Series rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Books and their rating:
All I Want – 2.5 stars
Be True – 5 stars
Be Mine – 4.5 stars
Be Loved – 3.5 stars
Likes:
- The romances were solid.
- The characters were generally likeable.
- The writing was good.
- Slow burn romance.
Dislikes:
- Too long.
- Too repetitive.
- The books got less interesting as they went on.
- Same story told through three different relationships.
- Formulaic.
Technically, All I Want isn’t a part of the Beloved series. However, I’m including it because I was annoyed when I was reading Be True and Ash and Elliot kept turning up. The story behind their romance was referenced enough times to make me wish I’d read their story first so I could actually understand the context.
I think All I Want should be tied to the Beloved series in some way, because they feature many of the same characters and locations. As a reader, there’s nothing more annoying than wondering, “Wait, should I have read this book first?” when you’re already invested in the current book.
In the end, not reading All I Want first was probably a good thing. My ratings for the books decreased with every book, ultimately ending with me not finishing All I Want.
The reason for my decreased rating was because of how the books are structured. Be True was great. Wordy, but the story and characters had me hooked. Unfortunately, all three books in the Beloved series are about the exact same inciting incident. That meant that Be Mine and Be Loved both rehashed scenes I had already seen in the previous books. Since I was reading the books back to back, those rehashed scenes were boring.
Worst of all, when it came to the third book, Be Loved, I felt like I already knew what was going to happen with the bad guy. He was the same bad guy as in the previous book, so I knew when he was going to drop off the radar and that he wouldn’t physically hurt anyone. That completely wiped out the suspense element. It was very disappointing.
Another issue I had was with the epilogues. All three books in the Beloved series had epilogues set one year later, on Valentine’s Day. The first time it happened, it was cute. The second time, it was fine. The third time, I was over it. It really didn’t feel like Starling had considered that people would be binge reading the books after they were all out, and that the similarities would become glaring.
I think the idea of having the books al start with the same inciting incident is a novel idea. I just don’t think it worked as well as it could have. Still, the trilogy kept me interested enough to finish all the books. That’s more than I can say for All I Want.
All I Want had potential. The setup was good and the romance was solid. What didn’t work for me was Ash. I have to like both main characters in a romance novel. I didn’t care about Ash. He wasn’t a bad guy, but he didn’t do anything to make me like him either. My affection is not guaranteed. The characters have to earn my regard.
Or should I say, he didn’t earn my regard fast enough. I stopped reading at the 36% mark. The Ash who appeared in Be True was a decent guy. So I’m sure he went through a transformation in the 64% of All I Want that I didn’t read. But I wasn’t willing to wait around. With so many books out there, why should I stick with something that *might* pay off?
My overall thoughts on the series is that Stella Starling is a good writer who knows romance. She just needs to be tougher with her editing. The books are long – 356, 406, 240, and 275 pages respectively. There’s repetition in every book, especially when the characters are reminding themselves why the romance could never work. The books would flow better, be more cohesive, and less repetitive if subjected to a harsh red pen. I think the quality of the series overall would drastically improve.
Love is Love Reviews 