"Worse Than Enemies" by J. L. Beck
Stars: 3,0/5
Pages: 352
Genre/Tropes: High School/Dark/Abuse/Romance/Young Adult/Sports/Mystery
Accounts of J. L. Beck and Candi Kane in Instagram:
Blurb:
The first time we met, it was an accident.
The second was the night my mother told me she was marrying his father.
I didn’t know his name then, but I do now.
Hayes Ambrose.
Captain of the swim team.
Popular, gorgeous, the guy every girl wants, with a smile that's hiding a million secrets.
In the beginning I was certain we would become fast friends, until the day I heard a conversation that I was never supposed to hear.
Overnight he became my worst nightmare, my bully.
He’ll do anything to keep me quiet, and I’ll do anything to discover the truth.
Until the truth is revealed and I realize it’s far more terrifying than I ever expected.
This is a full length stand-alone dark romance novel, containing scenes that are not suitable for all readers.
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Review (there’re no spoilers so you can freely read my opinion)
I received ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
So... I'm having some trouble writing this review. You know, I actually didn't dislike the book and enjoyed reading it, but couldn't stand the heroine most part of it. For me she was boneless. And yes, I understood her motives and her way of thinking but I needed some more fight on her side. She was described as a saint without naming it and this is boring as hell.
Before sharing my opinion, please, note that there won't be any spoilers about the story but I will try to give you my right share of feels after finishing it. I feel a bit confused or more so, indecisive about which side of the scales it goes. It's currently very difficult to be hard on the author or the book, because in its full I liked the plot and the characters. What I missed was a dual POV, because we only could sneak inside Morgan's thoughts but not Haye's. I would have loved reading about his point of view, because I think it could given more credibility and emotion to the story.
The book is good enough to enjoy few hours of our free time and get lost between the pages. The plot was built up well and all the characters had their fair share in the story. We saw appearances enough times of their friends as also of Morgan and Hayes without getting to the point of boring or losing ourselves only with the principal characters. Everything was interlinked good enough which made me enjoy the book.
I can't give it 4 stars because of Morgan. I'm very sorry, but I struggled with her and had hard time accepting her way of doing things. I like the appearance of a martyr, but please, not during the whole book. I just couldn't do it. Every time something happened she looked for an excuse to accept it and break. One could be forgiving but sometimes we can't give so easy our forgiveness. People have to earn it. Basically, her actions weren't very realistic because those kind of people don't usually do it in real life. They get sucked and evaporate. And no, I'm not being cynical or anything, but even good people who try to help to others have their limit and do not permit being bullied, insulted, made feel less than anyone.
The followed line and touched issues in the book were actually good and as I'll repeat myself well developed, following the line of the story without any ramblings aside the principal idea. What I liked a lot was that the author looked for a different perspective and the real problem had it the hero. It went to me on a way which made me read page after page. And as much as I loved all this plus the built up world with its characters, I still can't put up with Morgan's behaviour. It's simply that it's out of my mind how she did it. Seriously, our breaking point it's much before the narrated in the book and forgiving is not so easy when the damage is done. Sometimes people act on their worse behaviour hurting others because they're suffering, but this is not an excuse for what they are going through. So then, everyone in our lives will have the right to hurt and afterwards, being forgiven in the blink of an eye. That's not sensible, neither found common sense there. Forgiveness can come easy one, two even three times, but after that a man is thinking twice simply because of self-preservation if not self-respect.
It's not a bad read, really, because J. L. Beck writes in a way she captures the reader's attention, but for me it was a book that will not sit on the bookshelf nor will remember it vividly in few months.