Review: Rotten Girl by Ivy Fox

Rotten Girl by Ivy Fox

Series: Rotten Love #1

Publication date: February 11th, 2019

Pages: 397

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

Envy.

Such an ugly sin.

Yet, here I am guilty of it.

See, I envy you.

You who woke up in the morning not knowing what your future will entail. A blessed uncertainty filled with hope and mystery, with the potential to make it whatever you aspire it to be.

Must be nice -- to open your eyes and dream of such a promising existence.

I have no such hopeful misguided notions.

My fate has been written down on crumpled paper, made smooth and immaculate by bloody tainted hands for the outside world to behold, since the day I was conceived.

There is no happily ever after for me but I've come to terms with my gilded golden cage long ago.

It's their destiny that keeps me up at night -- the pieces of my soul.

They are the ones who I would defy the devil himself for and stare true evil in the eye, taunting it to do its worst.

There is nothing I wouldn't do for them, yet I know the wheel of fortune is not in our favor.

So, yes -- I envy you.

While you dream of your colorful tomorrow, I dread its grayish arrival.

You see, we were all born rotten.

And rotten girls and boys don't deserve a fairytale ending.

Rotten Girl is the first book in this duet.

This is a #whychoose contemporary romance, full length novel.

*Recommended 18+ due to mature language, adult situations and sensitive content.

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Review:

Selene has never had a future that was anything but what was expected of her. When she turned eighteen she would be paraded around by her evil, abusive father and auctioned off to the highest bidder or the one who would give her father the most opportunities going forward. She knew that it was all written in stone from the moment she was conceived but it didn't stop her from grasping onto as much happiness as she could growing up. She fell in love with three boys from a young age and they with her. She would do anything for them even though she knew that their future was also already planned out for them. They would become made men in the Chicago Mafia syndicate and would learn to kill, con, and buck the legal system as soon as they turned thirteen years of age. Selene misguidedly held onto their love for all it was worth but when she got to her deadline she would find more players on the board vying for her attention that she had originally imaged their would be. And she may have to give up her men and their love for the sake of their own safety.

The thing that hindered me the most about this book is that it was covering so many years in the span of it, and showing formidable years at that, so I didn't get a full feel of the character. Selene felt like a girl with very little backbone who just went along with what she was told to do and never disobeyed. The fact she was still being abused by her father even though she was the most well-behaved girl I had ever seen didn't fit right. The boys all loved her and knew they would have to share her but when an instance came along that actually dictated that they share her they got angry with her over it and kind of slut-shamed her. It was unlike any reverse harem book I had ever seen. How could they know and accept they would never be the only man in her life but then when things start getting more romantic they seem to become angry with her for giving into it and not continuing to dance around the fact with the three of them. 

I also really grew to dislike Vincent which is unfortunately because I have just lost a best friend named Vincent and really wanted to like the character based on name alone. He was such a bully to the other two men but always acted like he was above it all himself. Very much "do as I say and not as I do" way of thinking. He tells the others to not get too close to Selene because it will sully her reputation and then the first real interaction they feature he's like, 'fuck it!' when it comes to himself upholding the 'no hanky panky' rule. The dynamics were just really shaky overall but Vincent's with Selene's felt the most forced.

I will say that the twists and turns in the plot of the story were great. It was what kept me engaged even more than the romance. I was really enjoying trying to figure out all the family secrets and who was the main antagonists to watch for other than Selene's own horrible father. I kept trying to figure out her mother. There seemed to be something to her that the author never really tapped into. I think the mother could have a deeper role to play in the organization that just the wife of the consigliere. At least I kind of hope that is the case otherwise I really don't understand a lot of her cloak and dagger antics. 

The book was middle ground for me. I am hoping that now that all the background is done we can get into the meat and potatoes of the story in the subsequent duet novel.