liferhi_inspired's reviews
1050 reviews

I just finished what I hope to be my WORST READ of 2025. If I could give this negative stars, I would.

I really wanted to DNF this book within the first 30pgs, but pushed through based on the reviews for this book. At this point, I feel like they all must have been bought. 😏

Outside of the pacing issues (too slow at the beginning and too fast at the end), the unlikeable characters, the omniscient 3rd person POV, and the cover/blub that does at all reflect the story, you have all of the problematic content within the story.

Here are a few of the major icks, keep in mind that it’s a YA book meant to be read by teenagers: 
🚫 The 16yr FMC literally drools over the ‘hot’ pastor for the first 75pgs. 
🚫 The love interest her own age says nothing when his friend calls her fat. And at one point had “locker room talk” where he said ‘fat girls are easy’. Of course, this was all swept under the rug and easily forgiven.
🚫 After dumping the BF, she goes on a date with a 24yr neighbor; he tells her to hide it from her Grandma since she wouldn’t approve
🚫 This 24yr old neighbor spies on her through an attic window and watches her undress several times, including once with her being intimate with her boyfriend
🚫 It glosses over the on-page abusive behavior her boyfriend receives from his dad
🚫 There’s a lack of diversity in this book. Her boyfriend’s last name is Lopez, but it’s later explained that his dad changed his name to Lopez and that he’s actually of French decent. The only (assumed) person of color is a kid with the last name Chen and is presumed to be k!//ed off by the serial unaliver of the story. 

🔥 3/5 Steam Rating
📝 Alternating 1st Person
💖 Motorcycle Club, “Mine”, Boss/Employee, Breath Play

This was a fun little introduction to the Los Diablos MC and some of its club leaders. 

While I knew this was a novella before starting it, I really wish that it was longer. Xiomara is such a cool character, I wish we could have explored her backstory and spent more time building the relationship between her and Ink. Xiomara is a badass and I just didn’t feel like this story was long enough to do her justice.

There were a couple suspenseful moments within this story, but I felt like they resolved way too quickly and easily. I wanted a bit more grit and tension. 

With all that said, I definitely plan to read the next book in this series. I hope that it being full length will give me the depth that I craved from Xiomara & Ink’s story.

🔥 Fade to Black