Tag Archives: enemies to lovers

Violet: When in Doubt, Stab Him

Posted by Seriah Black Sheep on

Violet Made of Thorns (Violet Made of Thorns, #1)Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My Summary:
Violet is a rags-to-famous fortune-telling prophetess who purposely thwarted the crown prince’s death destiny during childhood on the streets to make her own life better. Where that’s gotten her is under the king’s thumb, where she can’t say no and has to lie to the populace for a living for the king’s political gain. She lives under the shadow of a prophecy that the previous occupant of her position gave without explanation. When Violet discovers the answer to the prophecy is ransoming the prince’s stolen life back to the Fates, she can’t decide whether it’s in her best interest. Meanwhile, Prince Cyrus, who is ambiguously uninterested romantically in both women and men, can’t decide whether to throw Violet out on the street, trade her away for another seer, or get under her skirts…or a combination thereof. As the charismatic Cyrus is forced into a Cinderella ball where a blind date set up by his father threatens to overwrite his real destined bride, a witch plots to steer Violet’s visions to create a future where corruption magic reigns supreme. Under threat of a conquest-hungry dying king, fairy forest beasts, and more than one imposter, Violet struggles to understand who she is, what occupational knowledge for her profession has been lost, and whether love can exist without trust.

This is a romantic high fantasy beauty and the beast retelling that takes place entirely within one city. It has just as much a New Adult feel to it as Young Adult, though technically it is upper YA. You don’t have to know anything about the Fates, but I kind of wish I did. I drew heavily on my Fates knowledge from Stephanie Garber’s Caraval series. I would not be surprised, based on the ending, if this book gets a sequel.

My Thoughts:
This is the first book I’ve been able to speed-read and binge-read in a long time, and that’s a compliment. The heroine is snarky, and the prince snarks right back, making for a hate-lust combo that is hard to beat. Definitely squarely in the enemies-to-lovers trope. The roses-forest-wolfbeast combo is inventive, and the main character was classified as a seer and not a witch, except when it was construed that others might have a negative image of her. Considering the recent fads of overloading readers with witchcraft, I was relieved to see magic and threads of fate used in a way that I could enjoy them without being forced into a religious vise.

If you think the snarky characters will suddenly have a change of heart on the meaning of snark, you’re mistaken. I was impressed with the consistency of the characters’ personalities throughout the book without ever making it boring. Even the comic relief characters, like Camilla, never felt like they were there just for the sake of diversity or random humor.

One thing this book did do very well was diversity, without beating me over the head with it. Various elements of world cultures were integrated with the Fantasy in a realistic, believable manner that added to the world rather than distracting from the plot.

Another thing done very well was the narrative language of the book. Concise word-pictures were consistent and everywhere. I was able to read them quickly while still getting the full effects. I marveled at how many ways Chen avoided falling into the kinds of overuse of synonym or sentence structure patterns that plague my writing drafts.

What got confusing was Cyrus’ romantic preferences. I spent the first half of the book thinking he was asexual and only trying to find a bride because the king was pushing him. I had guessed that the heroine had to be an exception somehow, because of the prophecy and because it’s a fairy tale retelling. I was very confused about how he felt about Dante due to a later remark by Cyrus. I suspected he had always liked Violet, but none of that made sense until Cyrus said it himself, which took a really long time and I almost didn’t believe him by then, and then I only sort of bought in because he A) must have been covering up that he liked Violet the entire time he was around her from childhood, and B) still wanted to marry her after she tried to kill him…which was a little weird.

What I have mixed feelings about were the sex scenes. I understand that the age category is YA, which often involves censoring. The feel of the characters and the tone of the book were not lost in these scenes; rather, they hit all the right buttons, and I was super engrossed in reading them. But sometimes, because the language was only allowed to insinuate, I got confused. I thought Cyrus was touching her leg, or her stomach through the clothing, but that was not what was happening at all, and I only realized that because Violet’s reaction was disproportionate to what I had assumed was transpiring. If a younger reader picks up the book, they may not catch that they went all the way (or at least, I think they did; again, purposefully ambiguous due to language structure). But any adult who has read a blatant sex scene will figure it out. Either way, waaaaay better than some of the blackout scenes I’ve seen.

Consensus:
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves fairy tale retellings, beauty and the beast and Cinderella in particular, and enemies-to-lovers. If you’re hoping the heroine will turn out to be “a nice girl” and Prince Charming will be non-playboy charming, this isn’t the book for you. But if you enjoy quick wit and quick narrative pacing, and a heroine who has seen the ugly side of the world and is smart and scrappy enough to take nothing at face value, and if you understand that redemption is a long road, this book makes for quite a thrilling read.

If you’re squeamish about blood magic via self-injury, though, maybe think twice.

View all my reviews

Revenge Plotting: When Revenge Doesn’t Have Plot Points

Posted by Seriah Black Sheep on

What do you do when you realize your antihero’s revenge isn’t just an embellishment, it’s the plot of your novel?

Why, look up revenge plotting resources, to make sure you hit all the main points, of course. Until you find out there aren’t any.

Revenge is a trope readers and viewers know well. Classic examples are William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the Jason Bourne movie series, and the TV show, Revenge. Clearly, the revenge trope can overtake an entire plot. So, why has no one converted the Hero’s Journey or the traditional plot arc into a map for writers to follow?

My best guess is it’s because revenge is an emotional motivation, and most people aren’t brave enough or foolish enough to try to logic out a string of emotions into a plan. Yet, isn’t that the essence of a revenge story? Isn’t that what the protagonist is doing in their head every step of the way?

The setup only gets worse when you’re writing a Revenge Romance. How can the setup of a known trope, in such a definitive genre, be so blurry?

Here is what articles have said:

  • Essential Archetypes: Victim, Villain, Avenger
  • The protagonist has to become an outlaw for the sake of revenge
  • The Victim died
  • The law doesn’t work; justice is not served
  • The Victim’s death is the inciting incident
  • Show the hero’s normal life before the victimizing event
  • Make the reader feel like the protagonist is in the right and their actions are justified, even if not admirable
  • Revenge plots are a function of Thrillers
  • Use the Villain as a foil to the Avenger
  • Successful revenge ends in death, likely for the protagonist

I’m no expert, but those points seem to be ignoring some things.

Here’s why that doesn’t work:

  • The offender (Villain) is now an unwitting Victim
  • The Avenger is the Victim, and is turning into the Villain of another character’s story
  • A non-Avenger Victim doesn’t have to be dead; they could be kidnapped, they could have been forced to marry another, they could be seriously impaired mentally or physically, or they could have gotten over their trauma in a way the Avenger cannot
  • Revenge tropes show up in every genre, with Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Romance in particular inviting revenge as a motivator
  • An administrator of Law could use the law to take revenge
  • Justice could be served by another character, but the Avenger’s grudge is personal and therefore not resolved
  • As proven by the Revenge TV series, revenge may be most effective when working from within, rather than being hindered by outlaw status
  • Depicting the Avenger’s lost normal life at the beginning of the novel might mean starting the story too early, which is the bane of publishers’ existence and not why readers are picking up a revenge novel; you’re just giving people something to skip
  • Killing off the protagonist in a Revenge Romance makes the story a Tragedy
  • If the Avenger is set up to get revenge on their not-yet-Love-Interest, the ending may not be satisfying, and may even undercut the rest of the story’s progression
  • If you have to convince the reader that your morally grey Avenger is serving true justice, they’re not; revenge is about personal satisfaction from within one’s own means and an attempt at practical closure, not about the existence and efficacy of justice as an abstract idea
  • Enemies-to-Lovers makes this theory crumble to pieces

Every time I have mentioned Revenge Romance, somebody asks if I meant Enemies to Lovers.

No, I did not. I said what I meant.

Revenge Romance vs. Enemies to Lovers

  • Enemies to Lovers implies each party sees the other as an enemy to get revenge upon. Mutual destruction is assured, unless one bests the other first or both fall in love simultaneously. Think Romeo and Juliet.
  • Revenge Romance only necessitates one party see the other as an enemy. One character could be blissfully unaware that the other is targeting them, or could have no desire to fight the Avenger even when antagonized. There is also a greater likelihood that revenge methods could be curbed by slowly-softening characters to lead to more humiliating, more redemptive, less lethal solutions.
    • I’ve begun reading Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss to explore this a bit deeper.

Revenge Romance in BKC

If you were helping me critique The BeastKing Chronicles previously, you probably noticed that Rome pulled some jerk moves because he was self-consumed and misguided. But sometimes, those motives were also skewed as a response to what Labriella had done to him in the past.

In the first couple versions of the story, Rome came out hot tempered and emotionally resistant, while still thinking sensually. His temper, and his catch-and-release cycle, drove Labriella nuts and stunted the story progression. The next couple versions of the story integrated the suddenness of a predator who waits, then snarls and suddenly pounces. Anybody would be afraid of a predator, even an old childhood friend, and so is Labriella, though she still cares about the man she knows beneath.

But what came out, in the private moments between the two characters, was a tit-for-tat vie for acceptance of which of them was right about what their relationship should be. In the back of Rome’s mind was always the sight of Labriella’s back, fading into the distance, leaving him alone again, and the urge to make sure she paid for that mistake. As the story progressed, Rome’s tactics for making her pay backfired, and he found himself caught in his own trap with sensual desires he didn’t know could cripple him.

That may have been what was in the back of Rome’s mind, but in the back of my mind was the worry that it could take a whole book unto itself to reconcile Rome’s starting disposition with Labriella’s disposition toward him—possibly even a whole story arc. That was when I realized: Rome’s revenge mindset, or at least his initial hurt, needs to be dealt with before the end of the temple repossession arc. Book 1 already needed to be shortened. The best solution may be to let his revenge play out in Book 1…and bite him in the butt.