Name: Ana Belén's review of Chasing River by M C Sakala
Item: Chasing River
Rating: 0.5
Author: Ana Belén

M C Sakala

Lips of honey and eyes of fire. Armani Nnandi was always the good girl. She was always the girl with the perfect grades, the one who never broke the rules and almost never went out. She thrived off of academic validation always striving for the top spot and nothing less. Her parents expected nothing less of perfection from her and she'd always known it, what kind of daughter would she be if she were to ever let them down? But what happens when she gets cast away to one of the most prestigious art academies in France all on her own, no parents, no rules and all the freedom she could've ever asked for. But rumor has it that something's not quite right at St Kathrines, that there's doors opening past midnight, pathways that lead to nowhere and hushed secrets. Armani is about to learn that sometimes the skeletons hidden in one's closet tend to resurrect. Armani made herself and her parents one simple promise, no boys until after college. But that was until she found herself entangled in the beautiful chaos that was her art class rival River Kennedy. It was clear that he was one of God's favorites, with silvery blue eyes and looks that could kill-he was art. But every masterpiece has a story behind it, and River's happened to be crashing into him and drowning him all at once.

Chasing River

Julia

i feel like a lot of reviews start this way, but i do have to say: i’d like to have enjoyed this book. i love cheesy romances with all my heart, so that is not at all what turned me off.

what i liked best about this book was armani describing her relationship with her family and the feeling of missing kenya. i honestly connected with that and found those passages powerful in its vulnerability in a way. her not being able to see her grandma was sick hit close to home for real.

however, that’s the only thing that i could really take away from this book. 

i felt that the conversations and dialogues were forced and over the top telenovela-ish. also, the whole beginning where armani is psychoanalyzing river? that is straight out of a tumblr 2015 angsty teenager post. nobody talks that way. [i‘m aware that this is a book, but c‘mon]. 

now onto river’s back story. i suspected from the beginning that jace was his tragic first love. i wanted to like the author’s choice in making river bisexual as i feel like i haven‘t read about a lot of bi men in heterosexual relationships. it just felt ingenuine to me. i don't know as a queer person it just felt icky to me that one of the only queer characters would be dead [r.e. bury the gays trope]. 

i‘ll stop here because i don‘t want to be too harsh.

Ana Belén

i feel like a lot of reviews start this way, but i do have to say: i’d like to have enjoyed this book. i love cheesy romances with all my heart, so that is not at all what turned me off.

what i liked best about this book was armani describing her relationship with her family and the feeling of missing kenya. i honestly connected with that and found those passages powerful in its vulnerability in a way. her not being able to see her grandma was sick hit close to home for real.

however, that’s the only thing that i could really take away from this book. 

i felt that the conversations and dialogues were forced and over the top telenovela-ish. also, the whole beginning where armani is psychoanalyzing river? that is straight out of a tumblr 2015 angsty teenager post. nobody talks that way. [i‘m aware that this is a book, but c‘mon]. 

now onto river’s back story. i suspected from the beginning that jace was his tragic first love. i wanted to like the author’s choice in making river bisexual as i feel like i haven‘t read about a lot of bi men in heterosexual relationships. it just felt ingenuine to me. i don't know as a queer person it just felt icky to me that one of the only queer characters would be dead [r.e. bury the gays trope]. 

i‘ll stop here because i don‘t want to be too harsh.



Julia &
Chasing River by M C Sakala

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Julia &Chasing River by M C Sakala

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Julia &
Chasing River by M C Sakala