DNF Review: Hidden Gates by D.T. Dyllin

Synopsis:

P.J. Stone was taught to put duty before her heart. But everything changes with a kiss…

As a Seer, P.J. is expected to choose a suitable mate to continue the bloodline. Wanting someone considered off-limits jeopardizes her future, forcing her to question everything she believes in.

As if navigating her love life isn’t complicated enough, P.J. receives a vision of a threat to her world that only she can perceive. But no one wants to believe a fledgling Seer’s warning. With nowhere else to turn, can P.J. trust a stranger with her life, her world, and maybe even her heart?

Spoilers for the first 20% of the book.

Do you ever get a few chapters into a book, and just come to the realization that the book is not for you? Yeah, this happened pretty quickly with Hidden Gates, which is really a shame because on paper, it sounds like the perfect book for me.

The first chapter actually started out decently. We meet P.J. (heroine) and Bryn (best friend of the male variety) and see them being best friends and revealing only a teensy bit that they aren’t fully human. (I still don’t know exactly what anyone is, and I was over 20% in when I stopped reading). I’m all about the slow reveal, slow world building, no info dumps, etc, but there was zero development here.

All there was was a slightly sickening and rushed romance. In the first 20%.

We went from zero to 5000 with Bryn and P.J.’s relationship. In the first chapter, heck, the very first few lines are about P.J. daydreaming about making out with this other guy (and I’m just now realizing that he was never seen again after that first page) and lamenting that he would never notice her. Bryn, obviously in love with P.J. though she’s completely oblivious to his feelings, is her Guardian, and apparently off-limits due to some weird eugenics whoever these people are have going on. What exactly a Guardian is or does, I didn’t find out in my short time with this book, but I assume he, well, guards things.

Guarding VERY quickly turned into sex.

So P.J. and Bryn and random friend Jenna (who is a Speaker? Can like, speak all languages? Read in another review that she can later speak to animals) all go to this party. P.J. gets super drunk. P.J. goes with another random dude outside, and almost gets raped. Bryn shows up in the nick of time and saves the day. P.J. then realizes she’s in love with Bryn and starts throwing herself at him (literally).

Sex and romance shenanigans ensue for the next couple of chapters.

This is all within the first 20% of the book. I’m not joking.

I was promised cool supernatural/paranormal stuff. Instead I got weird, convoluted romance that COULD have been adorable if you’d saved it for the second half of the book. Other reviews said that P.J. goes on to make out with other boys even though she’s pledged her entire existence to loving Bryn. NOT COOL P.J. Plus the names were throwing me off. I actually enjoy being 100% certain what gender characters are, but that’s just one of my adorable quirks. Every time someone said P.J., all I could think was:

Content: Well, obviously, sex. Attempted rape. Not really recommended for anyone.

Challenges: NetGalley and Edeweiss Challenge