I never really liked Shakespeare. Besides the fact that I've got no appreciation for the finer aspects of 16th-century English, and that most of his plays are frankly, dull as dirt, I desperately hated the use of dramatic irony. As far as I'm concerned, dramatic irony is the most annoying literary device ever invented. I hate knowing things that the poor innocent hero/heroine doesn't. It's like seeing the TSTL virgin go down into the dark, dank basement in a horror movie; I just want to grab the stupid chit and shake some damn sense into her. YOU WILL DIE HORRIFIC, BLOODY DEATH, GIRL, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?Tide is like that for me. It makes me so angry! Not at Sarah, not at the book, not at the writing, because honestly, the entire thing was good. Not as wonderful as the first book, which I absolutely loved, but as I've learned throughout my years and years and years of experience, life's not fair. If one enjoys the first book, the much-anticipated second will inevitably be a letdown, and so it was with Tide.Am I rambling again? Oh, right. Dramatic irony. NICHOLAS! That asshat! I was rooting for Sean, who is rather stupid, but you know...boys will be boys. He should have been honest with Sarah from the get-go, but of course there wouldn't be much conflict. But Nicholas...oh, boy. That's just another kettle of chips. What an arrogant, asinine, controlling, stalkery (calling her 14 times in a few hours? Run, Sarah, don't walk) jerk. Edward ain't got nothing on Nicholas. Honestly, I thought the character Sarah had built up in the first book would have known better. She feels something's wrong, but doesn't really follow her instincts. So Nicholas does improve over the book, but I still don't like him. Some people just make a bad first impression.
