This was the “Note from the Author” in the beginning:ĭear reader, this novel is a non-traditional romance with a non-traditional ending and contains content intended for a mature audience only. But we’ll get there.ĪRCs were sent out late, about a week before the book was released. This post, again, didn’t really answer the YES/NO question regarding HEAs, nor did it address or even hint at any potential trigger warnings the book may contain. She goes on to say a whole lot of other stuff about the writing process and how you should go in blind. In the author’s FB reader group, prior to release, the author posted stating that she was getting a lot of worried questions on whether Pen Pal had an HEA or not. Again, no mentions about it being a “non-traditional romance” or “non-traditional HEA”. On July 20, 2022, the author posted about ARC reader sign-ups on her author FB page. There was nothing about a “non-traditional romance” or a “non-traditional HEA”. The book cover itself is objectively hot, and just about what we’d expect from what’s been marketed as a dark romance, right? The author herself in a Facebook post on January 27, 2022, posted a “surprise cover reveal”, stating that the book was “a standalone dark romance”. If you don’t want to read this, please just move along and leave the nasty comments for someone who cares. Spoiler tags are added throughout this review. We’ll start with the egregiously deceptive marketing faux pas, then move to the substance of the story and the authors lack of trigger warnings when this all first started. Now, I’m going to break down the issues I (me, myself and I) had with this book.
The blurb initially led readers to believe this would be a story about a woman whose husband died, with her subsequently receiving letters from a guy at the local prison named “Dante”. Pen Pal is the (previously marketed) dark romance of Aiden and Kayla. Due to explicit language, graphic sex, detailed depictions of death and grief, intense power play dynamics, and other possible triggers, it is not suitable for sensitive readers. This novel contains content intended for a mature audience only. When I found out why, it was already too late.Īnd nothing on earth could have prepared me for what happened next. We went back and forth, exchanging letters every week that grew increasingly more intimate. I said we’d never met, but he said I was wrong. I told the mystery man he had the wrong girl. Out of simple curiosity, I wrote back to ask him what exactly he was waiting for. It was signed by Dante, a man I didn’t know. It was postmarked from the state penitentiary, and contained a single sentence: The first letter arrived the day my husband was buried. The #1 international and Amazon Charts bestselling novel
0 kommentar(er)
