Series Review: Lovely Vicious by Sara Wolf

DNF December Review Blitz — Day 9: I’m sharing my thoughts on some book series that I have marked as incomplete as I have never finished the first novel in the series. Find out why these weren’t for me:

Synopsis for Love Me Never (from Goodreads):

Don’t love your enemy. Declare war on him.

Seventeen-year-old Isis Blake hasn’t fallen in love in three years, nine weeks, and five days, and after what happened last time, she intends to keep it that way. Since then she’s lost eighty-five pounds, gotten four streaks of purple in her hair, and moved to Buttcrack-of-Nowhere, Ohio, to help her mom escape a bad relationship.

All the girls in her new school want one thing—Jack Hunter, the Ice Prince of East Summit High. Hot as an Armani ad, smart enough to get into Yale, and colder than the Arctic, Jack Hunter’s never gone out with anyone. Sure, people have seen him downtown with beautiful women, but he’s never given high school girls the time of day. Until Isis punches him in the face.

Jack’s met his match. Suddenly everything is a game.

The goal: Make the other beg for mercy.
The game board: East Summit High.
The reward: Something neither of them expected.

Series: Lovely Vicious
Author: Sara Wolf
# of Books: 3 (Full Reading Order)
Book Order: Chronological
Complete?: Yes
Genre: Young Adult / New Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Drama
Heat Rating: cool
Point of View: First Person, Alternating
Publication Dates: November 2013 – August 2014
Source & Format: Own–eBook (Kobo)

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

I love hate to love you stories but I have a soft spot for ones that are set in high school because it has the promise for a lot of angst. But I really find one that doesn’t get on my nerves. Anyways, I bought the inaugural book years ago and despite numerous opportunities to remove it from my TBR, the synopsis always sucked me back in.

What I Liked:

–Isis’s Self Esteem Issues–

Overall, I wasn’t impressed with Isis as a character. She actually grated on my nerves a bit. But I did appreciate her struggles with self-esteem. It just gave her character some complexity and helped me to understand some of her actions.

–The Mystery of Jack–

While Jack does get his own POV chapters, he doesn’t have near as many as Isis so he’s a bit of an enigma to figure out. I loved the little peeks we got into his mind.

What I Didn’t Like:

–The Immaturity–

I’ll be the first to say that Isis was a bit of an odd-duck at times. Sometimes she would have these great retorts and comebacks for the various situations she found herself in and then other times, her actions came from way out there. It made her come across as a little dim and it just made her seem super immature as the story progressed. I can handle a little teenaged angst but this was just melodrama.

–The Romance–

I mostly read this because I love the whole “enemies who secretly like each other” trope but I was really disappointed in the execution. For one, I didn’t feel the chemistry between them. I think part of the reason was that I had a hard time getting a read on Jack because we get so little time in his head. But I really didn’t think the two of them interacted all that much as a whole.

My other issue was with Jack and his “white knight” complex. It just seemed like he was trading one unhealthy relationship for another because I didn’t see the connection between them.

Why I Won’t be Continuing With the Series:

Despite the cliffhanger at the end, I was over this series by the halfway point of the first book. I’m just not invested enough into these characters to see what happens next.

Series Rating: DNF

Love Me Never 2/5 | Forget Me Always N/A | Remember Me Forever N/A

This was just a miss for me. I think if this came out when I was in high school, I would have enjoyed it. I think you will either love or hate this book.

Read if You Like: quirky yet angsty teen leads
Avoid if You: dislike teenage drama