Black Knight

"May 2024"

"Ya know, I always say how much I don’t like reading about addicts/alcoholics...<br/><br/>I don't like them in real life, in TV shows, and certainly don't want one as a main character in the romance books I read.<br/><br/>See, the way I see it, the hero in the book is supposed to love the heroine, and ONLY the heroine. If he is an addict/alcoholic...(especially after being with her, such as the case with Xander in this book,) <br/><br/>then I don't buy the love story. <br/><br/>Alcoholics LOVE the alcohol.<br/><br/>Addicts LOVE their drug.<br/><br/>So, keeping the hero an alcoholic, especially AFTER meeting/being with the heroine, turns me off big time.<br/><br/>Another thing about this story is that I feel it ended earlier. As in, the tension kinda dissolved in the middle of the story.<br/><br/>Especially when the mother came back, I wasn't sure or interested in where Rina was going to take the story anymore, and especially after Xander's torture over his attraction to Kim ended so quickly, and also knowing that Xander was still struggling with alcoholism. <br/><br/>Ew. I hate alcoholics so much.<br/><br/>Also, what is up with this "horrible mother" trend in these books?<br/><br/>Rina Kent, do we need to talk? Call me, babe.<br/><br/>This is my 5th book in the series, and all 5 books featured either a mentally ill mother figure, or a mother figure who absolutely cannot stand her child/children and want to end them lmao.<br/><br/>Strange trend in these books...<br/><br/>Not sure I like it if it keeps appearing.<br/><br/>Sure, maybe it was interesting the 1st time, and even intriguing the 2nd time.<br/><br/>But by the 3rd, 4th and 5tth time, I'm kinda tired and rolling my eyes at this trope lol.<br/><br/>And this book was a double whammy, giving us two ladies who went to the "let's be cartoonnishly bad mothers" school...<br/><br/>Also the chemistry between Xan and Kim started dwindling in quality, cause like I said, the tension wasn't there anymore.<br/><br/>Oh, and one thing I absolutely wanted to read more of is about how Xander dealt with his attraction with his REDACTED for 7 years before he found out the truth.<br/><br/>I wanted to see all his misery and angst about how he was dealing with being attracted to her even though he knew it was wrong.<br/><br/>It's like Rina forgot she could have written these interesting parts of the story and not leave them out.<br/><br/>Like, i don't care that you can have sex with Kim now that you know she's not REDACTED. <br/><br/>What I care about is reading about how much you WANT to have sex with her, knowing it's forbidden. <br/><br/>But Rina cut those scenes out, I guess.<br/><br/>So now I can't read about a sexually frustrated Xander who wants to sleep with his REDACTED.<br/><br/>Lame."

"ngl had a lot of sexual assault and manipulation, (mostly with Aidan.)"

"Friends to enemies to more? No spoilers but there are some surprises and steam coming from this book!"