Lauren's Boookshelf

Friday, December 8, 2023

Series Review: "Pacific Prep" by R.A. Smyth

Series: Pacific Prep

Author: R.A. Smyth

Genre: RH/Why Choose? Romance / Organized Crime

Reading Order & Individual Ratings:

Broken Trust - 4 // 5 stars
Brutal Lies - 4.25 // 5 stars
Beyond Vengeance - 4.25 // 5 stars
Break Free - 4 // 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4 // 5 stars

Goodreads

If you've been around this blog for any amount of time then you'll know that I'm a huge fan of why choose romance series. I've been reading the genre since it was just a tiny lil corner of the book community and it's been wonderful to see it blossom into such a big genre. That being said, I've read a lot of them over the years which means I've become rather particular about the why choose books I read.

This series is addicting as hell. I went into it because people said you'd like it if you love Hannaford Prep series by J. Bree, which I absolutely am obsessed with. I read the entire series in four days and couldn't put them down. But my overall thoughts for this series are the following: enjoyable and addicting but nothing special or remarkable.

This series starts out as your classic bully romance. We're set at a boarding school with the characters in their final year. The new girl is one of the scholarship students whereas most of the school is for rich kids. However, we quickly get the feeling that there's something a bit darker going on with all the characters than just school politics.

I was having a lot of fun in the beginning. The tension between the characters was so good and the pacing was great. The secrecy regarding their histories and motivations was thrilling and I kept reading because I just wanted to know more about the characters and how it was going to impact the plot.

As the romances progressed, though, the characters started falling into a classic trap I've noticed in why choose romances where the love interests all start to meld together. What I mean by that is they stop feeling like their own characters with their own motivations and start feeling very "same-y." In some why choose series, the love interests never feel differentiated at all.

In this series, the love interests initially started as very unique characters. I loved getting to know more about them. However, as the series went on and once they started dating the main character, it just felt more like they were only there for the smut or to fill a body in a scene. It was rather disappointing as it could have been amazing. Additionally, I loved the side characters more than the love interests which indicates to me that they weren't very memorable by the end.

My other main gripe with the series is that it felt like it wrapped up way too easily. We're told for three books how dangerous the antagonists are, how difficult getting out of this situation would be, etc. However, the solutions for all of these obstacles felt too simple. To me, the solutions just negated the tension of the entire series.

Overall though, I enjoyed the story and it was rather addicting. I am also incredibly interested in one of the spin-off series that follows my favorite side characters from this series and have high hopes for that one. Unfortunately, the small issues I had made it so that this series wasn't worth five stars to me.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Monday, December 4, 2023

November 2023 Book Haul

Another month of 2023 gone, another book haul to dive into! This was a rather small book haul month but I'm excited about everything I got. I got four books this month with three of them being preorders. Let's go ahead and dive right on in!

The first book I got this month was the Illumicrate edition of The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard. I love everything I've ever read by Susan and even though I haven't read The Luminaries yet, I am so intrigued by the idea of these books. I was a part of the Twitter choose-your-own-adventure that it started as and it was so much fun. Getting to see the books come alive has been quite exciting. This edition is also stunning and perfectly matches my Illumicrate edition of The Luminaries.

Then I got my preorder of Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. This is the Waterstones edition and I'm thoroughly obsessed with it. These edges are some of the most stunning I've seen on a Waterstones edition and I'm so happy I was able to get it before it sold out in less than a few hours. I've also already read it and it was so good (I cried a lot).

Up next, I got Foul Heart Huntsman by Chloe Gong. This is the Fairyloot edition with special artwork, stenciled edges, and came signed. It matches the Fairyloot editions of Foul Lady Fortune and Last Violent Call and looks so good on my bookshelf. This was one of my most anticipated reads of this year and I'm so excited to dive in (hopefully soon). This edition is also just stunning and I'm thrilled to have it.

Lastly, I got the Australian paperback edition of Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. Like with Fourth Wing, I wasn't able to find this paperback until a week or so after the initial release but once I saw it available I immediately snatched it up. I've evolved over the last few years into a die-hard paperback girlie. More specifically, a floppy paperback girlie (with bonus points if it's a tall or oversized height). Australian paperbacks are pretty much perfect for that. Additionally, the Australian cover is the same as the American cover but not the UK one. Now that I have this paperback, I now have a version of that cover. The paperbacks are specifically for me to annotate and scribble all in without worrying about keeping a special edition perfect.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Saturday, December 2, 2023

November 2023 Wrap-Up

November was an interesting month. Firstly, I can't believe we're already heading into the last month of the year. Secondly, I had such a long month but the reading this month was stellar. Even if I didn't love every book, I still enjoyed everything I read. Here's to hoping that December is as good of a reading month as November was!