All the Wrong Things Review
***Spoilers at the bottom***
I recently finished and reviewed the Dramione fan fiction The Right Thing to Do by LovesBitca8 (aka Julie Soto). It was supposed to be a stand alone story but the fans demanded more and wanted the story from Draco’s POV. They asked and she DELIVERED.
If you read my review of The Right Thing to Do, I mentioned that I initially made the mistake by starting off with The Auction and realized it was the third book in this series and was the AU for these two books so I had to stop and back track. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and it was the first fan fiction I’ve read since Manacled, so needless to say I enjoyed how light and easy the story was. I was excited when I realized that All the Wrong Things would be the story from Draco’s POV and not just a continuation.
First off, let me just say it wasn’t lost on me that these two books covering the same timeline from two different POV’s is just like their favorite book series they share in the book which does the exact same thing but with more character POV’s. Needless to say reading from Draco’s POV this time was really fun. It had a perfect balance of covering the same important events from the first book while providing more background and flashbacks focused on Draco for further character development.
Personally, I LOVE a morally grey or black character. I find they are less predictable and provide more complexity to a storyline. You can really see the difference when you read these two books. Don't get me wrong, Hermione is and always will be one of my favorite FMCs, but she is typically written as a morally good character. Her complexity is based in a sense of innocence, usually in her naivety, overthinking, or stubbornness to a fault over a situation rather than over her morals. Draco’s is naturally the opposite. He has a grey sense of morals, but will break and would willingly go morally black for her, and who doesn’t love that ;)
Reading through Draco’s POV was also just more realistic for me. Hermione’s nativity in the first book, while believable for her character, would occasionally lean into unrealistic, but okay I’ll believe it for the vibes. I also really enjoyed getting to know other character’s in this book better. Overall, this was a really great second book and alternate POV for this story and would absolutely recommend!
Rating: 4 ⭐️
Spice: 3 🌶️
Now onto The Auction next :)
Till next time. Just keep reading!
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***SPOILERS BELOW***
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Okay, first of all I don’t think I’m the only one who now wants a stand alone young Narcissa story line. She was one of my favorite parts of this book. I loved her in the first book and how she would subtly wiggle her way into getting them together, and literally wrote in my last review that I wanted more of her. I’m so happy that in this book she expands on her character and you can just see how diabolically clever and more fun she is in this book and how much she thrives on manipulating situations. I loved how towards the end when her and Draco are visiting Lucius in the hospital and how he said to Draco, “I knew if that girl gave you even a scrap of affection, you would follow her like a dog for the rest of your life. You’d be lost forever.” and Draco watches him interact with Narcissa before he leaves and seeing his father looking her like a dog looking for scraps. It really made me want to read the backstory between Narcissa and Lucius and how they ended up together. I think they would be a real enemies to lovers story. One of the things I enjoyed reading was how Lucius’ morally black action revolved around his son (I honestly never thought I would empathize or like his character and yet here we are). How he did everything to help him get what he wanted and how he said he just wanted him to do what makes hime happy. Learning more about him and Narcissa’s history has the potential to be a really dark and twisted amazing love story (someone please get on that or let me know if it’s out there). Bonus if they could structure it like these two books because I really enjoyed the dual POV.
Anyways, back to the main characters. I was really happy with how well the questions Hermione had and the moments where we weren’t sure what Draco was thinking were filled in throughout this story. The depth of his feelings for her in this book just made me love this series more. Seeing how he focused on all of the little details to try and make her happy were just really sweet to see, like when he was decorating her office, or how hard he was worked to get her parents memories back for her. It was bittersweet to understand that as much as he feels, he was forced to literally emotionally stunt himself in order to survive.
I was even pleasantly surprised at how much empathy I have towards Pansy’s character. How Draco used her to make Hermione jealous and even though she started catching on didn’t want to admit it to herself. Also, let’s not forget how great Blaise’s character continued to be in this book. He’s basically the Riddoc from Fourth Wing of this book (I just finished Onyx Storm so it’s the closest thing I can currently compare him to). I absolutely loved him. It’s been a while since I read the original books but I don’t remember much of him from it so it was fun to see his character arch get expanded. I would much rather have a Blaise than a Ron if I’m being honest…
Well, onto The Auction next. I know it’s going to be dark, but I just hope it doesn’t break me like Manacled did…
Till next time. Just keep reading!