Review by whisky160 -- Temptation Trials Part I by B. Truly

[whisky160]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Temptation Trials Part I" by B. Truly.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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It took me a while to read this book because the writing style was definitely that of a beginner. The world building was rough or non-existent. Characters weren't adequately described, leaving me with holes and questions. The story needed much more character developing and world building. Also, the character arcs were not present for all characters so some of them felt pointless being there. The flow of the story was also jagged. Overall, it left me disconnected from the story.

The premise was interesting. I had hope for this as it was a nice spin on a couple of romance tropes. In a dystopian future, the World Government plays match maker, forcing arranged marriages. If you find love before they make their match, you have to prove it's true love by resisting temptation, via seclusion on an island with an attractive person who's sole purpose it to make you cheat while it's televised.

It was interesting reading from dual POV based on the two heroines. That's a break in the standard hero/heroine dual POV. The heroines were ok. I would've liked them to be developed more. Given more internal and external obstacles. But I did admire their determination to do what they thought was right. But weeks in the company of other men, being forced into dating several of them and then having to choose one to spend the last part of the trials with … it’s more than most people would be able to resist, including the heroines.

The author seemed to be in a bit of a hurry to get from place to place, and description was lacking. Also, though there weren’t overt grammar errors or typos, there’s more to good editing than that. The story had a bit too much “telling” instead of “showing” and I don’t think a character ever “said” anything. It was blurted, screamed, announced, shouted, pointed out, etc. Action beats were sparse. All of this distracted me as a reader and pulled me out of the story.

There is some mystery involved as well, and the story ends in a cliffhanger. I am not a fan of books that do this. Finish the story and use secondary character to become your main characters in the next book. Overall, not a series I would continue reading. I was excited because of the premise but the author still needs to learn a lot more about the craft and characterization, flow, etc to keep the reader hooked.

1 out of 4 stars

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Temptation Trials Part I
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[kandscreeley]

It does sound like an interesting premise, but this kind of thing is saturating the market right now. You really have to be extremely creative to capture a piece of that. It doesn't sound like this author did that. Sorry you didn't enjoy it.