Review: Intricate Deceptions

Intricate Deceptions by Jennifer Rayes
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is another one of those times that I've been disappointed by the blurb.

It sounded so exciting and dynamic, and there are some great ideas here, but it's poorly executed and relies on too many cliches.

Here's the story: Gaia wakes up in a cell, having been kidnapped by bad guys. Her cell mate is a girl called Emily who she befriends almost instantly, but they're torn apart when Gaia is rescued but Emily is left behind.
Gaia is taken to the palace of Prince Raoul, who gets a bad case of insta-love, and romantic hijinks ensue while Gaia tries to figure out who she is.

So firstly, there's a weird blend of modern and fantasy, because we have trafficking rings and drug cartels and normal hospitals and paramedics but as soon as you introduce a prince from a made-up land I'm thinking fantasy. So I had a really hard time figuring out the setting, and even though there was absolutely zero mention of it, I felt like there were spaceships involved. I don't know why my mind went there - it does weird things, sorry. But I would attribute my over-active imagining in this case to a lack of exterior details. I found it all really confusing because nothing was really described beyond cells and palaces. What world was this set in, exactly?

Second, the plot weaved all over the place. I was hoping for dramatic action (that blurb really talks it up!) but, even though there is a lot happening, it races through the action to focus on the romance and that bugged the crap out of me. Gaia is rescued and lives in a palace for a bit while she tries to remember who she is. Then she's told who she is. But through it all we learn very little about how she's dealing with everything - ptsd from being captured, anxiety from not knowing her past, not knowing who she can trust, who anyone is, living this life of luxury after being kidnapped - none of this rates because she's too busy getting all flustered over boys.

Now let's talk about that romance, shall we?

I'm guessing the author is a big reader herself, because I read a lot of scenes in this that I've definitely read elsewhere. Unfortunately, because these weren't uniquely created moments, they were delivered poorly. Let me also talk about one scene in particular that gets my blood boiling.

There's a deserted passageway Gaia is sneaking through. A Hot Boy approaches. He is intimidating, but Gaia finds him instantly attractive and it doesn't matter if he says douchey things because he's hot. For some reason, Hot Boy pushes Gaia against a wall and kisses her, against her will. Gaia is horrified but her body responds and she really enjoys this unwarranted kiss. Finally she snaps to her senses and pushes him away, he says something totally creepy that makes her weak at the knees, and then he departs, leaving her all flustered.

Firstly, women being all over this non-consensual stuff in fiction bothers me SO MUCH because THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN. No woman wants to be violated against her will! And it doesn't suddenly become okay because he's attractive. No. This is just such harmful trope and it sickens me that people think this makes for romantic fiction. And I say people because this is not the first author to create this scene. It is rampant in fiction and bothers me every single time I read it. I'm gonna put it here in big, bold letters for anyone who might be confused: IT IS NEVER OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE AGAINST THEIR WILL. So yeah, I took major issue with the 'romance' in this book, because it reads more like what women fantasize about but would actually hate to experience. Sure, maybe you fantasize about that super-attractive person coming up and randomly planting one on you, but I can tell you that if it were to actually play out in real life, there's a high chance you'd feel pretty violated by the experience.

Sorry, I think I'm done ranting now.

Conclusion: the romance in this story is unrealistic and full of cliches and absolutely ruined this book for me.

The fact that I read through til the end suggests the story was still interesting enough. A lot of it was trash - but it was all the stuff that was trying to be other authors' ideas. The unique directions the story took actually kept me interested, so my main problem with this book was the taint of trying too hard to be like everyone else.

The author has talent and unique ideas, so I think if she focuses more on her own voice there's the potential to create some really strong stories in the future. With more attention to world-building and unique storytelling, this could be a real winner. Just needs to dial back the rubbish romance, create more believable characters and spend some more time crafting a dynamic plot.

This book was reviewed at the author's request. Many thanks for my e-copy.

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