I gave it 3.5 stars

It had been a while since I read book one, ROAR, so it took me a little bit to get back into the story.

What I liked....
- Still love the characters.
- Aurora's real identity comes out into the open.
- Some great action moments.
- Great ending.

What could have been better....
- It was a bit slow at times
- I didn't always love the switch in POV's.
- There wasn't a ton of surprises when it came to the plot. Kinda easy to figure out where things were going.

My likes outweighed my dislikes and RAGE was an enjoyable read. REIGN is on my wishlist.

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

I was really looking forward to reading Rage, but I almost gave up on it a few times. Skimming ahead piqued my curiosity, but just barely. I think my biggest issue was that nothing really happened. The story progresses, but there was a lot more adventure and excitement in the first book. Roar had been willing to go outside of her comfort zone and risk her life for knowledge and answers. In this book, Roar felt more timid and unsure of herself, and her self-deprecation really got on my nerves.

"Aurora was no general in an army, nor was she a leader of a rebellion. She was a princess--a naïve and defective one at that. How had she ever thought she could make a difference? Could do any of this?"

Roar does this a lot. She'll pretend to be assertive and tough to get what she wants, but then she worries about every decision she makes, constantly second-guessing herself and what kind of person she is. She was also stupid and unbelievably selfish, which really made me want to stop reading. Do you remember her secret from the first book? The one she kept promising to share with the others? It takes over 100 pages before she actually confesses the truth to her friends. Why? Because she didn't think they would help her if they knew the truth, and she wanted them committed to the task so they couldn't back out once she told them.

"Goddess, she was selfish. If she had any honor, she would tell them right here, right now and let them leave before they got involved any further. But the greedy part of her was not going to make it any easier for Kiran to leave her."

That's not love! She was using Kiran and her found family, her friends, for what they could offer her. She wanted their skills and abilities on her side so she wouldn't feel alone. She didn't even give them a chance to make up their minds for themselves. She should have trusted them enough to tell them the truth instead of blindly leading them into danger. Yes, she admitted to being selfish, and to wanting to keep Kiran close, but it was shady and manipulative. I thought she was trying to be better than the other Stormlings? She used people to her advantage, and then wanted them to feel sorry for her when she inevitably felt guilty and wanted to cry. Honestly, I think her tears were just another form of manipulation.

Some of the story felt repetitive, but it could also be my review copy, so it doesn't count towards my rating. It was mostly when Kiran couldn't decide how he felt about Roar after she tells him her secret. He was torn and conflicted, which is understandable, but he repeats his thoughts often. His reasons for keeping his distance also didn't feel believable to me, so it was hard to forgive his actions. If I were him, I would've been more upset about her lying and withholding information, not the secret itself. He also kept making decisions for Roar, instead of just asking her what she thought. If he'd just asked her what she wanted and why, they would have avoided a lot of hurt feelings and sleepless nights.

There's a sentence in this book that really bothered me: "Aurora's cheeks flushed, recalling just how adult he had made her feel the night before." Having sex shouldn't be what made her finally feel like an adult. She's a princess that abandoned her people for mostly selfish reasons. Yes, she was trying to escape an evil family and a marriage she didn't want, but she also wanted to find answers for herself. She traveled through dangerous lands with strangers, and accumulated the information and skills she would need to better help others. She survived countless obstacles with her new crew, yet sex is what finally made her feel like a grown up, ugh.

Additionally, Roar thinks Cassian is obsessed with her. How conceited of you, darling. She often talks about his obsession, and why her poor choices wouldn't spell disaster for everyone, because he wanted her so much. She risked countless lives because of a hunch that was based on nothing. Yes, Cassius did look for her when she left, because he thought she'd been kidnapped, and he's not a completely despicable person. He is trying to keep the people safe in his own way, and he's by no means a nice person, but he's not deplorable. He's the product of brutality, fear, and a lack of love. He felt a connection to Roar, sure, but I never felt like he was obsessed with her. He had his own reasons for wanting the marriage, and it wasn't simply because he was dying to have her by his side. He was weird about some things, but I think that said more about him than her.

I really wanted to know more about the secondary characters, too. Zephyr, Sly, Jinx, Ransom, Duke, Bait, Novaya, and even Cassius. I feel like they have the potential to be complex and independent characters, but they move through the story like a blob. No one really sticks out, and I don't feel like we learn anything new about them during this book (with the exception of Nova). Also, the flashbacks or whatever were weird, even though I understood their purpose. I wish they had shed more light on a certain someone, but really they just pulled me away from the rest of the story.

A lot of aspects about this book really rubbed me the wrong way, and I'm not sure if I'll continue the series. It doesn't feel like anything really happened in this book, and Roar was just incredibly frustrating. If she wasn't pushing thoughts aside to dwell on later, she was wallowing in self-pity and whatever else. I'm also not a fan of how this one ended, although I shouldn't be surprised after the cliffhanger we're left with at the end of the first book.

Originally posted at Do You Dog-ear? on August 11, 2019. ( )