DNF December Review Blitz — Day #1: 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 Midnight Blue (from Goodreads):
It should have been easy.
I needed the money. He needed a babysitter to keep him from snorting himself to death.
I was cherry-picked especially for him. Responsible. Optimistic. Warm. Innocent.
The worst part is that I should have known better.
Alex Winslow. British rock star. Serial heartbreaker. Casanova with whiskey eyes.
“Don’t get near the devil in a leather jacket. He’ll chew you up and spit you out.”
Guess what? I didn’t listen.
I signed the contract.
World tour. Three months. Four Continents. One hundred shows.
My name is Indigo Bellamy, and I sold my soul to a tattooed god.
Problem was, my soul wasn’t enough for Alex Winslow. He ended up taking my body, too.
Then he took my heart.
Then he took my all.
Author: L J Shen
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Rockstar
Heat Rating: unsure
Point of View: First Person, Alternating
Publication Date: January 16, 2018
Source & Format: Own–eBook
Disclaimer: I stopped reading Midnight Blue at 13% (middle of Chapter 4). Find out why below…
Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:
I needed a great book to get lost in and this one was promising based on the synopsis. I love rockstar romances, hate-to-love-you stories and I like bad boy heroes so I was excited to dive in.
While I didn’t have a great experience with Shen’s Dirty Headlines a few years ago, she consistently gets great reviews, as does this book, so I was optimistic heading into it.
What I Liked:
–Bad Boy Redemption–
Who doesn’t love the concept of a bad boy redeeming himself? Especially to win the love of his life? The hopeless romantic in me loves reading about it.
Alex has a long, long way to go. He is SUPER angsty (which I get) but it seemed like maybe he would be changing his tune by the end of this one…I just never found out.
What I Didn’t Like:
–Extremely Long Inner Monologues–
When an entire paragraph fills up the entire screen on my eReader (and I don’t have the font supersized by any means), I find my attention waning. My word! These inner monologues dragged on. I would be midway and forget what we were even talking about. I almost felt like it was an intentional way just to prove some weird point that you could make a paragraph so freaking long. I thought I was DAYS into this book, but then I would see I still had miles to go and I just felt myself getting defeated.
–Lack of Chemistry–
Now, I didn’t get vary far in but the few interactions Indy and Alex had didn’t have me begging for more. I think this is a slow burn romance or one that just takes a long time. It is billed as a hate to love you so I knew that they weren’t going to be falling all over each other at the start. But I couldn’t even see an inkling of anything between them.
Will I Finish It?
Nope. I also have removed all L J Shen books from my TBR because I’ve had 2 not-so-great experiences and have come to the conclusion her works just aren’t for me.
My Rating: DNF
If you like romances that build and build, maybe this is for you. Or if you like other L J Shen novels. Otherwise, I think there are more engaging rockstar romances out there.
Read if You Like: slow burn romances
Avoid if You: dislike lots of inner monologues
- Memphis Black by M J Fields (The Rockers of Steel Series #1)
- Girl with Guitar by Caisey Quinn (Kylie Ryan Series #1)
- All the Ways You Saved Me by Jamie Howard (Love Unplugged Series #1)
Have you read this? Should I return to this book? Leave a comment!
