DNF Review: The Walls by Hollie Overton

Synopsis:

What if murder is your only way out?

Single mom Kristy Tucker works as a press agent for the Texas Department of Corrections handling everything on death row from inmate interviews, to chronicling the last moments during an execution. Her job exposes Kristy to the worst of humanity and it’s one that’s beginning to take its toll.

So when Kristy meets Lance Dobson, her son’s martial arts instructor, she believes she’s finally found her happy ending. She’s wrong.

Kristy soon discovers that Lance is a monster. Forced to endure his verbal and physical abuse, Kristy is serving her own life sentence . . . unless she’s willing to take matters into her own hands. Perfectly poised to exploit the criminal justice system she knows so well, Kristy sets out to get rid of Lance – permanently.

Review:

DNF @ 40%

I am all too aware that my criticism of this book is going to be way more brutal than the average reader, but that’s down the fact that I hated Baby Doll, Overton’s debut novel, and so reading this one, I’ve automatically picked up on things I’ve disliked. But I’m glad I didn’t continue to read this one.

What I couldn’t get past was how unbelievable the relationship with Kristy and Lance was, right from the start. He shows up at her door in the evening, after one conversation… which is creepy. And then she lets him hang around the house after two conversations… that’s weird. And then she lets him buy her things, like $1000 grills, after three conversations… I mean, what? That just wouldn’t ever happen.

The romance part of this novel was class-A cheese. I hate romance in novels as it is, it just bothers me, but when it’s subtle and doesn’t take up too much of the plot, it’s OK. In this novel it’s not subtle at all, it’s cheesy and it’s right there, in your face. Thankfully, it simmers down at 25%… but by that point I was bored of reading this already.

This one was too slow for my liking. Nothing happened in the 40% of it that I read, and I admit it, I don’t like Hollie Overton’s writing style. For me, it feels like she’s trying to hard to be cool and relate to us as readers. It’s a nice gesture but it doesn’t come across great.

I think it’s now official that I don’t get on with Overton’s work and this means I won’t try any more of her books. It will waste too much of my precious reading time.

P.S. This was meant to be a buddy reading with Annie @ The Misstery but she got through it in under 24 hours and I couldn’t keep up because I was so bored. She also spoiled it for me (on my request) so I know what happens!

*Buy it here: Amazon UK | Book Depository | Wordery

Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Book Group for giving me the opportunity to read this one in exchange for an honest review. Sorry I didn’t like it!

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