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You can see this review and check out my Goodreads
I feel like I am about to be vanquished for what I am about to write but I don’t understand how so many people loved this book and then I am in the itty bitty corner to the right, waaay right, because this book did not do it for me.
I bought this book because there was so much hype about it throughout my Instagram feed and it was also on sale for 99 cents but I could not delve into the story at all.
Because so many people enjoyed the book I did not even bother with the synopsis before I began reading and that was fine because in the beginning everything is well explained and I wasn’t too confused.
Brief Summary
Lexi is sent to the Hole, a place where all sinners are sent to live out their criminal lives. Nothing good is in the Hole and being there means that you are now a nobody, you are evil and a corruption to society. There sinners are branded based on their sins. And Lexi is branded blue for lust. While she was branded for a crime she did not commit she plans get free from the Hole and show that she will not be somewhere she has no place being. She will fight to the end.
The main reason I was upset by this book was that the plot had such a promising idea and I fell in love with it but everything else in the story seemed to pile on this idea and overall ruined it for me.
The authors of Branded are self published (they recently just got picked up by a publishing company) and I think that’s what messed it up for me. I am in no way dissing self published authors, I read a lot of self published books and love some and don’t. Though this book felt too choppy in many places. Some scenes jumped to too many places in too little pages and I felt lost.
The beginning was great for me and I was lead into loving it however character building was also an unraveling factor. We are given the idea that Lexi is to be this strong fighter that will not whine or cry about where she is because she is determined to get out and be free though throughout the book all she did was cringe, and cry and pity herself for being brought to the Hole. I understand thatif I was in her place I would most likely pity myself to too but too much is too much.
Cole, the supposedly love interest, began as Lexi’s personal guard of sorts and was pretty harsh and yeah I didn’t like him nor did Lexi. But as the book evolved Lexi began to have these feelings for him and vice versa with Cole. Though Cole confused me on so many levels and still does. His emotions were everywhere, up, down, here, there, on the wall, across the street, and in the toilet. He gave me a headache at times because I could not understand what his intentions were at times. He was mad at Lexi one day for asking a questions and the next he was attentive to her because she did a selfless act to catch attention. I feel like Cole still has some secrets that we had yet to unveil and I really want to know what they are.
I also didn’t know who the enemy was suppose to be, sometimes I felt it was the commander, her brother, Cole, the sinners, her mom? The book was all over the place and honestly I am happy that the authors were picked up by a publishing company. Maybe they will pull the book and revise it? Or not due to the many lovers of Branded. I did like the book, the premise I loved but it was messy.
I heard that they had a three book deal and maybe I will check it out in the near future but for now I had enough of Branded.
Overall I give the book 2 stars, one for the amazing plot and one for keeping interested till the end.
Thanks for reading!
Over and out.
A Book Fanatic Obsession 