MischaS_'s Reviews > Fragile Longing

Okay, I'm going to be brief (for once). If you're looking for a more in-depth review, I recommend the one by Phuong ✯. She did amazing work her review.

Fair warning, this might be slightly spoilerish.

So, I do like Remo and Serafina. However, I've had enough. We do not need another point of view on their book; we already got like four. (And we are probably getting another one because I can just expect Samuel to spend half of the book on how Serafina betrayed him and half of the book being a flashback taking place during Serafina's book. EDIT: oh, and also Adamo. His book is totally having flashbacks to the torture in Twister Pride if not the kidnapping of Serafina as well. And then the mom plot. I really need fewer flashbacks in these books. Especially on plot, we've seen through a different POV.). I mean just enough. And if it was not enough that it was another POV on the Twisted Pride, Serafina was mentioned so much that it was making me uncomfortable.
And I repeat, I actually like Serafina and Remo, yet the constant mention of Serafina was making me sick. I cannot imagine all those who actually do not like her having to read this book and having Serafina mentioned every other page.

Well, me being brief probably just went out of the window, it seems.

If I were, to sum up, this book, it's just watered-down version of Twisted Hearts. (view spoiler)[And the terrifying thing is that Samuel and Emma seem to be heading the same way. (hide spoiler)]

I did know that Sofia had a crush on Danilo based on Serafina's book. But to this extend? She and Gemma could have exchanged some pointers. However, I have to say that the "confrontation" at the party went better for Gemma than it went for Sofia. And I'm saying it now that I'm still not okay with that scene. (view spoiler)[Well and a couple of others, mainly Sofia flashing her boobs at Danilo. (hide spoiler)] Which is the main issue with a large age gap when the story starts at the time when one of them is underage (and Sofia being underage for half of the book did not help), it just tends to cross certain lines. And yes, age gap story can be done well but this is not it.

As for Danilo, I'm actually surprised. Before reading this book I've expected that he would still have Serafina issues (view spoiler)[Okay, he has Serafina issues but different than I've expected. (hide spoiler)] I really thought that he would put pressure on Sofia not being like her sister and actually same with Sofia's family. I don't know. Based on the blurb and everything I really expected Sofia to be forced by her family to be like Serafina. (I even expected someone to suggest that they can remake Serafina's old wedding dress for her).

Maybe you should stop mentioning her." (Anna to Sofia).

But no. From what I read, it felt like that only Sofia was putting the pressure on herself to be like Serafina. (view spoiler)[The whole dying hair to look like Serafina? Using her perfume? (hide spoiler)]
I have to say that most of the characters in books by this author had some serious issues and traumas. But the whole time reading this book there was a voice in my head that was screaming that someone needs to get a good therapist for Sofia. (Or maybe I was just watching too many videos by Kirk Honda).

Even if I was ashamed to admit it, I barely missed Fina anymore and often even forgot all about her - until someone reminded me.
Well, not true.

Oh, yeah, I was talking about Danilo. I mean, I liked him better in Twisted Pride or even Bound by the Past. He gets major extra points for his relationship with Emma, and I mean major! (view spoiler)[I expected him to be angry. Very angry. But that sort of went out of the window after the wedding and he was actually kind of a softie - which admittedly felt a bit fake and out of character. But where he lost me was when he said that he never thought about Sofia in a "sexual" way before... A chapter or two before that he was totally checking her out. A bit of consistency? (hide spoiler)] Also, I felt like he did suddenly a one-eighty. He was all so suddenly extremely committed to Sofia and felt like he was the one wanting a Disney fairytale.

So, I called this book Twisted Hearts 2.0 and same with that book, here they actually get married pretty late in the book. I believe it was around the halfway mark, which then also leads to the problem that their relationship post-wedding feels a tad rushed. A plus compared to Twisted Hearts the pre-wedding section felt less jumpy.

But the issue was that it felt that nothing much in the book really happened. If you take Serafina out of the story, you're not left with much. And while I get it that this was sort of stand-alone, it's then strange that it so heavily relies on Serafina drama. But there is nothing besides Sofia and Danilo finding a way to work as a couple. No additional drama. No additional plotline. It even got to the point that I wanted to know more about Marco and even his issues with Bria.

To conclude, yeah, it wasn't great, but Twisted Hearts were worse. EDIT: A few days later I'm not sure it compared that well even to Twisted Hearts. At this moment I think that both were terrible. So, one star may go missing from this rating pretty soon.

A couple of notes on the side:
- Well, I wasn't sure about Anna in Bound by Past. She seemed very timid, and I actually felt really sorry and sad for her. In this book, she is nothing like that. This Anna and Anna from Bound by Past feel like different characters. And honestly, while Anna was saying some hard truths, she was kind of annoying.
- And while I like her more, I'm still not sure with the whole Santino/Clifford thing.
- With each book, I like Samuel less and less. He does not deserve Emma at all.
- I still have hopes for Nestore's book and Greta's and Amo's book.
- And clearly, I was not brief, but I still recommend Phuong's ✯ review.