AnHeC (I'm too fucking busy and vice versa)

MC is finally a bit worried about his guy and confronts her friend (said friend gave him her phone number; I mean she just said it and he didn't write it down, but details, details...). MC is worried she's going to end up murdered in a ditch. A valid concern, I should say. What does her slutty friend say? (yes, slut shaming has already began)

"That's never going to happen to someone who's takes as many self-defence classes as you".  Do I need to remind you the guy is a fucking boxing champion?!

Back to the land of stupid quotes:

"No, I'm not against having sex at all, but relationships are complicated, and I don't  have the emotional equipment right now to deal with any of it. I'm still a little broken from my all and trying to..." Yes. I need to get a new emotional equipment too.

Oh, and she was an athlete. A runner at that. Have you ever seen them? All those muscles? I wonder how the author is going to get around it. Will she make her a perfect picture of femininity with huge boobs? Probably.

The "friendship" is bizarre. MC thinks of her bestie as a slut. Said bestie says to her "You made Twitter, you whore. That was supposed to be me." How charming. Yes, call your friend a whore, because she got sexually assaulted. 

Said "fiend" also knows all her passwords and feels free to just grab her phone to see if psycho has contacted her.

"But I was sure he had areal big craving for Hooky with Brookey last night." WTF?! Kill it with fire! Hearing her voice in my head makes my head hurt.

Psycho has 2.3 million twitter followers ... A very underground illegal fighter indeed. Generally I don't think the author understands the concept of illegal fighting and what goes with it. It's not advertised all over internet with an option of buying tickets online.

Also how did this fucking woman find her to deliver those tickets to her (a gift from Riptide)? She went for a run with a friend + a guy has no idea where she lives. Yes, let's keep the stupidity rolling.

 5% or something...

"God, I can't even breathe right, and I'm as coiled up as a cobra in a corner of the back seat of a taxi, staring  blindly out the window at the passing city lights, desperate to vent from the sensations spinning inside my body" Let's take a moment to appreciate sheer absurdity of this sentence.

I can't post updates. Don't even know how I'll review this book. Normally I'd choose the worst quotes and events, but in this case it's impossible. I'd have to quote the whole fucking thing. LITERALLY (and I mean literally-literally).

She knows he got banned from official sport (for brutality and shit) and is a bit worried about her unnatural reaction to the guy. What does her friend say?

"Okay, seriously, you need to get out more. Remingron Tate may have a bad rap, but he's sexier than sin, Brooke. Yes, he was banned for poor conduct because he's naughty, wicked boy. Look, who knows what shit went on in his personal life? All I know is it was god-awful and made a couple of headlines, and now nobody even cares. He's the favorite in the Underground League, and all kinds of fight clubs adore him. They're packed with girls when he's on."

Also, I have no idea in what world is getting cornered by an aggressive stranger, grabbed by the neck and kissed against your will "like porn with the romance".

Example of awkward: "She grabs my face and swings my gaze in the direction of the ring, but I start laughing instead"

EDIT (because I just can't ignore it...): Just after thinking about how she's different from her friend, that she doesn't chase guys, doesn't date and doesn't want to date:

"He has black hair, standing up sexily as if women have just had their fingers there. Cheekbones as strong as his jaw and forehead. Lips that are red-kissed and swollen, and as a souvenir from his walk to the ring there's lipstick on his jaw. I look down his long, lean body and something hot and wild settles in my core".

There are so many things wrong with this one little paragraph... Eh. Do I need to discuss it? Nah. You can deal with it on your own.

"Hammer throws the first punch. Remington evades it with a smart duck, and he comes back up with a full swing that connects and knocks Hammer’s face to the side. I inwardly flinch at the power in his punch; my body clenches at the sight of his muscles contracting and tensing, working and releasing, with each punch he delivers."

"As the fight progresses, my nipples strain, even more puckered and tighter, against my top, pushing anxiously against the silk of the fabric. Somehow watching Remington Tate pound a man (now that's ambiguous) they call “Hammer” makes me squirm in my skirt in a way I don’t like, much less ever expected." ( I won't underline everything that's wrong, since that would be... Everything.)

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR GRAMMAR?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH REPETITIONS, AWKWARD STRUCTURES, ILLOGICAL REACTIONS...

first update

Sorry, if I can make a bad pun using a title, I do.

Remington 'Riptide' Tate ... Really? Really?! That's the best you've got.

It didn't take too long. This book is insistent on not making sense from page two (or one, but lets not be too harsh).

What is a good place for romantic sparks to fly? A boxing match! You may think it's not, but wait! It's an underground, illegal, dangerous boxing match. Now that makes it all better. Why is our MC there? A friend talked her into it. Why? because said friend thinks one of the fighters is cute. Why didn't MC refuse to go despite not having a stomach for violence? "... she begged me to come with her and watch him. It's just hard to say no to Melanie. She's effusive and insistent, and now she's jumping in glee".

Can I give up already? A messed up punctuation (if I see it, it's really bad) + what's up with this sentence structure (?!) + utter stupidity.

I had to refer to a dictionary to see if "effusive" means what I think it means. You see, this sentence doesn't make sense. Melanie is effusive and insistent. So what? That doesn't mean you have to do what she tells you. That's not a coherent explanation. It's like: two monks cross a river; one says to the other 'I'm hungry' and the man responds 'oh yeah, but I'm quite tall'.

The announcer introduces our lovely Remington and the crowd goes wild. Which would be fine. Except "...especially the women, and their eager shouts tumble one atop the other". Lets forget this awfully awkward sentence structure for a moment (I know it's hard, but try harder). How many women attend illegal boxing matches? As far as I know girls don't really love mindless violence. Not as much as man do. I'd assume there'd be virtually none.

What do they shout?

"Remy! I love you, Remy!" That's very appropriate. *sarcasm* It's not a Justin Bieber concert. Just stop it.

"I'll suck your cock for you, Remy!" He must be using axe! How else could he get such insane reactions?

"REMY, POUND ME, REMY!" That's a very dangerous thing to shout at a boxing match. He may take you literally.

"Remington I want your Riptide" Last time I checked boxers didn't get their nicknames for sexual prowess. But who cares! Definitly not that kitten in heat.

Word count: about 160 000

Ha ha! I'm done bitches!

No, really, now I've read 2 prequels + 6 books and am ready to give you my honest opinion. Starting with the fact, that it's the first cover in the whole series I didn't like.

Did the series wow me? No, it's not 100% my cup of tea.

Did I have fun? Oh, boy.

Scattered thoughts assemble! (?!!) Or not... Suit yourself.

First I'll say a few words about this book, then about a series as a whole.

- there was lots of action

- Sullivan can write a really good sword-fight (and by good I mean exciting and put into more than two sentences, not the realism of it, let's not go there).

- Plot twists. Quite a few. (Yes, admittedly some things were predictable, some weren't, but come on! It's a fantasy! How original can you get? And more importantly do we care? No! Why?)

- because execution was excellent. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

- everything nicely comes together at the end.

- the plot twists that come unexpected, which there are many of, are truly delicious. I was surprised quite a few times. And in a best way.

- characters we love don't get 'broken' along the way - we still love them in the end. You know what I mean; sometimes you're introduced to a kick-ass character that somewhere along the way looses their collective shit for no good reason.

- it's not all sunshine and rainbows

- there's some love (which is nice since that's just a part of life), but at no point does it overshadow the story. It's a by-product of events, not a main focus. And it doesn't randomly take over people's lives either.

- Common sense of characters, bitches! That's really nice. Yes, Hadrian is meant to be an idealist, but that shows more through his beliefs than being TSTL. People do what has to be done and deal with reality.
- I can't express how much I love the fact that people kill and people die. Sounds silly? It shouldn't. If you've read, let's say, Harry Potter, you know that the good guys can't really go in for a kill. Not in this book. Here fights are for real, and people die. Sometimes you have to do it. No, knocking them unconscious won't do.

- which brings me to the next point - nobody's safe. People die. Sometime good people die. Sometimes for stupid reasons. That's life. Deal with it.

Oh, and by the way, I'm not getting over the awesome friendship between two MCs any time soon. I want to have someone like that in my life! Hadrian and Royce worked out really well together. Each is distinct, with a wonderful personality. Their outlooks on life and other things differ, which makes them more realistic. There are no two people that completely agree on everything.

Moreover their roles and skills complement each other. Sometimes you end up with one character so amazing, that it overshadows everyone else. Well, not this time. Both Royce and Hadrian hold their own.

I also think that they work very well as a pair. Their friendship makes sense to me.

Additionally there are many side characters that change and grow. Some of them are only a small part of the books but are a thrill to read about. We encounter a really amazing and varied cast.

I still maintain that the first tome was a bit sloppy. Myron (a monk) does play a part in next instalments, but there was no reason for him to be left alive in the beginning. Even at the end of the last book I still couldn't stop thinking about it. Why

Yes, there were some excuses given, but for me they didn't make sense.

It's a PG 13 read. And I'm not saying that as a criticism. You don't need gore and sex to make books interesting and exciting. I'm just giving you all heads up - this would be is a good gift for your niece or nephew. 

The ending of the series was everything you may want (that is if you like happy-ends). Lot of plots and information come together to form a one, pretty exciting picture.

*** Even though I usually read books in order of publication in this case I'd recommend starting with prequels. They're great. ***

I'd gladly read more books by Michael Sullivan. Those two lucky ARCs made my life a little happier and introduced me to a fun series.

Excitement overload. That's called starting a book by saying 'the cake is a lie' and laughing madly in your face.

So much stuff. So many feels. First 20? 30? Pages were like.

Every single time I turned the page I'd go "OMG, OMG, OMG!" over and over again. 

I thought I was ready, but then:

Can't. Stop. Reading.

Word count: about 90 000

(The Riyria Revelations, #5)

I really should write this review, since I've already started the next one and will soon forget, like, everything.

This is the fifth book in the Ryria Revelations series, which has 6 parts. Which meant the tension would grow and things would get fucked up set up for a grand finale. Yes, I'm an emotional reader. After 7 books characters kind of grew on me, so I felt for them (5 + two prequels, 'cause hey, NetGalley)

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57%

"They all see your conquest, my darling, and hate you. How wonderful."

+

HADRIAN!!! Gaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! *fangirling hard*

Enough said. I'm thrilled, and freaked out, and OMG! Chivalry! That's kind of corny but kind of cute. Yes, sir Breckon may not be one of the main characters, but it's nice to see him.

21%

Word count: about 110 000

Why 3,5 stars? Well... I'll try to explain it the best I can. But generally:

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83%

Yey! Today I spent about 4 hours on various buses and trains, so I had some time to read. Finally. I really needed that. Lately my life is just insanely busy while at the same time being ridiculously boring... In short - my university will destroy me as a human being. With extreme boredom (or even bore-doom).

But nvm. all my drama. Let's focus on this book! And the action that decided to go bananas in the best way. There are two plotlines and both are equally exciting. Which is something amazing. I love the characters and how well I got to know them. But the most important thing is, I'm still not entirely sure how the whole story will play out. Where is it going? I'm not clear on that! Yessss! A book that isn't totally obvious. Finally. To finish it or to sleep? Is that even a question? I think not.

You've got to be shitting me...

Not so long ago our government decided that books should be taxed (they were pretty much tax-free, which was supposed to keep the prices down and encourage people to read). Aaaaand it's gone. Let's slam a new, pretty  tax on top of the price! BAM!

But are we done yet? Noooo. There's so much more to fuck up! I know what we can do - let's pass a law that forces all book-stores to sell publications at the price set by a publisher for a period of time lasting up to 1,5 year. No discounts, no promotions, no nothing. Perfect!

They're actually talking about passing that law! They say:

"The goal is to raise readership levels throughout the country by making books available everywhere and presenting a more varied offer"

and

"This law will raise the number of bookstores, currently small local shops are loosing a  fight to big companies (...) Competing won't any longer be about prices"

Just fuck you all. Really? Really. People go to big chains because they're big. Even with equal prices, convenience and habit would prevail. All that new law will accomplish is a decrease in sales. 

I'm sorry, but I don't see how that is supposed to encourage anyone to read. It may be more fair to  bookstores, but not to the readers. Prices are already very high. Stop it. It's already cheaper for me to buy a paperback from amazon and freaking have it shipped (to a different continent. Over an Ocean.) than to go to a local store.

This video is related to a certain question - why do I like fantasy genre so much?

The answer is simple - even my rudimentary knowledge of history is enough to see how wrong most books are.

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