“Don’t be afraid of me.” he said and he slipped his finger into my a$$.
365 dni by Blanka Lipińska is a failed attempt to mix Fifty Shades with mafia romance.
When it comes to the book there are a lot of misleading things about it: from the blurb & title to the trailer for the movie adaptation & so much more.
Let’s start with the book title: It means 365 days (also mentioned in the blurb) – The ‘hero’ gives the heroine 365 days to stay with him so she can fall in love with him, in reality the book only covers their rushed, unhealty relationship for a period of 3-4 months.
The blurb also claims things that after reading this ‘book’ turn out to be untrue: in no way is this story “disgustingly romantic” as the blurb says. (more about that later).
365 dni is advertised as romance, when the romance aspect of it is questionable to say the least, the book portrays and supports a very toxic abusive relationship & its scenes could be triggering to some readers (Note that no actual warning was given in the beginning of the book, maybe because the author doesn’t realize or want to admit that what she’s writing is actually rape/assault that’s masquerading as ‘steamy’ consensual s*x).
A short summary:
Laura goes on vacation to Sicily with her boyfriend and 2 more friends for her 29th birthday.
Laura is content with her boyfriend Martin even though their relationship lacks the passion she wants & she’s the type of woman that loves sex.
A dealbreaker for Laura turns out to be Martin not paying her enough attention because he works too much, on her birthday she has had enough of it so she runs off angry and gets kidnapped.
Her kidnapper is the mafia Don Massimo Toricelli, who’s been looking for the girl from his visions for years. He gives her 365 days to fall in love with him the catch here is she can’t run off or he will kill her parents (not so romantic already). Throughout the whole book Massimo treats Laura nothing like anyone would treat the girl they were dreaming about.
The characters:
Laura “Faints-A-Lot” Biel – I was really surprised she didn’t turn out to be the unexperienced innocent virgin type of heroine.
Things to know about her – she can polo dance, she has a weak heart, she can talk hours about shoes, loves anything expensive and would forgive anything if you give her jewelry, clothes or shoes.
Laura isn’t really the strong, independent or wise type. She the type of heroine that would have one good breakthrough when it comes to her situation & how the hero treats her only to then take 6000 steps back and throw away her backbone.
Throughout the book she has many conflicted thoughts, she would see that the hero is in the wrong only to excuse his shitty behaviour 5 seconds later to a point it felt like Stockholm Syndrome.
Something I want to mention: In my opinion (and based on what happens in the book) Laura is the author’s self insert , here is why: Around the middle of the book the heroine’s appearance changes out of the blue – she decides to change her hairstyle and hair color without any kind of explanation: a short blond bob, which is exactly how the author looks & she even put herself on the cover of the second book about Massiomo and Laura.
Massimo “Consent-Is-Just-A-Word-I-Like-To-Say” Toricelli – This guy is so far the most inlikable character I’ve ever encountered. I can’t believe we’re supposed to accept him as the hero of this book, considering how vile he is & the fact he doesn’t have any redeemable qualities.
We get to catch a glimpse of how effed up he is in Chapter 1 where he forces himself on a flight attendant.
Things to know about Massimo – he the type of guy that would blame the heroine for him not being able to control himself, the type that would go as far as killing the men that are interested in Laura, he loves to use the word consent but doesn’t really respect it, words like ‘NO’ and ‘Stop’ mean nothing to him, he’s a huge hypocrite (He has no problem getting advantage of tipsy Laura, but gets angry when her ex does that. He thinks is okay to drug another of Laura’s exes so he can cheat but kills her ex because he drugs her. He justifies killing said ex because he has hurt her in the past while he was on drugs, when Massimo hurts her all the time and can’t excuse his behaviour with being on drugs).
Massimo uses sex as an outlet for his dark & psychopathic side, he takes pleasure in seeing fear in his partners eyes (including Laura’s) & almost killing them/them almost choking on his thick as a birthday candle c*ck (Laura’s actual description of Little Massimo). Don’t be fooled by what the actor that would be playing Massimo is saying about him seeing sex as art, he hasn’t read the book.
What absolutely made me hate this character is what he did in Chapter 6 of the book: Laura as I already mentioned has a weak heart (she faints a lot in the book) & also a fear of flying, so when she sees the size of his private jet, she panics & says she doesn’t want to get on, Massimo doesn’t do what any other normal love interest would do (try to calm her down), instead he forcefully gets her on board, when she tries to leave he starts pushing her around while screaming at her, ties her hands with his belt and when she faints from all this stress he’s not fazed at all.
When she wakes up again, he still demands for her to choose a punishment instead of apologizing for his behaviour and asking if she’s okay.
Laura chooses a punishment, but he never actually does what she chose, instead forces himself on her despite having promised multiple times he would wait for her consent, what he does next I consider rape/assault.
Once they land he still doesn’t care about her hurting, they go to a hotel where he ties her to bed against her will (she herself says she’s terrified & wants to get out of the room) & forces her watch him get a blow job from an escort (he almost kills the other girl).
Another thing that crosses a line is Massimo putting a capsule in Laura’s arm and lying that it’s a contraceptive instead of a tracking device (his whole plan is to get her pregnant so she doesn’t want to leave because of the child).
Some secondary characters:
Olga (Laura’s bff) – Olga was a character that had potential, but turned out to be just like Laura, she would give Laura a good advice (like tell her that she’s in a golden cage, but that’s still a cage & that her and Massimo has known each other just for 3 months and it’s all maybe too rushed) only to get distracted by the fact that Massimo is rich and buys Laura things & tell her friend she’s lucky and to enjoy her life.
Domenico (Massimo’s half-brother & Laura’s bodyguard) – The only character I somewhat liked. I honestly still don’t get why he wasn’t the main hero, he was so nice and caring toward Laura, truly the exact opposite of his brother.
Laura’s mother – She was just like Olga, she would advice her something good only to discover her daughter’s boyfriend is rich and tell her she did good.
Laura’s exes (Martin & Piotr) – Both bald headed, with tattoos, Laura definitely had a type before Massimo. Piotr was the ex that was an addict & tried to drug Laura which resulted in Massimo killing him.
Laura and Massimo as a couple – Those two didn’t really share any interests, they didn’t talk a lot about anything aside from how perversed they are & their sexual fantasies. Their whole relationship was build on violence, blackmail, anger and fighting. The amount of times Laura was terrified of Massimo and decided to just go along with whatever he was saying just so he doesn’t get angry/violent is absolutely scary.
Based on everything that happened in this book I can absolutely say this: in no way does 365 dni show any kind of healty, consensual relationship.
The book crossed so many lines even for dark romance. One moment you would have Laura talk about Massimo being nice & gentle when in reality you’d starring at your reading device/paperback in bewilderment because nothing like that was actually happening.
The writing/story/world building:
Aside from being very, very problematic, what’s worth noting is that for a mafia ‘romance’ 365 dni was quite boring, even the final chapter of the book didn’t have that much action or an ending that would make you want to read the next book immediately.
I would find myself reading 3 chapters in a row (I’m usually a very fast reader, but this book took me days to finish) & then I would be feeling absolutely down from how repetitive the chapters were and all the stupid decisions the characters would make.
Blanka Lipińska overuses a very cliched & boring method for starting and ending the chapters – Opening her chapters with Laura waking up & finishing them with her fainting or falling asleep ( A little statistic: Laura wakes up as beginning of chapter – Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20 (insinuated), 21; Falls asleep as an end of a chapter – 2, 4, 8 & 15 (insinuated), 19; Faints – Chapters: 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 (as end of a chapter too), 11, 15, 16, 18 (almost)).
365 dni is combination of Laura waking up, sleeping, showering, giving Massimo blow jobs, faiting, throwing up & long and detailed to a point of boredom (and for reaching a wordcount) descriptions of places, people and locations. Laura would literally describe Massimo in great detail almost every chapter and then add that this is how he usually looks (if that’s how he look all the time why go out of your way to point it out every time?!)
When it comes to the story elements 365 dni follows E.L. James’ Fifty Shades to a T: (I’m almost definitely forgetting a bunch of things that are 100% FS inspired, but these ones stood out to me when I was reading the book)
– Laura’s nickname for Massimo is a color, Black
– Stalking the heroine (showing up at places where she would be)
– Watching the heroine sleep
– Having someone change her clothes (Grey undress Anastasia himself, Massimo has someone do that for him)
– Giving her a car (in this one it’s actually multiple cars)
– Jealous of almost every straight male around her to a point of violence/outbursts (he’s only fine with his half-brother being her bodyguard)
– An evil ex-lover (Massimo’s) that set on ruining the new relationship
– Gushing over how good hero looks dressed all casually and being barefoot; how calm & angelic he look while he sleeps
– Hero going to a store for the first time (having to buy something on his own, instead of sending people to do it)
– Heroine cooking breakfast for the hero
– Unexpected pregnancy
– Relationship is based on conditions (FS – Ana has to sign a contract/do what Grey likes; 365 dni – No running away or her parents die)
– Hero says he’s not gonna touch the heroine until he has her consent (FS – consent has to be written; 365 dni – hero says the word consent and promises he won’t do anything to heroine without it but doesn’t keep said promise despite her saying words like “no” and “stop”.)
– Calls the heroine “baby”
– Yacht scene
– Heroine accepts the fact she has to endure something she doesn’t want to in order to stay with the hero/so he doesn’t leave her
– Bath scene where the hero washes the heroine
– Hero is mad at heroine for doing something simple (FS- eye rolling; 365 dni- stretching when she wakes up)
– Heroine has a long line of men showing interest in her
– Hero/Heroine doesn’t know how to make love
– Trying to fool the reader & the heroine the hero has died/was killed somehow
– Heroine escapes to a parent’s house
– Hero throws heroine over his shoulder
– A rival that wants to take advantage of the intoxicated heroine
– Hero tracks heroine down using a tracking device, app, etc.
– Car chase scene
– Heroine’s best friend is interested in the Hero’s brother
– Heroine has her own room in Hero’s house, later moves into his once they’re in ‘love’
– Heroine has a bodyguard she’s close with
– Hero wants Heroine’s full submission and hates disobedience
– Hero drives a car like a GOD
– Hero has wounds on his chest
– Heroine goes without any underwear to a public event
– Hero & Heroine have sex in a car
– Hero/Heroine sees the other’s childhood room
– Hero is very set on making the heroine say YES to marrying him
Things that bothered me:
– How the author would unnecesary switch locations to a point it gives you a whiplash, sometimes it would be so confusing where the action is taking place.
– How Laura would say all these nice things about Massimo, about him being gentle, caring & loving when he was all but that to her.
– How the book title leads you to believe the book would cover a whole year, but in reality it’s just 3-4 months.
– The fact that the relationship was anything but consensual and healthy.
– The fact that Laura spend months with Massimo, she even said she loves him before she ever knew his last name!
– How the whole relatioship was only sex oriented instead of them forming some type of a bond too.
– The sex scenes were basically one and the same
– Laura somehow knowing things about Massimo’s parents (and how Massimo’s eyes would go all soft when he speaks about his dead mother) when we don’t actually see them ever talking about anything personal like that
– How Blanka would introduce characters out of the blue with them not existing before the certain scene (Laura’s bestfriend – she literally never mentions Olga before she needs someone to talk to in the middle of the book; Laura’s brother/Laura’s cousin’s wedding – All mentioned once Blanka needs them for the plot, no prior mention before that).
– How Laura would talk about a character with: ‘the young italian’, etc. without mentioning the name of the character, so you basically have to guess who she’s talking about.
– How Laura would go back and forth between thinking clearly and acting like she was brainwashed by Massimo’s dick.
– The fact this is yet another book that romanticizes and tries to normalize abuse
I’m sure there are more things I’m forgetting that were problematic and made me angry.
To summarize, 365 dni is a very badly written book that copies Fifty shades to a T & supports a toxic, abusive relationship.
It’s a book that has scenes that cross the line into rape and try to pass them as romantic.
The story flows slow, doesn’t have that much action to keep you invested, often bores you to death & lacks characters that you can truly root for.
The chapters are poorly written, very repetitive and predictable and sometimes end like the author forgot to finish them, the twists aren’t at all surprising or exciting. The scenes are at times too detailed to a point it feels like it’s all for the word count.
If you’re wondering if you should read this after seeing the ‘STEAMY’ trailer: Don’t. This book is not worth your time. What you see in the trailer isn’t what you get in the book. 365 dni by Blanka Lipińska is ato mix Fifty Shades with mafia romance.When it comes to the bible there are a draw of misleading things about it : from the endorsement & title to the trailer for the movie adaptation & then much more.Let ‘s start with the koran title : It means 365 days ( besides mentioned in the endorsement ) – The ‘hero ‘ gives the heroine 365 days to stay with him so she can fall in love with him, in reality the book entirely covers their race, unhealty kinship for a period of 3-4 months.The endorsement besides claims things that after reading this ‘book ‘ turn out to be out of true : in no way is this story “ disgustingly romantic ” as the endorsement says. ( more about that late ) .365 dni is advertised as chat up, when the romance expression of it is questionable to say the least, the book portrays and supports a very toxic abusive relationship & its scenes could be triggering to some readers ( Note that no actual admonitory was given in the begin of the book, possibly because the writer does n’t realize or want to admit that what she ‘s writing is actually rape/assault that ‘s masquerading as ‘steamy ‘ consensual s*x ) .Laura goes on vacation to sicily with her boyfriend and 2 more friends for her 29th birthday.Laura is message with her boyfriend Martin evening though their relationship lacks the love she wants & she ‘s the type of woman that loves sex.A dealbreaker for Laura turns out to be Martin not paying her enough attention because he works besides a lot, on her birthday she has had enough of it so she runs off angry and gets kidnapped.Her kidnapper is the mafia Don Massimo Toricelli, who ‘s been looking for the girlfriend from his visions for years. He gives her 365 days to fall in love with him the apprehension here is she ca n’t run away or he will kill her parents ( not so romantic already ). Throughout the wholly book Massimo treats Laura nothing like anyone would treat the girl they were dreaming about.- I was actually surprise she did n’t turn out to be the unexperienced innocent virgo type of heroine.Things to know about her – she can polo dance, she has a weak heart, she can talk hours about shoes, loves anything expensive and would forgive anything if you give her jewelry, clothes or shoes.Laura is n’t in truth the potent, independent or judicious type. She the type of heroine that would have one good breakthrough when it comes to her position & how the hero treats her only to then take 6000 steps back and throw away her backbone.Throughout the book she has many conflicted thoughts, she would see that the hero is in the wrong only to excuse his icky behavior 5 seconds late to a detail it felt like Stockholm Syndrome.Something I want to mention : In my impression ( and based on what happens in the record ) Laura is the author ‘s, here is why : Around the middle of the book the heroine ‘s appearance changes out of the blue – she decides to change her hairdo and hair color without any kind of explanation : a short circuit blond bob, which is precisely how the generator looks & she even put herself on the cover of the moment book about Massiomo and Laura.- This ridicule is so far the most inlikable character I ‘ve ever encountered. I ca n’t believe we ‘re supposed to accept him as the hero of this book, considering how nauseating he is & the fact he does n’t have any cashable qualities.We beget to catch a glance of how sleep together up he is in chapter 1 where he forces himself on a flight attendant.Things to know about Massimo – he the type of guy that would blame the heroine for him not being able to control himself, the character that would go arsenic far as killing the men that are interest in Laura, he loves to use the word accept but does n’t in truth respect it, words like ‘NO ‘ and ‘Stop ‘ bastardly nothing to him, he ‘s a huge hypocrite ( He has no trouble getting advantage of tipsy Laura, but gets angry when her ex-wife does that. He thinks is all right to drug another of Laura ‘s exes so he can cheat but kills her ex-wife because he drugs her. He justifies killing said antique because he has hurt her in the past while he was on drugs, when Massimo hurts her all the time and ca n’t excuse his behavior with being on drugs ) .Massimo uses sex as an wall socket for his darkness & psychopathic side, he takes joy in seeing fear in his partners eyes ( including Laura ‘s ) & about killing them/them about choking on his blockheaded as a birthday candle c*ck ( Laura ‘s actual description of Little Massimo ). Do n’t be fooled by what the actor that would be playing Massimo is saying about him seeing sex as art, he has n’t read the book.What absolutely made me hate this character is what he did in chapter 6 of the book : Laura as I already mentioned has a weak affection ( she faints a distribute in the book ) & besides a fear of flying, thus when she sees the size of his secret jet, she panics & says she does n’t want to get on, Massimo does n’t do what any other normal love interest would do ( try to calm her down ), rather he forcefully gets her on board, when she tries to leave he starts pushing her around while screaming at her, ties her hands with his belt and when she faints from all this stress he ‘s not fazed at all.When she wakes improving again, he placid demands for her to choose a punishment alternatively of apologizing for his behavior and asking if she ‘s okay.Laura chooses a punishment, but he never actually does what she chose, alternatively forces himself on her despite having promised multiple times he would wait for her consent, what he does next I consider rape/assault.Once they land he silent does n’t care about her hurting, they go to a hotel where he ties her to layer against her will ( she herself says she ‘s panicky & wants to get out of the room ) & forces her lookout him get a float job from an bodyguard ( he about kills the other girl ) .Another matter that crosses a channel is Massimo putting a capsule in Laura ‘s weapon and lying that it ‘s a contraceptive rather of a traverse device ( his hale design is to get her fraught so she does n’t want to leave because of the child ) .Some secondary characters : Olga ( Laura ‘s bff ) – Olga was a character that had electric potential, but turned out to be just like Laura, she would give Laura a effective advice ( like tell her that she ‘s in a golden cage, but that ‘s hush a batting cage & that her and Massimo has known each other just for 3 months and it ‘s all possibly excessively rushed ) merely to get distracted by the fact that Massimo is rich people and buys Laura things & tell her friend she ‘s golden and to enjoy her life.Domenico ( Massimo ‘s stepbrother & Laura ‘s bodyguard ) – The merely fictional character I reasonably liked. I honestly hush do n’t get why he was n’t the main hero, he was so nice and caring toward Laura, in truth the accurate opposite of his brother.Laura ‘s mother – She was just like Olga, she would advice her something dear lone to discover her daughter ‘s boyfriend is fat and tell her she did good.Laura ‘s exes ( Martin & Piotr ) – Both bald headed, with tattoo, Laura decidedly had a type before Massimo. Piotr was the ex-husband that was an addict & tried to drug Laura which resulted in Massimo killing him.Laura and Massimo as a couple – Those two did n’t in truth partake any interests, they did n’t talk a batch about anything away from how perversed they are & their intimate fantasies. Their wholly relationship was build on violence, blackmail, anger and fight. The sum of times Laura was terrified of Massimo and decided to just go along with any he was saying equitable so he does n’t get angry/violent is absolutely scary.Based on everything that happened in this book I can absolutely say this : in no room does 365 dni display any kind of healty, consensual relationship.The ledger crossed indeed many lines even for dark romance. One consequence you would have Laura talk about Massimo being nice & aristocratic when in reality you ‘d starring at your reading device/paperback in bewilderment because nothing like that was actually happening.The writing/story/world build : aside from being very, identical baffling, what ‘s worth note is that for a mafia ‘romance ‘ 365 dni was quite bore, even the final chapter of the book did n’t have that much natural process or an ending that would make you want to read the next book immediately.I would find myself reading 3 chapters in a row ( I ‘m normally a very fast reader, but this koran took me days to finish ) & then I would be feeling absolutely toss off from how repetitive the chapters were and all the dazed decisions the characters would make.Blanka Lipińska overuses a very cliched & boring method for starting and ending the chapters – Opening her chapters with Laura waking up & finishing them with her faint or falling asleep ( ) .365 dni is combination of Laura waking up, sleeping, showering, giving Massimo blow jobs, faiting, throwing up & farseeing and detailed to a compass point of boredom ( and for reaching a wordcount ) descriptions of places, people and locations. Laura would literally describe Massimo in great detail about every chapter and then add that this is how he normally looks ( if that ‘s how he look all the time why go out of your way to point it out every fourth dimension ? ! ) When it comes to the narrative elements 365 dni follows E.L. James ‘ Fifty Shades to a t : ( I ‘m about decidedly forgetting a crowd of things that are 100 % FS inspired, but these ones stood out to me when I was reading the book ) – Laura ‘s dub for Massimo is a tinge, Black- Stalking the heroine ( showing up at places where she would be ) – Watching the heroine sleep- Having person variety her clothes ( Grey undress Anastasia himself, Massimo has person do that for him ) – Giving her a cable car ( in this one it ‘s actually multiple cars ) – jealous of about every straight male around her to a point of violence/outbursts ( he ‘s only fine with his stepbrother being her bodyguard ) – An evil ex-lover ( Massimo ‘s ) that set on ruining the fresh relationship- Gushing over how good hero looks dressed all casually and being barefoot ; how calm & angelic he look while he sleeps- Hero going to a memory for the first time ( having to buy something on his own, alternatively of sending people to do it ) – heroine cook breakfast for the hero- Unexpected pregnancy- Relationship is based on conditions ( FS – ana has to sign a contract/do what Grey likes ; 365 dni – No running aside or her parents die ) – hero says he ‘s not gon na touch the heroine until he has her accept ( FS – accept has to be written ; 365 dni – hero says the word consent and promises he wo n’t do anything to heroine without it but does n’t keep said promise despite her saying words like “ no ” and “ stop ”. ) – Calls the heroine “ baby ” – Yacht scene- Heroine accepts the fact she has to endure something she does n’t want to in orderliness to stay with the hero/so he does n’t leave her- Bath fit where the bomber washes the heroine- Hero is brainsick at heroine for doing something simple ( FS- eye roll ; 365 dni- stretch when she wakes up ) – heroine has a hanker line of men showing pastime in her- Hero/Heroine does n’t know how to make love- Trying to fool the subscriber & the heroine the hero has died/was killed somehow- Heroine escapes to a parent ‘s house- Hero throws heroine over his shoulder- A rival that wants to take advantage of the intoxicate heroine- Hero tracks heroine down using a track device, app, etc.- Car chase scene- Heroine ‘s best friend is matter to in the Hero ‘s brother- Heroine has her own board in Hero ‘s house, late moves into his once they ‘re in ‘love’- Heroine has a bodyguard she ‘s finale with- hero wants Heroine ‘s full meekness and hates disobedience- Hero drives a car like a GOD- Hero has wounds on his chest- Heroine goes without any underwear to a public event- Hero & Heroine have sex in a car- Hero/Heroine sees the other ‘s childhood room- Hero is very set on making the heroine say YES to marrying himThings that bothered me : – How the author would unnecesary switch locations to a sharpen it gives you a whiplash, sometimes it would be sol confuse where the action is taking place.- How Laura would say all these decent things about Massimo, about him being docile, caring & loving when he was all but that to her.- How the koran title leads you to believe the book would cover a hale year, but in reality it ‘s fair 3-4 months.- The fact that the kinship was anything but consensual and healthy.- The fact that Laura spend months with Massimo, she even said she loves him before she ever knew his last name ! – How the wholly relatioship was entirely sex oriented alternatively of them forming some type of a bond too.- The arouse scenes were basically one and the same- Laura somehow knowing things about Massimo ‘s parents ( and how Massimo ‘s eyes would go all soft when he speaks about his dead mother ) when we do n’t actually see them ever talking about anything personal like that- How Blanka would introduce characters out of the blue with them not existing before the certain scene ( Laura ‘s bestfriend – she literally never mentions Olga before she needs person to talk to in the center of the book ; Laura ‘s brother/Laura ‘s cousin ‘s wedding – All mentioned once Blanka needs them for the plot, no prior mention before that ) .- How Laura would talk about a character with : ‘the young italian ‘, etc. without mentioning the name of the fictional character, so you basically have to guess who she ‘s talking about.- How Laura would go rear and away between thinking clearly and acting like she was brainwashed by Massimo ‘s dick.- The fact this is so far another record that romanticizes and tries to normalize abuseI ‘m sure there are more things I ‘m forgetting that were baffling and made me angry.To sum up, 365 dni is a very badly written book that copies Fifty shades to a T & supports a toxic, abusive relationship.It ‘s a book that has scenes that cross the line into rape and hear to pass them as romantic.The floor flows slow, does n’t have that much action to keep you invested, often bores you to death & lacks characters that you can truly ancestor for.The chapters are ill written, identical insistent and predictable and sometimes end like the author forgot to finish them, the twists are n’t at all surprising or exciting. The scenes are at times excessively detail to a point it feels like it ‘s all for the word count.
