COVER = 5/5
PACE = 3/5 - fast pace/really slow at the beginning
PLOT = 2/5 - I mean... the secrets and sneaking around were annoying, just your typical best friend/sister romance, honestly nothing really special. ALSO, why are people tagging this as 'hockey romance" literally has NOTHING TO DO WITH HOCKEY, except for that 1 game!
CHARACTERS = 3/5- ehh, they were OK, not really fleshed out well enough for me to love them, MONTY WAS A DUMB CHARACTER (only created for tension) actually DUMB and it was like "ok we need an antagonist lets just INSERT one real quick.. with no character development at all and doesnt make sense)
WORLD BUILDING = 2.5/5 - was ok i guess, seemed to just be set in the same areas
ROMANCE = 3.5/5 - actually wasnt bad, the smut is pretty good
WRITING = 2/5 - didn't really like the writing, needs work/editing, kinda immature tbh

OVERALL =3.5/5 stars ( )

3 stars, full Review on my blog!

initial thoughts after reading: the whole Monty thing was dumb, sure it created tension but it was dumb.
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A Dose of Pretty Poison by Kelsey Clayton had a slow start and took me a while to read, but I quickly got sucked in after chapter 6? This new adult romance is filled with angst, featuring the popular trope of the heroine being considered "untouchable." Hayes and Laiken's journey is intriguing to follow, starting with his attempt to help her escape a situation with her ex and quickly escalating to him watching her pleasure herself, eventually leading to a full-blown secret relationship. The steamy scenes were pretty great, but I didn't quite see it as a hockey romance; hockey doesn't play a significant role in the plot, other than mention of Laiken's brother/bf on a hockey team, and there's a noteworthy game where he defends her honor by getting into a fight, but beyond that, hockey doesn't have much impact on the story.

Firstly, not much happened in terms of story development. There was a lot of smut, but the characters didn't progress much. It felt stagnant until Monty entered the picture, seemingly added for unnecessary drama. I really didn't like Monty as a character; by the third book, you'll see he's just a psycho with no purpose other than to create drama. Hayes and Laiken already had enough going on with their contrasting relationship statuses, and Monty's inclusion seemed like an easy way to avoid telling Cam. Even the cliffhanger didn't have much impact on me. I'm still processing the relationship between the main characters. Laiken is a strong and likable female lead. She knows her worth and stands her ground. On the other hand, Hayes is a complex character. While I appreciate his possessive and jealous traits, his indecisiveness, insecurity, and occasional immaturity dampened his charm. It's quite painful. Everything after Monty was introduced was painful tbh.

Can we just talk about the whole, Hayes throwing a dirty dish in the trash simply because he didn't know how to wash it? While I understand that some men struggle with household chores, the act of throwing them away seemed childish. He's a grown man in his twenties, raised by a single mom without a father figure. It's hard for me to comprehend why he wouldn't just leave it in the sink. Surly with how sweet and caring his mom is, she probably would have taught him tbh. It just felt like a filler chapter; unnecessary.

Honestly, the most annoying part about this book/series, is that it's stretched across three books. Every book in this trilogy is roughly 400 pages, I feel like nothing really happens in these pages. This first book definitely could have been condensed and had a HEA ending. The pacing was already slow in this first book, and the fact that there are two more books for these characters drove me a little crazy... especially knowing how much unnecessary drama there is.

The story itself had potential and was somewhat enjoyable, but it required significant polishing. It was painfully evident that there was a lack of content editing. Despite having an editor listed, it appears that only surface-level edits, such as spell checking, were done, as basic usage errors (like confusing "to" and "too" or "are" and "our") were present.

Anyways, I didn't hate the story, but personally, it fell short for me.
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A Dose of Pretty Poison | Review
A Drop of Pretty Poison | Review
A Shot of Pretty Poison | Review


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