Hajarine Doe

A déjà vu impression but still enjoyable (spoilers)

It is always hard to write a review when a book is not finished, but I felt like I had to. I follow the author since her Beyond the Walls Era that I greatly enjoyed, and tried to read her other books. Truth is, I never finished them. However, I had great expectations for this novel.

Beginnings are always good with this author. The stakes and obstacles of the love story are always well defined and clear. But this is why I discern a pattern. The original environment of the MC is always toxic, or evil, and provokes the MC into hating werewolves/mate or at least being wary of them. With time, the MC understands how wrong she was, and accept her fate with her mate. There are always tweaks to the plot but this is mainly it. Of course, I don't know what happen afterwards : this is usually where I leave the story.

The reason why I was so excited about this book, is because Valencia was born in a very toxic environment, abused and hurt by her father. Imagine how good her character could be.

Now, I expected a person who lived under a tyrant to be a little more cruel and disturbed. Anya was more realistic than Valencia (in the first chapters) with her inability to bond with her mother and her mate, with her desire to go back to her woods and sisters. I loved her loyalty to Savior (even if he deserves to burn in hell) because this was real. People who were kidnapped had Stockholm Syndrome for a long, long time. Some never recovered. Kidnapping mess one's head, especially if there is abuse. It's the only way for the brain to cope.

In this book, the denial that should come with Valencia does not even exist. I expected her to become feral when her pack was invaded, and even more when the winners kept the territory for themselves. Worse, she even let complete strangers enter in her home without a protest. Abused people are usually very territorial with strangers and this is really strange to see a girl who only knew violence all her life to just sit and listen when her punishments are displayed for all to hear. She should have entered in denial and possibly turn against the people who pitied her. The only evidence of denial is when she tries to find her father. Of course being the monster he is, he shot her. It seemed like Valencia finally understood that her father never considered her as a daughter, and her loyalty to him disappeared into dust.

Now, it is possible to react in such a way, if the abuse was not really "bad". But this where it ticks for me : Valencia is depicted as someone who really suffered and endured terrible agressivity at barely 3 years old. No one can have a normal cognitive development under such circumstances. That's why it is really hard for me to bond to her, or to care about her reactions. When this is what you knew all your life, you do not stop being "loyal" as quickly as she did. You are not reasonable, you are not able to accept people telling you your all life was crap. Being abused is not just being cold to children or people who want to befriend you. It is not just being silent, quick-witted and endurant. This is also the nightmares, the denial to accept your life was broken from the beginning, the inability to let go of the only person you craved loved from.

I apologize if this hurt the author in any way as it is not my intention. I am simply judging the plot for what it could be and what it is not. This is also just my opinion, and I am bothered by those details because of what I know on the matter. But this does not reduce the worth of the novel and I still recommend checking it out!

We need to make this story illegal bc I am so addicted that it's ruining my life

This review is going to be short.
It's an amazing story, full of love, of hate, of consequences, of mistakes, of prejudices and beliefs. No matter who you are rooting for (Ollie is bae 💕), you will be invested in the two relationships. Maeve is a strong and realistic character, she is so true to her feelings and her thoughts that you can't help but cry everytime she is in an unfair situation. This book is also an opportunity to reflect on ourselves and our opinion about the world, about the future and what we believe is right.
The reason why I am not giving 5 stars on the plot is because the story is not over at the time I am writing this review. By the way, I don't think it will bother a lot of people but as a French student who was taught the order of events in a book at school (🙄 si vous avez été attentif en français au collège vous savez de quoi je parle je pense), the plot can be a little bit slow or distructured sometimes. However the writer is learning and I would have loved it if my first story was as good as hers.
Concerning the grammar my opinion does not really matter because I am not an English native speaker 🤷🏻‍♀️.
This book is the best thing that happened to me in 2019 (well that's a lie but it could be honestly!!). So read it already!

(Did I say it was going to be short?)

I never liked grey so much

Probably one of the best book I have ever read on Wattpad/Inkitt. At the beginning of the story, I was expecting the same cliché plot that I used to see in other dark romance. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw it wasn't like this AT ALL.

Eddie is not like the usual female leads who dream to meet Prince Charming and have a handful of kids, she is just a young girl trying to make her way in this world. Her personality is realistic and her reactions understandable. While she sometimes annoyed me, she was in fact just being human.

The writing style of the author is brilliant, even tho sometimes the long thoughts and monologues of the characters can seem unnecessary. I believe it helps us understand the struggles of the main character.

While I like The Frailty of Grey better, I have to say that without this book it wouldn't have the same emotional impact on me.

I highly recommand to everyone who loved this book to read the other novels from Gabrielle!