Please check how honestly, clearly and beautifully my friend MissDemanour explained what is disturbing in Dean & Rosie's book RUCKUS. Hers is the best review I have read on this book. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... *********************************************** My revised review on RUCKUS: (3 out of 2,5) I needed to reread certain parts of this book and revise my initial review because Ms Shen messed with my mind in this book and so many things were bugging me! I must confess that I was never one of those readers who didn’t want to read this book because of dating the two sisters thing. I have always been the reader who was pissed at Dean for dating the girl Vicious had an obsession with and taking her virginity (knowing his close friend Vicious would be devastated). That has always been my main issue with Dean. And it hasn't changed at all after "Ruckus" although Ms Shen has tried hard to make us get pissed at Vicious and Emilia in this book. My loyalty is and will always be to VICIOUS and his girl, Emilia :))) *********************************************** This book reveals pieces of information that we didn’t know in Vicious, but they don't cause relief at all because they don’t feel like truth revealed. They feel like truth/facts that we read in “Vicious” have now been modified and altered so that we like Rosie and Dean and approve their relationship. It feels as if the writer is trying to make us believe that it has always been Dean for Rosie and it has always been Rosie for Dean. Scenes such as Dean looking at Rosie with lust in his eyes while kissing Emilia or Dean taking Rosie’s sister’s virginity while loving Rosie all the while didn't help me to accept their love, at all. On the contrary, they creeped the hell out of me. *********************************************** In “Vicious”, it was Emilia who was doing a lot of sacrifice for her sister’s health and well-being but here Emilia is portrayed as someone to be pissed at. I resented this effort. The explanation of Dean for trying to be the “good guy” who wanted to protect Emilia from Vicious’s cruel attacks was bullsh*t because you don’t need to date & f*ck the girl to do that. You can still date her sister Rosie, (who in this book seems to be the one you want whereas what we believed in Vicious was that you were genuienly interested in Emilia), and still help and protect your girlfriend’s sister. *********************************************** The character and intentions of Dean in the previous book contradicts the ones in Ruckus. And it is not a “perception difference”, it feels like "changing facts and characters". I wish Ms Shen had chosen to make it another way, such as maybe Dean growing interest in Rosie afterwards, I mean after some years but not f*cking her sister while lusting for Rosie all along. *********************************************** While reading Ruckus, I wanted to forget about my dislike for Dean and really tried hard to love and accept Dean and Rosie. I tried not to be prejudiced and I tried not to wrong the book’s value. Ruckus is technically so well-written with so many touching dialogues that one may easily get lost in their “epic” story !!! Even myself, although I couldn’t love the book as much as I did “Vicious”, I myself gave it 4 stars out of 3,5 initially all because of this successful writing. However, the more I thought about it, the more the things that I tried to ignore bothered me and I had to face them all.
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The past
In this book, we learn that Dean met Rosie minutes before Emilia accepted his dating offer. Dean saw Rosie when she opened the door and instantly, he felt something very strong for her, he even felt she was the one he should date. Rosie also felt the same for him but then, minutes after this exchange of feelings, Emilia came out of the house and said she wanted to date with him. (He had previously asked her out before meeting Rosie).
So, what did Dean do?
Did he say it was too late because he was now interested in someone else?
No.
Did he date Emilia?
Yes.
What did Rosie do?
Well, she pushed Dean towards her sister, feeling guilty for wanting Dean and Dean didn’t resist much at all.
By being with Emilia, Dean also wants to protect her from Vicious and that's why he dates Emilia while he lusts for and thinks about Rosie all the time.
Does this make sense to you? Because it doesn't make much sense to me!
In the previous book, Dean seemed to like Emilia genuinely whereas in this book, Emilia is portrayed as someone who goes in between Rosie & Dean.
The following excerpt may give you an idea how sick it feels:
At first, he assured me that he wasn’t touching her. After I told him that he should touch her, he got really mad. Nowadays, he was going out with her and acting like it—kissing her, God, I heard them just the other day—even though his eyes were on me. Always on me.
Maybe it was Vicious who started all this mess at the very beginning but I believe that Dean contributed to that tangled mess a great deal.
When Vicious kisses Rosie, Dean gets very angry but he still goes on with that charade.
Eventually, Vicious did manage to get back at me in a way that cracked through my shield. Turns out that sh*t was thick, but not unbreakable after all.
He kissed Rosie.
He threw a party at his place, and we were cooling down from almost beating the hell out of one another. That wasn’t out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary was the way he made me taste my own medicine for the very first time. And let me tell you, it was nasty.
If Dean had been someone with integrity, he would have claimed the girl he really wanted, not her sister and it would have been fairer for all 4 of them (Dean, Rosie, Emilia and Vicious.)
Vicious kissed Rosie only once, he didn’t date her or he didn’t take Rosie’s virginity. Dean did all these horrible things! He dated Emilia. He took her virginity!
If Vicious is your friend and Rosie is the one for you, then, how can you!!?????????
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In this book, it seems that Rosie pushed Dean away in the past, seeing Emilia needed him and she was the healthy one who deserved a chance with a guy like Dean but this feels like the effort to victimize Rosie and Dean, making them seem like the ones who did the sacrifices for the ones they cared about so that we, as readers, get warmed up to Dean & Rosie.
I wanted to break up with Millie, but I doubted it would make any difference. Rosie still wouldn’t date me—she may even hate me more for bailing on her sister’s ass. And Vicious was definitely going to corner Millie and make her life a living hell.
What kind of a logic is that?
Trying to change our perspective of the past like that carries the risk of changing our fascination with the book “Vicious”.
However, my fascination with the book Vicious and with the main characters Vicious and Emilia is hard to change.
I actually never stopped accusing mainly Dean of this mess.
So sister or not, I don’t give a sh*t that much, the worst thing in my opinion was Dean choosing the wrong person for the wrong reasons, and increasing the pain of all 4 of them. Meanwhile, his choice, Emilia, being Rosie’s sister just ADDED INSULT TO THE INJURY, if you ask me.
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At the age of 18, all teenagers are prone to making mistakes and Vicious, Dean, Emilia and Rosie all made horrible mistakes by pushing the ones they loved away from them just because of some stupid reasons. Somewhere in the book, there was this sentence:
Love is not perfect. Life is not perfect. Yet, they’re both extremely beautiful things you should treasure every day.
So Ms Shen emphasizes that neither the love of Vicious & Emilia, nor the love of Dean & Rosie was perfect, but at some point in their lives, they wanted to correct their mistakes.
Well, I tried to understand and forgive them. But did I?
If only Vicious and Emilia hadn’t been portrayed in this book as the ones to blame, I could have, maybe; but I am sorry I couldn’t accept Rosie and Dean’s excuses, blaming Emilia and Vicious for nearly everything.
As in the quotation below, there is this hidden effort to blame Emilia for Rosie’s suffering.
"You know what the hardest part was when you and Millie were together? Hearing you make out. It used to kill me. That’s why at some point I stopped being home when you were around."
Whatever Dean says now as the confession below doesn’t change the fact that he has always been the biggest asshole.
“You were always the one, Rosie. Before you even opened your goddamn mouth, I knew that I had to have you. And it took me a long time, but now that I own you—and let there be no mistakes, you’re mine, baby—nothing will come between us, get it?”
If you really have loved Rosie all the time, how could you date her sister, kiss & sleep with her and upset your real love Rosie so deeply? In my opinion, Dean tainted all the good feelings.
The present
Well, what happens at present is, after 11 years, Dean decides to make things right. (Why so late? I have no idea!)
When Rosie has broken up with her boy-friend Darren, Dean sees this as his second chance and starts to chase her. Well, actually, the idiot doesn't know how to chase her. For example, he brings two girls home at the same time for a threesome but flirts with Rosie in the elevator in front of these two girls.
Dean is a unique piece of an asshole and he is afraid of talking about what is in his heart and he tries to flirt with dirty talk all the time.
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Rosie doesn’t want to accept it but she still has strong feelings for Dean. Therefore, her resistance seems ridiculous.
“I want you,” I said simply, unapologetically — vulnerably, even— because I did .
“As you did my sister.” Baby LeBlanc gave a curt nod. “Are you planning on screwing your way through our family tree? Should I print out a copy of our ancestry.com profile?”
Now at present, Dean seems to be adamant to get her. When he becomes sure that she wants him, he changes his game and becomes persistent. Thus, her cute resistance turns out to be a short-lived one and she gives in and they start a very belated relationship.
When they learn, Vicious and Emilia give them their blessings and all.
After that point on, Dean is very loyal to Rosie, stopping all his man-whor* ways.
Truth was, Baby LeBlanc didn’t know what she wanted. She felt guilty, but at the same time, craved me like crack.
***
“We’ve already established that we’re happening. Now you’re just punishing me for dating your sister. Tell me I’m wrong.”
The writing is good so some sentences really touched my heart.
I needed Dean. Dean made things go away. He was weed. He was alcohol. He was music. Only a thousand times more addictive than all of the above.
However, sometimes, what Dean said like the one below irritated me a lot! It was intended to be funny maybe but it was creepy in my opinion.
“Your dating days are over. You’re mine now.”
““Are you mine, too?” I arched an eyebrow.
“Always have been, Baby LeBlanc. This co*ck was just a rental that’s now being used by its legitimate owner.”
WTH? I am right? Weird, right?
Especially, I HATED this dialogue between Dean and Emilia and how they made it seem like something unimportant!
“I really love her,” I said.
“I know.” She nodded and laugh-cried. “God, how were we even together?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Everyone wants a piece of me, I guess.”
After this dialogue, the book lost me completely!
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There are a few plot twists that are sad and shocking but I knew they were coming. Somehow, I had predicted them.
In this book, my heart beat faster only when Vicious was in the scene. My heart still belongs to Vicious, for sure :)
If you wonder if this book is hot or not, I can say that there are pages burning with their steam and passion. However, I was never in the mood to like them.
Dean fisted my hair again, this time harder than he did on the bench, and turned my head to the space between our bodies so I could watch. “What am I doing to you?” He sounded menacing.
“You’re…” I stuttered. He tugged at my hair harder for the answer. It was painful, but at the same time, extremely hot.
“Say it, Baby LeBlanc.”
“You’re f*cking me.”
“Hell, yeah, I’m f*cking you. Feels good?”
“Y—yes.”
“Am I too deep?”
“N—no.”
“Am I too rough?”
“N—no.”
“Good. ’Cause I’m about to be.”
The Epilogue of the book gives a hint about the next book (Trent’s story) and it is clear why its title is “Scandalous” :)
Trent gave us a hint of the scandal he is going to cause! I don’t feel like reading it because it seems that Trent, who is now a mature adult with a child, will go after an 18-year old girl. That doesn't sound as if something my stomach will be able to take. Thus, I may stop continuing this series here, after Ruckus.
If only my friends assure me that there is some justificiation done about Vicious and Emilia in it, if I am assured that Trent’s book tries to right the wrongs in Ruckus, then I may... I don’t know for sure!
Final words:
To the readers who loved Vicious as much as I did (to the stars and back), this book is frustrating.
If you didn’t care about Vicious at all, this book still doesn’t make sense in all its integrity.
No matter how well the book is written, it still leaves a bitter taste because of Dean acting as a d*ck both in the past and at present!
Hence, Dean stays as my least favorite HotHole.
Although Jamie was cute and sexy, I didn’t care about him much.
Trent seems to be my 2nd least favorite HotHole after Dean for going after such a young girl but I haven’t read it so I am just assuming.
Long story short, Vicious is the one and only Hothole for me.
I am sorry that Ms Shen took this path in her book "Ruckus" but I still love her for giving us a book like "Vicious".
"Vicious" was a 5 or actually a 10-star read for me.
Final Warnings:
- This book is not for everyone. Maybe, you will be disturbed by the sister issue too badly to forgive them all for their past mistakes; so think well before you start it because it will hurt... badly.
- Also, if you are keen on issues like excessive alcohol and weed consumption, this book may again disturb you because many characters in the book have such harmful addictions, including the hero Dean.
- Dean is the exact definition of a man-whor* with no moral compass until he starts to date Rosie. It is really hard to condone his actions most of the time.
- Finally, there is unprotected sex in it between the main characters and if you are sensitive about this kind of careless and stupid acts, let me warn you about that, as well.
