Chloe Esposito

I'll be totally honest, this book was not for me.

I normally LIVE for soap opera like books that bring crazy characters to the forefront, but this book was just.. well... Bad. I didn't like it.

I found Alvie and Nino to be unbearable. I couldn't stand reading about them because there was no redeeming quality. This wasn't a "hate them but love them" kind of book either, they aren't Loki. These are two despicable people that I didn't want to win or have a happily ever after. They were insane, mean and murderous. I didn't enjoy following them. There was no redeeming qualities. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

This book wanted to be a soap opera, crime spree. It was well on it's way but with no redeeming qualities for the characters I struggled to get through. I wanted to DNF and I did multiple times. I finally forced myself through it and kind of regretted it. It wasn't for me.

Chloe Esposito's writing is good though. She has talent, but she didn't write what I wanted to read about (or thought I was getting).

Unfortunately, this is a one star read for me.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.… (mais)

My mouth hung open throughout the reading of this book, which definitely pushed its limits.
 
I laughed out loud so many times while reading this and my boyfriend probably has a bruise from the amount of times I poked him in order to get his attention because I just had to share the amount of hilarious things that were written.
 
Alvie is abrasive. She's over the top. She's ridiculous. She's absurd. You're not meant to like her. I loved her--I loved to hate her, really. I cannot fathom so much as contemplating the actions that she took or having her priorities and desires, but she sure cracked me up.
 
I felt like the latter half kind of got too much for me--I enjoyed the lighter side of things, but the mafia did get involved, there were guns, and there was blood. I laughed less and was open-mouthed more with incredulity at the absurd events that were taking place. Very few of the characters in this book were actually as they seemed or as I had predicted them to be.
 
The plot similarly became ridiculous. The book started off as a more explicit sort of Kinsella novel with a less likable protagonist and much stranger scenarios, but then turned into a kind of mystery, then to a thriller, then just to an absurdist telling of a story.
 
Put your judgemental side away and read this book right now--it's sure to have you in hysterics. I'm cautiously but eagerly anticipating the next book.
 
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.… (mais)

Oh my God, what a mess!

I don't know what to say about this book... Let's start with the story, as it might help.

Alvie Knightly has an identical twin, Elizabeth, who she is not that font of, to say it politely. When Beth invites her to Italy, Alvie never expected what was about to happen. After all the fuss that took place in the first book, Beth is dead, Beth's husband is dead, Beth's lover is dead and Alvie is on the run with Nino, a fast car and a lot of money. But, to her bad luck, she is left alone without any of it.

After that, Alvie is trying to find and revenge Nino and become an assassin.

OK... That girl doesn't stand a chance to get any of this! She has a lot of issues, as she floats somewhere away from reality. She is at least crazy...

The whole book is a race of bad choices, sex, drugs, alcohol, stupid thinking and even stupider acting. Everything is moving really fast. The whole thing is supposed to last a week and Alvie has done what other people would need a lifetime in less than seven days!

That girl is not thinking straight. She is supposed to have daddy issues, bad this doesn't mean that everyone that hasn't met their dad is expected to sleep with all men they meet and don't have a belly and a very few grey hair! Her only choices in life are men, handsome ones at least, posh clothes and accessories, drinks and drugs and of course, sex.

I think that summarizes it all... Oh and that, I don't want to read another book in the series...… (mais)

If I had known that this was the second book in a trilogy, I wouldn't have picked it up but thank goodness I didn't realise this because I have never had as much fun reading a book in all my life. I think I laughed most of the way through it, often sniggering like a schoolgirl and noting down some of the hilarious names that Alvie calls her boyfriend. So, as I enjoyed it so much, you clearly can read this book as a standalone and I never felt at a disadvantage at all as there is a quick recap of what happened in the first book to fill in all of the blanks for readers jumping in at book two.

Alvie Knightly is on the run after the suspicious death of her sister, Betta, so she has a really great idea to steal her twin sister's identity. The police aren't looking for a dead woman, are they? After getting double crossed by her boyfriend, Nino, Alvie vows revenge and tracks him to Rome - it's fortunate that she installed that tracker on his phone, isn't it? The scrapes that Alvie gets into along the way had me roaring with laughter and I'm even tittering away now as I think of them. She is one crazy woman and she's not afraid to go after what she wants...and snatch it from whoever has it, like a spoilt child.

I'm not going to mention the hilarious things that happen, but I have to say that Alvie's decision to get a tattoo and the subsequent inking was one of the funniest things I have ever read. Whilst a lot of the book is funny, it is also often quite steamy and the sex scenes were a little descriptive for my delicate disposition. It's par for the course in this type of book so it's to be expected and Alvie is such an extreme character that you never know what, or who, she's going to do next. There's a lot more to this book than the steamy scenes so I'm loathe to call it 'trashy', however, my fairy godsister loves a trashy novel and I think she will absolutely love this; I'll be passing my copy her way to see what she thinks of it.

Alvie's crime capers almost have a slapstick feel to them which lulled me into a false sense of security, so I got quite a rude awakening at the end...which leads nicely on to book 3. I'm definitely going to pick up the first book in the series, Mad, to see exactly what Alvie got up to in Sicily and I'm looking forward to reading the final book in the trilogy, Dangerous to Know, when it is released in October.

Full of side-splitting hilarity, Bad is the perfect book to take on holiday this year but be prepared for some funny looks as you won't be able to contain your laughter!

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.… (mais)