Brave

Wicked, Book 3

By: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Narrated by: Amy Landon

Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's Summary

Ivy Morgan hasn't been feeling like herself lately. Not like anyone can blame her. After all, being held captive by a psychotic fae prince hell-bent on permanently opening the gates to the Otherworld is bound to leave some mental scars.

It's more than that, though. Something dark and insidious is spreading throughout Ivy, more powerful than she could ever imagine...and it's coming between her and the man she's fallen deeply in love with, elite Order member Ren Owens.

Ren would do anything to keep Ivy safe. Anything. But when he makes a life-altering choice for her, the fallout of his act has far-reaching consequences that threaten to tear their lives apart.

If Ivy is going to have any hope of surviving this, she must put aside the hurt and betrayal she feels and work not only with those she loves but with an enemy she would rather kill than ever trust. War is coming, and it soon becomes clear that what Ivy and Ren thought they knew about the Order, themselves, and even their enemies has been nothing but a cluster of dangerous, deadly lies.

Ivy knows she must be more than just brave to save those she loves - and, ultimately, to save herself.

©2017 Jennifer L. Armentrout (P)2018 Tantor

Continuity errors, not believable characters

I liked the first two books. I cannot finish this last one. David’s name inexplicably changed to Daniel between books 2&3, and Dane is sometimes Dale which is weird. How did this get past the editor? How do you forget the names of your main characters?? Additionally, Ren and Ivy have become increasingly one dimensional. It seems like Armentrout wants us to believe it’s true love because she keeps saying that it is, but doesn’t present it in a convincing way. The book gets pretty slow at times, and 2/3 of the way through I can’t bear to keep going. I’ve enjoyed some very slow books, but there isn’t enough intrigue or depth here to keep me going. This book feels like it was rushed to press and needed a lot more polishing.

I was wrong

I thought surely the hours that I've spent with Ivy and Ren would be made worth it by the end of this book. I kept going because I thought, it has to get better.
by the end of this book, who am I kidding throughout the entire thing, I was groaning and screaming and yelling for it to stop. I was so disappointed with how vapid and irritating the characters were that it just makes me want to set my phone on fire.
A couple times in the story, Ivy says, that sounds like the plot of a fantasy story. like, getting all meta or whatever. I just want to slap her. I tried, but it just... God I hate this series.
and the narrator does a wonderful job for feminine voices. I love her feminine voices. most of the male voices that she does sound... unintelligent. :(

Battle

Fantastic ending! I loved it.
I loved the twist and turns, I never suspected.
OMG Tink hehe he is awesome just like I always said. He and the Summer Prince cracked me up I loved.
Ivy really grew for me in this book. She had a lot to work through and she does but what I think the biggest growth she learned was she isn’t alone in everything she had to learn to not only trust in Ren but let him see her venerable.

The ending wasn’t what I was expecting but it was so much more it really was kind of perfect.

I loved the narration and I am so glad it was the same narrator throughout she gave each character their own voice and it made the audiobook so enjoyable.

Narration aside, it's alright

It's an alright trilogy ending, leaves quite a few things open-ended, which can lead to another trilogy set-up. I have seen this done and wonderfully. This one was not done as wonderfully as other trilogies I have seen. It is not boring, it is not great, it will entertain and fill time. I am not sure if it is the narration that gets me or the writing style... I will check out the spin-offs about the freed prince, but I am not expecting anything better than what I have already seen. It's just average for me.

Meehhh

It was alright. I loved the first 2 books but this one had a lot of self pity and whining.

Not super disappointed but not super thrilled ....

Before I say anything about this book, let me just state that every book has something that is not 100% "enjoyable" according to each readers personal preference. It could be an issue with the narrator, an aspect of a character or the story line that is annoying or questionable, etc. Now, 98% of the time, its not even noticeable, and most of the time easily ignored and doesn't affect the enjoyment of the story.
This is not one of those times.
What I do have to say about this book:

The narrator is decent and I have no major issues with the exception of how she decided to be a bit dramatic on certain parts. Again, nothing terrible. Have I heard better? yes. Is this the worst? no. Personally, I think 3/5 stars is fair.

The story was a bit different and I had high hopes for it. The world building was decent and I enjoyed the details of her vision for New Orleans. I think think there is something so captivating and magical about that city. The pacing was well done. I didn't feel rushed or that things were happening at the speed of light. I love Fabian and I loved Tink with Fabian. He feels like he's the only character that knows who he is and what he's all about. Its always great to come across characters that are unapologetic about being themselves.

Having said that, I'm 3 hours and 15 min from finishing the audiobook and all I can say is that more and more the little discrepancies and annoyances are getting to me and actually affecting my enjoyment of the actual story. Specifically because they are so obvious. Characters have random name changes (really? in the THIRD BOOK?), relationships that I shipped turned boring and flat. The intimate scenes added nothing to the story and were in some parts awkwardly written, placed, and even unnecessary. I know that Jennifer's books are meant to be be steamy and romance-y but this is feeling more and more like a chore to finish. Unfortunately, I am one of those people that feels committed to finishing a series once I have started it. Ren and Ivy's relationship is very carnal (which is fine) but I dont see how it benefits their character development. It feels like Ivy cant even look at Ren without wanting to jump him, regardless of any serious situations they might be in. Basically, at this point it feels a bit over the top.
Lastly, I cringe at forced humor and this book had a lot of it. Whether it was certain parts of conversations, or character traits, if it cant happen organically then it shouldn't happen. Tink was probably my favorite character and I feel like he didn't get the justice he deserved. He turned into the jester of the story and i just think that is so sad.

Anyway, I hope that the last 3 hours become more pleasant and hopefully the story can pull through and end with satisfaction.

Longggggg

I love the first two books but this book has dragged on for toooooo long. Love the performance tho

Not nearly as good as the first two books

Total opposite of the previous books. The characters are so unlikable in this one. ALSO, how does an author completely forget the name of one of the characters and totally change the name? It really threw me for a loop when David is now called Daniel?

Ivy is SO very whiny and selfish in this book. I LOVED the first two books, so I was very disappointed.

I started this book on audio, but had to finish after about halfway with the kindle book. Two reasons: With a character the name Faye, and the word "Fae" used so often, it was such a pain in the butt to hear them constantly in the same sentence. Wish that would have been thought through more. Also, the narrator makes Tink sound like a 5 year old idiot kid with a deep voice, yet Ivy says how "sexy" he is. Hard to picture that when he sounds like an inbred moron.

Also, the ending is just completely ludicrous. Makes me wonder, was a ghost writer used?

what's in the suitcase? ..... OMG

Yeah you have to listen to book 3 just for the suitcase part. I promise its worth it, Tink would not disappoint us. it's epic. Heads up its later in the story but I advise you not to be eating or drinking when you hear it.... and maybe pull over :) :)

Completely unpredictable...

Any additional comments?

Holy crap!! The last 2 hours of this book have blown my mind. Tink was a total surprise. He's my favorite character and one of the reasons I love these book's. I've missed so much sleep by not being able to pause. Never have I been this swept away by a series. This one ends with the possibility of another installment and I can't wait.

Very disappointing from JLA

I’m a fan of JL Armentrout, her Covenant series are my all time favourite YA books and I thoroughly enjoyed her many other works too (despite the often poor editing, relentlessly repeated and overused phrases, cliches and textbook characters). But this whole series was way below par, and the third instalment was simply a chore to get through.
Where do I start? The narration was mediocre at best. Amy kept mixing up who she wanted to give voice to, accents and tones were all over the place. Her males are cheesy and her impersonations inconsistent.
One of the biggest shockers was the sudden name change of a rather important character: David of the first 2 books suddenly became Daniel, I mean, come on, how do you forget what you called the order’s New Orleans leader, Jennifer??? And how much is the editor that didn’t pick up on it make in a month, because I totally want his/her job.
I found this book very tired and rather slow, uneventful and thoroughly predictable. Even in the last 5 minutes I hoped for a big shocker that never came. The ending was “meh” and didn’t really weave in the ends. I didn’t even feel the main romance, which is an absolute first for me in a JLA book!
The only positive I can say about it is there was a few fairly good steamy scenes in it. By far the weakest link in the chain, I wouldn’t recommend this series, but those who got this far will probably want to know the ending just like I did, so it will sell copies nonetheless.

Amazing

When you read this follow on, your gripped right into it. You feel as though your part of what's going on & I need to read the next one

awkward to listen to

the narrator continued to be great but who ever edited the book missed that they changed one of the main characters names from David to Daniel so while I was excited to hear how it ended this was a constant bug for me.

Loved it

I loved the being to this trilogy although a part of me hopes for spin offs or another book in a few years. The narrator is insanely good and I just love these books.