Saturday, December 28, 2013

Review: Exquisite Betrayal by A.M. Hargrove

A male Romance Author… a convention in Vegas… a female book blogger… a goal to lose her virginity… what next? Find out when you mix all the above! Fallon McKinley is headed to Vegas for the Wicked Wenches Romance Con and losing her virginity is only one of her goals. The other is to meet her favorite author of romance novels, R.T. Sinclair. What she doesn’t realize is that the sexy green-eyed god she rams into at the airport is the real R.T. When they keep running into each other, she’s shocked, but excited, because the attraction is irresistible. Ryland Thomas Sinclair doesn’t want anyone to know his true identity. He’s the author that all women love, but everyone thinks he’s a female. He hides his persona behind the public face of his twin sister, keeping his own a secret. But after meeting the lovely Fallon, his intentions to avoid a relationship come to a screeching halt. She’s put an unwanted kink into his perfectly laid out plans. His unusual reaction surprises him because after a heart-shredding breakup a few years ago, he’s managed to avoid women at all costs. Resisting Fallon becomes more difficult than he imagines. Soon things are spiraling out of control, until a major miscommunication has Fallon walking out of his home and his life. Will Ryland Thomas succeed in losing the woman he loves? Or can he win her back?
The best thing about this book is that I learned a new word: "stupidassery".  And if it means what I think it means, then this book was just full of it!  The other good thing about this book is that it's over.  Other than that, there's not much more good I can say about it.

I'm still new to this book review/book blogger thing, so I feel really bad about giving poor reviews, especially when the book is by an author who has probably poured their heart and soul into writing it, and even more especially when I've been given the book for free to review for a blog tour.  That being said, I do feel obligated to give my honest opinion wherever possible, and hopefully those involved, be it authors, fans, publicists or publishers, will realize that this is all my review is, one person's honest opinion.

Everything about this book was either over-the-top ridiculous or over-the-top cheesy.  These descriptions may sound like the same thing, but they are not.  I'll give you some examples:

  • Fallon slams into Ryland Thomas at the airport in Vegas and falls to her hands and knees with her ass stuck up in the air.  When she recovers and stands up, she finds that her boob is hanging out of her top - RIDICULOUS!
  • Ryland Thomas gets tattoos with Fallon's name written into them, when they're NOT EVEN TOGETHER!!! - CHEESY!
  • One of Fallon's blogger friends picks her up at the airport wearing a HOT DOG COSTUME - RIDICULOUS!
  • Ryland Thomas is always saying things like, "Every time I kiss you, Fallon, I feel like I'm handing you a piece of my heart." - CHEESY!  
  • Fallon's mom is sooooo jealous, spiteful, and mean that it's RIDICULOUS!
You get it, right?  So that covers the writing and characters to some degree, but what about the plot?  Well, it goes a little something like this:

  • Girl and boy meet by slamming into each other.  There is immediate insta-lust between the two.
  • Girl and boy have sex.  There is a misunderstanding and feelings are hurt.  
  • Girl and boy make up and have sex.
  • There is a misunderstanding, feelings are hurt, and they break up.
  • Girl and boy make up and have sex.
  • Repeat ad nauseum.
I'm serious, I had to take a break and read some other books because the whole thing was getting so tedious.  I'm not sure why, but, like a good little book blogger, I did go back and finish the book off.  Things did not get better, and instead dragged on until the predictable conclusion.  

If you think you would enjoy a story like this, then by all means, be my guest and read away.  However, I think I'm going to step away from blog tours for a while, and only read what I really want to read.


My rating: 


  

3 comments:

  1. *Sigh* I hear you. I too have been given stuff for review that's been absolutely horrible, and I feel bad to to give it a negative review. I usually try to just point out the one or two things I did like and just leave it at that.
    Here's to that never happening again!
    Esty @ Boarding with Books

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  2. As a blogger myself I really feel this is wrong for you to post as part of a blog tour. We are suppose to be promoting the author and not bashing them. I understand we are to give an honest opinion. Do that, but don't post on their tour. Post it to GR and even Amazon. BUT back out of tour or do a promo post instead. I feel like you are attacking this author and her writing. I get that we all like and dislike books. I understand because I don't like every book I read, but never do I write a review like this. I always try and let people know why I like and dislike the book then I encourage them to read it. Just because you didn't like doesn't mean your readers won't.

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    1. Actually, I posted two promo posts for this book, then waited until after the tour to post this review. Maybe this was the wrong way to do it (like I said, I'm new to this whole thing), but I like to review ALL the books I read on my blog. After all, it's my blog! That said, I won't be participating in any more blog tours, once I've finished the ones I'm already committed to.

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