Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
I honestly don’t know how to do this justice. Last year I read Devious Lies and in my review said it was one of my favorite books but than failed to put it at the top of my list. I won’t be making that mistake this year. One of her tan legs wrapped around his waist. The other extended over his shoulder. He was fully clothed in dark cigarette pants and a matching cashmere sweater that highlighted his insanely muscular physique.
but his death was needed for the character growth and progression of not just charlotte, but also her sister, kellans dad, and his brother tate. to me this book wasn't a love story even though we got 3 different types of love: not his ex-fianceé summoning him for a serious talk (he barely listened, not taking his eyes off Charlotte and trying to figure out what she had been mouthing to him from the distance 🌚) terry marchetti 🍺 - one of the 2 redemption arcs. at first, i hated this man because he so callously ditched his son, but then i felt sorry for him as the money from his successful novel ran dry and he became a homeless alcoholic, who had to beg to stay in his oldest son's house. the more i read, the more i learned about terry, and by the end? only a person like charlie can make this awful man into someone worth forgiving. did this coward steal his son's book and publish it as his own? yes. but he helped give darling venom the finish it deserves and made kellan proud. Aside from that though, all the characters in this (with the exception of my Jonah, of course), are one-dimensional. They start off miserable and they end miserable. I didn’t care for the small redemptions some of them had—Leah realizing not everything is about her and finally being the older sister she had to be, Terry saying he’s not a fraud (he is), Charlie…is Charlie, Tate…is Tate, Kellan is…dead. Then you have Tate, Kellan’s older brother who is a rich OB-GYN and apparently, the best. He’s sarcastic (which I loved), and he says he’s cold yet:why did he keep giving hope to Charlotte if he had known beforehand that his decision wasn't going to change? So, Darling Venom is divided into three (3) parts. Two (2) parts as far as I'm concerned, so these parts are the only parts that actually count: So she gathered plummeting to death was the best way to go. Instead of finding an empty roof she saw a boy who had already come to the same conclusion. Kellan Marchetti was a stranger she had found a piece of herself in: Two suicidal teens, troublesome sibling relationships, outcasts, painful/traumatic pasts.
Despite a tragic past, Charlie remained bright and committed to bringing light to others. She was an amazing and strong main character. And throughout the book, we see her living and thriving. I found her relationship with her older sister to be extremely sad. When they both were teenagers, they had this amazing bond, and in a flash that all changed. It was so heartbreaking to hear Charlie constantly talk about how Leah blamed her for everything. But that still didn’t stop Charlie from trying to cheer her sister up and standing by her side.I guess that part of this indifference is partly tied to the fact that I ended up not liking the main characters that much, after all, and even if I did, I'd still feel like something was missing. Which, finally brings us to the main reason this book was only a mediocre read for me: *drumroll* the romance and the smut. It wasn’t what he said but the way he said it that made my eyes snap to his in horror. He’d called me Charlie, and his voice was no longer taciturn. It had the faintest touch of a smoky, bossy tint. Nevertheless, Darling Venom explored some very complicated relationships between siblings and parents. Charlie had the longest, most frustrating and painful journey with her sister. Tiny moments felt so revolutionary once they finally took their first steps towards reconciliation. Leah let Charlie pin her hair😭😭🥺.
Why would Charlotte's boss insist that she visit a gynecologist? 🌚 Reproductive health is important and all, but even if she never made it to an ob-gyn before, it was kinda... her personal issue? Like I mentioned before, I found the romance weak and uninteresting (I'll elaborate in a little, I promise), but I liked the first part -the one where Charlotte meets Kellan-, and I was equally invested both in Tate and his father's disastrous relationship and in the one between Charlotte and her sister. Yea those parts were a tiny bit ridiculous but I don't give a shit. Kellan was so precious I believe he could do anything.
They shared one kiss and met a couple of times and that's all it takes to write the next masterpiece of world literature?? Social commentary on life and human decency and survival? 🤡 The guy was seventeen and he had already managed to write two novels that shook the foundations of the USA. Couldn't be me. Charlotte Richards has been through her fair share of heartache and tragedy to last her a lifetime. Her emotional scars will never heal in the way that she wants it to and existing feels like a burden most days. When a chance encounter with a classmate changes her perspective on what was supposed to be the worst day of her life, Charlie makes a pact with her new friend. Little does she know that one handshake and a spoken promise is going to change her in ways that she’ll never see coming. This is my first book by this author, and I would love to read more by her! I loved her writing style, and there are SO MANY great quotes in this book. I swear I wanted to write down a quote from every chapter. Listened to Russian metalcore that I felt deep down despite not knowing what they were saying not because he was screaming but because I don’t know the language PS: Will never understand the cover choices of some authors. The tumblr boy on the cover had me expecting a raunchy age-gap romance, not a full on cry fest☠
this book sort of reminded me of old LJ shen characters, specifically jude & celian from Dirty Headlines, and hala told me that LJ and Parker are BFF's which is funny, because damn LJ how you gonna let your friend copy your flow, and she did it better than you??? BYE. 😂
so, naturally, he wrote the least sad suicide letter in the history of suicide letters, in which he begged challenged a depressed, broke, barely 18-year-old schoolgirl ( Charlotte if you must know) to edit and get his book (about their love story with a sweet HEA) published. Last year, I binged read all of Parker S. Huntington’s books and had an absolute delight. And ever since then I had been patiently waiting for a new release from her. When Darling Venomdropped, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. I went in completely blind and with full trust of the author. yes, i know i sound like a broken record but i did love each and every character in this book. tate was suffering. a young man himself when his good for nothing dead beat, alcoholic father dumped his teenage son on a fresh out of med school tate, so he could run off with his too-young gold-digging girlfriend. struggling with balancing his job and a rebellious brother who he struggled to connect with, kellan's death affected him so much, that tate never forgave himself. she was vulnerable in her feelings, an open book for kellan to study and thrive from. she was a quiet bookworm, not quite popular not quite a loser just coasting through life after the tragic accident that took away her parents and her sister maybe not physically but definitely emotionally. her thoughts are so relatable, the way she looked out for kellan was admirable, yes she snitched on him to the school principal who ultimately didn't even do anything the pathetic bitch, but she could've stayed silent like so many people do, but she chose to stand up for kellan and put him first. their relationship was so pure, untouched by the darkness because they escaped all of that in each other. in part 2 when charlotte became charlie we got to see a different side to her, gone was the suicidal girl instead, there was a girl who has learned to be happy in her own skin, yes she was still having problems with her sister but she never gave up on her. charlie is the definition of resilience, this girl fought for her sister's happiness, tate's happiness/their relationship, & for terry to find himself again.
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