Drawn by Lilliana Anderson

Title: Drawn
Author: Lilliana Anderson
Genre: Adult/Romance/Dark

Maturity Rating: 17+
*WARNING*: VERY GRAPHIC SCENES
Overall Rating:

My Quickie Synopsis: Henrietta is suffocating under the overprotective thumb of her father. However, she finally gets the chance to make her own rules; when she turns 18 her father agrees to let her leave the nest. While enjoying her freedom, she meets the highly attractive Damien and sparks fly. But, is Henrietta simply trading in her new-found independence for the shackles of lust?

Enjoyment Factor:
Oh, boy. What the hell did I just read? I'm not going to lie; I skimmed through portions of this book (namely the multitude of sex scenes). I can't recall being this incredibly naive when I was 18. I don't even recall anyone I knew at the time being this dense. I honestly just wanted to slap Henrietta. And her mom. And her dad. Just line them up and we can get this over with quickly. The book started off okay and it seemed like it had some good material to work with. But then it just kept devolving until it was unbearable. The sad thing is, I can still see why others would enjoy this read. For that and the ending alone, I give Drawn two stars.

How I felt for at least 75% of the book.

I understand that the story is supposed to be dark, but I didn't see a point to any of it. I didn't care about these characters. At all. If they have any redeeming qualities, they're all lost in the swamp land of a plot.







Technical Rating:

Character Building:
Ms. Anderson's characters do have potential. There are the faint beginnings of foundation elements for her main heroine/hero, but they aren't as strong as they could be. A lot of their personality traits feel forced on the reader, to the point where I was more annoyed than sympathetic. The supporting characters are full-on terrible though; Aaron's role didn't sit well at all.

Plot Strength:
Was there really a plot? If so, I missed it. Maybe their relationship in itself was the plot? Seriously, I'm at a loss here; why did I just spend time reading about a naive girl and her controlling boyfriend? There's nothing there to keep a reader engaged (unless you're reading it for the smut). The attempts at plot elements were weak and uninspired; I'm honestly surprised I finished the book.

Sincerity:
I still have a difficult time believing how someone could be so naive, but it works (to a point) in terms of how Henrietta grew up. The "darker" parts of the story felt the most sincere, oddly enough. But everything else just seemed so shallow and fake. I had a hard time believing that Henrietta's father would condone Damien being around his daughter at all. And Aaron was just so lackluster! So much for having someone to root for!

Editing:
There was a lot of awkward wording and dialogue in Drawn. Sometimes I wonder if it was due to a cultural disconnect; the author is Australian, so I did stumble over some of the slang. I'm not discrediting the editing for the slang though; it's always interesting to learn new things. However, I think overall Drawn was just a little too verbose in places and stiff in the presentation.

Pacing:
Too much smut and too little story-telling made the book drag in a bad way. There were spots where Ms. Anderson did okay keeping the book moving forward, but it's hard to keep a good pace when there are so many plot holes to stumble on.

My Icing on Top:
The epilogue felt a little rushed and jumbled; it seemed more like a preview into the next book instead of an actual epilogue. That being said, apparently Ms. Anderson is writing two separate concluding books in a "choose-your-adventure" kind of fashion. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that; although, then again, I'm not sure I care enough to read on anyway. I'd suggest Drawn to readers who want their fix of dominant male smut, but don't necessarily want to be bothered with too much story.

Check out my informal review on Goodreads!

Happy reading!

-K