Review: The Tornado by Missy Blue

This book has been found to be a plagiarized work. It has been taken down from purchase sites and Goodreads. The original work is a fanfic titled In The Land of Gods and Monsters by Wynter S. Komen 

Title: The Tornado
Author: Missy Blue
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Type: Standalone
POV: First Person – Dual
Rating:

 

Jewel Mucciarone was a ballet dancer with a big dream for the future, but a horrifying event from her past put a damper to that dream. Now in a new city, she slowly building back her confidence and determined to see her dream comes to life.

The path to that dream brought her to Asher “The Tornado” Price. Asher was an ex-Marines and a well known MMA fighter who came with a baggage from his past as well.  He was determined to help her as she tried to get a better grip on her life. But external circumstance made the past harder to shake off.

The movie Warrior is my favorite fighter movie and the one that started my love affair with book fighters. The problem with this book is it was a rip-off from the movie.

Didn’t want the fame. Didn’t want the glory. Didn’t fucking deserve the glory.

I’m not a Nazi when it comes to original ideas. Of course authors get inspiration from everywhere including movies and other books. However, this one was too much. From the hero’s family and career background, physical appearance, mannerism, personal preferences, downright to his fight M.O.

As for the character, I did like Asher, but not enough to make me feel for him. This is mostly personal preference but he was too perfect. Yes, there is such thing as too perfect – it’s unrealistic and uninteresting. Yes, there was the mention of his temper, but it never blew over. The lack of vulnerability in him that made me felt less connected with him.

He was too gentlemanly, too patient, too proper, just too much. I’m not asking for an asshole, just something that made him more human.

I hated feeling like a victim; hated my anxiety, my depression. Hated that it had made me harm myself and feel like I couldn’t deal with life at all.

Jewel was a better character for me because she showed her vulnerabilities while still remained strong. Her progress was believable (except towards the end). I also liked that she put priority on her cat than anything else lol!

“You know, Connor, if you’re going to insist on calling me by my last name, the least you could do is pronounce it right.”

Connor made a face. “Macaroni,” he said. “What’s so hard about that?”

“Macaroni is a type of pasta. It’s Mooch-ee-rone,”

Connor was definitely a favorite of mine. He was the funny, slightly irreverent one.

The story, it had potential, but lacking in intrigue. There was no secret/revelation for the readers to anticipate. She had secret but we could guess right from the beginning. This is the case of too much telling, not enough showing.

I know a lot of my GR friends love this book and gave it gleaming five stars. I kind of feel bad not loving it. It felt like when you don’t like the movie adaptation of your favorite book. In my case, it’s the other way around.  Yes, I may be biased in that way, but as mentioned earlier, there were other things that didn’t met the check marks.

 

This review is also available on Goodreads.