Review: The Failing Hours by Sara Ney

The Failing Hours
(How to Date a Douchebag, #2)
Sara Ney
Publisher: Self-published
Publication date: Jan 31, 2017
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:

Zeke Daniels isn’t just a douchebag; he’s an a**hole.

A total and complete jerk, Zeke keeps people at a distance. He has no interest in relationships—most a**holes don’t.

Dating?
Being part of a couple? Nope. Not for him.

He’s never given any thought to what he wants in a girlfriend, because he’s never had any intention of having one. Shit, he barely has a relationship with his family, and they’re related; his own friends don’t even like him.

So why does he keep thinking about Violet DeLuca?
Sweet, quiet Violet—his opposite in every sense of the word.
The light to his dark, even her damn name sounds like rays of sunshine and happiness and shit.

And that pisses him off, too.

My thoughts…

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. Zeke is not a good guy. We know he’s not a good person. Heck, even he calls himself an a*hole. So I knew this going in that he might not be a likable character. However as the story progresses we see nuances to his character that we might otherwise dismiss or overlook. Like how he always bets money or items with people who are in need of said items, knowing that he’s going to lose. It’s his way of helping those around him without making it seem like he’s being helpful. It was times like that when I would soften up to the guy.

With that being said, he’s very mentally abusive to Violet. He makes fun of her stutter when they are first meeting. He does a push/pull with her when it comes to their friendship. He is all nice when he’s with her but when his friends are around he humiliates her. I just, I wasn’t a fan of that. And to have him have a revelation that he loves her and that all is magically right in the world, I guess I kind of wish that had happened sooner in the book so we could have seen how Zeke really was. Like was that a moment of trying to be nice but then reverts back to his old self? I suppose I will find out in following books.

I did enjoy this book, don’t get me wrong. I knew that Zeke wasn’t going to be an overly likeable character. While he had his soft moments, I really wish we got to see more progression with him or at least a change that was more consistent to show that he was growing more mature. It will be interesting to see these two pop up in future books.

Previous reviews from How to Date a Douchebag
The Studying Hours