Publish date: August 8, 2023 🖤
Rating: 4.5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫

“A young writer searching for inspiration instead finds danger, betrayal, and romance in a spellbinding novel by USA Today bestselling author Ivy Smoak.”

I love Ivy Smoak’s books so it’s no surprise that I loved this one as well! Hazel, an inspiring author, comes to an estate as a new assistant for a famous author who she’s hoping to learn from. Only, she finds out she’s actually the assistants assistant and Mr. Remmington, her new “boss”, is not making her stay feel very welcome. Instead it feels as though she’s trying to scare her away.. and keeping a lot of secrets. Hazel is trying to uncover the many secrets she feels are being kept from her about Athena, Mr. Remmington, and this spooky estate, but can she do that when feelings are getting involved? And what is to come of her book she’s been working on while there? 🫣💗

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Hazel Fox arrives at the mysterious mansion of a best selling author to serve as her new assistant.

However, once she arrives, she learns she is the actually going to be the assistant to the assistant, the condescending, must be called Mr. Remington.

While the mansion backs up to the Ocean, and Mr. Remington buys Hazel new clothes to fit her new assistant role, something strange is going on. Hazel has yet to meet her employer, Mr. Remington is allergic to garlic, and the housekeeper runs out of the room every time Hazel speaks to her, what has she gotten herself into?

I didn’t care so much for the budding relationship, but mlre intrigued in the big not so big reveal.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc!

Ok, so this began with Hazel Fox, who just got a new job as an assistant for an author, and after she moved to this author's house that was located on a private island, instead of meeting her, she met a guy named Mr. Remington.

Mr.Remington is giving off a weird vibe. He has very strict rules, such as not calling him by his first name which I don't understand why, and not wearing shoes inside the house.
And even knowing all of that, Hazel still decided to stay.

Hazel is a horny, annoying, immature, and generally dislikeable. I feel like she needs to get laid instead of getting a job.
I was so unimpressed by the plot. The author attempted to portray Mr. Remington as a morally gray character, but it fell flat.
There's no chemistry, no character development. The nonexistence of the "thriller". The whole story is a mess and just lost it's direction. I thought the writing was cringeworthy and ridiculous. I tried so hard to find a single thing I liked about this book, but, sorry, there was none.

Smoak's writing is captivating and sucks readers into the story from the very beginning. She artfully weaves together different plotlines, keeping readers on edge until the very end. The characters are well-developed and complex, with each carrying their own share of baggage and emotional scars. It's easy to get emotionally invested in their story, rooting for them even when their decisions don't always make sense.

My only gripe was the glaringly obvious plot twist. I ended up spending my time waiting for the end game, rather than enjoying the mystique and thrill involved. Luckily, it did have some extra twists in there too - which I won't talk about, so I don't spoil anything.

This is perfect for Ivy's fans and fans of thriller alike. It was such a short, enjoyable read so everyone can take a chance on it. Thank you to netgalley for an advanced copy to review.

*Thank you to Montlake, Ivy Smoak, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

I might be the only one who did not finish Ivy Smoak's Hunted Series. I hated the main character and found her immature and almost narcissistic in her tendencies. I am always willing to give an author a second chance. Ivy Smoak is beloved by many. I am sad to say that I found Hazel, the protagonist in her latest novel immature and almost narcissistic. She is in her early 20s but acts like a teenager. But the truth is, I didn't really get it. And the ending left a lot of things unexplained; the cold skin, why everyone stares at her throat, the odd people at the beach party etc. I don't want to give any spoilers but this could have been such a great book. It IS a great story but I feel like Hazel ruined it with her immaturity. I also dislike when the BFF has absolutely no life of her own; no friends, no boyfriends etc. She lives for when Hazel calls her. This is a book I wanted to love but we need strong badass characters.

Review in progress and to come.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

⭐⭐⭐💫
3.5 stars
"If she weren’t so naive, she would have run. She would have been able to feel the coolness in the air. She would have seen the signs unfold along the long drive."


Thank you netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Reading this book was one hell of a ride. It is full of thrill and suspense, sometimes bordering on spooky. I jumped into this book thinking it was just some thriller, but to my surprise and delight,
it is a romantic thriller.

The writing was good, it was easy to understand and the scenes from the book were playing in my head.

Now the plotline. Initially I was having some difficulty connecting with the characters. Hazel to be honest is very infuriating and makes series of bad decisions and definitely a fool. Also she is horny 24/7 and wanted to jump on Mr. Remington as soon as she saw him. But still I overlooked those facts and continued on. Kehlani was a typical best friend, to say I didn't like her wouldn't be wrong.

As a person who has read so many thrillers and that surprising me with main plot twist is very highly unlikely I already knew [ Mr. Remington is Athena Quinn when I was barely 2 chapters in. (hide spoiler)]. Anyways, the events leading up to the climax is all matters to me. And it was not that strong as I wanted them to be. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book a lot.

For those who loved Verity and Lock Every Door, I would recommend this book to you.

"But I’ve seen this play out before. She’s going to push away her fears for one intoxicating touch. It is always the things that are bad for us that feel the best. And only time can teach you such lessons."

I really enjoyed reading this book until the twist SPOILER
was Atlas and Hudson weren’t vampires! After all that, it was wrapped up in a really unassuming bow and I wasn’t happy at all. It’s a good read, I was just disappointed as it was a good lead up to a story that never emerged.

I'm a big fan of Ivy Smoak's The Hunted Series, so I was excited to see one of her new titles as an ARC on NetGalley. "Bad Things Feel Best" was not at all what I expected, but I don't mean that in a negative way. From the very beginning, Smoak does a fantastic job creating a spooky, ominous mood. Hazel Fox arrives at famous author Athena Quinn's beautiful mansion optimistic about her new job and hopefully gaining a mentor. Things quickly start to feel "not right," making Hazel question not only her decision to take the job but her own instincts as well.

The other main character, Mr. Remington, is a conundrum. As a male lead, he wasn't at all likeable, but I feel that this was 100% the author's intent with this character. I found myself coming to the same conclusion as Hazel about why Mr. Remington behaved the way he did, but also like Hazel kept second guessing what I was seeing.

Overall, this book deviated from what I normally read in a lot of good ways. The setting was masterfully created and the female lead was likeable. However, some of the storyline was farfetched, and I felt that the ending left me questioning so many things that it felt unfinished. If you're a reader that is okay living with some ambiguity, though, this shouldn't bother you at all. All in all, even with my thoughts about the ending, I don't regret picking up this book.

If you enjoy an intriguing romance with mystery then you can't go wrong with Bad Things Feel Best. As the title states, there are some bad choices to be made but they sound good on these pages! This is certainly different from Ivy's other romance novels but I think that's what makes it a winner!

This book is interesting in that it's crazily great written.
The characters are just that - a bunch of characters! (in a good way)

If you're a fan of Ivy already, you'll get a sense of deja vu in that Hazel could be the child of Ash and Penny, and Mr. Remington is totally the child of James & Matt & Tanner (yes I went there).

Hazel was hired to be the assistant of Athena Quinn. But she turned out to be the assistant of Mr. Remington. She moved to live in Athena's house, and was warned where she could walk around, and what was off limits. Yet of course, because she's ... Hazel ... she does what she wants.

Mr. Remington is interesting. You wanna love him. You wanna smack him. And you want to adore him because he's got the most interesting qualities about him.

I won't say more, because I don't want to share spoilers. But go in with an open mind and enjoy the book just because it's different, unique, and something fun.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I can't decide what's there to like at all, and this might be my first worst review. When I picked this book, I expected it to have some thrill in it, but let me tell you there wasn't. It was just a whole lot of confusion, nothing more. I guess I just expected a lot from this book.
The story feels scattered a lot. The tropes aren't clear and there's no solid direction like where exactly the story is heading?!! Also, everyone seems like they were onto something suspicious except for Hazel. At first, I thought at least Hazel was a sensible character but by the end of this book, my thoughts for her changed as well. At least her best friend's character was better than hers though. It was pure chaos. Then there was Atlas Remington's character. I did not like his character at all. Throughout the story, he was rude to Hazel and then all of a sudden he fell in love with her. Okay, even that could have been digestible but why make him sound like a pervert/stalker who plans out everything in his life and stalks Hazel?! And, Hazel sounds very confused to me throughout the whole story, first, she hates Atlas, then pines for Hudson, and then goes back to obsessing over Atlas. Her thoughts gave me whiplash. One moment he's a Vampire to her and the next, he's the man she fell in love with?!! Does that make any sense?! The woman doesn't even make Atlas grovel for his forgiveness!!! Even the plot twist wasn't shocking at all, I saw it coming from miles away, and to me, the signs were way too obvious.

This book was so good. Ivy Smoak knows how to draw you in and keep you guessing. This book is mysterious, intense and sexy. Hazel is looking to further her career, but runs into some trouble along the way and ends up fearing for her life. It doesn’t end how you think at all. I couldn’t put it down.

Wow what a great story. The twist and turn will keep you needing to find out what’s really going on. Don’t want to give anything away but so worth the read. Just a little heat to this story but the story has enough depth that it didn’t need to be hot. #lovethisstory

I think there were too many tropes in this one and the vampire thing was kind of confusing along with everything else going on in this book.

I really enjoyed this book! I have read other titles from Ivy Smoak so I was really excited to dive into this. It was nothing like I expected. I really hope that everyone who goes into this, goes in blind because it was so exciting to be able to read that way. Really good!

Romance

This book suffered from an identity crisis. The author had us going in one direction with a creepy kind of mystery while also developing a romantic storyline. Neither was successful.

Hazel Fox accepts a job as a famous writer's assistant, but when she arrives it turns out that she is the assistant to the writer's assistant. Her workplace is a gigantic house on the beach. From the beginning something seems off. The assistant insists she call him Mr. Remington, not wear shoes to dinner and tells her that she most likely won't ever meet the author she is supposed to be working for.

Hazel's imagination goes into overdrive and all of the clues indicate that Mr. Remington could be some kind of monster, yet she cannot help but be attracted to him. Smoak does a great job with the creepy storyline and I was kind of hoping the plot would go in the direction of a modern day Beauty and the Beast. It doesn't. The author isn't successful in making the relationship that develops between Mr. Remington and Hazel very believable. Mr. Remington's character isn't developed enough and his interactions with Hazel are mostly odd, so by the time they get together the relationship doesn't feel fully realized.

This book is really short and I think it would have benefitted by adding some meat to the bones - round out the characters, have the relationship go through some different ups and downs.

I do so appreciate receiving the ARC and want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for my copy.

This book was amazing. I could not put it down and stayed up all night reading it. I love Ivy Smoak's books so much. I already can not wait for the next one. She makes the best stories and characters. Hazel Fox and Mr Remington are incredible characters. I loved this book so much.

4.5 ⭐️ My girl Ivy has yet to let me down with any of her books that I read. This was a quick suspenseful thriller that had a twist I didn’t see coming.

Thank you so much #netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of one my favorite authors!

Well where to start.. Ivy smoak is an absolute genius when it comes to writing. You can tell she really does love to write. The book is good. I like it. But I'm partial to her other stories.
James and Penny, Matt and Brooklyn, Scarlett and Axel and the rest of them too. This books is different from her others but still equally written as her other stories are. She's an amazing writer. She knows how to suck you in for sure.

Good job .Ms.Ivy Smoak it's a good story but I prefer James, Penny, Matt, Brooklyn and the others. But you're an awesome writer and an amazing person so please keep writing and sucking all of us in.
Can't wait to read a new book from you.