"Out Foxed" by Donna Fox

Introduction

The mighty Donna herself wished for my amazing eyes to gaze upon her work of art, so the great LJ has done so, and felt like making a “dramatic” introduction to capture the attention of fellow readers (and writers)!

I went in without reading the summary, as I usually do when I read books; I judge by the cover shamelessly, living life on the edge (of stupidity).

I could only assume the story was connected to foxes. I mean, it’s not like the cover or the title gave me that idea; I came up with this assumption entirely on my own, without help.

Let’s-a go! Only warning: there will be spoilers! And it was written as I was reading!

The Actual Review (I Lied)

You worked on this story for ten years? For real? *war flashbacks to my own novel that’s taken me ten years and still isn’t nowhere ready for the light of day*

Note to self (probably won’t remember, though): remember to leave disclaimers/trigger warnings if the novel probably needs it. Otherwise, I’m just gonna feel bad.

The Foreword: I felt that.

Part One: Fox in the Hole

Likes:

• The inclusion of a prologue; it felt necessary for this type of story. It kind of reminded me of “Bloody Roar: Primal Fury”, a videogame on GameCube that I was obsessed with growing up; it’s a fighting game where the people you play as turn into a specific type of animal and still have human mannerisms, like being bipedal.
• Elyana; her personality is matching my vibe. She annoyed me a bit, though, with ignoring the blatantly obvious. And the Stockholm Syndrome (or something related); if you know, you know (I say it later).

Dislikes:

• Hunter; I can smell an annoying character from a mile away. *a chapter or two later* I knew he would be overbearing and controlling. And a fuck boi. I just can’t escape these tropes; that’s a good thing, it’s realistic to the real world. If he’s actually dead, thank the lord!
• Emily and Tempest; mildly annoying but they do fit the best-friend vibe (and the fake friend ones, too; that’s why they’re in dislike).
• New Guy (Gabriel); something doesn’t smell right with you… Right now, where I’m at, you and Elyana are being kind of cute, but I still have my eyes on you, Sir… Personally, I wouldn’t say it’s love between them.
• Azazel; he and Elyana have history, and she still feels something despite the bullshit punishments he puts her through (say it with me: Stockholm Syndrome or something related to it).
• Basically everyone in the facility staff; I want them all to fall off a cliff and die slowly.
• The immensely strong vibes that rape was going to occur. If it happened vaguely and I missed it, thank fuck for that; only on rare occassions can I handle it. I think I’m good, though; I don’t recall a warning of it in the disclaimer.

Part Two: Into the Fox's Den

Likes:

• Elyana; I still vibe with her but it’s annoying that she was all “thanks Az, even though you did so much bad shit to me”; nah, he’d be dead if I weren’t dead (from suicide, because fuck this universe), you hear me? Please, stop defending Azazel, ya stupid bitch; you’re a woman, you wouldn’t have gotten the same choice as Azazel, period, use your damn head, not your girl boner you clearly still have for him. HE LITERALLY KEEPS OMITTING INFORMATION FROM YOU; STOP RIDING HIS DICK BEFORE I JUMP INTO THE BOOK! (I promise you, I like this character XD). It’s tempting to put her in dislike, though; immediately after learning of Gabriel’s possible lies, she looks at Azazel with lust; I fucking knew it was gonna happen and I hate it.

• The Chief (forgot his name); he is in likes specifically because he said he wouldn’t have done what Azazel chose. Whatever he turns out to be is completely irrelevant. Hey, look, he isn’t the best person; don’t care, he’s staying in likes.

Dislikes:

• Azazel; please die, please die, please die, for the love of Satan, please die. I hate you so goddamn much, please die. Painfully. Slowly. Please. Don’t you be mean to Carl; I agree with Carl, 1000%. Bruh, pleasuring her but then being all “I can’t have you while you are someone else’s”; did you not just pleasure her, my guy?! XD Jesus is what we all need, apparently; hail Satan. Oh my god, the switch up the next day; I cannot with this bastard!

• Gabriel; I’m not sorry to say that I still don’t like you. God, don’t ride Azazel’s dick, too… I might’ve been right to dislike you this entire time. Eh, still don’t like you. Kind of an anticlimactic end for him but also, of course you die and leave me stuck with Azazel’s annoying ass.

• There’s a minor goof; Elyana and Azazel discuss Gabriel’s real reason of entering the facility, and Azazel transforms into Gabriel (the wrong name was used, I believe, unless Gabriel was there during the discussion about him and wanted to butt in XD).

• Am I to assume protection was used in all the horny sexy moments? XD Or is a pregnancy gonna happen, with a betrayal? I hope I’m wrong; I’ve read fanfiction with storylines like this.

• Hunter being alive; goddamn it, why couldn’t you be dead? Oh, yay, he dies and he didn’t even speak this second half.

• The former besties; boo hoo, bitches.

• The ending kind of feels rushed and incomplete, and I’m probably saying that because I wanted Azazel to die and Elyana to be a proud, independent fox woman that doesn't need no man.

Rating

A few grammatical errors here and there, awesome storytelling (I’d have killed myself without hesitation in this universe, mainly because of the punishments), amazing characters (even though most of them annoyed the hell out of me and I wanted them dead), the awkward structure of chapter splits, a cool cover, a bad ending, an overall entertaining adventure, and probably some stuff I’m leaving out but I’m not a professional reviewers, so sorry not sorry, I give this book four stars.

It takes a lot to be a five star; like, I gotta be extremely into it for it to be a five star. Four stars is pretty good, too, of course; three-to-five stars (mostly four-to-five stars) contain books I’d likely reread someday.

And I know I disliked a lot but I was vastly entertained the entire time, as I was also very annoyed at the same time. XD

…It was definitely the awkward structure that made it four stars. XD It hurt my brain.

Conclusion

If anyone wants me to review their book, I will if it’s available to me! I have Kindle Unlimited until the 20th something of this month! Bring it on!

This review can be found on Amazon (it's a lot shorter there, whenever it shows up) and Goodreads.