The premise of this story sounded really fun to me, and I have to admit it was an enjoyable read. I did find I disliked the main character for most of it, but then that was just some of the irrational things she did, and how she got away with them. There are some deep shocks in this book you do not see coming, and I was so pleased to see that the author did not follow the same stereotypical tropes that most books go with. A good read with a good ending!

*Thank you to Netgalley and J.F Johns for sending me a free e-ARC copy of Sienna in exchange for an honest review. All quotations are subject to change upon publication.*

Sienna is due to be published on the 1st of December 2021

Stats:
Overall: 2/5 stars
Characters: 3/5 stars
Storyline: 2/5 stars
Writing: 2/5 stars
One-line review: Sienna felt a little underthought, although it was a unique and riveting concept for a book.

Perhaps I am at a disadvantage, but I felt as the worldbuilding in Sienna lacked, although It was made aware to me that this is part of a series in which I have not read the previous books of, it just felt as if the concept of this book was underthought. I would love to read some other books by J.F Johns as I feel as their writing has huge potential and possibly my lack of enjoyment reading this book was due to my lack of knowledge in this book universe. The writing style and concept felt as It needed another review and re-draft to add some more depth to the plotline and characters.

J.F Johns evidently has an amazing grasp at what readers want to see in a book, and their imagination is superb as they have come up with such a unique concept, but I just think the execution of the book needs more thought.

This was a pretty quick read. I liked the concept but overall fell really flat. The writing was not great and I powered through it but by the end I was left unsatisfied, sadly.

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC copy for an honest review!

Sienna wakes up in a strange house with six other girls that are forced into a life of servitude under a cyborg-hunting Master. She refuses to become like the rest of the Marked Ones, and fights against the violent, cruel world she has been thrown into.

Let me begin by saying that this book has a really cool premise. I was intrigued by the cyborg element and the fact that it has an entire troupe of heroines, but I didn’t really see much of either. There wasn’t as much world-building or character backstory for my liking. There was also just little things that kept popping up and bothering me throughout the story like spelling errors, overuse of exclamation marks, and lack of character development.

For instance, the secret room she went back into the mansion for. What was the purpose? I was expecting her to find Atticus, as it was heavily hinted that she would, and then the story just ended. Why even mention the room? No closure there for the purpose of the room or what happened to poor Atticus.

The Marked Ones. I’m still kind of confused as to why/how this was allowed. Even in a seemingly post-apocalyptic society that hates cyborgs, how was he allowed to just kidnap human girls? Does every wealthy Hunter do something similar to this? This is where I would have liked to see some of the world-building aspects of the story because I was so confused as to the state of society as this point.

The Girls. I would have liked to have seen more character from all of them. I feel like I ended the book without really caring about any of them other than just feeling sorry for them for being in a bad situation. I sometimes didn’t even care for Sienna because she seemed more like a trained assassin at times than an actual sixteen-year-old girl.

Also, the cover really doesn't make since now that I've finished the book. We didn't get hardly any cyborg perspective in the novel, and Sienna is described as having brown skin, brown hair, and brown eyes, so who is on the cover?

This book has a lot to offer, but a lot to build upon, too. It is so close to be sooo good, it just desperately needs some adjustments.

Not gonna lie I'm not sure how I feel about this book, I know this book is set in the same universe as the author's other series that I haven't read so I think that's where that's why I get lost with this book. Because I think in those books, there was a lot of the world building and that's what I was missing from this, a lot of the lore and just general bits and pieces that would make certain things make more sense. But other than that I quite liked the dark elements to it not gonna lie and overall I think it's a good book the premise is okay. Wasn't sure why cyborgs mentioned they weren't really the big villain like I was expecting Terminator-like force and instead they not really 'The Masters' is. I think with this book I would benefit from going back and reading the author's other series then coming back and rereading this one just for a bit more understanding of the universe this book is set.

I did enjoy this book, I think that it does need some work. It is good, but it can be a little confusing to the reader, which is not great. I did have to end up DNFing around 83% through. Overall I think this books could do with a little more clarity.



Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review
#Sienna #NetGalley

Sienna wakes up to find herself in the home of Master as a new addition to the "dolls" thats he keeps to amuse himself and his guests. From the moment she wakes she is warned by the other girls that she must do her best to obey and follow the rules of the master or there will be dire consequences for her or for the other girls. Does this stop her from rushing in make rash and ill thought decisions? NO. Does she constantly jeopardise her life anD that of the other girls? YES! Normally, the type of behaviour exhibited by Sienna would annoy me but she is only 15 and for this reason I was able to excuse a lot of the decisions she made.

The story was a fast and easy read and I loved reading about the cyborgs and the hunters. It was easy to get lost in the world as there are several interesting elements in the story. I just wish there was something genuinely special about the character that would have explained how she was able to get away with so many of the things that she did without being punished as the other girls were.

*I was given an ARC in exchange for a honest review*

Sienna wakes in a house where a small group of girls explain to her she is a captive of The Master. It is super unclear why The Master keeps a collection of girls other than to be escorts for his friends/clients. Sienna obviously wants to escape and is aided by The Masters son who takes an interest in her for seemingly no reason. (I'm using the word girls for the young women because that is what they are called in the story. Sienna is the youngest at 15)

This book is in a connected universe with the authors Eternal Darkness series which I have not read so I have given it a pass on a lot of the world building aspect that I didn't fully understand. Including all details of keeping humans as slaves, the "marked ones" thing, and all details about the cyborgs.

The other girls make it very clear to Sienna that her life is at risk if she doesn't obey, showing her the cruel punishments they have suffered, yet she remains immature, snarky, and incredibly short sighted. She values her "virtue" above her life. All the other girls suffer punishments at the hands of The Master, but even after breaking the rules and disrespecting The Master, Sienna remains unharmed. She is being held captive as an escort, and yet it is made clear Sienna will not have to kiss someone. This felt very similar to Lauren De Stefano's Chemical Garden series (Wither, Fever, Sever). It is a YA book, with teenage characters, but the plot would be inappropriate and too dark for YA if it were to be told at all realistically.

Over and over there are examples of Sienna being treated differently and specials by both The Master and his son, but with no explanation or justification for why she is special.

The cyborgs: the description with cyborgs and hunting cyborgs is what hooked me initially, but, as you will notice from my description, the cyborgs do not play a role in this story. This is a story about a rich man who keeps women as slaves to entertain his friends. There is no reason it needed to be set in this world and if the cyborgs were removed from this story the plot would not change at all.

This was a very quick, fast paced read, but it was not the story it was advertised to be. The characters and the writing were too young for the plot which made there be a lack of consequences for the main character.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Sienna in exchange for an honest review.

Sienna feels like a plot driven book that was accidentally written as character driven even though there wasn't the source material there to make the characters developed. I think Sienna could have been a good concept with a nice plot twist, but Sienna just doesn't have enough world building to really cause any form of intrigue into the world and its large cast meant that everyone except Sienna felt like a cardboard cut out instead of an actual character meaning that in the final act where a lot of plot points that should be impactful are revealed, they felt lackluster at best since none of the characters felt like actual characters.

I have read very few books with cyborgs in the plot and this one is an addition to that list.
J.F John’s “Sienna” proves to be a headstrong MC albeit OTT at times.
A story of a monster(aptly named Master) and his dolls, whom he punishes for certain reasons, Sienna is the one who wants to end it all though she is certain she might become a monster in turn.
What I liked- definitely the cover, which is why I really wanted to see what is inside!
The queer angle in the book was a pleasant surprise(I’ve never read any in this genre before Sienna). The plot was fast and action paced, though the characters seemed either very black or white. The ending was a little dramatic but I liked the effect!
This book is a quick read and a fun one in the YA genre. Overlooking certain typos and the not so fleshed out characters, I give it 3 stars out of 5.

*3.5

Wow. Okay. Where do I start? Where there were a lot of things I liked about this book (the plot, pacing, etc.) a lot of aspects fell flat. For one, the MC constantly made stupid decisions and made it very frustrating to read the book. A lot of other characters were underdeveloped, there were plenty of convenient plot points and the whole book was written pretty much like a Wattpad novel.


That being said, I do love a good old Wattpad book. In some books, I can get over silly mistakes and just enjoy a fun book. This book was one of them. This novel was a quick read and very amusing, and if you can get over the stupidity and selfishness of the protagonist, I’d say give this book a go. Especially if you prefer plot-based over character-based books. I definitely didn’t expect the little plot twist at the end, so if you like a good surprise, this book delivers.

I read this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The premise for Sienna sounded right up my alley. Cyborgs? Forbidden love? Queer? Yes, please. Unfortunately, I found most of the characters to be annoyingly one-dimensional. And the writing was stiff. And if the Master said 'child' one more time, I was going to scream. I started to dnf early on but I skimmed to see if things got better. They did not. I live for dark and grim stories but there's at least got to be some hope and resolution at the end. There needs to be some payoff.

Sienna may not have been for me but thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy

No, just no.
<i>I should note, I DNF this at 72% so my review is based on what I read.</i>
I always feel awful reviewing a book - especially an ARC as a 1 star but this book, to put it bluntly, was terrible.
The premise sounded like a book I would really enjoy. I got Cinder meets Wilder Girl vibes and I was so here for it but everything from the moment I started it until the 70% mark where I put the book down was just the equivalent of '????'.

- I didn't get on with the writing style which is probably the biggest reason I didn't like this book. This author writes how I expect my twelve-year-old brother to write and I felt it lacked imagination, substance or even description.
- I didn't like the characters. None of them. The other girls, the master....everyone was so dull.
- I wanted more from the plot. I felt more confused than anything else and the plot holes were extreme. I didn't finish this book so I have no idea how it wraps up but that's a lot to cram into 30% to make everything make sense
.
The one redeeming quality? I like the cover.
This book just wasn't for me and I could see why some younger readers could enjoy this but it felt like something I would have read on Wattpad back in 2010 and I don't need that kind of unwanted nostaglia in my life.
<i>I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>