I was expecting something more,
I'm definitely out of words, but I enjoyed the middle and last part of it, The ending just wow Like wait are they serious moment, . . Abby's POV picture how political dynasties roll and how toxic and dirty it can be for politicians to run, relates so much for our issue today in the PH.
when you're waiting for a character development and all you get is the opposite, I'm hoping that someone will knock out these two, maybe Tali will do that.
it's so wrong to level Maven to BGY's standard, they didn't have a moral compass to begin with, and that's the bare minimum, they said there's good in evil and there's bad in good, but these two are just purely evil, but who am I to judge when the two were raised different.
I just expected that they're be different, hence the reverse character development, also, I'm having a hunch that Avery has a mental illness, kawawa si Jere, avery is evil and maven is tolerating Avery's evilness, which is also the same, nag expect ako but whatever maven is a dilf confirmed iktr While I loved the concept and the plot, there is something that lacked in how the book was written.
Similar to Wreck the Game, ETG has failed to execute the conflict properly which was disappointing considering
the heightened puffery of the characters and the book itself, Still a lot to improve plotwise and hopefully, by the next reprint BOD versions, it has already been thoroughly proofread considering the hefty price they would pay for.
Im gonna be honest with this book,
It was exciting to finally read and get a hold of the book after for almost a year of waiting, The whole books in good writing but the story somehow was not what I have anticipated, I expected more I guess, I wasnt able to appreciate Mavens character because of his lacking appearance and representation, Its more of Averys and her issues with her cousin, Also theres not much “kilig” in it and couldnt feel the romance between the characters, A little casual sex and flirting then voilà back to cousinissue, The ending just left me in confusion and lil headache SPOILER FREE REVIEW:
/STARS I used about an hour to think of my rating and honestly Im sticking to four.
For awhile I thought it would be athen it became a,but I went for a/rating, Nothing more, nothing less.
As a reader of beeyotchs works, I could say that this book was a good read but wasnt my favorite, I was able to read the book version of JTO and WIAE so I fully understand everything that was happening, NOTE: I suggest you read thesebefore you read ETG cause if not youd encounter moments where youll be confused with what was happening, this book is not a stand alone based on my understanding.
It being part of the game series was a bit confusing as it overlapped with more on the gdl/de marco side and less of the bgy/triplets, Im not saying it was out of placed but I see from a standpoint that it was still somehow law related and more on the darker side and the crazy world of beeyotch stories i.
e wiae and so, in the end, I gave it a four because the moral of the story was delivered but it was only satisfying to an extent.
I was in content but yet it frustrated the hell out of me, I was at the edge of my seat reading chaptersepilogue hence, I decided to give it a,
Do I recommend it: Sure, if you loved wiae and the game series, I think this book is worth reading for you, Just make sure youve read jto and wiae or ask someone info about these two books so that you wouldnt be lost when you read ETG,
WITH SPOILERS:
Things I didnt like/ wasnt satisfied
Open ended endings/ issues that were opened but never answered: the shit going on behind mavens frat, gwens character, lorenzo getting all the attention and glory but his life ended on a climax that was too fast paced.
The timeskips/fast paced events: Mavens pov, abby pretending she forgot about them then deciding to meet with them in Singapore I mean okay, I understand that she now had the power to protect her family but I wanted her side of the story on this, I think the time skips were too fast jumping from one issue to another had me confused ie gwens to the frat issue to the drug related issue.
Lorenzo during the book: he was so glorified on the book and in the end it felt like he didnt get the ending he deserve or at least I wasnt satisfied cus avo and belinda was mentioned but that was kinda it.
After that no more lorenzo, he didnt try to come after abby or at least try to get into malacañang even though abby mentioned it repeatedly hence the word “glorified” to describe lorenzo because we didnt really see him in action which was disappointing.
And last would be my expectation cus ETG for me was expect the unexpected and maybe I expected too much hence the dissatisfaction,
Grammatical errors cause it was proofread and yet I still saw more than five errors how some parts were written, ie too vague
Things I liked
Maverys relationship match made in heaven, so perfectly imperfect it was sickening
The overall message and lesson abbys pov on the epilogue was chefs kiss
The craziness of it all
Abuela going crazy over abby lol
Abbys transformation strong woman yern I just freaking loved how she went from this is the end to oh wait I still have cards I can use the irony of using what lorenzo taught her against him
Maven falling for someone who was more fcked up than him
Their little family at the end
The part where avery just knew how to work the optics and how she stated that filipinos were too forgiving
Hence, a.
rounded off to/rating, Hopefully we get to see more of them in the De Marco series because their ending for me was too fast and hurried, Maven didnt even have any dialogue justwords lol Trying hard, Disappointing. Not well written.
If I have to describe this book, these are the words I would like to use, The moment I read the prologue, I can feel it already but I gave it a chance, It went well somehow but it really lack of details, Very shallow. It was very hard to connect with the story, Not even with the main characters, Both Maven and Avery were contradicting, No proper build up for their characters,
There were names mentioned on the story that didn't make sense, No context. No background to know them, atleast, And it became worst at the end, The book is not redeemable just like the protagonist,
It looked like it wasn't edited or proofread, Lots of errors especially in punctuation marks,
Compared to the other two books before ETG, this is the worst, Very trying hard. I don't understand what happened to Eydee's writing here, The concept is nice but she failed miserably for this one, We were given the wrong impression in Just this Once everything we thought we knew wentwhich is I think the best for Genesis to be clueless for her safety.
The fact that Abuela actually likes Abby! and when Beatrice said: “Sinasabi ba naman sa akin na inaapi ko raw si Abby In what world ko maaapi ang babae na iyon!"
When it comes to Avery Brienne Eliseo, everyone is obliged to kneel
I love the characters for the same reason I hate them.
They are exactly the type of people I would despise in reality, There is a reason why the author chose to selfpublish it in the books and not free on Wattpad,
I didnt like what Avery did, but its just weird how some people thinks she manipulated him when in fact he exactly know what she was doing in the first place.
He is not stupid and he know what hes doing, So if youll drag Avery, might as well drag Maven too, Because they both let it happen, She WAS willing to support Maven and Jere from the dark, But what did he do He still insisted because HE WANTED AVERY, He wants his family to be together,
When they met again, the annulment was already done for Maven and Gen, He couldve chosen to raise Jere alone or just coparent but no, he still chose to marry her so whats not clicking
Abby lived in a dark and violent universe WIAE.
Were also given a heads up by the author that the characters will have questionable morals and dont expect a redemption arc, But I loved how it was executed, it shows that you cant just push people to change especially if that was the environment they were embedded in since childhood.
I feel sorry for mavgen shippers if theyll know the reason why maven said “i really loved you” in front of averys door to purposely make her feel jealous.
Because no matter what happens, Abby will always be the love of his life,
And for Avery Brienne, she love his boys, she love them in the way she knows how, She already said it before that if ever she will fall in love on Maven, she will do ANYTHING to protect them, Thats how she loves.
You cant expect them Maven and Avery to be vocal about how they love each other simply because thats not who they are but they do really love each other.
I observed that their love language is definitely physical touch Hugging, cupping the face, kissing etc, Gosh, i want more chill MaVery scenes!
Abby was never strict with Jere, Maven said it himself that she wouldnt agree to subject him in so many lessons on his early years, When he grew older, he became like his parentsquiet and reserved, Which makes sense bc hes a freaking de marco, You cant expect him to be a a walking jollibee, Not when you are the first grandchild, not when your parents are likethat lol,
Anyways They are the End Game, They are untouchable.
So free Genesis. Parker and her deserve where they are right now,
Fave quote: “I just wanna know if youre beyond redemption” and “When people show you who they are, believe them, ”
This book is somehow connected to: When it All Ends, Play the Game and Control the Game,
PS. All the powerful de marcos are women I'm gonna be honest here, there are some things that I like in the story but they were overshadowed by me being lost due to a lot details that are not explained, side stories that I didn't know and the lack of build up.
This review or rant, depends is based on a point of view of someone na hindi pa nababasa ang Just This Once and When It All Ends I read it once but I forgot the details na, cuz apparently, they are somehow connected to ETG.
I wish someone told me before na basahin muna sila before reading this story and then maybe ETG will have its chance,
Plot the story revolves Abby/Avery and her quest to find powerful connections in law school, If you're looking for a real plot between Abby and Maven, then it might disappoint you because Maven, in my opinion, is more of a side character only rather than one of the main characters.
They hook up, no grand declarations of love compared to other stories in Game Series which is okay for me btw but I know not for some, there's no chemistry between them due to the personality of each characters and Abby used Maven as a tool only for her plans.
The mode and plot is more similar on NOWK rather than on ILWTG and PTG, and by the end of the story, I felt like ETG is in the wrong series.
This is the reason why it took more thanpages for me to get into the "zone", Halfway through it, the suspense and mystery started to excite me by this point, I already realized that there's no redeeming factor for Abby and there will be no grand happy endings between Maven and Abby but then Maven's POV ruined any chance of me liking it.
I can't understand a thing, I really don't have an idea on what's happening, Maven's POV/Epilogue contains A LOT of details that I didn't know, Imagine this, you're a newish reader of the author and you haven't read her other stories from other series and this specific chapter is telling you a lot of side stories that you will only understand if you've read all the stories from different series.
I feel like I was riding a roller coaster the whole time I was reading it and I mean it in not in a good way, info per info, no build up or explanation for each and by the end of it, I was feeling lightheaded with zero understanding of what just happened.
I feel like reading the last chapter, skipping Maven's POV and heading straight to Special chapter in Abby's POV made more sense, story/plot wise,
Overall, this is kind of darker side and I like how the author criticized the current administration through the views of her characters, The takeaway message I learned while reading this is one of my favorites and I can give itbut the plot and flow of storystars, .