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Free Me (WITSEC, #4)

Ashley N. Rostek

Start date: August 31, 2023

Finish date: September 9, 2023

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Aug 31, 2023 The Romance Book Disciple (Samantha) rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-s, 2023

Ok, it is FINALLY here. Not gonna lie, it has been so long since I read the first 3, I kind of forgot what happened in book 3 (I remember the gist, but not much else). So, I was kind of confused for a bit as I pieced together what I forgot.

The story dumps you right into the thick of things and it is intense. I loved the danger and action. I was a little annoyed at Shiloh and her "I know better than everyone" vibe. She thinks she is the only person who can save everyone and it was a bit annoying ...more

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Oct 18, 2023 Shannon Rizzo rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-romance-rh, fiction-romance

This three star is for the overall series.

The strengths were:
* The author gives a realistic trauma recovery process and the FMC is self-aware when she is using running or smoking etc as avoidance mechanisms.
* The FMC, while tiny (eye roll of course she's tiny) is overall a decently strong character. While I tired of her PTSD responses because it just felt like we were going from one to the other - that is realistic. She doesn't do any "to stupid to live" moves (well okay twice but she succeeds This three star is for the overall series.

The strengths were:
* The author gives a realistic trauma recovery process and the FMC is self-aware when she is using running or smoking etc as avoidance mechanisms.
* The FMC, while tiny (eye roll of course she's tiny) is overall a decently strong character. While I tired of her PTSD responses because it just felt like we were going from one to the other - that is realistic. She doesn't do any "to stupid to live" moves (well okay twice but she succeeds both times) - in general she becomes aware of a risk and confronts it, keeping her wits about her. She showed determination to get past her PTSD and put in the long term work through therapy, weaning off of cigarettes and alcohol, dedicating time to sparring and helping teach self-defense to other women, and intentionally working to become comfortable exposing her knife scars.
* Consent and safe sex are practiced consistently

Where it fell flat:
* Four books is too much - mainly because each book read a lot like journal entries and it made it so much more lengthy than the plot sustained. So many descriptive scenes that were honestly filler - yes I enjoy that the author takes the time to build the world and let us see every day life, but there's a balance. I kept waiting for suspenseful moments but most were " this is my outfit today, I'm making this for the guys for supper, I went to the store, I went to the gym." I like it, but reduce it by 10%. Like, I don't need to know she stepped left, then took a few steps, then turned left again, and then was able to look down the hallway to the door. Just move to the doorway and peek out - tighten it up.
* Another reason the four books is too much: throughout all four books her dreams serve as flashbacks. And then a couple of times, she describes part of the attack to the guys, so we read the same scenes again. And then when she finally tells them the rest of what happened that night, it is word for word from her dreams. In other words the author wrote out the family attack scene, then broke it into dream segments, and then repasted it in two or three spots to serve as her telling the guys. So we read these extra 30 pages two or three times. While it might make realistic sense that she tells them essentially what she's dreaming (IRL this would make sense I mean), for the reader it doesn't move the story forward or entertain us.

Where it flopped:
* Two-dimensional support characters. They are either Mean Girls, or they are her partially developed sidekick (Isabelle). Very few people are all mean - develop the other characters.
* What was the growth for the MMCs? I always look for how the partners improve the personal growth of each other. This was all about FMC. Yes of course she is the one with the stalker - but you can still give the guys some insecurities or issues they overcome. We almost got there, with Creed and Cole feeling inner conflict about quitting swimming when swimming was a way to honor their dad, and then also with the brothers' own grief from their parents dying and how what they were doing currently was a reflection on that. But that took up maybe 3-4 pages over four books. Does Knox have conflicted feelings about how he became the dad to his brothers? What were Keelan's goals in life? What did they boys want to do after high school?
* At the beginning of book four, (view spoiler) - WHY?? Drive over the rat bastard and be done with it. There is no logic to leaving the scene when you are right there and have the perfect tool to take out your stalker and maybe save other lives. Leaving the scene only creates the realities that (a) he can go murder another girl, and (b) you now have to live in suspense for however long it takes to find him again and eliminate him. There is no literary reason for this. Either make it that he escapes them and they go on to the safe house, or they take him out and deal with the rest of the fallout (that was told to us in the eight month time-jump's recap the last pages of the book).

...more

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