Perversion or relationship?

[Howlan]

I completely agree. It is just plain weird and it is making me want to quit this book. I don't know what to do!

To be fair, the second half of the book is a little more... tame? Appropiate? one of those words... and they do kinda explain the attraction, but poorly in my opinion.

Tame is a good word... basically, all of the creepy and horrible stuff that happens at the beginning of the book, which should really be life-scarring and traumatizing to the core, are unrealistically swept under the rug in the name of a gag-worthy "young love" story, which has its own, unique issues.

Not a love story that I signed up for.

[Nym182]

I know. Part of me says not to bother reading the next one, but another part wants to find out where it all goes next!
And I don't even care for sci-fi!!

Exactly! I kinda wanna know how this car crash ends

I do too!

Are you also cursed/blessed with persistent and overwhelming curiosity?^.^

[Howlan]

That is actually what’s making me not want to continue with the book. It’s just too weird for me... the whole thing with the mum (stepmom)... should I keep on reading then? I thought we were dealing with incest

Yes and no. From a purely biological perspective, it wouldn’t be considered incest. From a sociological standpoint, it very well might be regarded as incest, especially if the step-parent actually helped raise the child. Legally? I think the laws would vary.

Leaving laws aside. It was really creepy reading about such things in a YA.

[Howlan]

I would like to think that he wouldn't have acted on his feelings for his adoptive mother. However, when she later confessed to sharing those feelings it caused some serious cringing on my part. This sounds like a plot for the erotica section on Amazon, not a young adult book!

I agree with the cringy statement wholeheartedly. I don't know that I would go so far as switching it to the erotica section, but I do think it's inappropriate for YA, especially the younger age group.

It would have been a erotica if Adam woulfd have not come back to his senses.

[Howlan]

Yeah, there are some really weird and uncomfortable details in this book... most of it is pretty YA but then there are sentences that are just outrageous to have in a YA book.

P.S I love your profile pic!

Yes the weird sexual overtones were really unnessesary.

I'm not sure I agree, though I don't think it's appropriate for a YA audience. Those 'weird sexual overtones' are part of what pulls the book solidly on the 'dark' side as opposed to the light and fluffy feel of many YA books. However, I don't think the author had to use that particular relationship to give the book the creepy overtone. There are a myriad of ways that could have been done.

Agreed he totally could have done something fitting of the YA standards.

[Howlan]

Adam had already developed a disturbing obsession with his stepmom, but when later she reciprocated his feelings, I just cringed pretty hard. Such confusing contents should not be a part of a YA book.

I think that's what turned the corner on whether or not he would act on his obsession if Carly hadn't come along. Once his stepmom let it be known that she returned his feelings, that would have been the 'death knell' for his resistance (he didn't have all that much, to begin with).

Yeah thank the author for including Carly. His mother confirming his attraction would have been really drastic.

[Nym182]

I finished this whole book, and let me tell you stop reading while you still can. sh*t keeps getting more and more disturbing, and I want those hours of my life back spent reading this horrifying book.

Haha, standing in solidarity together!

YAAS!

[Howlan]

Without Carly around, he already kidnapped and almost raped and facilitated the murder of Terry. I think if the time continued on, he would have sexually assaulted his own mother, and possibly killed his dad. He's a psychopath, and I still don't consider him as having redeemed himself, even after Carly. I hated Adam's character!

Agreed! I hate him with a passion and it makes me think less of Carly for covering up for Adam after only knowing him for like what... a month? He does not deserve that much "loyalty" from her.

Yes I do not understand her. There are descendants on the Iksha side as well. Why does she trust him that much?

[Howlan]

That is actually what’s making me not want to continue with the book. It’s just too weird for me... the whole thing with the mum (stepmom)... should I keep on reading then? I thought we were dealing with incest

I finished this whole book, and let me tell you stop reading while you still can. sh*t keeps getting more and more disturbing, and I want those hours of my life back spent reading this horrifying book.

Yeah thats true.

[Howlan]

Adam’s fascination with JoAnn made me uncomfortable and had me thinking that this book should have been categorised in the Adult category, not YA. Please someone tell me if he improves further down the book because I am still undecided if I should continue reading it.

He DOES NOT improve. He gets creepier. It gets so, so much worse and I was HORRIFIED throughout the whole book imagining this thing in the hands of young, impressionable readers. It is dangerous and irresponsible to call this YA.

And the provide a weak excuse that is supposed to make the sexualization "acceptable".

Surpassing "sexualisation", it even made incest sound like no big deal.

[Howlan]

No, Adam like this is definitely not necessary. It is just the author adding some unusual toches to darken his character.

Agreed. I feel it was trying too hard to make him "dark and moody", and ended up being a poorly executed attempt at a moody teen, and when into serial-killer-in-the-making territory.

Agreed! The author painted Adam too dark and there is no redemption for him.

He needs to face the consequences for his actions.

[Howlan]

I would like to think that he wouldn't have acted on his feelings for his adoptive mother. However, when she later confessed to sharing those feelings it caused some serious cringing on my part. This sounds like a plot for the erotica section on Amazon, not a young adult book!

Hell yeah! Even with the weak explanation of why Adam had these feelings, that didn't explain her RETURNING those feelings! It's wrong! These people have issues, this is not normal and it shouldn't be normalized to young people as YA entertainment.

Right? The fact she had those feelings too just made everything 100 times more sleazier!

And it would have so much creepy to read.

[Nym182]

In all the discussions you and I have had about the problems with this book, Nym, I too blocked that part out! It was just oo much, there were too many other, more disturbing things going on (which makes me ill saying!)

I want to ask the author why they thought mutual incestuous thoughts would be a good thing to have one of their main characters have! How in the world are we supposed to see them as "good guys".

So damn true-- how were these feelings supposed to help us resonate with Adam, and feel bad for him after all the terrible things he's done? I'm not sure what the goal was with this character, realistically.

The first half of the book just consisted of me thinking "are we supposed to be cool with this or what?"

[Howlan]

They DO kinda explain why Adam has those thoughts, but it was a pretty weak explanation in my opinion. For the most part, it's just kinda cringy... but there are some weird sexual details that don't really serve a purpose to the story. They definitely made me pause and

It was an extremely weak explanation, and really the whole "sexual attraction to his mom" thing was very much unnecessary. It did not contribute any value to the plot.

"OHHHHH there was a SERUM! Well that's ok then!"

"Yeah incest is no problem as long as you have the serum"

[Nym182]

It was an extremely weak explanation, and really the whole "sexual attraction to his mom" thing was very much unnecessary. It did not contribute any value to the plot.

"OHHHHH there was a SERUM! Well that's ok then!"

EXACTLY. The same as, "OHHHH you have magical powers you can't understand? That explains why you kidnapped, almost raped and basically killed Terry. That's totally okay!"

I'm sure the cops and Terry's family will understand he was just going through some things...