Quick review for a quick read. This is a prequel story for Crystal Green's "Aidan Falls" series, and it falls squarely within the realm of a new adult novella. The book revolves around Carley, a college dropout (who flunked her classes) returning home and feeling like an outcast, but suddenly realizing she has a secret admirer locally who connects with her online. Carley thinks it might be a guy she's currently setting her sights on, but the stranger may possibly be someone else who watches her from afar...
My problem with this narrative was that in conjunction with its brevity, it was just too shallow and cliche, skimming the surface on what could've felt like a fuller experience of the characters meeting and subsequently beginning a relationship. At the very least, I did like the idea(s) this narrative put forward, from Carley trying to adjust to coming home to interacting on a social media app for the tech age. I didn't really get a sense of who any of these characters were other than their cardboard, cookie cutter constructions though, and the scene transitions were not only mostly telling (not showing) details, but they were very awkward. Not to mention that I wasn't sure how I felt about the superfluous "pleasure" scene that was kind of thrown in here at the mention of Carley thinking about her mysterious admirer. I didn't get any sense of who this dude was, plus fantasizing about someone you don't even really know but think you do can have all kinds of repercussions. Was Carley even remotely creeped out about the fact that she didn't know who this dude was? I didn't get that impression at all.
I'm going to read the full novel "Honeytrap" to see how or if characterization improves there, but overall, I was underwhelmed with this read, but it was a quick one to peruse.
Overall score: 1.5/5 stars
Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher InterMix.
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