Riot House
Reviews
3.75⭐️
4.5 ⭐️
4.5 ⭐️
I loved this book! It was a great debut. I didn’t read any books from Callie Hart but now I am going to read all of them! The characters are well built and I loved how their relationship was portraited. And the plot? Amazing! Can’t wait for the next one.
3.75 Stars I overall really enjoyed this book and it was really easy to get into right from the first chapter. The dark academia vibes were everything I didn't know I was looking for in a book right now but they just hit that perfect sweetspot for me. I think I'm just in the mood for more dark and atmospheric reads. I've enjoyed Callie Hart's book in the past and one thing for sure is she knows how to write some great characters and dark romances. I love it sometimes when a book has an edge of mystery and keeps you guessing. You just know there are so many secrets it's holding back waiting to be discovered, and that build up and anticipation adds something extra. Unfortunately, I did find that the book fell flat around the end it just didn't match the expectations that I had built up throughout my time reading it. Elodie and Wren though had a great intensity to their interactions, and the duel pov was great to see them both trying to figure the other out. I really did like them together and the fact it was a bit of a slow burn is always a weakness for me. I can definitely see myself reading other books in this series despite being a bit let down by the fairly predictable reveal.
I really liked the whole dynamic between elodie and wren The writing was fun as well... Good read
** spoiler alert ** the set up for this was kind of interesting with the moody atmosphere and the mysteries surrounding the school and characters. However, I really hated the way the main character's trauma was portrayed in addition to her lack of strength as a character. I was okay with this being a slightly confusing but relatively typical NA read, but the ending completely changed my view of the book. The reveal of the older male teacher as the villain completely fell into an array of homophobic tropes. I began to search through other reviews to see if there were any critiques of the villain being a gay teacher who was obsessive, predatory regarding a minor and insane but it appears for the most part that it went over most readers heads. These kind of cliches play into traditional poor representation of the community in which queer characters cannot exist without being portrayed as villainous and immoral for their same-sex attraction and I'm absolutely lost as to why the author, publisher and readers have presumed it to be acceptable. I feel like I definitely could have framed or worded this better in a clearer headspace but I just had to get my thoughts out.
Rating: 4 Stars - Loved It I fell in love with Callie Hart, Blood and Roses series with Zeth and Sloane. Curious how she would write a New Adult, Bully Romance. Loved Riot House (Crooked Sinners #1). Elodie and Wren had great chemistry. The angst was good with just enough for me. Loved their banter and she can hold her own with him. The school and the surrounding area and The Riot House that Wren and his friends lived in were a great backdrop. The mystery in the plot just added to their story and did not see that awesome twist. Totally had my own idea and was so off.
4.5 ⭐️ Loved it very good. Plot twists left and right giving me whiplash. Loved Elodie and Wren, especially their bonding and her not being afraid of him. Very mature in my opinion. Dealt with some heavy topics so look up trigger warnings to this just to be prepared. Plot was really good as well I loved the dual POVs inner monologue the pining the longing yes yes yes. Very good dark romance book
Hooooly shitballs, y’all! This was so so good!
Highlights
“You know why. Because I’ve found my person now. In case you haven’t realized it yet, you are endgame for me, Elodie Stillwater. And everyone else in the entire world can go and eat a dick.”
stupid fucking girl.
Careless...
Reckless...
Thoughtless..
I flinch away from each word
We might think we want someone kind and caring to dote on us, but the moment that becomes a reality, we run for the hills.
"Or maybe you'll see that I am a monster. And maybe you'll fall in love with me anyway."
"My heart's a grenade. It's safer where it is, locked in its cage. You take it outta there and you're essentially pulling the pin."
"What happens then?"
"I don't know. No one's ever tried."
"Like all the best artists, he was pretty fucked up"
"That poem didn't sound fucked up. It sounded sad."
We trade secrets and kisses and breath, and we hide away from the world, making sure no one knows when we're together.
She's everything good and light in this world and being in her presence is like emerging from a prison cell after so many long, dark years and finally feeling the sun on my face.
That was some other kid.
None of it matters because that wasn't my life.
Did that many days really blur into one another? How could I, could anyone, survive something like that without losingtheir minds?
But then again, have I kept mine?
"I couldn't understand it at first. But then I began to see the self-loathing in his eyes. He wanted me to be able to protect myself. From him. I think he always worried that...that he might do it again."
Unfortunately, her horror stories only taught me one lesson: that the best way not to fear a monster was to become one.
ľ'm yours. I'll be your weak and pathetic plaything You can use and abuse me how you see fit. I'll still be here, asking for more.
He hurt me today. He put his hand around my throat and for a second, I could see it in his eyes. He wanted to snap my neck. For a second, he dug his fingers into my skin, and I saw the violence inside of him. It was scary.
I've floated through the day, so numb and detached from my surroundings, that I haven't taken a beat to analyze whether I'm afraid of him now. Worryingly... I don't think that i am.
Who cares what Wren does or doesn't do?" "Me. I do. He made me fall in love with him and now I fucking care. It's the worst thing that's ever happened to me."
I just can't stop loving him. It's an obsession, thought I could handle him caring about someone new but it's impossible.
I've reclaimed a small part of myself that was taken away from me.
is he who I thought he was at all?
I just hope he doesn't hurt me. Sometimes, when I'm lying in his arms, I feel like he might do something crazy. His mood swings can be frightening.
She thinks he's too broken to feel anything at all, but I've experienced things with him she can't even begin to imagine. The closeness. The way he makes me feel when he tells me that he loves me. He's not who people think he is.
There are times, though. Times when he looks at me like he wants to pull my soul right out of my body.
they'd never have been able to capture true desolation and sorrow without enduring the kind of suffering that can only come from lost love.
I always thought I'd find ultimate happiness within the pages of a book. I've been so convinced of that fact that I've devoted so much of my life to disappearing inside them, searching for that which has always eluded me.