C+ | Oh man this book is pure, entertaining garbage fire. The book is fast-paced and easy to read. I would have finished it in less than a day. But I had things to deal with. This book is ridiculous and over the top, but I adored that! I had fun reading it. But dear lord God. Even though it is a fun read at face value, there are so many issues with this book from plot to worldbuilding to the characters. It never reaches its full potential.
Title: The Shadows Between Us
Author: Tricia Levenseller
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Publication Date: 25 February 2020
Synopsis: Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power:
1) Woo the Shadow King.
2) Marry him.
3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.
No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to do everything within her power to get it.
But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen—all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?
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Table of Contents
— REVIEW:
Maybe pure garbage fire is a bit mean when describing this book. I don’t mean that this was a bad book because it isn’t bad. The book will entertain you as long as you’re reading it as a silly, ridiculous (almost satirical), nonsensical, asinine YA novel. But I totally understand the disappointment — especially because it’s a promising book! Who wouldn’t want a good, standalone book where the villainous, scheming young woman takes the crown?
I suspected early on that it wouldn’t be able to fulfill that promise.
I mean, the summary itself is just absolutely absurd. It’s not exactly Shakespearean. Come on! Slytherin romance? Give me a break, please! From there I just knew. So I came into this book with low expectations. I was prepared to laugh and be entertained, nothing more. I did not expect anything more than to be entertained.
So what did I like about this book?
I liked how this book is so ridiculous and asinine. Don’t take this book seriously. I needed to read this kind of book right now: something fun, stupid, and nonsensical. It was a good time at face value.
The fact that it’s fast-paced and standalone? Oh man, give me more of this, please.
Then there’s Alessandra.
Wow, I haven’t loved and hated a character this much in an eternity. I have so many conflicting feelings about her.
Let me talk positives first, ja?
I adored that Alessandra is a sex-positive character. Maybe it’s just because I’m not reading the right books, but it felt really nice to read a book with a character who was not ashamed of her sexuality or the fact that she had slept with numerous men before. The opening scene honestly made me laugh and truly endeared her to me.
I loved that she’s confident and unafraid to be ambitious and dream big. I also liked that beneath that ambition? There was this girl who was angry and screwed up over the fact that she was the black sheep — ignored in favor of her older sister. Her interactions with her father? You can bet I was rooting for her every time. But she is absolutely an empowered young woman, unafraid to reach for the stars.
Another thing I enjoyed was the fact that Alessandra formed friendships with two female characters.
You may ask, “Who cares?” Well, I care. After watching too many historical dramas and reading too many books where women are fighting other women for the sake of power and attention from men, I was pleasantly surprised and thrilled to see Alessandra form a friendship with Hestia and Rhoda. I admit that I wish we got to see her smack down her older sister, but alas, we were denied. Regardless, it’s hard to find a book that feature ambitious female characters who have female friends. The fact it was presented here — when it could have easily gone the other way considering how power-hungry and ambitious Alessandra is — makes me so happy.
Even more important is the fact that she doesn’t shame them for their desires. In fact, she encourages and empowers them.
But one of the things that I didn’t like was Alessandra’s age.
Look, I know teenagers have sex. Our teen pregnancy rate is high for a reason. But Alessandra’s age just didn’t feel right with the circumstances. It made me incredibly uncomfortable.
By the time this book has started, Alessandra has had multiple partners already since she first had sex when she was fifteen.
One big thing I also noticed in this book was that there’s no talk of how old Alessandra’s partners are when they have sex. How old were these men? How old was her first partner when he was chasing her around trying to seduce her? Remember kids, this is a vulnerable young woman who never got attention and suddenly this guy (whose age is unknown but probably older than her by a few years) sets his eyes and attention into her? Yeah, uncomfortable is putting it mildly.
Another thing I didn’t like? The telling, not showing.
Why should I believe Alessandra is capable of fulfilling her plan? Why should I believe that she is ruthless and “slytherin-like”? Because she killed someone off screen? Not exactly evidence.
And how about her apparent intelligence? Is she really that smart or is it because everyone else is dumb to make her words sound smarter? I’m more inclined to believe the latter because of how easily everything came together for her. She was handed solutions to her problems. I wasn’t at all scared for her or anything like that because I knew that it would work out that way.
Yeah, that sh!t doesn’t fly with me. There’s no tension, no suspense, no surprise!
What else didn’t I like about the book.
Ok so I talk about face value a lot, here. Even though I was reading this as a silly book, it has glaring issues. I already mentioned the issue of Alessandra’s age and the whole telling and not showing. But there were other issues I want to highlight.
Worldbuiling.
You guys who have read my reviews before should know by now I am a sucker for good worldbuilding. But you know what? As long as the plot and characters are great and/or the writing is good, I can ignore the sh!t worldbuilding.
But oh lord jeez, this was just confusing. Maybe I just wasn’t paying enough attention, but the worldbuilding here felt empty. Levenseller placed worldbuilding to the back-burner. I had more questions than anything about how things in the book operated.
Take for example, sex. Yes, this is a worldbuilding issue.
Alessandra is sex-positive. She enjoys sex. This girl knows how to prevent pregnancy so she can freely sleep around as much as she wants. But what about STIs? Are they just not a thing in this book? Are we supposed to believe that all of her sexual partners were either virgins or men who just so happened to have never contracted an STI?
If Levenseller’s goal was to encourage sex positivity, then she only got like a 90% on the test. Pregnancy prevention is important. Encouraging women who enjoy sex to proudly say they enjoy sex and love their bodies is super important and a good thing. Having a YA book that features a character who talks about sex, enjoys it, is mindful of pregnancy, and encourages her friends to be free with their desires is so important. But come on, don’t forget STIs!
It’s like teaching sex ed, but only talking about how to prevent pregnancy. Even if this book isn’t meant to be serious, you can’t talk about sex without mentioning STIs. Hell, give me something where Alessandra mentions how her mother died due to an STI that her father gave because he was careless when he slept around and that’s why she’s super careful. Anything but silence. Sure pregnancy is a huge deal, but so are STIs and these bacterial and viral diseases can do to someone’s body.
Plot.
Like I said, I felt it in my bones that this wouldn’t live up to expectations. But I was annoyed.
There were too many subplots going on that just ended in bleh. They weren’t fleshed out at all. Actually, nothing about this book was fleshed out. You can claim Alessandra was fleshed out. But that’s a stretch.
Catch me rolling my eyes skyward, honestly. Even though I was enjoying the ride, there just wasn’t enough tension. I was both excited and bored. A lot of times? I was just too busy laughing at the ridiculousness to be really disappointed.
The twist at the end annoyed me. What in the heck was that? Where did that come from? Look, I am all for unexpected twists and whatnot, this was incredibly absurd.
While the ending itself I had no issue with, it was the parts leading up to it that made me go, “Huh?”
In a way, this leads me to the most cringe-worthy part.
The Romance.
Jesus help me. I quite frankly spent a good 10 minutes laughing my ass off when I finished this book. It was hilariously bad. How it failed to reach my low expectations is honestly amazing. Strange, too, because I truly felt like the romance was Levenseller’s real focus.
Gold fucking star.
But, it goes back to what I said in the section above: nothing about this book was fleshed out. The romance is just another example.
Overall Recommendation.
Read this if you need a good laugh and want something ridiculous. Don’t come in expecting big things from this book, and I think you might just have a decent time.
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