Laura’s Review of Bestie (Jokers’ Wrath MC, #5) By Bella Jewel

Synopsis

From USA Today Bestselling Author Bella Jewel comes a new novel in the international bestselling Jokers Wrath MC Series.

The universe works in mysterious ways.

Well, it did for me, anyway.

It was like it knew that I needed him.

It put him in my life during a time I honestly thought I couldn’t go on.

He was broken. I was broken.

We only had one thing to offer each other – friendship.

A true, deep, incredible friendship.

Laughter fixed us.

Talking bonded us.

He quickly became my everything.

This is our story.

I can’t promise it’s always perfect.

It might make you laugh.

It might make you cry.

It might even make you fall in love.

It's real.

It's ours.

It’s us. Besties.


**Contains Adult Themes - This book can be read as a standalone**

What I Loved

        I’m usually a big fan of Bella Jewel books, especially when it comes to the Jokers Wrath series.  The characters have always been compelling to me and the plot and chemistry in each book has sucked me in and kept me hooked.  I really liked the premise of this one as well, a heartbroken girl finds friendship with a man who is in a similar situation and they both form a bond with each other.  I loved how it didn’t go down the traditional route of two people immediately fall into bed with each other and then form a friendship.  Molly and Roman became each other’s best friends and companions before falling in love and I really liked that.  It was out of the ordinary which was refreshing to experience apart from many of the other romances I normally read.

Not So Much

        As much I loved the premise of this story the entire book fell flat for me on every other level.  First, the sentence structure was horrible, every sentence was fragmented and there was just no connection from one paragraph to the other.  I felt like I was reading a book of a brand-new author with no editor rather than someone whose been writing for years. 

        Second, the characters came off as immature making it hard for me to form any type of connection to them.  It features a lot of characters that have grown up in the club and instead of having this edginess that many of the Jokers’ Wrath characters possess, they come off as pouty teenagers instead.  There was literally a point in the story where Molly is talking to her friend Jack who is a biker himself and he crosses his arms and pouts like a girl.  There was no description of how old any of these characters are supposed to be but for a girl working and living on her own I’m assuming she’s not a teenager.

On top of that, the story starts out with Molly beyond heartbroken over a dude she dated for a couple of months.  There was a real lack of explanation of Molly’s past relationship when the book begins, which showed me there was basically no foundation established for this plot.  On top of that, you never find out how she even knows Roman! None of this is every explained.  It was hard to understand her pain over a relationship that ended only after a couple of months.  It felt more like a teenager should be this heartbroken rather than a grown woman.  The same can be said for Roman as well, he came off as spineless at times not being able to stand up to his ex-girlfriend.  For me I found it difficult to relate to either of them because their emotional turmoil lasted way too long.  There should’ve been more character development as the book moved along but not real growth happened at all maybe a little at the very end.

Also, there were many times that the plot just didn’t make sense to me and many inconsistencies.  There was one chapter where Roman and Molly are baking a cake, but it’s never explained why or for who.  It simply served to add another sex scene into the story but the chapter literally had nothing to do with the story, it was completely pointless.  I found a lot of inconsistencies and errors as I read as well.  For example, Roman and Molly are hanging out and she gets up to leave because she has work the next day, but then they make plans to spend the whole next day together immediately after. There were too many errors for me to even begin to enjoy reading this book.

To Sum It All Up!

        Overall I was seriously disappointed with this story.  I feel like the entire thing needs to be re-edited and maybe have this be the beginning of a new series instead.  I saw this as the beginning of a new wave of characters in the Jokers’ Wrath Series, like Bella Jewel was going more the MC Sinners Next Generation route rather than continue with what is more traditional Jokers’ Wrath.  Plus, the fragmented sentences frustrated me on every single page, there was literally an entire paragraph where each sentence began with the same word. 

        It was hard to become emotionally involved with both Molly and Roman’s backstory because of their immaturity and lack of emotional depth.  Roman time and time again showed how he couldn’t stand up to his ex and did whatever she said, while Molly acted like a teenager.  I will say, because of the lack of detail in the book, you don’t know how old any of these characters are so maybe she is a teenager I don’t know.  I did enjoy their sense of humor at times, although they used the same jokes repeatedly which became tiring.  I appreciate the fact that this story broke away from the rest of the series but it was so different that it really should’ve been its own story or a spinoff somehow.  There was absolutely no consistency with the rest of the books and the characters were very hard to like.  If the books in this series continue like this one I will probably stop reading the series all together. 

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