Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Shaggy & Scooby review The Bitter End by Rue Volley

The Bad Girls were approached to help promote the second book in the Golden Crown Series, The Twin Dragons.  
In return, we agreed to provide honest reviews of both books 1 & 2.

This review is for Book 1 of the Golden Crown Series - The Bitter End.

purchase your copy @ Amazon.com

The mischievous Shaggy and Scooby let you in on their thoughts about The Bitter End, but before they unleash them....

Here is the synopsis!

"Bethany was born into a world of privilege and has never had to want for anything in her life.  Her parents gave her everything but the one thing she desired the most... love.  When Bethany's mother dies, her father becomes even more distant with the immediate replacement of Bethany's mother by "Miko",  a woman who has no compassion nor interest in Bethany whatsoever.

On her own and living in a penthouse, a lavish gift from her father, Bethany ignores all responsibility as she lives on a weekly allowance her Father is sure to place in her bank account.  With too much time on her hands, Bethany is free to pursue other interests such as a young man she never cared for in school names Ryan Blackwood.  Ryan is a male escort for hire and has made his living on pleasuring the higher echelons of New York society women, but when he meets Bethany his game is shifted from one of hunter to one of prey and he will soon find out that she is not the easy target he once imagined.

Their torrid love affair is filled with a painful need to harm each other in every way, including in the bedroom.  Will Bethany finally receive the love she has always desired or will her lineage doom her forever?

"The Bitter End" is book one in the Golden Crown Series, filled with lust, greed, suspense and murder.  Sometimes new beginnings lead only to bitter ends."


Shaggy & Scooby give The Bitter End  




Shaggy's Review:

This book is hard to review without giving too much away. Holy Crap this was not by any standards my "normal" read...oh it was steamy!!!! Rue Volley mind fucked me just when I would have a WTH moment Rue would bulldoze me again and again.

In The Bitter End, Rue Volley introduces us to Ryan and Beth who are two effed up individuals, shady and shallow and they are on a train that you know is going to wreck but you can't look away!!!!! Trust me I tried, you watch them do despicable things to one another, I even hear the trains whistle blowing in the background to warn me of the imminent danger...but yet I still couldn't look away.

There is no doubt that Ryan and Beth have dark, dark issues, they do. Ryan is a cocky (teehee inside joke) man who came from nothing and sleeps around for a bunch of something’s and who happens to be very talented at that. Beth, well she is your typical rich girl who is emotionally cut off and putting it mildly has some intense daddy issues. These two feed off of each other and it was explosive!!!!! In the bedroom and out.

Rue Volley did not let me catch my breath once.  I don't think I met one person who wasn't 50 different ways of all kinds of a hot mess. That aside The Bitter End is a dark read that shows the ugly side of the world, whether you agree or not, Rue took you to that world and showed you these people up close and ....they were a hot mess!

At times I did feel lost in the book and had a difficult time getting a feel of the Authors flow, but after I was a quarter into the book it went a little smoother.

Rue Volley may not have given me hearts and flowers but she definitely gave me a mind fuck I won't forget!

I give this book 4/10 horndogs.

Scooby’s review:

Wow – where do I start with The Bitter End, at the beginning?  Well that is sort of the end… The book starts with a point at the end, then tells the story to bring you up to that point, and it starts at a pivotal point in the story, so it sucks you in.  Should I start at the end?  Well hell – that is just all kinds of what the fuck? That it might just scare you all away.

Ok seriously – if you think this review is starting out confused – that is the best indication of where the hell my head is at after reading The Bitter End!

I agree with Shaggy – it’s a hell of a hard book to review without giving away significant plot details, and that would mean providing spoilers like nobody’s business, and that would not be cool!

So the book is set around the life of Beth, a spoilt rich girl, and utter bitch, who of course really may just be misunderstood, thanks to her emotionally neglected upbringing.  Her best friend Holland, who tolerates Beth treating her like shit, because they both get something out of the relationship, and of course Ryan, the hot guy who is renowned for his sexual stamina, but also happens to be a high class whore.  Beth has a hate/hate, or a love/hate relationship with everyone.  And she is really unlikable.

Frankly, I didn't like any of the characters in this story.  It wasn't for lack of trying, but I really struggled to relate to the attitudes and behaviours of this ultra-wealthy trio, regardless of how they came across their money.  There were glimmer’s of hope, moments where empathy showed up, and then it just got sucked away in the turn of a page!  Again, I’m with Shaggy… this is like a car crash – you know it’s going to be bad, but you just can’t look away!

Rue Volley does nothing, if not push boundaries and write in a very raw and confronting manner.  This is not an easy read – if you want hearts and flowers and happy ever after – this is not for you! No Way!  No How!  This story is twisted, brutal, raw, manipulative, confronting, and all kinds of WTF!

Where I found the book lacking, is with the depth of character development.  The story is there – the story is good, the drama is there in spades, the sex is hard and dirty, there is power, greed, lies and deception at every turn, but the length of the book meant that these elements were superficial and far from engaging.  It felt that the author was rushing to tell the story, so everything happened at break neck speed, and periods of time where implied significant events occurred went missing.

I really wanted to love The Bitter End because it was so different from my current genres of choice, and while I will read and review the Twin Dragons (because curiosity killed the cat…and I have a need to know where it goes, like that crash that you can’t look away from) I am not waiting in anticipation.  The Bitter End had so many twists and turns that I am still trying to figure out which way is up, but rather than go Whooaaaa, I am stuck reflecting on the lack of believability.  I know stories aren't real, but I still need to get some sense of buy in – that it could actually happen, or at the very least, if it couldn't happen, I still believe what I am reading. 

Unfortunately, The Bitter End did not deliver that for me.  I give the Bitter End 4/10 Horndogs

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