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cosmic333's review against another edition
3.0
Drawn Together illustrates the relationship between the writer and illustrator of a comic book. The flow begins a bit hard to read, yet the story plays out to be interesting as the difficulties between the two characters evolve.
kthomas4415's review against another edition
1.0
**1.5 stars**
**I was sent this book via NetGalley and Book Enthusiast Promotions in return for an honest review**
Rating: 1.5/5 stars
Genre: LGBTQ/New Adult- a little too intense for YA
Summary:
Young Zoe Glenn and Dion Rivera have teamed up together to create an epic novel with illustrations and combining their given talents. Zoe lives in Boston and communicates mostly with Dion via emails and sometimes phone conversation. It is made clear from the start that they both have admiration towards each other and have great respect for the other.
Things get complicated when Dion’s wife Kerry starts to become jealous and more manic and abusive than her normal state. Dion has to struggle with balancing the project with Zoe, keeping her wife off the ledge and meeting the requirements for her other projects and deadlines.
Dion has to rely on the bond of friendship, love and family to get her to a safe space in her life, but the road to that safety may be deadly.
Review: **Spoilers**
I am not even sure where to really start with this book. Domestic Abuse both in context and story telling, the mafia, vague LGBT backstory, weird and hard to follow dialogue and most importantly the intense overuse of the word “baby” the last 20 pages.
Characters: Generally speaking, I enjoyed the main characters Dion and Zoe but felt that they lacked both guts and intelligence. It is quite obvious through the entire book that Dion is a victim of domestic violence and that Kerry is a horrible horrible person. During a vague backstory of a mysterious “assault” that occurred with Dion falling as the victim and needing to rely on Kerry to care for her, there is this sense that Dion owes Kerry for what she has done. I call bull. How could Dion go through this abuse both verbally and physically each and every day and not have any red flags? Her concern was for her horrible wife’s mother who was ill, any why was she the power of attorney for medical reason-side note, and then not wanting to “poke the bear” and make Kerry upset. Again, I call bull. Then there is Zoe. A character that was written with the perspective and mindset and in fact language of a teenager. Unreliable, immature and downright boring is how I felt about her chapters. Why in the heck did it take so long for her to help Dion? Why did she not contact the police sooner and If they were such good “friends” why didn’t she speak freely and honestly. She obviously was aware of things that were going on in Dion’s life and knew how much of a schmuck both Kerry and Bruce were- why did she not speak up? The same goes for Dion, why didn’t she feel safe enough to talk about it with their insta-bestfriendship? Blah.
Then there was the awful, horrible, disgusting Kerry. Her character was not only downright horrible, she was just crazy. To make her even more disliked, the author threw in a super off color side plot of Kerry having an affair with someone named Kate? There is no explanation to this story, only that Kate is Bruce’s brother and all of Kate’s life is coming from the checkbook of Kerry and Dion. That was un-needed completely to push the story along due to the fact that she has no purpose or no effect on the entire story line. Well, other than the fact that you hate her by proxy.
The only redeeming characters in this book were the ones with the least lines- Her lesbian neighbors, her bother Jason and her uncle Bill. All had powerful voices, love for Dion and were strong enough to do the right thing. Was that so hard to continue through the story?
Plot: The story for me was slow and hard to get through. I could appreciate some of the dialogue and am a fan of communication via text/email because it has the possibility to be witty and daring, this fell short majorly in this book. Both characters came off as insecure and again immature- while both were told as being working professionals high up in their industries. I found the story line unreliable, was Kerry going to kill her with a gun, kill Zoe with a gun, kill everyone in a car accident or how about we address the issue that SHE WAS POISONING DION THE ENTIRE TIME! I mean COME ON WOMAN! Your tea tastes funny.. on multiple occasions.. and instantly after you drink it, both before and after your concussion, you get so tired that you sleep for almost entire DAYS at a time. We aren’t going to talk about this? No.. ok then. How about the fact that Dion was being held captive, starved and abused in her own apartment and no one thinks to check on her in person? No.. alright.
Obviously this book was not for me. The story line lacked drive, attention to detail and missed some major plot summary points for me. I almost liked where the book was headed when they got Mrs. Riverea involved (first time introduced and put in the book for 2 pages) along with Zoe and Jason and the last ditch effort to save Dion’s life. Then nothing. No resolution. No punishment for Kerry and all the horrible things she did. She just walked away, out of their lives and never pursued Dion any further, contrary to the threats she made ever other page. Lastly, to put the giant crap cherry on top, I had to read the word “baby” about 67 times the last part of the book once Dion and Zoe came to terms with their feelings. We get it. They love each other. A lot. Doesn’t mean that they can ONLY call each other “baby” as a pet name to validate their feelings.
Ugh. I had such high hopes for this book with my love for LGBT literature and graphic novels but it fell WAY short for me. I am not sure if I will even give this author another try.
**I was sent this book via NetGalley and Book Enthusiast Promotions in return for an honest review**
Rating: 1.5/5 stars
Genre: LGBTQ/New Adult- a little too intense for YA
Summary:
Young Zoe Glenn and Dion Rivera have teamed up together to create an epic novel with illustrations and combining their given talents. Zoe lives in Boston and communicates mostly with Dion via emails and sometimes phone conversation. It is made clear from the start that they both have admiration towards each other and have great respect for the other.
Things get complicated when Dion’s wife Kerry starts to become jealous and more manic and abusive than her normal state. Dion has to struggle with balancing the project with Zoe, keeping her wife off the ledge and meeting the requirements for her other projects and deadlines.
Dion has to rely on the bond of friendship, love and family to get her to a safe space in her life, but the road to that safety may be deadly.
Review: **Spoilers**
I am not even sure where to really start with this book. Domestic Abuse both in context and story telling, the mafia, vague LGBT backstory, weird and hard to follow dialogue and most importantly the intense overuse of the word “baby” the last 20 pages.
Characters: Generally speaking, I enjoyed the main characters Dion and Zoe but felt that they lacked both guts and intelligence. It is quite obvious through the entire book that Dion is a victim of domestic violence and that Kerry is a horrible horrible person. During a vague backstory of a mysterious “assault” that occurred with Dion falling as the victim and needing to rely on Kerry to care for her, there is this sense that Dion owes Kerry for what she has done. I call bull. How could Dion go through this abuse both verbally and physically each and every day and not have any red flags? Her concern was for her horrible wife’s mother who was ill, any why was she the power of attorney for medical reason-side note, and then not wanting to “poke the bear” and make Kerry upset. Again, I call bull. Then there is Zoe. A character that was written with the perspective and mindset and in fact language of a teenager. Unreliable, immature and downright boring is how I felt about her chapters. Why in the heck did it take so long for her to help Dion? Why did she not contact the police sooner and If they were such good “friends” why didn’t she speak freely and honestly. She obviously was aware of things that were going on in Dion’s life and knew how much of a schmuck both Kerry and Bruce were- why did she not speak up? The same goes for Dion, why didn’t she feel safe enough to talk about it with their insta-bestfriendship? Blah.
Then there was the awful, horrible, disgusting Kerry. Her character was not only downright horrible, she was just crazy. To make her even more disliked, the author threw in a super off color side plot of Kerry having an affair with someone named Kate? There is no explanation to this story, only that Kate is Bruce’s brother and all of Kate’s life is coming from the checkbook of Kerry and Dion. That was un-needed completely to push the story along due to the fact that she has no purpose or no effect on the entire story line. Well, other than the fact that you hate her by proxy.
The only redeeming characters in this book were the ones with the least lines- Her lesbian neighbors, her bother Jason and her uncle Bill. All had powerful voices, love for Dion and were strong enough to do the right thing. Was that so hard to continue through the story?
Plot: The story for me was slow and hard to get through. I could appreciate some of the dialogue and am a fan of communication via text/email because it has the possibility to be witty and daring, this fell short majorly in this book. Both characters came off as insecure and again immature- while both were told as being working professionals high up in their industries. I found the story line unreliable, was Kerry going to kill her with a gun, kill Zoe with a gun, kill everyone in a car accident or how about we address the issue that SHE WAS POISONING DION THE ENTIRE TIME! I mean COME ON WOMAN! Your tea tastes funny.. on multiple occasions.. and instantly after you drink it, both before and after your concussion, you get so tired that you sleep for almost entire DAYS at a time. We aren’t going to talk about this? No.. ok then. How about the fact that Dion was being held captive, starved and abused in her own apartment and no one thinks to check on her in person? No.. alright.
Obviously this book was not for me. The story line lacked drive, attention to detail and missed some major plot summary points for me. I almost liked where the book was headed when they got Mrs. Riverea involved (first time introduced and put in the book for 2 pages) along with Zoe and Jason and the last ditch effort to save Dion’s life. Then nothing. No resolution. No punishment for Kerry and all the horrible things she did. She just walked away, out of their lives and never pursued Dion any further, contrary to the threats she made ever other page. Lastly, to put the giant crap cherry on top, I had to read the word “baby” about 67 times the last part of the book once Dion and Zoe came to terms with their feelings. We get it. They love each other. A lot. Doesn’t mean that they can ONLY call each other “baby” as a pet name to validate their feelings.
Ugh. I had such high hopes for this book with my love for LGBT literature and graphic novels but it fell WAY short for me. I am not sure if I will even give this author another try.
hhushaw's review against another edition
2.0
An honest review thanks to NetGalley. I tried to like this book, I did, but I just did not connect. It was a struggle to finish, for some people this book may be amazing. I just didn't the connection. I had a major problem with Kerry, the abusive relationship could have been a good addition to the plot, but I felt so much was missing. What happened when she saved Dion from the assault? How did they get together, and what about Kate? I felt so much was unsaid that I was just reading words instead of a story with a plot.
booksgamesvinyl's review against another edition
2.0
trigger warnings for: rape, self harm mentions, severe emotional abuse throughout
This book absolutely infuriated me.
The blurb doesn't really match the book. This story is all about a woman in an abusive relationship who tries to get out of it (and sometimes stay in it) with the help of her family and the woman she's fallen for. This is not a cutesy fandom book at all and that disappointed me a little.
I honestly think Kerry is possibly my least favourite character out of any book I've ever read. She was well and truly despicable. She had zero redeeming features and I have no idea why Dion was with her, let alone why she was married to her. Making Kerry the bad guy didn't really make me root for Dion and Zoey though, so if that was Glass' intentions then she failed.
Zoey seemed to have the realisation that she was in love with Dion about three times in this book. It made no sense to me at all. I thought I was having deja vu when she kept saying she loved her, but no, she had to keep reiterating it. Then when they finally told each other they loved each other and immediately started with the pet names; it didn't feel real or organic at all. They couldn't go five seconds without saying 'I love you' or calling each other baby. They felt more like teenagers than adult women and it just did not feel believable to me.
I've given this two stars rather than one, because it was a f/f romance with a happy ending and the premise of a writer and artist developing from a professional relationship to a personal one was a nice concept, but this is an overly dramatic and tedious book.
This book absolutely infuriated me.
The blurb doesn't really match the book. This story is all about a woman in an abusive relationship who tries to get out of it (and sometimes stay in it) with the help of her family and the woman she's fallen for. This is not a cutesy fandom book at all and that disappointed me a little.
I honestly think Kerry is possibly my least favourite character out of any book I've ever read. She was well and truly despicable. She had zero redeeming features and I have no idea why Dion was with her, let alone why she was married to her. Making Kerry the bad guy didn't really make me root for Dion and Zoey though, so if that was Glass' intentions then she failed.
Zoey seemed to have the realisation that she was in love with Dion about three times in this book. It made no sense to me at all. I thought I was having deja vu when she kept saying she loved her, but no, she had to keep reiterating it. Then when they finally told each other they loved each other and immediately started with the pet names; it didn't feel real or organic at all. They couldn't go five seconds without saying 'I love you' or calling each other baby. They felt more like teenagers than adult women and it just did not feel believable to me.
I've given this two stars rather than one, because it was a f/f romance with a happy ending and the premise of a writer and artist developing from a professional relationship to a personal one was a nice concept, but this is an overly dramatic and tedious book.
kovost's review
1.0
I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I hate when I don't enjoy an ARC, but this book was just too much for me and not at all in a good way. There were a lot of elements right from the start that I was uncomfortable with and didn't like in the least. A lot of the things that made me uncomfortable were things to play into the point of the plot, but I kind of went into the book thinking that it was just kinda gonna be about two people coming together and overcoming certain situations—not all these other things. I wasn't expecting what I got, which constitutes as a thriller (I think, but don't hold me to that), and I'm not sure what works better: going into a book absolutely blind or going into it knowing that it's a certain type of genre. I don't know if it was on purpose or what, but as someone that generally likes to be prepared for any type of genre, I didn't like going in blind and basically getting punched in the face. It wasn't a good plot twist maneuver for me. I didn't like going into thinking it was one thing and getting handed something entirely different—especially since so much of it made me uncomfortable.
On top of this, the writing style falls flat. More often than not, it felt like I was being told how the character feels which makes it very hard to be invested into anything happening. Therefore I lack the empathy I'm sure Glass wanted me to feel towards both women in any situation, which leads to a very dull experience that I kind of just wanted to end. Plus, it's hard to care about any of the info dump when I have no grasp whatsoever on the characters—which Glass did right from the start. It was overwhelming and immediately put me off, honestly. It made it hard for me to even have the desire to get into the book.
Glass also tends to give too much detail. It feels as if a lot of scenes were in the book simply for the sake of bulking up the word count as a lot of things didn't have any real point to benefit the story line, nor was I interested enough in the book or characters to appreciate just random little details. I also don't care about any character, not even my favorite on this planet, enough to be entertained during a shower scene. And another thing that didn't benefit the book at all was the unnatural dialogue. If I read this book out loud, everything would sound so chopped and forced. It's honestly cringe-worthy.
I really wanted to like this book because I live for good wlw books/representation, but so many things in this book just didn't do it for me and actually kind of killed it. I feel like there was a lot of potential but it wasn't met, and I feel so awful. I feel awful literally whenever I write bad reviews because I hate being that person—but at the end of this, I just wasn't satisfied with this book at all. I really only finished it out of obligation because I would have felt even worse just throwing it on my DNF shelf. It's not a book that I would recommend to anyone searching for wlw/LGBT+ books, or even a decent thriller.
I hate when I don't enjoy an ARC, but this book was just too much for me and not at all in a good way. There were a lot of elements right from the start that I was uncomfortable with and didn't like in the least. A lot of the things that made me uncomfortable were things to play into the point of the plot, but I kind of went into the book thinking that it was just kinda gonna be about two people coming together and overcoming certain situations—not all these other things
Spoiler
such as abuse, cheating, manipulation and plottingOn top of this, the writing style falls flat. More often than not, it felt like I was being told how the character feels which makes it very hard to be invested into anything happening. Therefore I lack the empathy I'm sure Glass wanted me to feel towards both women in any situation, which leads to a very dull experience that I kind of just wanted to end. Plus, it's hard to care about any of the info dump when I have no grasp whatsoever on the characters—which Glass did right from the start. It was overwhelming and immediately put me off, honestly. It made it hard for me to even have the desire to get into the book.
Glass also tends to give too much detail. It feels as if a lot of scenes were in the book simply for the sake of bulking up the word count as a lot of things didn't have any real point to benefit the story line, nor was I interested enough in the book or characters to appreciate just random little details. I also don't care about any character, not even my favorite on this planet, enough to be entertained during a shower scene. And another thing that didn't benefit the book at all was the unnatural dialogue. If I read this book out loud, everything would sound so chopped and forced. It's honestly cringe-worthy.
Spoiler
Something felt really off about the way Dion and Zoey started calling each other pet names in like 0.5 seconds after Dion professed her love to Zoey. So. Many. Pet names. In less than four paragraphs, I swear to god. It was too much and so unnatural.I really wanted to like this book because I live for good wlw books/representation, but so many things in this book just didn't do it for me and actually kind of killed it. I feel like there was a lot of potential but it wasn't met, and I feel so awful. I feel awful literally whenever I write bad reviews because I hate being that person—but at the end of this, I just wasn't satisfied with this book at all. I really only finished it out of obligation because I would have felt even worse just throwing it on my DNF shelf. It's not a book that I would recommend to anyone searching for wlw/LGBT+ books, or even a decent thriller.
fiendfull's review against another edition
2.0
Drawn Together is a dark novel about an abusive relationship and finding a light to escape it. It is also about creative collaboration and meeting the right person, though it is the darker themes that hit hardest. From the blurb, the book seemed that it would be much lighter than it turned out to be, which was a bit of an issue considering that the novel features abuse and descriptions of rape and self harm.
The novel was a decent read, though the ending felt a little rushed and it would've been nice to hear more about the aftermath and discussions of earlier elements of the novel, particularly parts of the abuse that are clear to the reader but not the character. It felt a bit too flat and sugary, after the harsh reality of the middle of the book. Having the narration switch between the two main characters as their new connection deepens was a good way to see how they each reacted and viewed events, particularly with the inclusion of emails and texts as well. Though this technique meant for more details about Zoey and Dion than might have been given otherwise, I would've still liked more.
Drawn Together is a promising book, with an interesting initial set up, but the ending may disappoint those looking for something a bit more substantial. The heavy subject matter and extended presentation of abuse means that this is not a novel for everyone, but it is one that deals with major issues.
The novel was a decent read, though the ending felt a little rushed and it would've been nice to hear more about the aftermath and discussions of earlier elements of the novel, particularly parts of the abuse that are clear to the reader but not the character. It felt a bit too flat and sugary, after the harsh reality of the middle of the book. Having the narration switch between the two main characters as their new connection deepens was a good way to see how they each reacted and viewed events, particularly with the inclusion of emails and texts as well. Though this technique meant for more details about Zoey and Dion than might have been given otherwise, I would've still liked more.
Drawn Together is a promising book, with an interesting initial set up, but the ending may disappoint those looking for something a bit more substantial. The heavy subject matter and extended presentation of abuse means that this is not a novel for everyone, but it is one that deals with major issues.
wickedregal's review against another edition
1.0
***ARC from YLVA Publishing***
I truly tried to like this book, but the way the writing was delivered, it was too distracting and scattered to connect to the book or the characters, in my opinion. Also a lot of repetitive words and sentences that I didn’t find necessary and seemed to clutter the writing. The changing back and forth of first person perspective between the two main ladies was confusing as well, as the chapters would start out with ‘I…’ and I wouldn’t know who the ‘I’ was until halfway through the page. The characters seemed to just ramble and it became a bit annoying. The writing was also broken up way too much with going between the actual story the reader is supposed to be reading, then the blogs the one character was writing, then the characters story she is writing, chats between characters, etc. Just honestly, not to even remotely be able to grasp the characters due to the writing style was enough to make this a no go for me.
I truly tried to like this book, but the way the writing was delivered, it was too distracting and scattered to connect to the book or the characters, in my opinion. Also a lot of repetitive words and sentences that I didn’t find necessary and seemed to clutter the writing. The changing back and forth of first person perspective between the two main ladies was confusing as well, as the chapters would start out with ‘I…’ and I wouldn’t know who the ‘I’ was until halfway through the page. The characters seemed to just ramble and it became a bit annoying. The writing was also broken up way too much with going between the actual story the reader is supposed to be reading, then the blogs the one character was writing, then the characters story she is writing, chats between characters, etc. Just honestly, not to even remotely be able to grasp the characters due to the writing style was enough to make this a no go for me.
jmanchester0's review against another edition
4.0
Of course, it was the comics subtext that pulled me in, but I really did get drawn into this love story. (HA!)
I really enjoyed the writing and the characters were well-formed. Probably the only thing that really bothered me is that there wasn't much gray. The protagonists were good and virtuous, and the antagonists were pretty much evil.
But maybe sometimes it's nice to see a little black and white in my fiction. There's a whole lot of gray out there now.
Thanks to NetGalley and Book Enthusiast for a copy in return for an honest review.
I really enjoyed the writing and the characters were well-formed. Probably the only thing that really bothered me is that there wasn't much gray. The protagonists were good and virtuous, and the antagonists were pretty much evil.
But maybe sometimes it's nice to see a little black and white in my fiction. There's a whole lot of gray out there now.
Thanks to NetGalley and Book Enthusiast for a copy in return for an honest review.
booksgamesvinyl's review
2.0
trigger warnings for: rape, self harm mentions, severe emotional abuse throughout
This book absolutely infuriated me.
The blurb doesn't really match the book. This story is all about a woman in an abusive relationship who tries to get out of it (and sometimes stay in it) with the help of her family and the woman she's fallen for. This is not a cutesy fandom book at all and that disappointed me a little.
I honestly think Kerry is possibly my least favourite character out of any book I've ever read. She was well and truly despicable. She had zero redeeming features and I have no idea why Dion was with her, let alone why she was married to her. Making Kerry the bad guy didn't really make me root for Dion and Zoey though, so if that was Glass' intentions then she failed.
Zoey seemed to have the realisation that she was in love with Dion about three times in this book. It made no sense to me at all. I thought I was having deja vu when she kept saying she loved her, but no, she had to keep reiterating it. Then when they finally told each other they loved each other and immediately started with the pet names; it didn't feel real or organic at all. They couldn't go five seconds without saying 'I love you' or calling each other baby. They felt more like teenagers than adult women and it just did not feel believable to me.
I've given this two stars rather than one, because it was a f/f romance with a happy ending and the premise of a writer and artist developing from a professional relationship to a personal one was a nice concept, but this is an overly dramatic and tedious book.
This book absolutely infuriated me.
The blurb doesn't really match the book. This story is all about a woman in an abusive relationship who tries to get out of it (and sometimes stay in it) with the help of her family and the woman she's fallen for. This is not a cutesy fandom book at all and that disappointed me a little.
I honestly think Kerry is possibly my least favourite character out of any book I've ever read. She was well and truly despicable. She had zero redeeming features and I have no idea why Dion was with her, let alone why she was married to her. Making Kerry the bad guy didn't really make me root for Dion and Zoey though, so if that was Glass' intentions then she failed.
Zoey seemed to have the realisation that she was in love with Dion about three times in this book. It made no sense to me at all. I thought I was having deja vu when she kept saying she loved her, but no, she had to keep reiterating it. Then when they finally told each other they loved each other and immediately started with the pet names; it didn't feel real or organic at all. They couldn't go five seconds without saying 'I love you' or calling each other baby. They felt more like teenagers than adult women and it just did not feel believable to me.
I've given this two stars rather than one, because it was a f/f romance with a happy ending and the premise of a writer and artist developing from a professional relationship to a personal one was a nice concept, but this is an overly dramatic and tedious book.
jediroot's review
3.0
Wow, this book is intense. I liked the story overall, but it does have some issues that bother me. I'll start with the things I liked about this book first. Both main characters, Dion and Zoey, are well written. Their personalities are different, yet I can feel the strong connection between them based on their dialogue. I really liked how the author used modern communication technology such as e-mail, blogs, text, etc. in the story. I think the format she used to separate each is pretty clear and easy to follow. I think the whole abuse issue is well handled in the story and the author showed how the characters suffered from it and how to break away. The abuse is much more psychological and emotional than physical (still have some). I didn't notice the abuse until little later as I learned more about Dion's relationship with her wife. I think that is important to read and it is hard to read through, but people do suffer in real life and the story reflects that well in my opinion.
Now, the things I feel could be improved. The characters' physical characters are almost nonexistent. I have little to no idea what they all look like and what are their styles. I can only remember one short description of clothes when they went to a comic con and that was it. I'm sure there are few more times the description was included but I can't remember at this time. Showing the characters' physical features can add a 3-d feel to them, and not seems so "flat" and less real.
Another thing is the ending is wrapped up bit too quickly and easily for my taste. I'm not going to spoil it but I didn't get the sense of closure on the abuse issue. Maybe that is the author's intention, not sure. There is still a happy ending though, so that is good.
I received ARC from Ylva in exchange for my honest review.
Now, the things I feel could be improved. The characters' physical characters are almost nonexistent. I have little to no idea what they all look like and what are their styles. I can only remember one short description of clothes when they went to a comic con and that was it. I'm sure there are few more times the description was included but I can't remember at this time. Showing the characters' physical features can add a 3-d feel to them, and not seems so "flat" and less real.
Another thing is the ending is wrapped up bit too quickly and easily for my taste. I'm not going to spoil it but I didn't get the sense of closure on the abuse issue. Maybe that is the author's intention, not sure. There is still a happy ending though, so that is good.
I received ARC from Ylva in exchange for my honest review.
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