Si Xildius Vouganville, o mas kilala bilang XV, ay isang henyong propesor na lumulutas ng mga misteryosong kaso mula sa iba’t ibang kliyente gamit ang kaniyang talino salarangan ng anatomy at psychology. Likas na guwapo, karismatiko, at makamandag ang hitsura’t tindig—ngunit may kakaibang kondisyon kaya hindi nakalalabas ng kaniyang mansiyon.
Nang makita ang nakalululang suweldo sa isang flyer, nagpasya si Fift Salustiana na pumasok bilang bagong assistant ng propesor sa mansiyon ng Villa Vouganville.
Doon ay matutuklasan ng dalaga ang dalawang bagay—ang kakaibang propesyon ng kaniyang amo, at ang nakababaliw na init at sarap na hatid ng katawan nito sa kaniya.
Mabibigyan kaya niya ng liwanag ang madilim na buhay ng propesor?
this book is not grounded in reality. most scenes i end up thinking, “Gagawin ba talaga ito ng isang tao in real life?” and every time i would ask myself that, the answers are always no.
the cases are silly. most of them are badly crafted. nagandahan na sana ako sa poem part kaso natangahan lang ako dun sa Valem kasi umamin agad. and whats up with Officer Flick? pulis ba talaga un? o informant lang? kasi kada may case sila, matik iaasa lang sa isang psych professor. nabwisit talaga ako nung nabasa ko ung line na, “Xildius, what do we do next?” aba, chong, kaw tong pulis, bakit hindi mo yan itanong sa sarili mo?
nakakabother din ung interaction between XV and Fift nung umpisa, especially sa dialogue. employer-employee sila. kay XV siguro gets ko pa ung ganung treatment kasi sya ang boss eh. pero si Fift? first few weeks, may pag ‘Hoy!’ na? may ilang statements din syang hindi sya nagpo ‘po’ sa first meeting nila. like girl, employer mo yan, hindi porket hinalikan ka nyan on ur first meeting ay close na agad kayo.
speaking of Fift, she’s so childish! ang annoying ng mga side comments nya. she also lacks character. believe me or not, even after i finished the book, i didn’t get to know her. i didn’t know her motivations in life, except to help her brother. most of her reactions were bland. a typical female lead.
and XV, he’s described as this hot guy with a cold personality, but every time he talks, nawawala ang pagiging hot nya sa paningin ko. ang cringey ng mga lines nya! hindi matched ang description nya sa kung anong kinikilos nya.
it’s also annoying how XV knows the answers to every problems. it doesn’t make him interesting. it makes him look more unbelievable. mas nagmumukhang alam lang nya agad ang mga sagot dahil sinusupply lang un sa kanya ng author/plot. would be better if may topics din syang hindi alam na tanging kay Fift lang nya nagawang matutunan.
the sex scenes were not satisfying. with the kind of book cover it has, iisipin mong baka yon ang pinakastrength nya, but nope, they were just short and unrewarding.
other things i noted: excessive use of the word f*cking tuwing nagagalit and lots of spoonfeeding.
i was actually ready to rate this a one star, but then i ended up liking how it ended. maganda rin ung twist tungkol sa Morning Reaper. that one is commendable. pinag isipan. so even though it’s a mess and got me rolling my eyes for many times that i could count, it’s two stars for me, not one.
yung sa genetics part, lalo na dun sa kidnap scene nung bata. like, what the heck? the almighty, know-it-all professor knew, just like that---the kid was kidnapped dahil sa kulay ng mata. kasi daw black ang mata nung parents at grandparents pero yung sa bata, brown. seriously, kung lahat ng tao na hindi kakulay ang mata ng parents nila, ano sila ampon? and if that's how you solve cases, ano pang silbi ng investigations ng autoridad kung iisang tao lang pala ang lulutas nun?
at yung pulis. para saan at naging Pulis sya, eh sa professor diumano lang sya umaasa?
This is the perfect example of a "Hype" book. I've been tagged, DMed, messaged by some WP readers to read this book (Which I did). I remember some people saying: "The case in this book is so mind blowing!", "I wasn't able to guess what happens next!"... I say, no. Unless they were young when they first read this story on Wattpad, then, okay fess up. You get a hall pass. But as an adult, it was sooooo easy to guess what happens next. Why? Because the characters do not even give at least 5-10 pages in order for the readers (or in this case, me) to investigate alongside the characters. There's no foreshadowing. No allowance for the good ol' "who did what?". On some page, XV (the Professor) gets the case, the next two pages, he's already solved it and the solution, and the process of investigation are surface level. So, no. It's not "mind blowing". It's surface level.
Also, let's talk about the sexual assault and other unprofessional sexual schemes of the Professor towards Fift, which happens to be his Assistant, who also is a surface level female protagonist who "falls" immediately for a "mysterious, overachieving" guy who lives in some far, far away mansion alone. Well, not really alone but... he's got people comin' in and out of his "lair". The FIRST interaction they have, what did this seemingly "well-loved" character does? He kisses his interviewee like that's the most normal and acceptable thing.
The characters in this story are boring in such a way that I was expecting this will have bigger, more high-stakes investigative plot, and an even riveting character descriptions and character arcs in the story. But no, everything else just made me want to DNF this novel. The only reason why I happened to finish this was because of sheer intrigue.
The dialogues and explicit scenes in this book is absolutely something that is not even comparable to what we'd call "Dark Romance" it's just, not it. Honestly, I liked the art on the cover that's why I was persuaded to buy this book.
So, what did I like? I don't like XV (The Professor), and hell, I will never like Fift. But I do like how he's somewhat the brains of the operation and she's the walking, glorified assistant/girl-toy for this professor. Which sucks, but it is what it is. Now, don't get me wrong, this story has its moments. There were times when I'd feel some butterflies in some scenes but overall, what really stuck to me and unfortunately for a lot of this author's readers, were the sexually driven scenes and dialogues instead of the mental and traumatic past of the characters. And already says A LOT about why this book gets the 2-stars (Actually, it's 1-star but I'm adding another star because I'm giving leeway for the author because this was her 1st mystery novel. So, I'm giving her a pass.)
This is only the 1st book in a 3-parter series. Do I have the 2nd book, yes. Am I gonna read that, I already have, BUT I have to re-read it because I don't wnat to make a partial review. So, I will finish reading that book. Will I buy the last buy? No, because the art is not from the same artist, which is the reason why I collected the books in the first place. It's a different artist and the art is way different no matter what other people say about it "looking the same".
Hindi naman siya boring, pero it still took me a few days to finish it >< Naaawa ako sa pinagdaan ng batang Lixidus at ang trauma na naidala niya sa paglaki. Kahit na ganoon, he remained strong and used his own talent and intelligence para makatulong sa ibang tao, makahanap ng mga tunay na kaibigan, at mamahalin na pamilya.
P.S. Casmius' Song is a lovely piano composition ♡
it has its cringe and cliche moments but I really love the information I was getting, and tbh, author's mind works wonders, I've read some lines of information I didn't know na may ganon pala. This was recommended by my classmate, we're psych major students, so this was interesting.
Ang galing ni Author. Halatang pinag-iisipan talaga bawat scenes... Walang masyadong filler and damang-dama ang emotions ng bawat drama.
Honestly, hindi ko nagustuhan ang first chapter nito. It feels corny something ganoon haha. But the hype made me continue and I don't regret it. Deserve na deserve nito ang kung ano mang hype na natatanggap kasi maganda talaga. It's romance, action, mystery and add a bit of funny scenes din.
I gave it a 4.5⭐ because it's really 3x good but my intuition says that something is lacking.
Read the story in Wattpad or buy the book from PSICOM. Super worth it and pera niyo dito. Maganda if 'yung premium version bilhin niyo para complete sa special chapters and maganda rin 'yung paper.
After this book, isunod niyo na agad Hush Louder and DDMS.
It's great, I like the plot twist. Though, predictable naman yung ibang cases and medyo sumakit utak ko sa mga pinagsasabi nila since new lang yung ibang words sa vocabulary ko pero at least I learned something new, and I love how this book really gave justice about the mystery/thriller genre.
I like Xildius and Fifteen chemistry here and on how they help each other, pero medyo hindi ko nagustuhan yung itinaboy ni Xild si Fift because of his trauma... Though, Xildius past is really sad talaga, unrealistic but fiction naman siya so pagbigyan. Afterall, happy ending naman siya, nabitin lang ako sa ending hehe ('di ko pa nababasa yung special chapter since I don't have physical book yet.)
Ang masasabi ko lang about sa author ay ang taba ng utak niya and ang galing niya rin gumawa ng plots and dialogue, this book ay yung pinaka mabilis kong natapos and for me wala siyang boring chapters and nakaka-thrill siya.
Overall this book is great, magugustuhan mo talaga 'to if you're into mystery/romance genre :)
It was overall nice, I liked how there’s a lot of plot twist, it really made me very interested to finish it. I don’t remember if there was any boring parts, probably there was none for me. I loved the FMC and the MMC, they’re so likable. I loved their humor.
The only thing that I didn’t like about this was the SUS scenes, lol. That’s why I rated it a four, but if you’re interested in 🌶️, then I think you’ll find this interesting. Unfortunately, I’m not, so that’s why I rated it a four.
I finished reading it in just 3 days! I can’t believe I finished it that fast, lol. Because mostly I think to myself that I’m a slow reader, but reading it was so interesting that when I wake up I read it immediately. It really is kind of good, the 🌶️ scenes just weren’t for me but it’s worth the read! ❤️
Ang pangit, i rolled my eye almost every minute i spent time reading this 💩💩💩 book. Kung may -⭐ lang sana sa ratings. Ano ba yan akala ko maganda dahil sa mga reviews, na hype lang pala. I've been a book reader since elementary days, pocket books palang ng phr ang binabasa ko nuon at eto talaga yung book na ang badoy badoy, una palang lukot na noo ko habang nag babasa. Its literally a big 💩! I literally stop reading on the 13th page! Sayang pera dito, d ko na itutuloy basahin as in ang jologs! Read at youre own risk nalang.
This was the least favorite part of the XV series. It's good, okay? It actually deserves the hype in booktok.
Thing is, I read this years ago when I was still fed up with any type of romance without any preferences.
Honestly? The time I finished reading this book, I immediately thought, "oh, this is nice. I will read the rest."
The plot and how it actually explains the mental condition with professionalism was one of the reasons I loved the series. Yeah, this part will just be here.
Cool premise, poorly done. I DNFed it after being six chapters in. The professor was smart because the author kept saying so, but he didn't really come off as that high-IQ, secretive, and calculating individual.
I rated this a 3.5 but since that's not allowed here, I just round it off. Too much smut for me. I don't really like reading smut so I was a bit embarrassed to talk about this book, lol. I love the part where they solve crimes though, that's the reason I rated it a bit higher.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.