I agree with everything you said. How could such a good series go down so quickly. The whole book feels so wrong. The whole dynamic was just weird. The characters were like swapped out compared to the first books. Was it really the author who wrote the first two books. What went so wrong here🤔 Also the relationship between the main heroine and the main hero's best friend was so weird and wrong!(for me, cheating vibes 😬). I don't think I will continue with this book series after this mess.
I had SO many times that I was like... is this ghost written? Why does it feel like fanfiction??? Like... what happened???? Kieran was easily my favorite character in all 3 books prior but this totally ruined it because it does read as cheating! If you're going to promote monogamy by Literally blessing the marriage by the gods... why would you suddenly change it to be polyamorous. Most of us did NOT sign up for a throuple... At least give us some warning!
I did see that Armentrout stated it will NOT be a throuple, it read more so to me like two people leaning on each other when their closest companion was out of the picture. The Joining is something I feel most people would do for their closest friends if it meant you could all live forever. 🤷🏻♀️ The ‘scene’ was confusing for being so built up because Cas had always been ridiculously protective of Poppy and then was like…. Hmm maybe this is cool though? Like.. what? Sir? Are you sure you’re Casteel? Everyone felt soooo dry.
I try to avoid outside perspective on stories like the author saying something isn't what everyone reads it as because then it starts to adjust the story from what is actually showing up. But I was definitely shown some reviews about this book before I actually dove in so I think those had the exact opposite effect. It highlighted the things that read as a throuple where you read around them because of what the author said. Crazy how a small comment can completely change the perception of a story. I can totally see it being supportive but at the same time... it pushes past my comfort zone for what a "really good friend" would do for a majority of the time that Cas is locked up.
@@SammiShane oh it’s definitely not something I would feel comfortable with as a friend haha. It’s also kind of different for me because I am in a polyamorous relationship, but even so our friends don’t sleep in the same bed as us naked! I did just finish it yesterday so my full opinions are still settling in but it was just such a huge switch from seeing a character be so possessive over their partner to all of the sudden being fine with her having sex with his best friend.
I fully agree with your review. I just finished reading, and I’m honestly disappointed. I felt lost while reading as if I didn’t know what the hell is going on. It’s like you never know what the goal is. The “challenges” that the characters faced were so boring because the readers knew that the characters will easily overcome them. I definitely expected the joining to happen since she kept hinting at it in the previous books, but it still felt forced. I hate how Casteel and Penellaphee are heartmates, but it feels like an extra person was added to their relationship. I hate how forced it is. For example, in the end when Penellaphee fainted then awakened and found herself in Casteel’s lap, she HAD to mention that the hand on her cheek was Kieran’s, or when it was Casteel’s point of view and he mentioned his reaction to seeing Poppy then again he HAD to mention that he noticed the same reaction from Kieran.
It's so cringey the whole way through for every possible reason. 😵 Do you think you're gonna try to read the next one or does the road end for you here like it does for me?
Its super sad. FBAA was one of my top reads last year. It doesn't even feel like this was in the same realm. Like it was written by a different author 😕 RIP to the series
I have been such a big fan of this series. Completely loved the first two books. The third was pretty good too! Sammi, I feel exactly like you, super depressed and down after I finished the 4th book. It's put me in a total reading slump, and I'm an active reader. Not only did the writing fall short, the character development was also destroyed, and all the things we learned to love about this series were thrown into the trash. Absolutely agree with your review. Did she even write this book? Who in the hell wrote it and decided to publish it for her? I'm all about a good sex scene, but this "joining" was awkward. Also, I hate how she writes on different POVs. Say what? Why now? We have lived all 3 books without; it, so why now? I had the same experience in ACOTAR and hated it as well. Casteel didn't sound like himelf and definitely didn't act like himself either. All the things we learned to love about him were missing. To me, the joining and love between Poppy and Kieran could've been done so much better by having their love for Casteel be their main driving force (not for each other) and have continued their friendship and love in a brother and sister way, not sexual. A joining without sex and just love. It was TERRIBLE! I don't care what people say, but if you have two hearmates, you don't let one of the persons involved have sex with your best friend. PERIOD. Again, I'm all about a good sex scene, but this was not for me. I feel like some of these authors just write books to write and sell more copies instead of taking their time with the story, especially in such a beautiful series. The plot was flat for me, certain parts dragged, and I almost wished I would've never read the 4th book; it completely ruined this series for me.
You don't even know how many times I said "facts *snaps*" or "EXACTLY" or "for REAL" while reading this comment. I have no idea what happened to this book. I'm gonna try to block it from my memory, maybe the 3rd book too, because it missed every mark like it was shooting at a different target. And the way she's responded to people having negative feedback on the joining has made it so much worse by defending it rather than just letting the art say what it says and people taking it the way they interpret it. If you don't want people to think you messed up on accident and read the situation wrong, don't say anything in defense of the thing that people dislike afterwards??? This book was CRAZY both on the page and off
As someone who is ‘there for the smut’ I completely agree with what you said and even then the smut that was there, was smooshed into the end and felt very lack luster compared to the intensity of the previous books. (Even the moments that were built up since the second installment). I was so confused and empty when I finished it.
That's the worst. Especially if you're part of who I thought the audience was supposed to be. I guess she missed the mark on all of the options... Do you think you're gonna read the next one whenever it comes out?
@@SammiShane I am going to say yes only because I’m a person who has to see the story all of the way through. It’s just so sad because I honestly am not even curious about how it ends. 🙃
I feel you... I'm definitely just going to read like a 3 star spoiler filled review to get an idea of what happens though.... I think the characters are so different from who I thought they were now that I don't care as much about what happens
@@SammiShane Also the fact that she got away with writing an entire book where NONE of what the characters did actually mattered and there’s two more…. I might just end up reading the last one and seeing a breakdown of the fifth.
Literally. I about broke my kindle when I got to that. Like OKAY sure thanks for wasting 8 hours of my life reading this book that didn't do anything that mattered. THANKS. Feel free to hit me up with a summary of the next one 😅
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I agree with everything you said.
How could such a good series go down so quickly. The whole book feels so wrong. The whole dynamic was just weird. The characters were like swapped out compared to the first books. Was it really the author who wrote the first two books. What went so wrong here🤔 Also the relationship between the main heroine and the main hero's best friend was so weird and wrong!(for me, cheating vibes 😬).
I don't think I will continue with this book series after this mess.
I had SO many times that I was like... is this ghost written? Why does it feel like fanfiction??? Like... what happened???? Kieran was easily my favorite character in all 3 books prior but this totally ruined it because it does read as cheating! If you're going to promote monogamy by Literally blessing the marriage by the gods... why would you suddenly change it to be polyamorous. Most of us did NOT sign up for a throuple... At least give us some warning!
I did see that Armentrout stated it will NOT be a throuple, it read more so to me like two people leaning on each other when their closest companion was out of the picture. The Joining is something I feel most people would do for their closest friends if it meant you could all live forever. 🤷🏻♀️ The ‘scene’ was confusing for being so built up because Cas had always been ridiculously protective of Poppy and then was like…. Hmm maybe this is cool though? Like.. what? Sir? Are you sure you’re Casteel? Everyone felt soooo dry.
I try to avoid outside perspective on stories like the author saying something isn't what everyone reads it as because then it starts to adjust the story from what is actually showing up. But I was definitely shown some reviews about this book before I actually dove in so I think those had the exact opposite effect. It highlighted the things that read as a throuple where you read around them because of what the author said. Crazy how a small comment can completely change the perception of a story. I can totally see it being supportive but at the same time... it pushes past my comfort zone for what a "really good friend" would do for a majority of the time that Cas is locked up.
@@SammiShane oh it’s definitely not something I would feel comfortable with as a friend haha. It’s also kind of different for me because I am in a polyamorous relationship, but even so our friends don’t sleep in the same bed as us naked! I did just finish it yesterday so my full opinions are still settling in but it was just such a huge switch from seeing a character be so possessive over their partner to all of the sudden being fine with her having sex with his best friend.
Lmao 🤣 FACTS it doesn't make ANY SENSE
I fully agree with your review. I just finished reading, and I’m honestly disappointed. I felt lost while reading as if I didn’t know what the hell is going on. It’s like you never know what the goal is. The “challenges” that the characters faced were so boring because the readers knew that the characters will easily overcome them.
I definitely expected the joining to happen since she kept hinting at it in the previous books, but it still felt forced. I hate how Casteel and Penellaphee are heartmates, but it feels like an extra person was added to their relationship. I hate how forced it is. For example, in the end when Penellaphee fainted then awakened and found herself in Casteel’s lap, she HAD to mention that the hand on her cheek was Kieran’s, or when it was Casteel’s point of view and he mentioned his reaction to seeing Poppy then again he HAD to mention that he noticed the same reaction from Kieran.
It's so cringey the whole way through for every possible reason. 😵 Do you think you're gonna try to read the next one or does the road end for you here like it does for me?
@@SammiShane I don’t think I’m going to continue reading. The plot got boring, and their relationship is just cringey now
Same. I'm curious how many readers this book has turned off from the series entirely...
@@SammiShane I’m sure many. I am sad that this is how it turned out. I was looking forward to it; it had a lot of potential
Its super sad. FBAA was one of my top reads last year. It doesn't even feel like this was in the same realm. Like it was written by a different author 😕 RIP to the series
I have been such a big fan of this series. Completely loved the first two books. The third was pretty good too! Sammi, I feel exactly like you, super depressed and down after I finished the 4th book. It's put me in a total reading slump, and I'm an active reader. Not only did the writing fall short, the character development was also destroyed, and all the things we learned to love about this series were thrown into the trash. Absolutely agree with your review. Did she even write this book? Who in the hell wrote it and decided to publish it for her? I'm all about a good sex scene, but this "joining" was awkward. Also, I hate how she writes on different POVs. Say what? Why now? We have lived all 3 books without; it, so why now? I had the same experience in ACOTAR and hated it as well. Casteel didn't sound like himelf and definitely didn't act like himself either. All the things we learned to love about him were missing. To me, the joining and love between Poppy and Kieran could've been done so much better by having their love for Casteel be their main driving force (not for each other) and have continued their friendship and love in a brother and sister way, not sexual. A joining without sex and just love. It was TERRIBLE! I don't care what people say, but if you have two hearmates, you don't let one of the persons involved have sex with your best friend. PERIOD. Again, I'm all about a good sex scene, but this was not for me. I feel like some of these authors just write books to write and sell more copies instead of taking their time with the story, especially in such a beautiful series. The plot was flat for me, certain parts dragged, and I almost wished I would've never read the 4th book; it completely ruined this series for me.
You don't even know how many times I said "facts *snaps*" or "EXACTLY" or "for REAL" while reading this comment. I have no idea what happened to this book. I'm gonna try to block it from my memory, maybe the 3rd book too, because it missed every mark like it was shooting at a different target.
And the way she's responded to people having negative feedback on the joining has made it so much worse by defending it rather than just letting the art say what it says and people taking it the way they interpret it.
If you don't want people to think you messed up on accident and read the situation wrong, don't say anything in defense of the thing that people dislike afterwards???
This book was CRAZY both on the page and off
As someone who is ‘there for the smut’ I completely agree with what you said and even then the smut that was there, was smooshed into the end and felt very lack luster compared to the intensity of the previous books. (Even the moments that were built up since the second installment). I was so confused and empty when I finished it.
That's the worst. Especially if you're part of who I thought the audience was supposed to be. I guess she missed the mark on all of the options... Do you think you're gonna read the next one whenever it comes out?
@@SammiShane I am going to say yes only because I’m a person who has to see the story all of the way through. It’s just so sad because I honestly am not even curious about how it ends. 🙃
I feel you... I'm definitely just going to read like a 3 star spoiler filled review to get an idea of what happens though.... I think the characters are so different from who I thought they were now that I don't care as much about what happens
@@SammiShane Also the fact that she got away with writing an entire book where NONE of what the characters did actually mattered and there’s two more…. I might just end up reading the last one and seeing a breakdown of the fifth.
Literally. I about broke my kindle when I got to that. Like OKAY sure thanks for wasting 8 hours of my life reading this book that didn't do anything that mattered. THANKS. Feel free to hit me up with a summary of the next one 😅