNF
March 16, 2023
pre-review: psksksksksksks im gonna regret this <33
post-apocalyreading: ngl there's a 20 pages long rant inside my head and y'all ain't ready to hear it
post-
March 12, 2023
honestly. i should’ve known 😭 i gave it a chance bc it was a collab but lj shen really ruins everything she touches. couldn’t even finish this. her female characters have got to be the corniest i’ve ever read about. she needs to understand no one actually talks or acts like this in real life. it’s like they’re stuck in 2013 with 2023 references.
February 10, 2024
It was literally The Kiss Theif's & The Villain's little child! 💀
Both MCs have Weird names, to be honest, but who cares.me
Dallas Townsend — She's quick-witted, smart-mouthed, sweet, and sassy. She's obsessed with food, read smutty novels the whole day, is a virgin & hates studying! same girl same 😴
Romeo Costa — He's mean & cold. He has dry humor, is close to a virgin because he did not have sex in 5 years, and is on a revenge quest to destroy his father's company. SUPER POSSESSIVE!
Ruined by Shortbread.
Their first interaction had me cracking up. At an event, she went to his table just to get some shortbread that was only served to him, and they got into an argument! They later danced together, where he offered her to have a little hook-up with him including shortbreads and guess what SHE AGREED. It was supposed to be a random hookup for her but Romeo had other intentions. He laid a trap for her and she falls right into it. They hooked up in front of everyone, which Dallas was unaware of, creating a big scandal for her. Romeo took advantage of the situation and offered her dad a deal so he could marry her and steal her from his Rival aka her ex-fiancee.
I hated her father for agreeing so easily. The town had an 18th-century mindset while living in the 21st century. The girls were virgins & had arranged marriages. IT WAS ALL BS & HER FATHER WAS A LOSER. I liked how she stood up for herself and her father got better in the end.
I cannot, for the life of me, resist your temptation.
It's a slow burn. But they had a lot of sexual tension from the beginning. He found her beautiful and she constantly gave him a hard-on. While, he found her annoying, messy, and childish through 90% of the book, he was attracted to her.HE TOOK HER VIRGINITY WITH HIS TONGUE.
The first sex scene came after 50% of the book tho.
I’d long suspected my wife was what Gen Z ridiculously referred to as a bad-ass bitch.
This was so true. She was so sassy that I loved her. Lmao, she was lazy & was always eating (it was mentioned in each & every chapter 🤣) but she was nice. She was sweet & became friends with the beautiful cook in Rom’s house instead of feeling jealous. I loved how she wasn't obsessed with Romeo or horny every time (well mostly). OVERALL SHE WAS RELATABLE SERIOUSLY and It's really hard to find a relatable character. She took no bullshit from Romeo, always did what she wanted, made him apologize so many times, spend 700k $ in a single day just because he wasn't spending time with her, and threw a party inviting every person from the list of people he blacklisted. She wasn't a brat completely lol, she even realized that she hadn't done anything to please him at all too. Seriously I can write a lot about her.
It sickened me to see someone so unsophisticated hold so much power over me.
All the things he did for her 😭. He offered to buy her the Japanese cookie factory because she wanted their cookies, bought a whole restaurant to kick her ex-fiancee out, bought a whole bookstore for her, gifted her books, stood in a long line in the cold to get her favorite Henry Plotkin’s book, took her for a food tour to the countries she wanted to visit, turned the whole house into a library because she wanted it. as Zach said & I quote ”pussy whipped”😂🥺. Although he was mean and said hurtful things but he wasn't that bad and I didn't get any cold vibes from him. He listened & respected her.
- meanwhile Dallas:
”You’re rich. We get it.” She yawned. “The only billionaires I like are fictional.”
I felt bad for him after reading about his Trauma & anxiety!
Ruined by whipped cream.
Okay, this scene was so gross!very gross but I'll still mention it.🤣
She seduced him and tied him to her bed and put whipped cream all over his dick & chest and left him there all night. Sjhshshahahjshs 💀💀💀
I knew where it was going and I still read it
She also used the same words he used the night of the scandal ^ 👏🏻
Zach Sun & Oliver VB:
His friends had a lot of scenes in this book! I swear I’ll kill for Zach’s book! His whole personality intrigued me so much. He’s emotionless, heartless & super intelligent. He loves art, has dry humor & always stall dates his mom arranged for him to find a suitable wife. Overall the authors knew we’d want to know his story. Meanwhile, Oliver is an open book. He’s the complete opposite of Zach. He fucks all the time. But ig he’ll be with Franklin (Dallas’ sister) because after seeing her at Rom’s wedding he always asked about her 😂 Their group chat was really funny. They both roasted Oliver again & again. It was so funny to see them calling Dallas different names like Detroit, Daytona, Denver, Decatur, or Davenport 🤣😭
Why 3 stars rating:
• First of all, it was painfully long! 😭 If it could’ve been summed up in 300 pages, it would be perfect. I get that it was a slow burn but there were so many unnecessary things.
• Morgan’s (Romeo’s ex) story was seriously unnecessary. What she did was so wrong and changed Romeo but it was just UNNECESSARY 🤷🏻♀️
• Maddison's (Dallas’ ex-fiancee) role was as useless as Morgan’s.
• Romeo Costa Sr 🤮💩
• Romeo’s whole family. 🤡💩 (His parents were literal copies of the Fitzpatricks)
• *The next reason might give you cancer & you might never look at oreos the same way.* He imagined oreo cream as his cum as Dallas’ was licking it. 🤧😵💫🤧😵💫🫤😮😑😠
• Romeo’s personality was inspired by Killian & Wolfe. His character wasn't original at all. 🫣
• Dallas’ obsession with kids. I get it that you want them but at least respect your partner’s wish too.
That’s a whole lot of reasons but hey it had amazing banter, dirty talking, cute moments & super possessive alpha moments too! 🤷🏻♀️✨
Both MCs have Weird names, to be honest, but who cares.
Dallas Townsend — She's quick-witted, smart-mouthed, sweet, and sassy. She's obsessed with food, read smutty novels the whole day, is a virgin & hates studying! same girl same 😴
Romeo Costa — He's mean & cold. He has dry humor, is close to a virgin because he did not have sex in 5 years, and is on a revenge quest to destroy his father's company. SUPER POSSESSIVE!
Ruined by Shortbread.
Their first interaction had me cracking up. At an event, she went to his table just to get some shortbread that was only served to him, and they got into an argument! They later danced together, where he offered her to have a little hook-up with him including shortbreads and guess what SHE AGREED. It was supposed to be a random hookup for her but Romeo had other intentions. He laid a trap for her and she falls right into it. They hooked up in front of everyone, which Dallas was unaware of, creating a big scandal for her. Romeo took advantage of the situation and offered her dad a deal so he could marry her and steal her from his Rival aka her ex-fiancee.
I hated her father for agreeing so easily. The town had an 18th-century mindset while living in the 21st century. The girls were virgins & had arranged marriages. IT WAS ALL BS & HER FATHER WAS A LOSER. I liked how she stood up for herself and her father got better in the end.
I cannot, for the life of me, resist your temptation.
It's a slow burn. But they had a lot of sexual tension from the beginning. He found her beautiful and she constantly gave him a hard-on. While, he found her annoying, messy, and childish through 90% of the book, he was attracted to her.
I’d long suspected my wife was what Gen Z ridiculously referred to as a bad-ass bitch.
This was so true. She was so sassy that I loved her. Lmao, she was lazy & was always eating (it was mentioned in each & every chapter 🤣) but she was nice. She was sweet & became friends with the beautiful cook in Rom’s house instead of feeling jealous. I loved how she wasn't obsessed with Romeo or horny every time (well mostly). OVERALL SHE WAS RELATABLE SERIOUSLY and It's really hard to find a relatable character. She took no bullshit from Romeo, always did what she wanted, made him apologize so many times, spend 700k $ in a single day just because he wasn't spending time with her, and threw a party inviting every person from the list of people he blacklisted. She wasn't a brat completely lol, she even realized that she hadn't done anything to please him at all too. Seriously I can write a lot about her.
It sickened me to see someone so unsophisticated hold so much power over me.
All the things he did for her 😭. He offered to buy her the Japanese cookie factory because she wanted their cookies, bought a whole restaurant to kick her ex-fiancee out, bought a whole bookstore for her, gifted her books, stood in a long line in the cold to get her favorite Henry Plotkin’s book, took her for a food tour to the countries she wanted to visit, turned the whole house into a library because she wanted it. as Zach said & I quote ”pussy whipped”😂🥺. Although he was mean and said hurtful things but he wasn't that bad and I didn't get any cold vibes from him. He listened & respected her.
- meanwhile Dallas:
”You’re rich. We get it.” She yawned. “The only billionaires I like are fictional.”
I felt bad for him after reading about his Trauma & anxiety!
Ruined by whipped cream.
Okay, this scene was so gross!
She seduced him and tied him to her bed and put whipped cream all over his dick & chest and left him there all night. Sjhshshahahjshs 💀💀💀
I knew where it was going and I still read it
She also used the same words he used the night of the scandal ^ 👏🏻
Zach Sun & Oliver VB:
His friends had a lot of scenes in this book! I swear I’ll kill for Zach’s book! His whole personality intrigued me so much. He’s emotionless, heartless & super intelligent. He loves art, has dry humor & always stall dates his mom arranged for him to find a suitable wife. Overall the authors knew we’d want to know his story. Meanwhile, Oliver is an open book. He’s the complete opposite of Zach. He fucks all the time. But ig he’ll be with Franklin (Dallas’ sister) because after seeing her at Rom’s wedding he always asked about her 😂 Their group chat was really funny. They both roasted Oliver again & again. It was so funny to see them calling Dallas different names like Detroit, Daytona, Denver, Decatur, or Davenport 🤣😭
Why 3 stars rating:
• First of all, it was painfully long! 😭 If it could’ve been summed up in 300 pages, it would be perfect. I get that it was a slow burn but there were so many unnecessary things.
• Morgan’s (Romeo’s ex) story was seriously unnecessary. What she did was so wrong and changed Romeo but it was just UNNECESSARY 🤷🏻♀️
• Maddison's (Dallas’ ex-fiancee) role was as useless as Morgan’s.
• Romeo Costa Sr 🤮💩
• Romeo’s whole family. 🤡💩 (His parents were literal copies of the Fitzpatricks)
• *The next reason might give you cancer & you might never look at oreos the same way.* He imagined oreo cream as his cum as Dallas’ was licking it. 🤧😵💫🤧😵💫🫤😮😑😠
• Romeo’s personality was inspired by Killian & Wolfe. His character wasn't original at all. 🫣
• Dallas’ obsession with kids. I get it that you want them but at least respect your partner’s wish too.
May 5, 2023
Star rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Spice rating: 🌶️🌶️.5
This was truly awful from start to finish. I hated the FMC with every fiber of my being 😭
Spice rating: 🌶️🌶️.5
This was truly awful from start to finish. I hated the FMC with every fiber of my being 😭
October 11, 2024
Did I have fun?! YES YES I DID. Was there really much plot?! Not really, but idc it made me laugh and I had a good time reading it 💁🏼♀️
March 24, 2023
whoever told me this was a good book, you lied and you should be ashamed of yourself.
December 3, 2023
MY REVIEW AND OTHERS can also be found on my blog: ╰┈➤KITTY KATS CRAZY ABOUT BOOKS
༺ 𝗠𝗬 𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗢 ༺ is a full length stand-alone. co-written by P. S Huntington and L.J. Shen. Spoken in 'dual perspectives.' Romeo Costa & (shortbread) aka Dallas Townsend.
What started out as revenge, an arranged marriage turned into so much more...
This Beauty and the Beast retelling was phenomenal and quickly came under a top read of 2023 for me. I have not giggled so much throughout a book like I did with this one, as soon as I started I was hooked, then the giggles erupted freely, the feels came quickly thereafter. And I never wanted it to end. Dallas & Romeo were perfection, complete opposites in every way!
Twenty-one year old Dallas was sassy, knew what she wanted in life ( a baby above all else ) quick witted, and didn't give Romeo an inch. He pushed, she pushed harder.
Thirty-one year old Romeo was an iceberg, but delve deeper and he had so many layers to him, he was ruthless, sought revenge, a complex man.
This flowed ceaselessly, with it being co-written you couldn’t tell where one ended and the other started. Though I’ve got a feeling L.J. Shen’s wicked sense of humour shone throughout. The one liners that popped out of our heroines mouth were priceless making her one of my top female characters of all time. Her antics were hilarious, poor Romeo didn’t know what had hit him.
March 13, 2023
I'm hoping Ms. Huntington had a major influence in the writing of this book or I'm going to go nuts. I have not been satisfied with the last few books that Ms. Shen has released, most have been very bleh and generic. They are far from her original books like "Sparrow" and "Viscous". I have high hopes for this book, so I guess we will see. Btw love the Amazon paperback cover, very old fashioned bodice ripper vibes.
3/13/2023 update:
DNF 23%. Y'all I'm mad bc this book is being mis-marketed. First of all, this is not a slow-burn enemies to lovers romance nor is it a dark romance as advertised. I would say this is more so if Adam Sandler tried to write a romance book. Which I mean would totally be fine if that is what it was advertised as! Then I wouldn't have spent my hard earned money on it and wouldn't have read it, since rom-com's with gross-out humor are not my thing! However, this was being advertised as some dark, tragic, Beauty and the Beast-esque type romance, which it was not!
The FMC and MMC are immature and dumb and so are their families. I just couldn't with these two. They and their families acted like it was the year 1955. Oh man, Romeo had his hand down your panties at the debutant ball (happens 5% in)? I guess you have to marry the dude or we will be sent to social jail and lose all of our money and standing in society. Oh the horror?! I really didn't get it, Dallas doesn't even try to say or do anything about it, she just falls asleep watching Cheaters when he comes to take her away from her family. She doesn't even cry at not being able to say goodbye to said family! She was too busy watching Cheaters and falling asleep.
Don't even get me started on Romeo, he was Shen's standard "alphahole mega douche canoe". Also can we get rid of the word "alphahole"? It makes me cringe with a vengeance, I think it may be the most millennial thing out there besides the side-part and the phrase "yolo". When some one calls another person an alphahole, it doesn't sound sexy, it sounds like butt hole (to each their own). Romeo was pretty much a discount Killian from Shen's "The Villain". Big, hunky, businessman who hates everything cute or anything consider feminine/female. They both have father's who give them the marriage ultimatums and have a no p@ssy pact bc someone from their past cheated on them or hurt them in some way. They both have jobs at companies that are bad for society in some way, Killain runs a major oil company and Romeo is CFO of an military/arms dealing company. "The Villain" was marketed as HadesxPersephone while this book was marketed as BeautyxBeast. Ngl I'm tired of Shen recycling plots at this point.
I could go on and on about this book, but I will spare who's ever reading this (if you have gotten this far). If you want to read something like this, but better go read Huntington's "Darling Venom" or "Devious Lies". If you like Shen more go read "The Kiss Thief" which is this, but done better. Oh yeah "The Kiss Thief" is if Romeo was more heartless and didn't have friends and actually carried out a decent revenge plot.
Side-note: I can't believe Huntington wrote any of this, her stories are a lot more detailed and have actual likeable characters that aren't caricatures of people. I know people think Huntington and Shen are possibly the same person, but they can't be based off the way they write their characters. Huntington's characters have depth and Shen's ( as of late) do not. I've shed tears over some of the scenes in Huntington's stories, and I have not ever done that with one of Shen's.
The other thing that left a bad taste in my mouth is that it seems like Shen's works are geared towards making her stories money mills. Like give the MMC a few friends and make them vaguely interesting enough to the point where they can have their own books and people will come back for more. It just seems like Shen is interested mostly in money than creating meaningful or impactful stories. I don't mind waiting 2 years for a Huntington book, if it's actually good. I don't know what this was, but I would advise against doing another team up like this in the future unless Huntington is more involved in the writing process.
3/13/2023 update:
DNF 23%. Y'all I'm mad bc this book is being mis-marketed. First of all, this is not a slow-burn enemies to lovers romance nor is it a dark romance as advertised. I would say this is more so if Adam Sandler tried to write a romance book. Which I mean would totally be fine if that is what it was advertised as! Then I wouldn't have spent my hard earned money on it and wouldn't have read it, since rom-com's with gross-out humor are not my thing! However, this was being advertised as some dark, tragic, Beauty and the Beast-esque type romance, which it was not!
The FMC and MMC are immature and dumb and so are their families. I just couldn't with these two. They and their families acted like it was the year 1955. Oh man, Romeo had his hand down your panties at the debutant ball (happens 5% in)? I guess you have to marry the dude or we will be sent to social jail and lose all of our money and standing in society. Oh the horror?! I really didn't get it, Dallas doesn't even try to say or do anything about it, she just falls asleep watching Cheaters when he comes to take her away from her family. She doesn't even cry at not being able to say goodbye to said family! She was too busy watching Cheaters and falling asleep.
Don't even get me started on Romeo, he was Shen's standard "alphahole mega douche canoe". Also can we get rid of the word "alphahole"? It makes me cringe with a vengeance, I think it may be the most millennial thing out there besides the side-part and the phrase "yolo". When some one calls another person an alphahole, it doesn't sound sexy, it sounds like butt hole (to each their own). Romeo was pretty much a discount Killian from Shen's "The Villain". Big, hunky, businessman who hates everything cute or anything consider feminine/female. They both have father's who give them the marriage ultimatums and have a no p@ssy pact bc someone from their past cheated on them or hurt them in some way. They both have jobs at companies that are bad for society in some way, Killain runs a major oil company and Romeo is CFO of an military/arms dealing company. "The Villain" was marketed as HadesxPersephone while this book was marketed as BeautyxBeast. Ngl I'm tired of Shen recycling plots at this point.
I could go on and on about this book, but I will spare who's ever reading this (if you have gotten this far). If you want to read something like this, but better go read Huntington's "Darling Venom" or "Devious Lies". If you like Shen more go read "The Kiss Thief" which is this, but done better. Oh yeah "The Kiss Thief" is if Romeo was more heartless and didn't have friends and actually carried out a decent revenge plot.
Side-note: I can't believe Huntington wrote any of this, her stories are a lot more detailed and have actual likeable characters that aren't caricatures of people. I know people think Huntington and Shen are possibly the same person, but they can't be based off the way they write their characters. Huntington's characters have depth and Shen's ( as of late) do not. I've shed tears over some of the scenes in Huntington's stories, and I have not ever done that with one of Shen's.
The other thing that left a bad taste in my mouth is that it seems like Shen's works are geared towards making her stories money mills. Like give the MMC a few friends and make them vaguely interesting enough to the point where they can have their own books and people will come back for more. It just seems like Shen is interested mostly in money than creating meaningful or impactful stories. I don't mind waiting 2 years for a Huntington book, if it's actually good. I don't know what this was, but I would advise against doing another team up like this in the future unless Huntington is more involved in the writing process.
April 16, 2023
Did this man actually fuck her with her underwear between them?? Was her underwear actually inside her??!! Someone please tell me I read that wrong 😭
June 5, 2023
the blood scene scarred me
im not writing a review but if you wanna hear all the fun stuff that goes on in the book read monmon's <33
───
BR with monmoni 💗 this better get me out of this slump i feel
im not writing a review but if you wanna hear all the fun stuff that goes on in the book read monmon's <33
───
BR with monmoni 💗 this better get me out of this slump i feel
April 4, 2023
i have a new fear, and its electric toothbrushes 👽
April 19, 2024
2.5 stars
Those two were the definition of toxic and definitely needed help. Like professional help. Because the amount of headache they both gave me??? My head hurt so bad while reading this. The amount of trash that comes out of the hero’s mouth? How obnoxious he was? I’m not a violent person (only in my head) but seriously every time he opened his mouth I wanted to slam it shut, because ew. Just ew. The stupidity and how childish and frustrating was the heroine?
However, I truly think that these two deserve each other. Like they should spend their lifetime torturing each other with their existence. The book cover is beautiful tho.
song recommendation:
There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen.
Those two were the definition of toxic and definitely needed help. Like professional help. Because the amount of headache they both gave me??? My head hurt so bad while reading this. The amount of trash that comes out of the hero’s mouth? How obnoxious he was? I’m not a violent person (only in my head) but seriously every time he opened his mouth I wanted to slam it shut, because ew. Just ew. The stupidity and how childish and frustrating was the heroine?
However, I truly think that these two deserve each other. Like they should spend their lifetime torturing each other with their existence. The book cover is beautiful tho.
song recommendation:
There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen.
March 14, 2023
Let's move on as if I never read this book
August 28, 2024
2.25 ✰ ? Sometimes I wonder my life decisions ( cof cof books like this )
VERY WELL WRITTEN: GOT MY 2 STARS THERE Can’t really decide my solid rating tho…
𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒!
they were quite cute like in the last 30’ish pages of the book… the rest of the book was just about revenge and getting back at each other.
If Elizabeth Bennett and Darcy could give this people some love advice, I would be glad.
here we go 🤲
***
starting off with Dallas (𝐅𝐌𝐂): she is a daddy’s spoiled little girl that spends her life eating everything that she sees.
Not judging her bc of that ( ɪᴛ’s ᴠᴇʀʏ ʀᴇᴀʟɪsᴛɪᴄ ), but judging it bc the authors made that her whole
personality.
according to the authors, this girl is nothing but a food lover. done. ✔️
ladies and gentlemen, be careful where you leave your british shortbread… she might steal it from your plates.
this girl needs therapy, no, honestly.
ʀᴇᴀsᴏɴs:
1. she let herself be fingered by a man she barely knew while promised to someone else. Yes being promised to someone else is already bad enough but this girl was so smart to do this behind her house where a debutante ball was happening. Were they caught? YES!! NO SHIT! And then she wanted to cry herself to sleep for the first time, girllllll what were you expecting bffr
2. kept some of the MMC cum under her tongue so she could get pregnant ( she said she found that is possible ) yes she swallowed almost all of it but later on we see from her POV that she kept some of it, KILL ME 😭
3. SHE QUOTED OLIVER TWIST WHILE GETTING F1C&KED
4. she burned a whole set of hardcover books! I repeat. SHE BURNED A WHOLE SET OF HARDCOVER BOOKS.
5. comparing him to Theo James, massive crime. leave Theo alone.
on the other hand, she was very firm and didn’t let him and his big fat ass ego win her over.
she was disobedient and I FUCKING LOVED HER FOR IT.
YOU DO YOU GIRL!
let’s not forget that she sperm stealing 🥹
***
about Romeo (𝐌𝐌𝐂): No he isn’t the Romeo we know from the movie and stuff
this guy is more indecisive and confusing than a 2 year old when picking which toy to get from the store.
one minute Dallas was quite beautiful and bla bla bla… the next moment he was planning on ruining all of her dreams and shit.
fuck him and his “engorged” d1ck!
yes the authors used that word quite a lot throughout the book.
he is a massive huge walking 🚩The way he treated his employees, disgusting 🤢
like man, they are working for you but chill, you don’t boss them around like that.
he is so toxic and cruel, no one or anything can make me like ROMEO COSTA
OH AND HE GIVES ME THE ICK
- F1c&ked her through the clothes
- Blood scene ( no comments )
- Fingering her while she was sleeping
- Fire a pilot bc he was kindly talking to Dallas
- Called her a slut in front of his family
- “Gurgle on it, sweetheart.”
summarising it: daddy issues and I have no more to say. 🔪🔪🔪
THE SMUT IN THIS BOOK WAS UNBELIEVABLY TORTUROUS
"𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝?" "𝐍𝐨." "𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭."
one page later…
“𝐀 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲.“
girllll stop ✋ ur not actually supposed to comment on how his d1ck tastes 😭
“More cum poured out of it. White and thick.”
“𝐆𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭, 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭.“
BROTHERRRRRR EWWWWW-TF
another thing that got me confused was how they said that he broke her hymen by eating her out??
girl how tf r u bleeding from being eaten out?
and plus she said she wasn’t a virgin no more… likeeeee… what?!!!!?
for me the chemistry was not it.
they were both mentally unstable and bringing troubled guy and troubled girl together doesn’t seem compatible…
It’s giving I can fix him/her from both sides but neither of them are even close to fixing one another 🙂
I really hope this characters find some help cause they could have potential after all. I flew through it but the quality for me wasn’t really there.
PS: such a beautiful cover for such overrated book 🥲
hope you enjoyed this book if you’ve read it.
‼️ 𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐄, 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐘 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐍‼️
VERY WELL WRITTEN: GOT MY 2 STARS THERE Can’t really decide my solid rating tho…
𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒!
they were quite cute like in the last 30’ish pages of the book… the rest of the book was just about revenge and getting back at each other.
If Elizabeth Bennett and Darcy could give this people some love advice, I would be glad.
here we go 🤲
***
starting off with Dallas (𝐅𝐌𝐂): she is a daddy’s spoiled little girl that spends her life eating everything that she sees.
Not judging her bc of that ( ɪᴛ’s ᴠᴇʀʏ ʀᴇᴀʟɪsᴛɪᴄ ), but judging it bc the authors made that her whole
personality.
according to the authors, this girl is nothing but a food lover. done. ✔️
ladies and gentlemen, be careful where you leave your british shortbread… she might steal it from your plates.
this girl needs therapy, no, honestly.
ʀᴇᴀsᴏɴs:
1. she let herself be fingered by a man she barely knew while promised to someone else. Yes being promised to someone else is already bad enough but this girl was so smart to do this behind her house where a debutante ball was happening. Were they caught? YES!! NO SHIT! And then she wanted to cry herself to sleep for the first time, girllllll what were you expecting bffr
2. kept some of the MMC cum under her tongue so she could get pregnant ( she said she found that is possible ) yes she swallowed almost all of it but later on we see from her POV that she kept some of it, KILL ME 😭
3. SHE QUOTED OLIVER TWIST WHILE GETTING F1C&KED
4. she burned a whole set of hardcover books! I repeat. SHE BURNED A WHOLE SET OF HARDCOVER BOOKS.
5. comparing him to Theo James, massive crime. leave Theo alone.
on the other hand, she was very firm and didn’t let him and his big fat ass ego win her over.
she was disobedient and I FUCKING LOVED HER FOR IT.
YOU DO YOU GIRL!
let’s not forget that she sperm stealing 🥹
***
about Romeo (𝐌𝐌𝐂): No he isn’t the Romeo we know from the movie and stuff
this guy is more indecisive and confusing than a 2 year old when picking which toy to get from the store.
one minute Dallas was quite beautiful and bla bla bla… the next moment he was planning on ruining all of her dreams and shit.
fuck him and his “engorged” d1ck!
yes the authors used that word quite a lot throughout the book.
he is a massive huge walking 🚩The way he treated his employees, disgusting 🤢
like man, they are working for you but chill, you don’t boss them around like that.
he is so toxic and cruel, no one or anything can make me like ROMEO COSTA
OH AND HE GIVES ME THE ICK
- F1c&ked her through the clothes
- Blood scene ( no comments )
- Fingering her while she was sleeping
- Fire a pilot bc he was kindly talking to Dallas
- Called her a slut in front of his family
- “Gurgle on it, sweetheart.”
summarising it: daddy issues and I have no more to say. 🔪🔪🔪
THE SMUT IN THIS BOOK WAS UNBELIEVABLY TORTUROUS
"𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝?" "𝐍𝐨." "𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭."
one page later…
“𝐀 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲.“
girllll stop ✋ ur not actually supposed to comment on how his d1ck tastes 😭
“More cum poured out of it. White and thick.”
“𝐆𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭, 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭.“
BROTHERRRRRR EWWWWW-TF
another thing that got me confused was how they said that he broke her hymen by eating her out??
girl how tf r u bleeding from being eaten out?
and plus she said she wasn’t a virgin no more… likeeeee… what?!!!!?
for me the chemistry was not it.
they were both mentally unstable and bringing troubled guy and troubled girl together doesn’t seem compatible…
It’s giving I can fix him/her from both sides but neither of them are even close to fixing one another 🙂
I really hope this characters find some help cause they could have potential after all. I flew through it but the quality for me wasn’t really there.
PS: such a beautiful cover for such overrated book 🥲
hope you enjoyed this book if you’ve read it.
‼️ 𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐄, 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐘 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐍‼️
November 19, 2023
books like this one make me think I can become a successful author
June 25, 2023
Waste of my time, actually...
Shit plot.
Weak motivations on BOTH sides.
No character development.
Chemistry nonexistent.
Smut nonexistent/not good.
Didn't even realize this was supposed to be some Beauty and the Beast retelling until more than halfway through, lol.
Flimsy attempt at being romantic, because I don't know when these two people supposedly "fell in love."
I just "metaphorically" turned the page, and suddenly they were in love...
Heroine was unique, I guess, but making her unique does not make me like her. She had potential, but the authors ruined it by making her weak and non-reactive.
The whole wanting to be a mother thing was annoying to begin with, because... like ew.
But she actually never did anything to show us how deep she really wanted that. Just kept saying she wanted it and had one scene where she went crazy over some couple's child.
I didn't care.
Hero told us a few times how he "desired, wanted" the heroine, but we never actually SAW that.
Show Don’t Tell is pretty much the first thing writers learn in writing school, but these 2 authors said, "fuck that noise. We will TELL exclusively."
Now, the humor in this book deserves some props. Some parts had me chuckle, I have to admit.
I also didn't mind the pop culture references as much as some of the other reviewers I've seen complain about it. Although this will date this book exponentially. This book mentioned The Fall of Twitter, Kpop concerts/bands, Elon Musk among other current things, and as much as these are funny NOW, they won't be relevant 3 to 5 years from now and the humor will be kind of gone/outdated lmao.
But other than the decent humor, I regret listening to this.
Also what was with the backwards town where the heroine is from where the women had to stay virgins until marriage...? It felt so out of place in this supposedly "modern" story with this "mordern" heroine?
Shit plot.
Weak motivations on BOTH sides.
No character development.
Chemistry nonexistent.
Smut nonexistent/not good.
Didn't even realize this was supposed to be some Beauty and the Beast retelling until more than halfway through, lol.
Flimsy attempt at being romantic, because I don't know when these two people supposedly "fell in love."
I just "metaphorically" turned the page, and suddenly they were in love...
Heroine was unique, I guess, but making her unique does not make me like her. She had potential, but the authors ruined it by making her weak and non-reactive.
The whole wanting to be a mother thing was annoying to begin with, because... like ew.
But she actually never did anything to show us how deep she really wanted that. Just kept saying she wanted it and had one scene where she went crazy over some couple's child.
I didn't care.
Hero told us a few times how he "desired, wanted" the heroine, but we never actually SAW that.
Show Don’t Tell is pretty much the first thing writers learn in writing school, but these 2 authors said, "fuck that noise. We will TELL exclusively."
Now, the humor in this book deserves some props. Some parts had me chuckle, I have to admit.
I also didn't mind the pop culture references as much as some of the other reviewers I've seen complain about it. Although this will date this book exponentially. This book mentioned The Fall of Twitter, Kpop concerts/bands, Elon Musk among other current things, and as much as these are funny NOW, they won't be relevant 3 to 5 years from now and the humor will be kind of gone/outdated lmao.
But other than the decent humor, I regret listening to this.
Also what was with the backwards town where the heroine is from where the women had to stay virgins until marriage...? It felt so out of place in this supposedly "modern" story with this "mordern" heroine?
August 25, 2023
5/5 ⭐️ This book was so damn entertaining to read! I am shocked by how much I loved it! It got me out of the mini reading slump I was in this week. I just loved everything about it.
Dallas and Romeo were total opposites. She was messy, lazy, and unorganized, (I honestly related to her at times 🤣) while Romeo thrived on cleanliness and order. It was fun watching him fall for her though. I really loved them together ❤️🫶🏻.
I laughed out loud a few times at their banter. Their hate for each other had me giggling and wanting to read more!
I loved it when she tied him to the bed! 😆🤭 I was smiling my ass off!
Romeo was rude as hell but I really ended up loving him by the end. He was an alphahole and his possessiveness/jealousy was hot af 🥵.
I also loved that towards the end, Romeo thought Dallas didn’t love him but he was willing to give her all of his love anyway. I just found that so sweet 🥺❤️.
And how he stood in line for hours in the cold to get her a signed copy of her favorite book 🥺🫶🏻❤️. He was an asshole but he was sweet too.
This did have a lot of pop culture references but it didn’t bother me enough for me to not enjoy the book.
Overall, this was just a fun and easy read for me 👍🏼.
Dallas and Romeo were total opposites. She was messy, lazy, and unorganized, (I honestly related to her at times 🤣) while Romeo thrived on cleanliness and order. It was fun watching him fall for her though. I really loved them together ❤️🫶🏻.
I laughed out loud a few times at their banter. Their hate for each other had me giggling and wanting to read more!
I loved it when she tied him to the bed! 😆🤭 I was smiling my ass off!
Romeo was rude as hell but I really ended up loving him by the end. He was an alphahole and his possessiveness/jealousy was hot af 🥵.
I also loved that towards the end, Romeo thought Dallas didn’t love him but he was willing to give her all of his love anyway. I just found that so sweet 🥺❤️.
And how he stood in line for hours in the cold to get her a signed copy of her favorite book 🥺🫶🏻❤️. He was an asshole but he was sweet too.
This did have a lot of pop culture references but it didn’t bother me enough for me to not enjoy the book.
Overall, this was just a fun and easy read for me 👍🏼.
December 31, 2023
it's truly impressive how insufferable l j shen's characters are
February 15, 2024
RTC 👀
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Did I buy the physical book just cuz of the cover and didn't even read what this is about ? Maybe.
Hopefully im in for a pleasant surprise
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Did I buy the physical book just cuz of the cover and didn't even read what this is about ? Maybe.
Hopefully im in for a pleasant surprise
March 27, 2024
This book was so ridiculous, and I think I will understand any negative review that I see about it, but I am rating it 5-stars out of sheer enjoyability. I had so much fun reading this - it was really funny. If you like dark romance, marriage of conveniences/arranged marriage tropes, extremely possessive alpha men, and books with lots of triggers, then give it a try. This book is the perfect level of hate-to-love. These characters really fucking hated each other, and I loved how the FMC was trying to get him to dump her for the first half of the book. I liked the FMC a lot; she was a bit immature so I can see people being annoyed by her, but she cracked me up.
The writing was a bit choppy at times; sometimes I was confused how characters got from emotion A to emotion B. For example, when Dallas leaves the weapons test site all sad/feeling bad for what she did to Romeo, but then when he comes home, she's mad at him and forcing him to apologize. I couldn't keep up with the whiplash of emotions/how quickly attitudes or dialogue topics would randomly change in some scenes. However, this book was generally really funny and everything you would want in a "lighter" dark romance. The story is a bit like a mafia romance, but not exactly since no one was in the mafia, but it has same vibes.
The one thing that drove me crazy and gave me the ick was all of the banter from Oliver about how much he wants to have sex with Dallas's younger sister, Franklin, and then all of Oliver's friends were like "she's a literal teenager." I know he's supposed to be a playboy character but joking about wanting to hook up with a child is just never funny to me. It was especially strange because Franklin is 19-years-old and she's not really underage or a child, so I was like, why do they need to keep joking about pedophilia? It's even more icky because the authors seemed to be setting up for a future book about Oliver and Franklin, and I'm like, can we not? (Franklin is moving into Romeo's penthouse in DC since she's kicked out of school, so she'll be around Romeo's friends aka Oliver). ....Yeah, I'm going to pass on that one...
I might try Zach's book though, depending on the premise.
This is by no means a masterpiece, but I gobbled this shit up.
The writing was a bit choppy at times; sometimes I was confused how characters got from emotion A to emotion B. For example, when Dallas leaves the weapons test site all sad/feeling bad for what she did to Romeo, but then when he comes home, she's mad at him and forcing him to apologize. I couldn't keep up with the whiplash of emotions/how quickly attitudes or dialogue topics would randomly change in some scenes. However, this book was generally really funny and everything you would want in a "lighter" dark romance. The story is a bit like a mafia romance, but not exactly since no one was in the mafia, but it has same vibes.
The one thing that drove me crazy and gave me the ick was all of the banter from Oliver about how much he wants to have sex with Dallas's younger sister, Franklin, and then all of Oliver's friends were like "she's a literal teenager." I know he's supposed to be a playboy character but joking about wanting to hook up with a child is just never funny to me. It was especially strange because Franklin is 19-years-old and she's not really underage or a child, so I was like, why do they need to keep joking about pedophilia? It's even more icky because the authors seemed to be setting up for a future book about Oliver and Franklin, and I'm like, can we not? (Franklin is moving into Romeo's penthouse in DC since she's kicked out of school, so she'll be around Romeo's friends aka Oliver). ....Yeah, I'm going to pass on that one...
I might try Zach's book though, depending on the premise.
This is by no means a masterpiece, but I gobbled this shit up.
March 27, 2023
i could name a few poisons i would rather take then to ever know this book existed
August 27, 2023
I would rather carve out my eyeballs with a plastic spoon than ever have to read the line “is this what I do with my pee pee?” in a romance book.
STRAIGHT TO JAIL FOR THE AUTHORS.
STRAIGHT TO JAIL FOR THE AUTHORS.
March 16, 2023
I'm Literally only reading this for Parker S Huntington.
I Gave up on Lj Shen as a writer. Now let's hope Lj doesn't bring parker down with this one.
I heard theory that people believe Parker could have been Lj's Ghost writer in the past, and honestly, I sort of believe it.
Okay, Star rating will probably change as I go. So far, I don't hate it, but the things that are bringing my rating down, is definitely the writing that is heavily Lj Shen influenced. Lj has a way of writing over the top characters that are almost a cartoon version of the type of person she is trying to portray. She writes in a way that feels almost outside of reality. The way they talk is unlike the way anyone else does. What she thinks is high class is awkward, and makes it feel like a comedy. If you come at it from the perspective that it is a comedy, you definitely start enjoying it more.
Update:
Okay I am about 30 percent… once we get past the heavily influenced Lj writing, and overuse of pop culture references in the first 20 percent… the plot does really pick up. I genuinely am liking the heroine. Because of the way she’s got a backbone. The hero is your typically cold and closed off Lj hero… but unlike many of her heroines… this one gives it back to him… there's a scene that had me screaming, “hell yes! “Because finally one of these heroines has a backbone! Because of the heroine so far and this scene, I’ll move it up to a 4 star… I’m going to say this was a Parker writing decision. Haha
Ill update as I go....
Bringing my rating back down because it's been days and I haven't gotten back to it. Ugh....
I Gave up on Lj Shen as a writer. Now let's hope Lj doesn't bring parker down with this one.
I heard theory that people believe Parker could have been Lj's Ghost writer in the past, and honestly, I sort of believe it.
Okay, Star rating will probably change as I go. So far, I don't hate it, but the things that are bringing my rating down, is definitely the writing that is heavily Lj Shen influenced. Lj has a way of writing over the top characters that are almost a cartoon version of the type of person she is trying to portray. She writes in a way that feels almost outside of reality. The way they talk is unlike the way anyone else does. What she thinks is high class is awkward, and makes it feel like a comedy. If you come at it from the perspective that it is a comedy, you definitely start enjoying it more.
Update:
Okay I am about 30 percent… once we get past the heavily influenced Lj writing, and overuse of pop culture references in the first 20 percent… the plot does really pick up. I genuinely am liking the heroine. Because of the way she’s got a backbone. The hero is your typically cold and closed off Lj hero… but unlike many of her heroines… this one gives it back to him… there's a scene that had me screaming, “hell yes! “Because finally one of these heroines has a backbone! Because of the heroine so far and this scene, I’ll move it up to a 4 star… I’m going to say this was a Parker writing decision. Haha
Ill update as I go....
Bringing my rating back down because it's been days and I haven't gotten back to it. Ugh....
August 13, 2023
4.75 ⭐️ 3🌶️
This book was sooo much better than I expected!
First off the writing is great, it’s quick, funny, the banter is top notch and the book or story never felt dragged out. Perfect length for a standalone romance (none of this 500 pages rubbish just for a couple to get together lol)
Romeo was written to perfection, I loved his character, grumpy, troubled billionaire. His personality was extremely fleshed out I loved him.
his friends the side characters also had enough great personalities too. I like when they don’t get left out, brings so much more dimension to the book.
Dallas is the MOST RELATABLE fmc ever! I loved her- obsessed with food and snacking, I love how she was just so unapologetically herself, and didn’t care about trying to fit into this society that she’d grown up in.
This is probably the best forced marriage/marriage of convenience I’ve read in a WHILE!
The tension 🤌🏼 the angst 🤌🏼 the banter 🤌🏼 the spice 🤌🏼
I want a Romeo Costa 😅❤️
This book was sooo much better than I expected!
First off the writing is great, it’s quick, funny, the banter is top notch and the book or story never felt dragged out. Perfect length for a standalone romance (none of this 500 pages rubbish just for a couple to get together lol)
Romeo was written to perfection, I loved his character, grumpy, troubled billionaire. His personality was extremely fleshed out I loved him.
his friends the side characters also had enough great personalities too. I like when they don’t get left out, brings so much more dimension to the book.
Dallas is the MOST RELATABLE fmc ever! I loved her- obsessed with food and snacking, I love how she was just so unapologetically herself, and didn’t care about trying to fit into this society that she’d grown up in.
This is probably the best forced marriage/marriage of convenience I’ve read in a WHILE!
The tension 🤌🏼 the angst 🤌🏼 the banter 🤌🏼 the spice 🤌🏼
I want a Romeo Costa 😅❤️
March 14, 2023
Dnf at 40%. Words such as "let me taste your juices" and phrases like 'he looked at me like i was flaming poop' and a fmc who's over 18 and still wont say the F word. The way these authors are able to make a smutty romance novel feel like it was written by a 13 year old who just discovered what s*x is astounds me. truly something that takes work to achieve. i might even applaud such a feat if i didn't have to read 'he had my hymens blood on his mouth' as if insinuating his tongue was long enough to- anyway i digress.
April 29, 2023
I didn't expect to love this as much as I did, but when we learned about Romeo's past!?!? I love a damaged hero and that made me love him more. He's also a very protective and obsessive hero and will tear anyone apart who touches Dallas. And I loved how they clashed when they first got married and how Dallas would do anything to drive him crazy. But then, despite what they both wanted, they both fell so hard for each other.
This was just such a fun and entertaining time, and that's what I'm basing my rating on. Plus Jacob Morgan narrates the audio!? Perfection.
This was just such a fun and entertaining time, and that's what I'm basing my rating on. Plus Jacob Morgan narrates the audio!? Perfection.
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