From the Bookshelf of Turning Pages At Midnight…

Chrysalis (The Formicary #1)

S.E. Harmon

Start date: December 21, 2021

Finish date: December 25, 2021

Discussion: Buddy Reads

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What Members Thought

Sep 08, 2021 Florence . rated it it was ok

2 stars

Trigger warnings: A lot of the plot of this book revolves around the possibility of cheating. Also there is a scene that gets really close to cheating at some point and some emotional cheating. Also mentions of self harm. There is no trigger warning in this book and they would have been really appreciated. I will admit I skimmed the scenes close to cheating as I absolutely cannot read about anything related to cheating, so I really would have appreciated knowing that it would be coming.

As 2 stars

Trigger warnings: A lot of the plot of this book revolves around the possibility of cheating. Also there is a scene that gets really close to cheating at some point and some emotional cheating. Also mentions of self harm. There is no trigger warning in this book and they would have been really appreciated. I will admit I skimmed the scenes close to cheating as I absolutely cannot read about anything related to cheating, so I really would have appreciated knowing that it would be coming.

As soon as I read the blurb for this book, I just had to read it. I was so interested in the idea of it and I love amnesia plot lines in books because I just love unreliable narrators that have no idea about many things in the world and have to figure everything out based on the clues given to them. And the blurb of this book promised me a lot of deceit, which is one of my favourite trope in books. Sadly the execution of this book just wasn’t what I wanted it to be.

Brief summary
Christian Cross wakes up in the hospital, he was shot and had parts of his body modified (like they removed his finger prints and changed his teeth around so they wouldn’t be indenfied and they changed his face too) and he cannot remember most of his life, the only thing he remembers is his boyfriend, Grayson. Grayson comes to see him in the hospital and he is very cold, turns out they had broken up 4 years ago and that Grayson is angry with Christian and that Grayson has a new boyfriend. Christian escapes from the hospital and Grayson brings him to live with him. They banter and try to find who wants to hurt Christian, but mostly, they banter.

First, the blurb of this book promised me an amnesiac guy figuring out his life through lies and deceit and instead of that, I got an amnesiac guy trying to figure out one side plot as the rest of the informations needed were easily supplied by different side characters and he didn’t have to work to find them. I just wanted more of the amnesiac trope. When I read a book about a character being amnesiac, I want it to be focused on that and the guy having to dig deep and find all the clues so he can piece who he really is and sadly thats just not what I got here.

Second, I’ve been on a massive second chance romance kick lately and at first I really enjoyed the romance aspect in this book. I liked their dynamic and I liked their banter. But Grayson very mad at Christian because before he became amnesiac, because Grayson thought that Christian cheated on him and also Christian was the one who broke up with Grayson the first time and he didn’t tell Grayson why. I got a little annoyed at that part because Christian was amnesiac and had no way to know those things. I felt like it was a situation that could never be fixed by the plot since they will never be sure of what happened, since Christian doesn’t remember. So I got annoyed at Grayson for always bringing it up because to me it felt like we would never get a clear answer on the topic. Also Grayson just forgives Christian without any proof towards the end of the book, which didn’t work for me as the situation didn’t change, so I didn’t get why he would forgive him at 95% but not at 60%, it was the same situation and nothing had changed. I don’t really enjoy when main characters are angry at their love interest for the entire book, so this part just didn’t work for me. I couldn’t really feel the connection between the main characters since Grayson spent most of the book being mad at Christian. Grayson was so hot and cold, he was either really angry at Christian or acting like Christian is the love of his life and I got whiplash trying to understand his feelings. Also this is probably just a me thing but I thought it was very jaring to have Grayson be so mad for most of the book because this book is only told in Christian’s point of view, so having Grayson act cold and distant didn’t make me like him or see why he would be a good love interest for Christian, because I was reading the thoughts in Christian’s head and in his head Grayson wasn’t the nicest person ever.

Third, I liked the ratio of suspense and romance scenes in the book, I felt like it was a nice balance and it worked really well. My only issue is that I didn’t really enjoy the suspense plot. There was so many inconsistensies in regards of that part of the plot. Christian never seemed to have many side effects from being shot in the head. Random people barged in Christian’s hospital room at all time and Christian was able to escape the hospital like it’s a shopping centre. I really enjoyed the start of the this book and it really hooked me into the story but it promised me action and a suspense plot about who shot Christian is and Christian not remembering anything. And one of the big plot point was Christian being kidnaped and getting his body modified and I was really excited to see how that would go. But I feel like thats not really what I got at all. The book was about 90% snark and 10% dedicated to the actual suspense plot and I just wanted more. Also the resolution to the suspense plot was very underwelming and I wanted more from it, I feel like the topic wasn’t explored as much as I wanted it to be.

Fourth, there is a side plot about how Grayson has a boyfriend and he has that boyfriend for almost 60% of the book. That boyfriend only exists to make Christian jealous to speed the plot along. Also, I just don’t enjoy having side characters who take such a big place in a book, I prefer only reading about the main characters. Also there was definitely some emotional cheating going on from Grayson’s side, which is one of my triggers and something I just don’t enjoy reading about in books.

I do have to say that my favourite part of the book was the snark, I love snark in books so that really worked for me. I just wish I enjoyed the plot of the book, because I think I really could have loved this book if I did, I really loved the idea for the plot, I just didn’t enjoy the execution of it. Also don’t mind me when you see me reading the second book in this series just because this ends on a cliffhanger and I must know what happens next.

I received an ARC of this book, and this is my honest review. ...more

58 likes · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2021 Jennifer☠Pher☠ marked it as read-for-realsies

Shelves: kindle-unlimited, m-m, lgbtq, 2021-release

Aug 24, 2021 Aղցela W. marked it as to-read

Shelves: 200-300pg, romance, unlimited, m-m

Aug 28, 2021 Andrew marked it as to-read

Sep 03, 2021 onlymorelove marked it as to-read

Sep 05, 2021 Yanique Rose marked it as to-read

Oct 12, 2021 Melissa marked it as dnr-amnesia

Shelves: amnesia

Dec 25, 2021 Helen rated it really liked it

Shelves: lgbtq-for-gr-to-notice

Oct 24, 2021 kimberly_rose marked it as looked-at-blurb-but-rejected

Oct 28, 2021 Diane Dannenfeldt marked it as mm-to-read

Shelves: m-m, kindle-unlimited, 201-300_pgs

1 like · Like

Nov 06, 2021 Deeena marked it as comming_soon

Dec 26, 2021 Marion rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery-thriller, free-reads, challenged-heroes, hurt-comfort, all-time-favorite, buddy-read, lgbtq, read-in-2021, top-books-of-2021, duology

2 likes · Like