The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - UPDATED REVIEW

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  Genre : Classics Blurb (on back of book) : Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind. UPDATED REVIEW MY OPINION : ****** I would like to start out this review by stating that this is undoubtedly m

Twisted Hate - Ana Huang

Twisted Hate by Ana Huang
Genre: NA Realistic Fiction/Romance

Blurb (on back of book): He hates her...almost as much as he wants her.
Gorgeous, cocky, and fast on his way to becoming a hotshot doctor, Josh Chen has never met a woman he couldn’t charm—except for Jules f**king Ambrose.
The beautiful redhead has been a thorn in his side since they met, but she also consumes his thoughts in a way no woman ever has.
When their animosity explodes into one unforgettable night, he proposes a solution that’ll get her out of his system once and for all: an enemies with benefits arrangement with simple rules.
No jealousy.
No strings attached.
And absolutely no falling in love.
**
Outgoing and ambitious, Jules Ambrose is a former party girl who’s focused on one thing: passing the attorney’s bar exam.
The last thing she needs is to get involved with a doctor who puts the SUFFER in insufferable…no matter how good-looking he is.
But the more she gets to know him, the more she realizes there’s more than meets the eye to the man she’s hated for so long.
Her best friend’s brother.
Her nemesis.
And her only salvation.
Theirs is a match made in hell, and when the demons from their past catch up with them, they’re faced with truths that could either save them …or destroy everything they’ve worked for.

MY OPINION: ****

This was definitely my favorite of the series, which I am aware is a fairly unpopular opinion. I really enjoyed this book. It was chock-full of all of my favorite tropes, from the one bed trope to the extreme enemies to lovers. I loved the relationship between Jules and Josh and I felt the most chemistry between them out of the four books.

Jules was definitely my favorite of the four girls. She had the most personality and she was super fun, bold, daring, and fiery. She never took no for an answer and she had the perfect makings for a lawyer. I loved her and every caustic word she threw Josh's way. She never let him walk all over her and she stood up to him, something that I felt was missing from the other books. She had a hard past but she didn't let that define her, which allowed her character to have more complexity aside from a trauma-character. 

Josh was funny in a sarcastic, dry-humor kind of way. I loved his character almost as much as I loved Jules. He clearly hated her from the beginning as well but I loved watching him grow and seeing his feelings evolve, much to his shock. He was super annoying at times (ahem, chapter 46) but I was willing to forgive him for the most part. I do think he could have done like double the amount of groveling that he did but to each his own.

Something that I specifically liked about this book was the fact that Josh and Jules did not lose their banter and fiery spirit after getting into a relationship. The other books (and other books in general) seemed to lose that spark once the characters got together, so it became super boring. However, all that angst and enemies-banter was still present when they got together, just with a tiny shift that highlighted their less than hatred emotions for each other. 

The enemies part of the enemies to lovers trope was SO good. I loved their witty banter, the obvious disdain they both carried for each other, the frustration they caused each other, their jokes and barbs. I loved it all. The shift to lovers happened fairly slowly, which I'm always a supporter of because too often do these books skip the enemies part and skip to the lovers part too fast.

The doctor-lawyer dynamic. Such a dream. I loved how they were both so career-driven and passionate about their jobs and didn't let their relationship get in the way of that, or let their jobs get in the way of their relationship. 

Every single "cute" scene between them before and after they got together gave what needed to be gave. It didn't necessarily have me giggling and kicking my feet up in the air but it might as well have. The ski scenes? Impeccable. The aromatherapy? Sublime. The muffins? Adorable (and Conrad-Fisher-esque). Like hello. This book had me in a chokehold and I honestly have no clue why. 

The whole action-drama-mystery part of it didn't really ruin it for me like it did in the first book. It did feel unrealistic but not to the point where I was cackling and asking what soap opera I had stumbled across. The painting thing was a mystery within itself and we don't really get to know anything about it until the fourth book. I wasn't a big fan of the whole plotline there but I guess it took it from basic romance to something more dramatic and I can live with that. Again, chapter 46 was so unnecessary and it made it hard to like Josh after but one chapter didn't ruin the whole book for me. I do think that without that, I would have rated it 5 stars. The violence aspect was a little uncalled for, again. I guess I'm not a huge fan of murderers. There wasn't murder in this one but there might as well have been. However, I understood the motivation behind this one and it wasn't as insane as it was in the fourth book, so I was willing to overlook it. In my eyes, Josh could do no wrong.

I'm sorry but this book had to have been laced with crack because objectively, it was not that good. However, something in it had me hooked. I loved this one and I was finally seeing what all the hype around this series was about. The rest of the series did not compare to this one. I would recommend this book even if you didn't like the first two. It was so redeeming for this series. 

Main Character: Jules, Josh
Sidekick(s): Ava, Stella, Bridget, Alex, etc
Villain(s): Theft, Jules's ex (forgot his name), misunderstandings, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was real to life.

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