Review: I've Never Read A More Depressing Book
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 19, 2014
Genre: (Wannabe) RomanticaAudience: 18+ YA (graphic language, sex, violence & domestic violence)HEA/Stand Alone: Yes & YesCliff Hanger/Series: No Cliff Hanger but part of an expected SeriesPricing: More than fair at the .99 paidEditing: 4 out of 5Hero rating: 5 starsHeroine rating: 3 starsStoryline rating: 3 starsOriginality: 3 stars******************************Overall rating: 3.5 starsWould I recommend this book: NoWould I re-read this book: NoAuthor's debut novel.I see a lot of high reviews on Amazon for this title and wonder if we all read the same book. As with everything though, to each their own. However, I think the author would have done better if she would have targeted the right audience by adding 'Young Adult' in her description as it's extremely hard for a mature adult to wrap their head around the sheer stupidity of actions by the characters.Sad. Sad. Sad. Sorrowful, depressing, miserable, despondent, wretched, gloomy, mournful, heartbreaking (Shall I go on?)- It took clear up to the 9th chapter (almost halfway through the book) before a glimmer of hope was to be read. But alas, it was only to be short lived. I'm not into reading to make myself depressed, and as talented as Ms. Raven is to bring these emotions out (Just imagine if she were using her talent for good!), I'm afraid if the other books coming out later for this upcoming series are anything like this one, I'll might have to pass on reading them. This wasn't the romance I thought I was getting, it was torture to the soul.Erotica. The book would need a lot more sex to actually qualify as full scale erotica in my opinion. Granted, and realistically speaking, most young adult 'characters' would not know how to verbalize or be descriptive of their sexual acts, but the author should know, and should write it if she wants to classify herself as an Erotica Author. It's all in the detail and frequency, and there wasn't much of either, especially compared to well known erotica authors. But again, it is Ms. Raven's first book and I do try to keep that in mind.Eventually towards the middle of the book the story starts to get somewhere, other than drama for drama's sake, and I will say that in the end when all was said and done- I was rooting for Ash. His character grew on me.Unfortunately, though I'm not a masochist (okay, maybe just a wee bit) or a glutton for punishment, odds are- I'll probably buy and read the rest of the series (so long as they're reasonably priced) when they're available simply because I never like to leave anything unfinished, including a book series whose initial book was less than satisfying. But who knows? Maybe things will get better. This was Ms. Raven's first novel as I keep pointing out and she does have talent. Let's just wait and see what she does with it.Review Edited for Amazon