Review: Bliss by Lisa Henry and Heidi Belleau

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Bliss by Lisa Henry and Heidi Belleau

My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Received: NetGalley
Publication Date: August 18th 2014
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Pacing: slow
POV: 3rd person & masculine
Genres & Themes: M/M romance, Dystopian, Adult, Dark, Secrets, Control.

BLURB:

They’re always happy.

Rory James has worked hard all his life to become a citizen of the idyllic city-state of Beulah. Like every other kid born in the neighboring country of Tophet, he’s heard the stories: No crime or pollution. A house and food for everyone. It’s perfect, and Rory is finally getting a piece of it.

So is Tate Patterson. He’s from Tophet, too, but he’s not a legal immigrant; he snuck in as a thief. A city without crime seems like an easy score, until he crashes into Rory during a getaway and is arrested for assaulting a citizen. Instead of jail, Tate is enrolled in Beulah’s Rehabilitation through Restitution program. By living with and serving his victim for seven years, Tate will learn the human face of his crimes.

If it seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. Tate is fitted with a behavior-modifying chip that leaves him unable to disobey orders—any orders, no matter how dehumanizing. Worse, the chip prevents him from telling Rory, the one man in all of Beulah who might care about him, the truth: in a country without prisons, Tate is locked inside his own mind.

REVIEW:

description

DNFed at 37% because I believe a book that brings you to a state of boredom every time you’re picking it up does not deserve to be entirely read.

Have you read the blurb? Have you realized that this is a dystopian M/M romance, yet? Let me repeat that, a dystopian M/M romance story.

I knew it was too good to be true.

Over 150 reviews that I’ve written on Goodreads, there is only one DNFed book that I have reviewed in detail, this one aside. It’s called Poison. I usually don’t review those, but I really had to put every feeling I had about it in a review. I now feel the same way for this Bliss book.

You see, it in fact started very promising with Tate hurting Rory and having to see a lawyer about it. Some guys took him and implanted a chip inside his skin for him to become a ‘normal’ citizen of Beulah (what’s with the name? It sounds as if someone is vomiting) which has a negligible percentage of criminality.

Why? Because that chip those guys implanted in Tate’s skin makes him a slave. He’s obliged to answer to anyone’s wishes and, if he doesn’t cooperate, well the feeling of not obeying actually destroys him from the inside. Creepy.

As I said, it started out very good and interesting. But then the Tate we all met at the beginning became a marionette and it was so weird and uncomfortable to watch him do all of the things people are asking him to.

Also, he kept apologizing and apologizing and apologizing again and again and again. He looked freaking pathetic ALL THE TIME and I was tired of his ‘new personality’ even though, yes, it’s the chip’s fault.

There was almost no plot at all! It was all Tate being a good slave and Rory being constantly blind about it. I can’t believe he didn’t have suspicions after Tate succeeding to ask for help during some moments. It’s just SO unrealistic. I can’t believe I lost interest so fast for this story but it just drags and drags and drags and, guess what?

The sex scene I witness was ABSOLUTELY the most boring and worst and forced one I have read about in a M/M romance so far, which says something since I’ve read more than 30 M/M romances. (My goal is to reach 100 by the end of the year…)

On top of all of that, I hated the narrator. He made the main characters feel as if they were teenagers who didn’t know much about life and people. And, hey, the writing was so ordinary. English may not be my first language, but I really think I could have written this book myself with a dictionary near by.

I lost about 2 hours reading that 37% of the story and I always feel a bit pissed when reading without feeling and loving so I did lose my time and will think twice, next time, before picking another dystopian M/M romance up.

Would you consider voting for this review on Goodreads, if it were helpful? ^_^

36 thoughts on “Review: Bliss by Lisa Henry and Heidi Belleau”

  1. I actually laughed a little when you said you could write a better story yourself with a dictionary near by. Don’t you absolutely hate it when you feel like that?! This one does sound pretty good, which just makes it so sad that it wasn’t any good. I hate when a book has a really great premise but turns out to be really boring. Great review, Lola 🙂

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  3. Aww. It seems like all the bad books are coming after you. I would’ve never picked this one up myself but still I know what a disappointing read can make you feel. I have never DNF a book in my life, maybe this would be the first if ever. Here’s hoping your next read is stronger, Lola!(:

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  4. Ugh! I’m very sorry that this one annoyed you to death, Lola. I know that DNFing a book is really a hard decision to make and that’s coming from someone who only DNFed a single book in her entire reading life. Sighs. This book was such a waste. It’s not every day that you get to pick up an LGBT Dystopian book.

    The authors have clearly lost their focus. A wonderful premise that went to nothing. Good thing that you were able to make a fast decision in DNFIng this one. As the others have said, life is too short to be wasted on a bad book. 😀

    Have a happy weekend!

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  6. Sorry you didn’t enjoy this book! I don’t think I’ve ever read a published M/M, but I’ve read plenty of horribly written ones on other websites. I hate when a book seems to talk down to a reader or to a certain group of people, like teenagers. Good luck with your next read! 🙂

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  7. Oh I never tried a m/m book but it’s intriguing. I’m sorry it wasn’t for you though but when ut’s boring it’s boring. I didn’t know about it but now I’ll definitely pass. I hope your next read will be better girl.

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  8. “Too good to be true” indeed! I was super excited for a second, until I saw you’d only given it 1 star… Glad you followed me though because I’m glad to find this blog, I need some people in my WordPress reader who review M/M stuff. 🙂

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      • ::snort:: Not me. I’m a quitter and good with that. One the other day…4% in. I just couldn’t do the style and it hadn’t caught me in any way to put up with the style. Too many other books out there to try that could be the “amazing” one to suffer through those that aren’t. *nods*

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      • Hhahaahahahahaha 4% in? hahahahah I could never do that. At first, I’m always hyped about a book or quite interested in the story. But what you’re saying is true; there are so many books out there waiting to be read!

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      • I’ve never read the Hunger Games *gasp* I know! lol I’m usually okay with 1st person present. But 3rd I just couldn’t wrap my head in. It was like… Joe watches Emily from across the room. She’s putting berries in a bowl. Then they’d start talking and it was just brain overload. I kept editing in my head to put it in a regular tense. lol

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      • Oh my gosh, you are so missing something. The first book was the best (though I haven’t read book 3–oups|) Tell me that you at least read Divergent. Or The Selection. Or The Mortal Instruments. And I can forgive you. 🙂 Lol, it’s so weird, I have a feeling of déjà vu you talking about present tense and me about Divergent. Hmm, must be that we’re doing right what we were meant to do (sorry, I can get quite deep sometimes.)

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      • Ohhh right!! I still have to read that one. But I’m piled in ARCs, I’m sure you are too, lol.

        I have never DNFed anything. If anything, I skim the rest if I hate it. I even got through the Scarlet Letter, which I hate with the fire of a thousand suns. So…I have yet to read anything that bad. But there might come a day.

        I just have this OCD that even if I hate the story or characters…I have to know what happens or if it gets better from there or I’ll always wonder about it later. But I know that for other people, some books just aren’t fucking worth the trouble.

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      • I wish I were as patient as you are. Yes, I have tones of ARCs because of NG ahahah Why is everyone hating that book? Hmm, I hope I never need to read it for school. This year we’ll read Romeo & Juliet and Catcher in the Rye.

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  13. Oh.. Looks like you’ve been reading a lot of 1 these days. he-he. At least you have managed to finish it. I have the same experience just recently. It was a review request. I had to email the author and confirm with her if the book she sent me is just a draft or if it’s the real thing. O.o
    Good thing is that it’s not that long to read. At least I finished it.

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  14. “dystopian M/M romance story”!! *sigh* I really enjoyed The Culling (dystopian GLBT) and wouldn’t mind reading something similar while a bit more adult, but yeah guess that “dream book” has yet to appear. 😦

    I have read and liked quite a few books from both Lisa Henry and Heidi Belleau (Rear Entrance Video books, #First Impressions #Second Chances) so it’s a shame really.

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