Rebecca R

I'm glad I didn't pay for this

Revisado: 05-31-24

The narration of this feels like the author is yelling at you. He starts off saying that he hates books where the authors flex about their success but it felt like he was constantly bragging throughout this, not only at the beginning where he showed off to prove he’s qualified to give advice. He kept talking about how much money he made with his businesses, but never even explained what the business was which didn’t boost my confidence that anything he said was authentic. The previous motivational book I listened to, the author actually gave real details about the things she did to become successful, what kind of circumstances she started from, etc. This guy just keeps repeating (yelling) that he made millions of dollars very young, with no info on how much assistance he got, how he made the business successful, or anything. There were some decent points in here but most of it was common sense, this seems like it’s more useful to use as a reminder or motivation tool than actually offering anything new or groundbreaking. This book had very strong “you can become a millionaire if you only give up Starbucks and avocado toast” energy to it. I was not impressed by the part where he recounted that he had an employee with a pretty low salary ask for a raise and he bragged about how he refused the raise and instead gave her advice and “helped her cancel her cable” etc. Honestly, this guy really came across as more of a smug jerk than someone I’d find inspiring. He claims that you only need to make tiny changes to improve your life yet simultaneously acted extremely judgmental towards the concept of anyone doing anything recreational like watching TV or playing video games. He name-dropped a lot of celebrities I consider unethical. I stopped listening halfway through. This is the least inspired I've felt from a motivational book.

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Spoilers ahead

Revisado: 12-22-21

The writing was solid with well-considered characters, realistic social observations, and an interesting premise.

The plot was self-indulgent, veering off into perspectives and underdeveloped, random side romances that only distracted from the main characters. More so, those forays into irrelevant vignettes never went anywhere, making their inclusion make even less sense. The over-attention to details about clothing and hair probably could fill a whole two hours of this book.

The reason I gave the story three stars is that while there was a happily ever after, the author's straining to tie everything up neatly with a bow resulted in Edward, the prince we're all reading for, having a secret wedding out of the public eye, and he's whisked off with his love on an immediate honeymoon, meaning he's not even out at his (straight) brother's wedding. So the whole point of the book - Edward coming publicly into his identity - feels like another step back into the closet. Even with the promises of a public announcement, doing Isaac and Edward's wedding behind closed doors seems like just more of the image-pandering and shame that the royal family was learning to break free of.

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Spoilers

Revisado: 10-10-20

The generic: The plot was seamless. The writing had some places that could use a more professional eye (for example, "seized" was used to describe an action that was also "delicate"). The writing surrounding the sex was trying for passionate romance but ended up sounding like someone who's never had sex but who's read a lot of bad romance novels in their time. Overall, I would have given this a better review, except for the below.

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This is a book about gay men wherein the only female character of any relevance is offscreen and a caricature. The other women are supporting caricatures. The dead mother is the most generic dead mother you can imagine - all-consuming love for the two children, and very little other personality of substance. Tragic and meek.

Then you have, in this book about gay men, a dead woman trope, and very graphic descriptions - which become first-hand - of the rape and torture of women. Then we find out the killer is also disparaging of the protagonists' sex life, but is somehow willing to enter Graham's (supposedly) impure body?

I don't know whether "Bonnie" is a pen name, but I expect better from authors, but women authors in particular, when it comes to inclusive casts and the tired track of the off-screen damsel in distress supporting a nearly all-male cast.

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