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Madison Kate #1
Hate
“Madison Kate Danvers was murdered tonight.”
Those words changed my life, and not for the better.
They were wrong, of course. I wasn’t dead. But I was set up.
After being charged with a string of offences--and made an example of by my political minded father--I’m eventually released back into Shadow Grove with one thing on my mind.
Hate.
Someone is going to pay for derailing my carefully laid out future. Someone is going to catch the full force of my hate. How very convenient that someone just moved into the bedroom down the hall from me.
Archer D’Ath and his boys messed with the wrong chick and they’re about to learn just how cold Madison Kate’s hate can run.
HATE is a full length mature college/new adult romance with enemies-to-lovers/love-hate themes. This is a reverse harem novel, meaning the main character has more than one love
Those words changed my life, and not for the better.
They were wrong, of course. I wasn’t dead. But I was set up.
After being charged with a string of offences--and made an example of by my political minded father--I’m eventually released back into Shadow Grove with one thing on my mind.
Hate.
Someone is going to pay for derailing my carefully laid out future. Someone is going to catch the full force of my hate. How very convenient that someone just moved into the bedroom down the hall from me.
Archer D’Ath and his boys messed with the wrong chick and they’re about to learn just how cold Madison Kate’s hate can run.
HATE is a full length mature college/new adult romance with enemies-to-lovers/love-hate themes. This is a reverse harem novel, meaning the main character has more than one love
418 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 8, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,559 reviews
September 27, 2021
─I am indeed a sucker for a pretty cover and I've let myself down again─
Sometimes I think that I might be a harsh reviewer, especially since my reviews are subjective and made up by some arbitrary rules I have in my head w. some common sense rules (i.e. I won't read shit w. negative messages).
》 I just want to add, I've read my fair share of RH and feel this review was fair bc compared to a lot, this wasn't so great.
But dear lord, this was not good...here's why:
》 Authors want to write badass/tough heroines, yet they fail more times than I count.
⤷They make them these "bitchy" chicks that seem to hate everyone. I don't care that they're deemed "bitchy," BUT be more original. It would be nice to see a heroine that's badass/tough where the author makes them cool & collected or even sweet.
》For the love of god, I'm sick of unnecessary drama/side characters that are merely used for that purpose.
⤷Random intentionally "bitchy" characters are used and I'm over it.
》The author didn't even try to make the story and relationship believable.
⤷MK was framed, yet she's peachy keen w. people who could've spoken on her behalf???
⤷Heroine doesn't have half a brain either. (Apparently her vagina doesn't agree w. her head.) Why are authors still writing heroines like this? Especially when they've been wronged.
Sometimes I think that I might be a harsh reviewer, especially since my reviews are subjective and made up by some arbitrary rules I have in my head w. some common sense rules (i.e. I won't read shit w. negative messages).
》 I just want to add, I've read my fair share of RH and feel this review was fair bc compared to a lot, this wasn't so great.
But dear lord, this was not good...here's why:
》 Authors want to write badass/tough heroines, yet they fail more times than I count.
⤷They make them these "bitchy" chicks that seem to hate everyone. I don't care that they're deemed "bitchy," BUT be more original. It would be nice to see a heroine that's badass/tough where the author makes them cool & collected or even sweet.
》For the love of god, I'm sick of unnecessary drama/side characters that are merely used for that purpose.
⤷Random intentionally "bitchy" characters are used and I'm over it.
》The author didn't even try to make the story and relationship believable.
⤷MK was framed, yet she's peachy keen w. people who could've spoken on her behalf???
⤷Heroine doesn't have half a brain either. (Apparently her vagina doesn't agree w. her head.) Why are authors still writing heroines like this? Especially when they've been wronged.
May 7, 2020
'HATE' is the first full length book in Tate Jame's 'Madison Kate' series.
Holy Sh%t! God this book! This book was amazing!
Everything I seek within a book, this book delivered!
Unique, Unpredictable, Unputdownable.
This ticked all my boxes. As soon as I started I was beyond hooked!
Inhaled, devoured, loved!
Hate is a book which will pull you in from the get go and won't let go until you close out of that last page. The author didn't hold anything back. She threw it all at us and we lapped it up.
Halloween night they should’ve been at a friends party but bestie Bree and Madison Kate decided that sneaking out to attend a high illegal mixed martial arts fight which was held in a long abandoned amusement park in West Shadow Grove called ‘The Laughing Clown’ sounded like more fun.
This was the catalyst for the whole book. What happened that halloween night was just the beginning. Get ready to meet the three hot boys who have moved into Madison's home (Archer, Max & Kodiak) Let the fun times begin. Because Madison has a chip on her shoulder and she's got these three boys in her sight. Brace yourselves!! This book is going to knock your socks off.
And then as I’m nearing the end, my heart rate spiked up, my palms got clammy, screaming at my iPad for her to get out of there, hide, run, don’t look back, praying they weren’t involved, right before I’m literally thrown over a cliffhanger! 😩 Damnit I need that next book!
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May 8, 2020
3.5 stars, rounded up.
My expectations were pretty much rock-bottom going into this book. I know that James is an engaging writer, but a lot of her past books have been unbearably cliched (Broken Wings) or full of plot holes (Royal Trials). I'm pleased to see that in this book, she threw off a lot of the shackles that were keeping me from enjoying her books.
Plot
When Madison Kate Danvers was 17, she was framed by three boys (Archer D'Ath, Kodiak Johnson, and Max Steele) as the perpetrator behind Riot Night, when violence broke out at the local abandoned funfair. Her father shipped her off to undergo correction with her aunt in Cambodia. Now, eleven months later, she's back. Archer is her new future stepbrother, and he and the other two boys are suddenly living in her house - alone, since her father and future-stepmother are on holiday.
She plans on making their lives hell for the framing. And you know what? She isn't as dismally unsuccessful as most RH bully romance heroines. So for once, let's start with:
The Good
✔️ Madison Kate is definitely the overwhelming star of the show. She's violent, arrogant, and festering with resentment and vengeance. I LOVED it. Her character softens somewhat over the course of the book, but she remains an ultra-sarcastic bitch who (get this) actually manifests her independence and ditches the boys a few times, rather than just falling in line with their wishes. This is the one of the few books of the genre where I think the heroine's alpha quotient actually equals or exceeds the heroes.' It was very satisfying to read.
✔️ For the most part, the writing isn't bogged down with the traumatisingly purple prose we see in the likes of C.M. Stunich. It's straightforward and compelling. There are a few cringey phrases, like when Kody is described as a 'buff blond god' apparently without irony, but they're relatively rare. And even though her hair is pink, like Bernadette's from HAVOC, we aren't constantly beaten over the head with it.
✔️ The heroes are all individual and well-defined. I'm very pleased that James decided to make this series RH, which I don't think was her initial plan. There's believable relationship progression between all the heroes, and the recognition that Madison Kate won't be at the same level with all of them.
✔️ James actually pokes fun at a few of the old, stale romance tropes she used to indulge in. Result: a heroine who's not the stupid idiot she could easily have been.
The Bad
❌ I really hate the way James writes best friends. Bree, Madison Kate's best friend, is a shallow, vapid young woman whose only thoughts are apparently a slavish devotion to Madison's sex life and slobbering over the heroes. She also didn't speak to Madison for a year, but they're apparently like 'long-lost sisters' or whatever. Sure.
❌ I felt like in some ways, Madison is a little impotent. I could sense her burning desire for revenge, but none of her ideas were just very good. I don't mind too much because I can see how she wants vengeance - she's just not very creative. For instance, one part of her revenge is suggesting that the boys are gay... it's 2020, not 1820. Hardly a career-ending revelation.
❌ A lot of suspension of disbelief required here. Like, there's not a single adult figure - don't Kody and Steele have parents? Linked to this - a stalker was suddenly thrown into the plot at about 50% in, and it felt jarring and shoehorned. The whole white-boy low-level gang violence thing was also kind of cringe.
Overall
I enjoyed this enough to round up instead of down, and I'm really interested in the sequel - things were getting interesting just before the end.
[Blog] - [Bookstagram]
My expectations were pretty much rock-bottom going into this book. I know that James is an engaging writer, but a lot of her past books have been unbearably cliched (Broken Wings) or full of plot holes (Royal Trials). I'm pleased to see that in this book, she threw off a lot of the shackles that were keeping me from enjoying her books.
Plot
When Madison Kate Danvers was 17, she was framed by three boys (Archer D'Ath, Kodiak Johnson, and Max Steele) as the perpetrator behind Riot Night, when violence broke out at the local abandoned funfair. Her father shipped her off to undergo correction with her aunt in Cambodia. Now, eleven months later, she's back. Archer is her new future stepbrother, and he and the other two boys are suddenly living in her house - alone, since her father and future-stepmother are on holiday.
She plans on making their lives hell for the framing. And you know what? She isn't as dismally unsuccessful as most RH bully romance heroines. So for once, let's start with:
The Good
✔️ Madison Kate is definitely the overwhelming star of the show. She's violent, arrogant, and festering with resentment and vengeance. I LOVED it. Her character softens somewhat over the course of the book, but she remains an ultra-sarcastic bitch who (get this) actually manifests her independence and ditches the boys a few times, rather than just falling in line with their wishes. This is the one of the few books of the genre where I think the heroine's alpha quotient actually equals or exceeds the heroes.' It was very satisfying to read.
✔️ For the most part, the writing isn't bogged down with the traumatisingly purple prose we see in the likes of C.M. Stunich. It's straightforward and compelling. There are a few cringey phrases, like when Kody is described as a 'buff blond god' apparently without irony, but they're relatively rare. And even though her hair is pink, like Bernadette's from HAVOC, we aren't constantly beaten over the head with it.
✔️ The heroes are all individual and well-defined. I'm very pleased that James decided to make this series RH, which I don't think was her initial plan. There's believable relationship progression between all the heroes, and the recognition that Madison Kate won't be at the same level with all of them.
✔️ James actually pokes fun at a few of the old, stale romance tropes she used to indulge in. Result: a heroine who's not the stupid idiot she could easily have been.
The Bad
❌ I really hate the way James writes best friends. Bree, Madison Kate's best friend, is a shallow, vapid young woman whose only thoughts are apparently a slavish devotion to Madison's sex life and slobbering over the heroes. She also didn't speak to Madison for a year, but they're apparently like 'long-lost sisters' or whatever. Sure.
❌ I felt like in some ways, Madison is a little impotent. I could sense her burning desire for revenge, but none of her ideas were just very good. I don't mind too much because I can see how she wants vengeance - she's just not very creative. For instance, one part of her revenge is suggesting that the boys are gay... it's 2020, not 1820. Hardly a career-ending revelation.
❌ A lot of suspension of disbelief required here. Like, there's not a single adult figure - don't Kody and Steele have parents? Linked to this - a stalker was suddenly thrown into the plot at about 50% in, and it felt jarring and shoehorned. The whole white-boy low-level gang violence thing was also kind of cringe.
Overall
I enjoyed this enough to round up instead of down, and I'm really interested in the sequel - things were getting interesting just before the end.
[Blog] - [Bookstagram]
May 22, 2020
Disappointed.
I typically like this author a lot, but I couldn’t stand this book. I don’t know how it has so many good ratings. I got just over a quarter of the way through and couldn’t stomach it anymore. Madison lets these guys walk all over her. They literally ruined her entire future, treat her like a pet, and she keeps saying she’s going to get revenge on them, but then five seconds later is mentally admiring how hot they are and how much she wants to touch them. She doesn’t stand up for herself, and she’s not nearly as angry as she should be in this situation. Salt instead of sugar in their coffee? Weak. She also keeps letting them goad her into hanging out with them and stupid crap like that, and she falls for it instead of playing the bigger person. Really disappointed because the writing is amazing and fluent, but the characters all suck and I’m constantly cringing at MK’s thoughts.
I typically like this author a lot, but I couldn’t stand this book. I don’t know how it has so many good ratings. I got just over a quarter of the way through and couldn’t stomach it anymore. Madison lets these guys walk all over her. They literally ruined her entire future, treat her like a pet, and she keeps saying she’s going to get revenge on them, but then five seconds later is mentally admiring how hot they are and how much she wants to touch them. She doesn’t stand up for herself, and she’s not nearly as angry as she should be in this situation. Salt instead of sugar in their coffee? Weak. She also keeps letting them goad her into hanging out with them and stupid crap like that, and she falls for it instead of playing the bigger person. Really disappointed because the writing is amazing and fluent, but the characters all suck and I’m constantly cringing at MK’s thoughts.
September 13, 2020
DNF @ 25%
Less than 24 hours ago I admitted I had no filter when it comes to revenge plots especially when it is coming from women, I had planned to be more discerning when it came to my next pick...this is going to be a long long process.
The previous book I read had a heroine having revenge because of a grade school prank her friends played on her, her idea of revenge was cutting their hair and changing the time of their alarm clocks. That book was juvenile, the entire plot.
This book on the other hand had something serious going on for it. These guys ruined this girl's life, they framed her ( at least where I'm at now) for causing a riot which lead to someone losing their life, she had to be secreted away to some monastery in Cambodia ( figures) till every thing dies down. She eventually comes back 11 months later to new fancy shamncy university that has been built on the razed grounds ( that seems impossible tbh, they live in a semi small town where her dad is mayor( or something) but still...how did they get the funds to be able to build the uni that fast. A high school is being converted to a uni near me and they been at it for ages).
She comes back and plans to exact revenge on the people that did that to her and she is shocked to discover that her father is dating their step mother so they have to live in the same house. Her idea of revenge is switching the salt and sugar containers so that they put salt in their coffee instead. This is the woman that had been going on and on about getting her revenge.
Less than 24 hours ago I admitted I had no filter when it comes to revenge plots especially when it is coming from women, I had planned to be more discerning when it came to my next pick...this is going to be a long long process.
The previous book I read had a heroine having revenge because of a grade school prank her friends played on her, her idea of revenge was cutting their hair and changing the time of their alarm clocks. That book was juvenile, the entire plot.
This book on the other hand had something serious going on for it. These guys ruined this girl's life, they framed her ( at least where I'm at now) for causing a riot which lead to someone losing their life, she had to be secreted away to some monastery in Cambodia ( figures) till every thing dies down. She eventually comes back 11 months later to new fancy shamncy university that has been built on the razed grounds ( that seems impossible tbh, they live in a semi small town where her dad is mayor( or something) but still...how did they get the funds to be able to build the uni that fast. A high school is being converted to a uni near me and they been at it for ages).
She comes back and plans to exact revenge on the people that did that to her and she is shocked to discover that her father is dating their step mother so they have to live in the same house. Her idea of revenge is switching the salt and sugar containers so that they put salt in their coffee instead. This is the woman that had been going on and on about getting her revenge.
June 16, 2021
4.5 stars
Ummm this was so amazing and so much more than what tik Tok makes it out to be? Sure it's a reverse harem novel, but OMG IT'S SO MUCH MORE. Madison Kate was arrested and her life was ruined a year ago on Riot Night. Now, she's back home the three guys who ruined her life are living in her home thanks to her dad's new girlfriend. Madison Kate wants to hate them, but she finds herself drawn to all three of them, but they definitely have a secret they're hiding.
I haven't read much reverse harem books, but this one was so fun. I loved all three guys and how they were actually different and had different kinds of relationships with Madison Kate. I honestly can't choose who I like more?? They all wanted to protect her and I need to know what's going to happen next after that ending! I didn't give it a full five stars, though, because I got a bit bored in the middle when all they were doing is going to parties and hanging out. Give me one new adult romance where the heroine isn't picked up and thrown over the shoulder of a hero. BUT the plot and pacing really picked at the end and I couldn't put this book down! I need answers now!!
Ummm this was so amazing and so much more than what tik Tok makes it out to be? Sure it's a reverse harem novel, but OMG IT'S SO MUCH MORE. Madison Kate was arrested and her life was ruined a year ago on Riot Night. Now, she's back home the three guys who ruined her life are living in her home thanks to her dad's new girlfriend. Madison Kate wants to hate them, but she finds herself drawn to all three of them, but they definitely have a secret they're hiding.
I haven't read much reverse harem books, but this one was so fun. I loved all three guys and how they were actually different and had different kinds of relationships with Madison Kate. I honestly can't choose who I like more?? They all wanted to protect her and I need to know what's going to happen next after that ending! I didn't give it a full five stars, though, because I got a bit bored in the middle when all they were doing is going to parties and hanging out. Give me one new adult romance where the heroine isn't picked up and thrown over the shoulder of a hero. BUT the plot and pacing really picked at the end and I couldn't put this book down! I need answers now!!
Shelved as 'dnf-lost-interest'
April 21, 2021DNF @39%
I may circle back to this eventually, but I'm almost 40% in and, aside from the first chapter or two, nothing is happening. :(
I may circle back to this eventually, but I'm almost 40% in and, aside from the first chapter or two, nothing is happening. :(
September 25, 2024
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley (thank you SOURCEBOOK Bloom Books). All thoughts and opinions are my own.
✅ Sexual tension and some smut
✅️ Hate/lust relationship (she hates them but lusts after them)
✅ Future RH
✅ Revenge
✅ Strong and driven main character
✅ Some thriller
✅ Good pace and entertaining
✅(🆗) Plot
✅(🆗) Love interests (I like Steele and Kodi, but Archer can kiss my ass, and not in a sexy way)
🆗 Lack of backstory / Plot holes
❗️❗️Mild cliffhanger
❗️❗️Trigger warnings: mention of witnessing a murder (past), claustrophobia, stalker, some bullying/controlling behavior
3.5 stars
I have mixed feelings about this book. It was a page-turner, entertaining and addictive, but some aspects of it were underdeveloped and lacking, and while I enjoyed reading Hate, a part of my brain kept thinking about those details that annoyed me while I was enjoying the ride with Madison Kate and her guys.
Madison Kate, MK, and her best friend Bree decided to go to an illegal fight in the town’s close amusement park on the night of Halloween, and that’s when Madison Kate’s life went to hell. Shots were fired, a girl was killed, and she was framed as the “mastermind” behind what is now called Riot Night. Her rich father managed to make sure she wouldn’t go to jail, but still sent her away “for her protection”, although Madison Kate knows that it was only so she wouldn’t sully his reputation. After almost a year away, she is back in Shadow Grove, where she meets again with the three men who framed her, and she swears that she will get her revenge and destroy them.
There are many plot holes that make everything just too conveniently fall into place to create the setting the author wanted. For example, the fact that people were blackmailed/forced to attend the city’s new university (how were they blackmailed into it? Why? WTF?), all so they could all carpool and see each other every day, or the fact that Madison Kate’s dad and stepmother left for Italy the minute she came back, leaving her and her and the 3 guys alone in the mansion with no adult figure around, except for the staff that is mostly invisible and never interacted with Madison Kate. There is a stalker plot that appears near the middle of the book that, while intriguing, seems to come out of nowhere.
There is also the lack of backstory on Madison Kate and her dad. We know that she witnessed her mom being murdered when she was 11 and that her father is crazy rich, but that’s about it. Her dad’s image is everything to him, and he turns everything into a publicity stunt. Still, besides that, there is only the unclear part where it’s said that he took it upon himself to unify the city and renovate the more desolate districts, even building a university that he forced people to attend (it was said that people were blackmailed…). Is he an entrepreneur? Did he finance it out of the goodness of his heart (not likely), is it because he wanted to gain the city’s adoration? Why did he do it? I don’t understand his real motivation, and since he’s absent for the whole book because he's conveniently away on a trip, we don’t get to know anything about him. Also, what happened to the gangs that were fighting in the rougher part of the city? Did Madison Kate’s dad smile at them and it all went away? Because we don’t really hear about them anymore, even though both gangs still exist and have active members.
Madison Kate is a good main character, most of the time. Her silly pranks annoyed me more than they impressed me, but she did have one or two nastier plans to get revenge on the guys. She is full of anger and resentment, she has a violent streak when pushed, and she does not back down. I liked her vibe, she felt strong and badass, without overdoing it.
Archer D’Arth is the leader of the little trio, and he seems to hate Madison Kate for some reason… while also being attracted to her and weirdly protective and even possessive at times. I know he is meant to be this way, but he was so annoying with his alpha macho bullshit, always trying to control MK and impose his way on her. I understand why she hated him at first, and his behavior only encouraged this hatred to fester. He needs to turn this around if he wants to have a shred of a chance with MK because there is no way that she will let him get close to her with this shitty attitude, even if he is smoking hot.
Kodiak Jones is a shameless flirt who has an easy vibe and adapts to pretty much everything Madison Kate throws his way. He seems to be the goofier one, the one who takes everything in stride and makes it clear that he is interested in MK, even though she hates him. Max Steele seems to be the sweetest of the three guys, and the only one that might not have been directly implicated in framing Madison Kate. He follows Archer around though and listens to everything he says, just like Kodi does, so he’s not truly innocent either. Steele and Kodi know the secrets they’re keeping from Madison Kate and refuse to tell her out of loyalty for Archer, and I respect that, but I can’t wait for them to stand up to Archer’s shit and be better for MK. It’s not enough to be kind and sweet if they betray her trust and try to control her just like Archer does.
Madison Kate’s relationship with the guys is a hate-to-love, but while I do enjoy a good “push and pull” game, it fell flat at times in this book. I was happy that she hated them and resented them for what they did to her, and I wanted her to hold on to this anger, but while she was trying to get rid of them with annoying (and mostly immature) pranks, she also couldn’t resist them because they are all oh so sexy and muscled. She was thinking of ways to ruin their lives, yet she let them dictate her life, “forcing her” to hang out with them, or letting them be nice and cuddly when she had a panic attack… All in all, it's the same emotions, but the way it was written made it seem like she was so attracted to them that she was forcing herself to remain angry and had to keep reminding herself why she hated them, instead of being full of hate and resentment, but having it slowly chipped away by their sexiness and having to fight her attraction to them.
I have to say that it got better in the second half of the book. She reminded herself why she hated the guys, and she held onto this anger, and when she let herself forget it, it was for a good reason, like them being nice to her, not just because she was drooling over their abs. There are still a lot of secrets between them, and everything would be so much simpler if they just sat down to clear the air and explain what really happened a year ago, but MK is too stubborn, and the guys refuse to explain for some mysterious reason so they are stuck in this weird place where Madison Kate wants to be able to forgive them and understand their actions, but she can’t because they continue to lie to her.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, and it was easy to read just one more chapter. It has an addictive quality to it, but there are also some parts of the plot that were just too convenient or glossed over, and the way the hate-to-love relationships are written was not exactly what I was looking for. I will read the second book because I am curious about where this is going, and as I said, there is something addictive that made me keep reading one more chapter and with the way Hate ends, I want to read the next book and see what will happen and how Madison Kate will deal with the three men.
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✅ Sexual tension and some smut
✅️ Hate/lust relationship (she hates them but lusts after them)
✅ Future RH
✅ Revenge
✅ Strong and driven main character
✅ Some thriller
✅ Good pace and entertaining
✅(🆗) Plot
✅(🆗) Love interests (I like Steele and Kodi, but Archer can kiss my ass, and not in a sexy way)
🆗 Lack of backstory / Plot holes
❗️❗️Mild cliffhanger
❗️❗️Trigger warnings: mention of witnessing a murder (past), claustrophobia, stalker, some bullying/controlling behavior
3.5 stars
I have mixed feelings about this book. It was a page-turner, entertaining and addictive, but some aspects of it were underdeveloped and lacking, and while I enjoyed reading Hate, a part of my brain kept thinking about those details that annoyed me while I was enjoying the ride with Madison Kate and her guys.
"This was war and there were no fucking rules. No polite etiquette. Only the brutal and bloodthirsty survived."
Madison Kate, MK, and her best friend Bree decided to go to an illegal fight in the town’s close amusement park on the night of Halloween, and that’s when Madison Kate’s life went to hell. Shots were fired, a girl was killed, and she was framed as the “mastermind” behind what is now called Riot Night. Her rich father managed to make sure she wouldn’t go to jail, but still sent her away “for her protection”, although Madison Kate knows that it was only so she wouldn’t sully his reputation. After almost a year away, she is back in Shadow Grove, where she meets again with the three men who framed her, and she swears that she will get her revenge and destroy them.
There are many plot holes that make everything just too conveniently fall into place to create the setting the author wanted. For example, the fact that people were blackmailed/forced to attend the city’s new university (how were they blackmailed into it? Why? WTF?), all so they could all carpool and see each other every day, or the fact that Madison Kate’s dad and stepmother left for Italy the minute she came back, leaving her and her and the 3 guys alone in the mansion with no adult figure around, except for the staff that is mostly invisible and never interacted with Madison Kate. There is a stalker plot that appears near the middle of the book that, while intriguing, seems to come out of nowhere.
There is also the lack of backstory on Madison Kate and her dad. We know that she witnessed her mom being murdered when she was 11 and that her father is crazy rich, but that’s about it. Her dad’s image is everything to him, and he turns everything into a publicity stunt. Still, besides that, there is only the unclear part where it’s said that he took it upon himself to unify the city and renovate the more desolate districts, even building a university that he forced people to attend (it was said that people were blackmailed…). Is he an entrepreneur? Did he finance it out of the goodness of his heart (not likely), is it because he wanted to gain the city’s adoration? Why did he do it? I don’t understand his real motivation, and since he’s absent for the whole book because he's conveniently away on a trip, we don’t get to know anything about him. Also, what happened to the gangs that were fighting in the rougher part of the city? Did Madison Kate’s dad smile at them and it all went away? Because we don’t really hear about them anymore, even though both gangs still exist and have active members.
Madison Kate is a good main character, most of the time. Her silly pranks annoyed me more than they impressed me, but she did have one or two nastier plans to get revenge on the guys. She is full of anger and resentment, she has a violent streak when pushed, and she does not back down. I liked her vibe, she felt strong and badass, without overdoing it.
I stared back at him for a long moment, studying his ice-blue eyes for any scrap of apology. Any morsel of human decency. I found fucking nothing.
Archer D’Arth is the leader of the little trio, and he seems to hate Madison Kate for some reason… while also being attracted to her and weirdly protective and even possessive at times. I know he is meant to be this way, but he was so annoying with his alpha macho bullshit, always trying to control MK and impose his way on her. I understand why she hated him at first, and his behavior only encouraged this hatred to fester. He needs to turn this around if he wants to have a shred of a chance with MK because there is no way that she will let him get close to her with this shitty attitude, even if he is smoking hot.
Kodiak Jones is a shameless flirt who has an easy vibe and adapts to pretty much everything Madison Kate throws his way. He seems to be the goofier one, the one who takes everything in stride and makes it clear that he is interested in MK, even though she hates him. Max Steele seems to be the sweetest of the three guys, and the only one that might not have been directly implicated in framing Madison Kate. He follows Archer around though and listens to everything he says, just like Kodi does, so he’s not truly innocent either. Steele and Kodi know the secrets they’re keeping from Madison Kate and refuse to tell her out of loyalty for Archer, and I respect that, but I can’t wait for them to stand up to Archer’s shit and be better for MK. It’s not enough to be kind and sweet if they betray her trust and try to control her just like Archer does.
"I hated them, and I needed to stop forgetting that fact."
How fucked up was that, that the three guys responsible for derailing my life were now the ones I leaned on?
Madison Kate’s relationship with the guys is a hate-to-love, but while I do enjoy a good “push and pull” game, it fell flat at times in this book. I was happy that she hated them and resented them for what they did to her, and I wanted her to hold on to this anger, but while she was trying to get rid of them with annoying (and mostly immature) pranks, she also couldn’t resist them because they are all oh so sexy and muscled. She was thinking of ways to ruin their lives, yet she let them dictate her life, “forcing her” to hang out with them, or letting them be nice and cuddly when she had a panic attack… All in all, it's the same emotions, but the way it was written made it seem like she was so attracted to them that she was forcing herself to remain angry and had to keep reminding herself why she hated them, instead of being full of hate and resentment, but having it slowly chipped away by their sexiness and having to fight her attraction to them.
I have to say that it got better in the second half of the book. She reminded herself why she hated the guys, and she held onto this anger, and when she let herself forget it, it was for a good reason, like them being nice to her, not just because she was drooling over their abs. There are still a lot of secrets between them, and everything would be so much simpler if they just sat down to clear the air and explain what really happened a year ago, but MK is too stubborn, and the guys refuse to explain for some mysterious reason so they are stuck in this weird place where Madison Kate wants to be able to forgive them and understand their actions, but she can’t because they continue to lie to her.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, and it was easy to read just one more chapter. It has an addictive quality to it, but there are also some parts of the plot that were just too convenient or glossed over, and the way the hate-to-love relationships are written was not exactly what I was looking for. I will read the second book because I am curious about where this is going, and as I said, there is something addictive that made me keep reading one more chapter and with the way Hate ends, I want to read the next book and see what will happen and how Madison Kate will deal with the three men.
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October 31, 2021
So good!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧
Romance: 💙💚🖤💜❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📒
World building: 🌎🌍🌏🌎🌏
Character development: 😳🤬😏🤓😎
The heroine: Madison Kate Danvers - her father is one of the most influential people in town. MK goes to an illegal fight in the big top of a closed amusement park when shots were heard. A girl was trampled in the crowd and MK was framed for stealing the key and letting everyone into the big top on what is now known as “riot night”.
The Hero(es): Archer D’Ath (a.k.a. blue eyes) - he was fighting in the illegal fight at the big top. He basically delivered MK to the cops that night. He is also half brother to Zane D’Ath who murdered MK’s mom when she was 11 years old and locked in a closet 20 feet away.
Max Steele (a.k.a. grey eyes) - he could play concert piano but hasn’t decided if he wants to yet. He and the other two guys are part time models. He works on cars in the garage in his spare time
Kodiak “Kody” James (a.k.a. green eyes) - Gave MK the hoodie with the key to the big top which made her look like the guilty party. He is now a personal trainer to the stars and has the body to match.
The Story: Madison is framed for the events that happened at the Laughing Clown on riot night. She is put in jail and put on trial, though eventually the charges are dropped and her father sends her away to live with an aunt until things die down. M.K. returns to find out the three guys that framed her are now living in her father’s new house and her father goes away on vacation without waiting for her to get home.
I loved the narration in this one. It was done by Brooke Daniels and Lucas Webley. Brook Daniels voice reminded me of character actress Samaire Armstrong who has been in a ton of movies and TV shows. She has a very pretty voice which is perfect for Madison Kate. Lucas Webley has a nice deep voice which I enjoyed which he made even deeper for Steele.
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The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧
Romance: 💙💚🖤💜❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📒
World building: 🌎🌍🌏🌎🌏
Character development: 😳🤬😏🤓😎
The heroine: Madison Kate Danvers - her father is one of the most influential people in town. MK goes to an illegal fight in the big top of a closed amusement park when shots were heard. A girl was trampled in the crowd and MK was framed for stealing the key and letting everyone into the big top on what is now known as “riot night”.
The Hero(es): Archer D’Ath (a.k.a. blue eyes) - he was fighting in the illegal fight at the big top. He basically delivered MK to the cops that night. He is also half brother to Zane D’Ath who murdered MK’s mom when she was 11 years old and locked in a closet 20 feet away.
Max Steele (a.k.a. grey eyes) - he could play concert piano but hasn’t decided if he wants to yet. He and the other two guys are part time models. He works on cars in the garage in his spare time
Kodiak “Kody” James (a.k.a. green eyes) - Gave MK the hoodie with the key to the big top which made her look like the guilty party. He is now a personal trainer to the stars and has the body to match.
The Story: Madison is framed for the events that happened at the Laughing Clown on riot night. She is put in jail and put on trial, though eventually the charges are dropped and her father sends her away to live with an aunt until things die down. M.K. returns to find out the three guys that framed her are now living in her father’s new house and her father goes away on vacation without waiting for her to get home.
I loved the narration in this one. It was done by Brooke Daniels and Lucas Webley. Brook Daniels voice reminded me of character actress Samaire Armstrong who has been in a ton of movies and TV shows. She has a very pretty voice which is perfect for Madison Kate. Lucas Webley has a nice deep voice which I enjoyed which he made even deeper for Steele.
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Shelved as 'interested-in'
September 12, 2024needed a quick romance to break up these other books that have been using all my brain power 🫠
November 21, 2020
25%
I hate you guys, you ruined my life, but OMG, you're so sexy!
I hate you guys, you ruined my life, but OMG, you're so sexy!
July 1, 2024
5⭐️
*changing my rating because I literally cant stop thinking about this series 😭
I only have two things to say...
1. I will confidently say that reverse harem is hotter than I expected it to be
2. I need the next book in my hands now because that ending was criminal
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let's go for something a little...different 👀
I heard such good things about this book so I'm excited!!
*changing my rating because I literally cant stop thinking about this series 😭
I only have two things to say...
1. I will confidently say that reverse harem is hotter than I expected it to be
2. I need the next book in my hands now because that ending was criminal
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let's go for something a little...different 👀
I heard such good things about this book so I'm excited!!
June 10, 2021
This is my first time reading reverse harem and I’m so addicted!!!! I can’t stop reading this series. I’m loving the heroine and all 3 guys (even the giant asshole one lol).
July 7, 2021
man was this good, i LOVE MK as the main character and i especially love Kodak, Arch and Steele. Even Bri and Dallas i wish i didn’t have to sleep so i could immediately start the next book because this was so so good
October 13, 2022
3.5 ⭐️
This story is definitely a vibe... very atmospheric with the whole setting of this small town that has two rival gangs that divide it in half and there's no parents around so there's just a bunch of rich, twenty something year olds acting like adults... it's takes place this time of year so starting of college, going to classes, house parties, Halloween nights sort of thing. It was giving me very Corrupt/Devils Night by Penelope Douglas vibes mixed with the Riverdale TV show type of setting... but with a slightly less intense/fucked up feel to it.
All of the guys are all lusting after Madison.… and while she's super attracted to them, she hates them all for what they did to her the year before... so there's a lot of her trying to get revenge on them by pulling petty pranks but then randomly giving into the lust she has for each of them here and there. Add in a drop of suspense because Madison seems to have a stalker... so the boys basically turn into her bodyguards and we get a lot of possessiveness, jealousy and 'big dick energy' from all of them (authors words, not mine). And then we slowly find out that not everything is as it seems and Madison doesn't know as much as she thinks she does.. and then bam —cliffhanger ending. Whole book summed up in one paragraph.
I was liking Madison enough as a main character... and I was enjoying all of the guys, but I wasn't particularly invested in the actual story... so I think I'm going to continue on with the series for now... but depending on where it ends up going, I'm not sure if I'll stick it out until the end... we will see —- But either way I am happy I gave it a shot because it's a book I've always been curious about and since I went into it with no expectations, it didn't particularly disappoint.
This story is definitely a vibe... very atmospheric with the whole setting of this small town that has two rival gangs that divide it in half and there's no parents around so there's just a bunch of rich, twenty something year olds acting like adults... it's takes place this time of year so starting of college, going to classes, house parties, Halloween nights sort of thing. It was giving me very Corrupt/Devils Night by Penelope Douglas vibes mixed with the Riverdale TV show type of setting... but with a slightly less intense/fucked up feel to it.
All of the guys are all lusting after Madison.… and while she's super attracted to them, she hates them all for what they did to her the year before... so there's a lot of her trying to get revenge on them by pulling petty pranks but then randomly giving into the lust she has for each of them here and there. Add in a drop of suspense because Madison seems to have a stalker... so the boys basically turn into her bodyguards and we get a lot of possessiveness, jealousy and 'big dick energy' from all of them (authors words, not mine). And then we slowly find out that not everything is as it seems and Madison doesn't know as much as she thinks she does.. and then bam —cliffhanger ending. Whole book summed up in one paragraph.
I was liking Madison enough as a main character... and I was enjoying all of the guys, but I wasn't particularly invested in the actual story... so I think I'm going to continue on with the series for now... but depending on where it ends up going, I'm not sure if I'll stick it out until the end... we will see —- But either way I am happy I gave it a shot because it's a book I've always been curious about and since I went into it with no expectations, it didn't particularly disappoint.
May 26, 2020
PRETEND HATE
Yep. That should be the title. She kept on saying she hate them but she just let them walk all over her every single time 🤦♀️😅 Her so-called revenge to them - switched the sugar for salt. 😂 Then, went on a date with Kodak. When Kodak's ex-girlfriend/ex-fling hit her and called her goat she just stood there and took it. From the situation, you can deduct that he used you to show off to his ex-fling/gf that he is cheating with you. OMG. How will you get your revenge when you even let him used you as a scapegoat again 😅 That's it. I don't want to read anymore. The heroine is lame. She just want to sexed these three guys. You go girl!
Yep. That should be the title. She kept on saying she hate them but she just let them walk all over her every single time 🤦♀️😅 Her so-called revenge to them - switched the sugar for salt. 😂 Then, went on a date with Kodak. When Kodak's ex-girlfriend/ex-fling hit her and called her goat she just stood there and took it. From the situation, you can deduct that he used you to show off to his ex-fling/gf that he is cheating with you. OMG. How will you get your revenge when you even let him used you as a scapegoat again 😅 That's it. I don't want to read anymore. The heroine is lame. She just want to sexed these three guys. You go girl!
July 3, 2022
➥ 1 Star *:･ﾟ✧ dnf @ 20%
Mareeva's laughing at me rn but I really thought this would be good. This was a failed buddy read with my dear friend Amy - sorry it didn't work out :( And yeah, you guessed it. It was me who suggested this book for a buddy read so of course it was bad. But this time, I refused to make myself suffer 😊😘😉.
At this point I just want to get all of my opinions out so that I don't have to think about them anymore. Firstly, the writing (and dialogue) was ass, as you can clearly see from the featured quote. The internal monologue was annoying and extremely informal and greatly took away from the actual story. Nothing much has even happened yet and I think it's partly due to the fact that this author likes to ramble with her descriptions; something unnecessary and frustrating imo.
Secondly, this reminded me a lot of the Devil's Night series. In the sense that it's clear the author is an adult trying to write cool teenagers. It's very rare that adult authors execute teenage characters well and this is no exception. There was too much swearing and "dude"s etc. all in attempt to write "cool" type characters. And it failed. The other thing that reminded me of the Devils Night series is that one of the main characters get sent to prison because of the other and when they're back for revenge they fall for eachother. I'm just kind of bored of it and it brings nothing new to the table.
Thirdly, (but also leading on from that), some people have mentioned in their reviews that this book feels more like a setup for the rest of the series...I AM NOT INTERESTED IN READING A 400 PAGE SHITTY SETUP FOR THIS SERIES. In fact, I cannot imagine having to suffer through more than one book with these low quality characters.
Lastly, my poor friend Amy got to 50% (she suffered all that) and she said there was still no smut. No smut at 50% in a reverse harem romance??? Oh lord, no.
Anyway, whoever is giving me bad juju pls stop, I've read enough bad books recently, I promise <3
His lids were heavy over those gorgeous green eyes, and a telling dark shadow of stubble dusted his jaw. Not that I'd thought his blond was anything but bleached. He looked like he was about to fall asleep any minute now, which only made my stupid, sex-starved mind wander off to what his bed might look like. Or whether he slept in it nude.
━━━━━━━━━━━ ♡ ━━━━━━━━━━━
Mareeva's laughing at me rn but I really thought this would be good. This was a failed buddy read with my dear friend Amy - sorry it didn't work out :( And yeah, you guessed it. It was me who suggested this book for a buddy read so of course it was bad. But this time, I refused to make myself suffer 😊😘😉.
➥ Madison Kate (h) was just such an annoying fmc. The only thing worse than a girl who's quirky and little and a pick-me, it the girl who has a complex where she thinks she's not one. This one is always trying to talk buff, calling everyone dude, babe and girl. She was meant to be a badass but wasn't. Instead she was an immature, annoying bitch and I could not stand being in her perspective.
➥ Steele a.k.a. grey eyes (H) was pretty unimpressive. In fact, none of the dudes were particularly hot to me and that's their literal job considering this is a reverse harem romance. He's like every other bad boy love interest; maybe a little lamer. The only thing decent about him is that he has a tongue piercing.
➥ Asher a.k.a. blue eyes (H) is like, a fighter ig? He's meant to be the leader but he was also bland to me. All the dudes were pretty much the same imo.
➥ Kody a.k.a. green eyes (H) is probably the one I hate the least. He teased the fmc from the beginning, brought something at least interesting to the table, and is funny. But that's about it. Still, nothing special at all.
At this point I just want to get all of my opinions out so that I don't have to think about them anymore. Firstly, the writing (and dialogue) was ass, as you can clearly see from the featured quote. The internal monologue was annoying and extremely informal and greatly took away from the actual story. Nothing much has even happened yet and I think it's partly due to the fact that this author likes to ramble with her descriptions; something unnecessary and frustrating imo.
Secondly, this reminded me a lot of the Devil's Night series. In the sense that it's clear the author is an adult trying to write cool teenagers. It's very rare that adult authors execute teenage characters well and this is no exception. There was too much swearing and "dude"s etc. all in attempt to write "cool" type characters. And it failed. The other thing that reminded me of the Devils Night series is that one of the main characters get sent to prison because of the other and when they're back for revenge they fall for eachother. I'm just kind of bored of it and it brings nothing new to the table.
Thirdly, (but also leading on from that), some people have mentioned in their reviews that this book feels more like a setup for the rest of the series...I AM NOT INTERESTED IN READING A 400 PAGE SHITTY SETUP FOR THIS SERIES. In fact, I cannot imagine having to suffer through more than one book with these low quality characters.
Lastly, my poor friend Amy got to 50% (she suffered all that) and she said there was still no smut. No smut at 50% in a reverse harem romance??? Oh lord, no.
Anyway, whoever is giving me bad juju pls stop, I've read enough bad books recently, I promise <3
━━━━━━━━━━━ ♡ ━━━━━━━━━━━
July 21, 2024
Ta książka jest po prostu skrajnie głupia.
Odklejone zachowania tej dziewczyny doprowadzają mnie do skraju. Naprawdę tak jej mózg wyłącza przy tych typach, którzy jej całe życie zniszczyli? Ona jest po prostu głupia.
Oni też rozumem nie grzeszą.
Daje vibe wattpad lata 2010. Oczywiście że rodzice znikają, gdy tylko bohaterka ma wrócić do domu i zamieszkać z trzema typami xddd
Początek jest naprawdę ciekawy, to miało coś w sobie, wrobienie jej w zamieszki, jej odesłanie i powrót, ale jak już wróciła? To jakiś żart.
Poziom jej zemsty to dosypanie soli do kawy albo proszek farbujący na ręczniku…
W ogóle uniwersytet który zbudował jej ojciec i zmusił wszystkich z tego miasta żeby wysłali swoje bogate dzieciaki tam? A kim on niby jest XDDD I jeszcze to, że przy bramie tam zabierają telefon??? Bo? Dorośli ludzie nie mogą mieć telefonu przy sobie na uczelni? Co to za absurdy?
Dużo jest tam takich idiotyzmów.
A te relacje? No napaleni są ciągle, kij wie dlaczego ona z nimi w sumie mieszka i o co chodzi z jej ojcem.
Ta ich historia jest rozciągnięta na kilka książek a na spokojnie zamknęła by się w 1, bo to niemiłosiernie się dłuży, po co mi milion rozmów z tą przyjaciółką, która mówi ciągle tylko „przeleć ich”.
Ta książka miała ciekawy początek i zamysł ale najgorsze możliwe wykonanie.
Odklejone zachowania tej dziewczyny doprowadzają mnie do skraju. Naprawdę tak jej mózg wyłącza przy tych typach, którzy jej całe życie zniszczyli? Ona jest po prostu głupia.
Oni też rozumem nie grzeszą.
Daje vibe wattpad lata 2010. Oczywiście że rodzice znikają, gdy tylko bohaterka ma wrócić do domu i zamieszkać z trzema typami xddd
Początek jest naprawdę ciekawy, to miało coś w sobie, wrobienie jej w zamieszki, jej odesłanie i powrót, ale jak już wróciła? To jakiś żart.
Poziom jej zemsty to dosypanie soli do kawy albo proszek farbujący na ręczniku…
W ogóle uniwersytet który zbudował jej ojciec i zmusił wszystkich z tego miasta żeby wysłali swoje bogate dzieciaki tam? A kim on niby jest XDDD I jeszcze to, że przy bramie tam zabierają telefon??? Bo? Dorośli ludzie nie mogą mieć telefonu przy sobie na uczelni? Co to za absurdy?
Dużo jest tam takich idiotyzmów.
A te relacje? No napaleni są ciągle, kij wie dlaczego ona z nimi w sumie mieszka i o co chodzi z jej ojcem.
Ta ich historia jest rozciągnięta na kilka książek a na spokojnie zamknęła by się w 1, bo to niemiłosiernie się dłuży, po co mi milion rozmów z tą przyjaciółką, która mówi ciągle tylko „przeleć ich”.
Ta książka miała ciekawy początek i zamysł ale najgorsze możliwe wykonanie.
November 18, 2021
Actual rating 3.8 stars.
After reading the Hallowed Night anthology, I decided I wanted to explore NA further. Hate had been popping up on my feed for a while so I decided to start there.
(Funnily enough, it begins [and ends] on Halloween!)
I liked how each character was different, however I think Tate James fell into the mistake of repeating phrases between characters. No two people are going to say ‘...I had nothing to do with...’ (which is said maybe a little too often).
Okay, maybe it was just that one phrase and I’m being nitpicky…
I wanted to enjoy the fact that the characters were college students, however, these pranks made them feel a little like high schoolers.
I did like how Maddison Kate had built this reality in her mind and when things turned out not to be how she thought they were, she went into denial.
I felt that was a very real, human thing to do.
I’m not sure if the was really necessary. Then again, if it’s tied in with MK’s mother and what happened to her, it could be interesting.
I thought it was so funny whenever there was a meta mention of a NA trope. So you know about them and processed to fall into basically every single one of them?
Is this a new trope? Commenting on classic tropes??
This review comes across like I didn’t enjoy myself. I actually enjoyed this book quite a bit! I couldn’t wait to listen to it most of the time.
The pacing was good plus I enjoyed the chemistry between MK and her boys. I’m not a huge fan of stories about gangs and such but the mystery of what exactly the guys are into and how they fit into the two gangs keeps me intrigued.
That ending though… the huge reveals THEN THAT CLIFFHANGER!! I thought I was doing so well, finishing right before the weekend but when I was done, I was like ‘Um, what?!?! It seriously just ended like that??’
Suffice it to say, I am definitely reading book two; Liar
A little on the audio version; I really liked the fact that there were two narrators. Both Brooke Daniels and Lucas Webley had good voice variations for each character. I loved when MK was emotional, Daniels actually sounded emotional!
Oh and I also loved that there was an effect on their voices whenever there was a phone call.
Side note: The difference in the quality of microphones between the two narrators was pretty distracting at first. It does get better at the end.
After reading the Hallowed Night anthology, I decided I wanted to explore NA further. Hate had been popping up on my feed for a while so I decided to start there.
(Funnily enough, it begins [and ends] on Halloween!)
I liked how each character was different, however I think Tate James fell into the mistake of repeating phrases between characters. No two people are going to say ‘...I had nothing to do with...’ (which is said maybe a little too often).
Okay, maybe it was just that one phrase and I’m being nitpicky…
I wanted to enjoy the fact that the characters were college students, however, these pranks made them feel a little like high schoolers.
I did like how Maddison Kate had built this reality in her mind and when things turned out not to be how she thought they were, she went into denial.
I felt that was a very real, human thing to do.
I’m not sure if the was really necessary. Then again, if it’s tied in with MK’s mother and what happened to her, it could be interesting.
I thought it was so funny whenever there was a meta mention of a NA trope. So you know about them and processed to fall into basically every single one of them?
Is this a new trope? Commenting on classic tropes??
This review comes across like I didn’t enjoy myself. I actually enjoyed this book quite a bit! I couldn’t wait to listen to it most of the time.
The pacing was good plus I enjoyed the chemistry between MK and her boys. I’m not a huge fan of stories about gangs and such but the mystery of what exactly the guys are into and how they fit into the two gangs keeps me intrigued.
That ending though… the huge reveals THEN THAT CLIFFHANGER!! I thought I was doing so well, finishing right before the weekend but when I was done, I was like ‘Um, what?!?! It seriously just ended like that??’
Suffice it to say, I am definitely reading book two; Liar
A little on the audio version; I really liked the fact that there were two narrators. Both Brooke Daniels and Lucas Webley had good voice variations for each character. I loved when MK was emotional, Daniels actually sounded emotional!
Oh and I also loved that there was an effect on their voices whenever there was a phone call.
Side note: The difference in the quality of microphones between the two narrators was pretty distracting at first. It does get better at the end.
November 8, 2020
Wow... It was definitely an interesting ride.
I've never read Reverse Harem before, so when I was presented to this series, I was like... Why not?
So after Duchess really sell this one out, me and Angel started the series.
This book tells the story of Madison Kate.
She's a spoiled rich girl that has her world turned upside down, in one Riot Halloween Night, and everything changed.
After almost a year living as an exiled, she's back in town and she's out for revenge against those who didn't helped her and framed her.
Archer, Kodiak and Steele, that played a huge part in her fateful demise night, are now her new roommates and eventually, her fuck/lust/hate interest.
I liked how the author showed each character personalities and how she make we see each one of them as a different character.
What I didn't like was that it really took too long to get to some real action.
Both with their sexual tension and the plot.
But when she finally get there, I really loved!
Also as a reverse harem book, I didn't expect to be sooo slow burn. There's only one sex scene, and near the end. But it's definitely full of sexual tension.
I'll continue with this series, hoping that now that all the characters are already fully presented, the action will flow freely.
August 31, 2023
ˋ°•*⁀➷ HATE
star rating: 3.75 ★ ★ ★
spice rating: 1.75 🌶️
❥ MMA fights and gang wars chapter 1. Sign. Me. Up. This book started with a bang and a dead body. And that was all it took for me to sink my hooks in. #Invested
❥ The book felt like a meet-and-greet. Meet the players. The heroes. The villains. The damsel. It felt like a book where you get to know the characters.
❥ Madison Kate spent so much time on her to high school revenge plot. Which I didn’t mind, but I just wish the revenge actually has some substance. I wanted her to wreck a little more havoc. She showed her age a little too much besides that, she was very likable, at least I liked her.
❥ Her one-sided hate really kept blinders on her. She couldn’t see past it and even when she did she dredged it back up. Although I didn’t judge her for any of her actions. After everything she’s been through her coping mechanism was the best option — not to mention funny as fuck.
But ultimately it was her downfall.
Full RTC
star rating: 3.75 ★ ★ ★
spice rating: 1.75 🌶️
❥ MMA fights and gang wars chapter 1. Sign. Me. Up. This book started with a bang and a dead body. And that was all it took for me to sink my hooks in. #Invested
❥ The book felt like a meet-and-greet. Meet the players. The heroes. The villains. The damsel. It felt like a book where you get to know the characters.
❥ Madison Kate spent so much time on her to high school revenge plot. Which I didn’t mind, but I just wish the revenge actually has some substance. I wanted her to wreck a little more havoc. She showed her age a little too much besides that, she was very likable, at least I liked her.
❥ Her one-sided hate really kept blinders on her. She couldn’t see past it and even when she did she dredged it back up. Although I didn’t judge her for any of her actions. After everything she’s been through her coping mechanism was the best option — not to mention funny as fuck.
But ultimately it was her downfall.
Full RTC
February 11, 2024
Omg! What did I just read?! I didn’t mean to like this book this much! But why is this book so addictive?!
I haven’t read a reverse harem dark romance before but this one completely made me hooked! I just wanted to try out the first book but look what it has made me do. I am binge reading the rest of the books this weekend!
The series is already complete in 2020 which I came to realise after I got this ARC from Bloom Books.
I would say that this is a stalker thriller. The writing is the most addictive rather than the characters. We do not get to know much of the three guys or the main character or the side characters (her best friend or her dangerous father) or even not much clue on the stalker.
Their story revolves around a girl whose father makes sure that she is kept guarded all the time by these three guys. Archer is the one who’s grumpy and the alpha in this story. Kody is the mellow one. Steele is the flirtiest one. Well, our girl is the hot-hot mess.
Damn. I am so into this one. I am going to pick up the next book right now!
Thank you, SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, for the advance reading copy.
I haven’t read a reverse harem dark romance before but this one completely made me hooked! I just wanted to try out the first book but look what it has made me do. I am binge reading the rest of the books this weekend!
The series is already complete in 2020 which I came to realise after I got this ARC from Bloom Books.
I would say that this is a stalker thriller. The writing is the most addictive rather than the characters. We do not get to know much of the three guys or the main character or the side characters (her best friend or her dangerous father) or even not much clue on the stalker.
Their story revolves around a girl whose father makes sure that she is kept guarded all the time by these three guys. Archer is the one who’s grumpy and the alpha in this story. Kody is the mellow one. Steele is the flirtiest one. Well, our girl is the hot-hot mess.
Damn. I am so into this one. I am going to pick up the next book right now!
Thank you, SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, for the advance reading copy.
April 2, 2024
"Variety is the spice of life Steele, why choose?"
Ok but... I REALLY freaking enjoyed this. The ending 🤯 I NEED MORE.
Also, I know I'm not supposed to choose but Steele 🖤🖤🖤
-suspense
-why choose (rh)
-stalker
-dark(ish)
Ok but... I REALLY freaking enjoyed this. The ending 🤯 I NEED MORE.
Also, I know I'm not supposed to choose but Steele 🖤🖤🖤
-suspense
-why choose (rh)
-stalker
-dark(ish)
August 10, 2021
thinking about how archer said he’s more domineering than christian gray
March 24, 2023
I’m not digging this one I don’t feel like finishing it. The writing is cringy and the main character is annoying.
“ they ruined my life, but oh my god so hot”
Thats the entire plot.
“ they ruined my life, but oh my god so hot”
Thats the entire plot.
July 12, 2024
The last time I read a book with the most annoying heroine ever, I thought nothing could beat her on her throne and no one could possibly be as annoying as her. But here comes Madison Kate 👏🏼
I would enjoy this better if everyone were less horny. This book is called "Hate" because the fmc, Madison Kate, is supposed to hate the heroes for betraying her. And she does hate them, she says it all the damn time. But it's always followed by how hot she thinks they are and how wet they make her 🙄 YAWN.
She's all, I'm gonna fucking ruin their lives, make their lives a living hell, fuck them, they messed with the wrong bitch, I'm gonna get revenge, but I bet they all have big dicks 🤪 I wonder if they're into foursomes? I wish they could rail me on the kitchen counter right now 🤪 oh wait I'm supposed to hate them because they quite literally ruined my life, so FUCK THEM, or... fuck me, that would work too. Wait, no, I fucking HATE them. But I'm dripping soooo wet right now 🤪
Yeah get the hell out of here with that pathetic act, Madison Kate. You're making actual badass bitches look bad 😒
I would enjoy this better if everyone were less horny. This book is called "Hate" because the fmc, Madison Kate, is supposed to hate the heroes for betraying her. And she does hate them, she says it all the damn time. But it's always followed by how hot she thinks they are and how wet they make her 🙄 YAWN.
She's all, I'm gonna fucking ruin their lives, make their lives a living hell, fuck them, they messed with the wrong bitch, I'm gonna get revenge, but I bet they all have big dicks 🤪 I wonder if they're into foursomes? I wish they could rail me on the kitchen counter right now 🤪 oh wait I'm supposed to hate them because they quite literally ruined my life, so FUCK THEM, or... fuck me, that would work too. Wait, no, I fucking HATE them. But I'm dripping soooo wet right now 🤪
Yeah get the hell out of here with that pathetic act, Madison Kate. You're making actual badass bitches look bad 😒
November 16, 2021
This was a pretty good intro to a new RH series. Some things had me rolling my eyes a bit, but it was overall entertaining.
✅ THE SETTING, CHARACTERS, backstory, and really the overall setup for this series were all really good. Sure, it was incredibly over the top and unrealistic, but I was entertained 😆
🆗 THE DYNAMIC and relationship between MK and the boys was a little confusing and weird to me. It was a bit like Stockholm Syndrome but also kind of just a big misunderstanding? We're still missing a lot of information so it's hard to tell.
❌ ESPECIALLY ARCHER, I really don't understand the appeal of him right now. I'm sure he will redeem himself in the later books, but he's been overly rude and stand-offish so far and he's got a ways to go for me
Overall, it was a really good start and I'm invested to see where the story continues. I'll definitely be reading the next book and hopefully, the boys will start explaining what really happened a year ago so they can actually move forward with the relationships!
Steam Scale: 🔥🔥🔥🔥/5
Swoon Scale: ❤️❤️/5
✅ THE SETTING, CHARACTERS, backstory, and really the overall setup for this series were all really good. Sure, it was incredibly over the top and unrealistic, but I was entertained 😆
🆗 THE DYNAMIC and relationship between MK and the boys was a little confusing and weird to me. It was a bit like Stockholm Syndrome but also kind of just a big misunderstanding? We're still missing a lot of information so it's hard to tell.
❌ ESPECIALLY ARCHER, I really don't understand the appeal of him right now. I'm sure he will redeem himself in the later books, but he's been overly rude and stand-offish so far and he's got a ways to go for me
Overall, it was a really good start and I'm invested to see where the story continues. I'll definitely be reading the next book and hopefully, the boys will start explaining what really happened a year ago so they can actually move forward with the relationships!
Steam Scale: 🔥🔥🔥🔥/5
Swoon Scale: ❤️❤️/5
April 9, 2022
This was so dumb. The amount of times one of these frat bros said ‘yOu HaVe No IdEa WhAt I’m CaPaBlE oF’ without ever showing us what they’re capable of…
With names like: 1. Steele (with his very masculine and very straight barbell tongue piercing), 2. Kodiak (go off, protein pancakes), and 3. Archer nicknamed Arch (ARCH? Lmao? Okay doorway), you’re really swimming against the current here. Not to mention the fact that they’re all three social media influencers who moonlight as trained sharpshooters. You can’t put that in front of me and expect me to not make fun of it.
Even with unconscious bodies at their feet and blood on their hands… there was nothing threatening about them.
—
There is zero depth or nuance to these characters; the book is just a disjointed string of stupid events designed to make Madison Kate look like The Cool Girl— all telling, not showing.
MK is insufferable, but she’s also a fighter and I liked that she was tough and didn’t wallow in emotions or circumstances. I prefer her over a damsel in distress heroine. But still, this was just way too stupid for me. It reminded me of Paper Princess— which I hated. If you liked that series, you’ll definitely like this one.
With names like: 1. Steele (with his very masculine and very straight barbell tongue piercing), 2. Kodiak (go off, protein pancakes), and 3. Archer nicknamed Arch (ARCH? Lmao? Okay doorway), you’re really swimming against the current here. Not to mention the fact that they’re all three social media influencers who moonlight as trained sharpshooters. You can’t put that in front of me and expect me to not make fun of it.
Even with unconscious bodies at their feet and blood on their hands… there was nothing threatening about them.
—
There is zero depth or nuance to these characters; the book is just a disjointed string of stupid events designed to make Madison Kate look like The Cool Girl— all telling, not showing.
MK is insufferable, but she’s also a fighter and I liked that she was tough and didn’t wallow in emotions or circumstances. I prefer her over a damsel in distress heroine. But still, this was just way too stupid for me. It reminded me of Paper Princess— which I hated. If you liked that series, you’ll definitely like this one.
Shelved as 'did-not-finish'
June 22, 2024Unsure if this is a DNF for now or forever
December 28, 2021
4.5 RTC
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