So a little like I did with Fate and Fury and Beyond the Veil, I'm going to review these three books together from Raine Miller's Series The Blackstone Affair, starting with Naked. I came across the series as I was looking through my recommendations and saw that the first book in the series, Naked, had a 4.10 rating, pretty damn good for Goodreads since the ratings are for the most part trustworthy. I was a little apprehensive at first that it would be like Fifty Shades of Grey, with a male and female lead that drove me mad with frustration and annoyance. And, well, it kind of was. The first book, Naked, was very different form the other two books in that it mostly focused on the relationship between Ethan and Brynne, without really getting into the political intrigue surrounding Brynne's past and the horrid video of her. And speaking of the video, it truly is horrid to me that the author wrote that into the book. In my opinion, it was disgusting and it really screwed up a lot of the book for me, because if you've read some of my other posts, you know I hate when authors include rape, whether in the past or present, in their books. Miller didn't explicitly describe the rape video of Brynne, but Brynne at one point is telling Ethan that while she was drugged, the perpetrators used foreign objects on her and that made my skin crawl, not to mention disgusted that the author would have the audacity to put that to paper. When other books have rape in them, the author always glosses over it and just says something about the female lead being raped, but to actually include the foreign objects part? Really? That's going a little too far and frankly it's sick. *sigh* But I have to get past this and keep writing my review.
So in terms of technical stuff, the language of Naked was very stunted and amateurish, with sometimes short, not very complex sentences that used an elementary vocabulary. The other books were better, but they did not improve in terms of tense usage. The author jumped a lot between past and present when it came to the character's inner thoughts. All in all, Naked was a lot of sex and not much else, so I gave it 3 stars.
All In gets a bit better in terms of plot development, but the sex is still going long and strong, and I was kind of over it at one point. I don't mind sex scenes, but when they happen that often, it takes away from the depth of the book and just makes it seem like I'm reading porn, which for the first time this book made me feel this way and I didn't like it. Whenever Ethan saw Brynne, he wanted to f*** her, when she moved, he had sex with her, when she looked at him, talked to him, breathed, he wanted to have sex with her. So, ALL. THE DAMN. TIME. I disliked it immensely, because Brynne tried to talk to him seriously several times, but he would just seduce her and, of course, weak to his persuasion, she succumbed EVERY. DAMN. TIME. It's really sad to think that we live in the 21st century and women's rights have progressed so much but that not once have I read of any romance female lead being able to put her foot down and not be seduced by the male lead when he tries to solve their problems through sex. And it always works, the female lead stops complaining, which is so disappointing but expected at this point.
The relationship between Ethan and Brynne was based mostly on sex and physical appearance, and not on much else. Even in the first book, we're told that the only reason Ethan agreed to protect Brynne is because he saw her picture and it was like insta-love, which is not very convincing. I like it much more when romance develops slowly but sweetly, with that smolder growing to an ember, then a small flame, then an all-out fire. This, however, went from nothing to a raging forest fire in two seconds flat. Also, when books are written only in the female lead's perspective, I get an urge to read the male's perspective too, but with All In that urge got crushed pretty damn fast. I would have rather not known what Ethan was thinking because it was obsessive, stalkerish, controlling, and frankly scary. He needed to know where Brynne was 24/7, told her she was moving in with him, tells her to quit her job, likes having her in the kitchen, and wants her in his bed all the time. Umm, I thought this was 2012 A.D. not B.C.?
Then, in Eyes Wide Open, we get, of course, the pregnancy book. Wonderful. What was really stupid and just plainly not logical about her being pregnant is that she didn't know for a long time when she had been pregnant once before. Seriously. Wouldn't you think that since she was pregnant before she'd know the signs? The tender breasts, the sleepiness, the decreased appetite/sickness, the increased libido? No? Doesn't ring a bell? Well of course not because you're stupid. Heck, I've never been pregnant and I still know what the signs are. I don't have much to say about this book besides that Ethan was his usual controlling, act-first-think-later stalkery self, and the sex kept going, and going, and going...(Energizer Bunny?).
But obviously there is a happy ending for them. The guy that had been stalking Brynne is killed and she marries Ethan and has her happily ever after. Although, Miller decided to write a fourth book on Brynne and Ethan, and though I'm mostly apathetic about it, I wish she had finished their story in the third book, i.e. solved Ethan's demons and carried the pregnancy to term. I wouldn't have minded the 80 or so extra pages to get that done, she should have just gone for the kill rather than make a fourth book. Oh well.
I would give the series maybe like 3.5 stars in all, I don't know why since I obviously have so many problems with it, but I guess it's not as bad as some other stuff I've read. Well, I hope the next book I read is better. Till next time!
Book Love
Lena
Lena
