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Book Review – In Flight (Up In The Air #1) by R. K. Lilley

November 20, 2012 by Aestas · 7 Comments

4.5 stars

Looking for another dominant billionaire BDSM trilogy?? Here it is!!

“It was hard to remember we weren’t supposed to feel anything for each other when he looked at me like I was more important than his next breath.”

As a flight attendant in the first class section, Bianca is used to supermodels and movie stars, but she is not prepared for the intensity of billionaire hotel owner James Cavendish. From the first time their eyes meet, they share a connection. An instant, intense attraction. And by the end of that flight I was fanning myself and couldn’t wait to watch their relationship develop.

“I knew James could take me to some dark place, but I would find pleasure there, and I wanted that.”

I loved that this story wasn’t just about the sex. Don’t get me wrong, there is sex. Lots of kinky, graphic, BDSM sex. But it was more than that. Both Bianca and James each had horrific, scarring back stories that came out over the course of the book, there was a plot, character developments and some very sweet, tender moments.

I loved that James was without a doubt an Alpha Dominant, and even a little bit of a sadist in the bedroom, but he was also quite the gentleman with a warm heart. There was this scene near the beginning, before they officially enterred a relationship, where she was pissed drunk on a night that he really wanted to sleep with her, and instead he took her back to her hotel, carefully washed the make up off her face and tucked her into bed. Seriously, sweet much?? 🙂

He was possessive and even controlling, but entirely reasonable. I never once felt like he crossed the line. Not at all an asshole. He had complete control of himself and went through a great deal of trouble to keep it that way.

I loved that he always had Bianca’s feelings in mind. Always making sure that she was okay with everything he was doing every step of the way. He was constantly checking up on her and managed to be both controlling and bossy without ever throwing off stalker-y or overly obsessive vibes.

But please don’t think that just because he was a gentleman that this book lacked heat. Quite the opposite actually. Just think semi-public plane sex, a whole 4th floor “playground” (with multiple rooms), and… on their first time together, which was also her FIRST time, there were restraints, nipple clamps, riding crops, some kind of bed ramp I’d never heard of used. But that didn’t stop him from being tender, caring and sweet to her before and after, but during it… whooooahhh HEAT!!

“He leaned down to my ear. “I’m going to ruin you,” he breathed. “I’ll be your first, and I’ll fuck you so thoroughly that I’ll be your last too. You won’t want any other man after I’ve gotten my hands on you.”

“Will you be my submissive?” he whispered in my ear.”

I really liked how he was always trying to figure her out. To not push her away and to be respectful of her. But I couldn’t figure him out. He was obviously crazy about her but there were so many unanswered questions…

I liked that he knew exactly who and what he was and wasn’t ashamed or shy about he but that he took extra precautions to balance himself. It wasn’t even a question of being hot / cold or anything. He just knew what he liked and exercised self-control to ensure that she enjoyed herself every step of the way. He was well behaved, charming, and caring despite being kinky and hardcore in the bedroom. No crazy here.

“I want to kiss every part of your body that I left hurting today… I would hate myself if I went too far with you… I know its all consensual, but the fact is, I like to hurt women during sex… My strongest impulse is to control and to dominate, but make no mistake, I’m a sadist. It doesn’t exactly make me a good guy.”

He likes to hurt, but there was nothing super extreme in this book. Intense spanking was as far as it went… and it wasn’t always only like that. His tender side and the fact that he liked to cuddle and could control himself provided a nice balance. I’m not into spanking but nothing that he did raised any of my alarm bells.

Bianca was a reasonable, never annoying heroine and I have to say I liked her a lot. And I absolutely adored her relationship with her gay best friend Stephen. The two of them were closer than siblings and shared the kind of deep connection from having gone through something horrific together and survived. And Stephen pretty much skyrocketed to my list of “top best friends” ever in this scene towards the end where he was defending Bianca. I felt like cheering. I really hope he gets a HEA by the end of the series.

I have to say that for the first 85% or so, this book was sitting at a solid, happy 4+ star rating. I didn’t have any complaints about it really, I liked the characters and the story but it didn’t fully have that extra ‘spark’ but then something happened and my heart just leaped into overdrive and suddenly I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough. So, because of that, I’m bumping the rating up to a 4.5.

Ooooh and I just wanted to point out the the chapter titles were a really neat idea! When you read it you’ll see but it was the perfect way of letting you anticipate the next part of the story

We do get some answers in this book, but when I finished it and my first thought was ‘I need book two NOW’ so that’s where I’m off to now…

If it makes a difference, this book would probably be at the top of my “What To Read After Fifty Shades and Bared To You list”.

** SERIES READING ORDER **

Book #1: IN FLIGHT
Buy on Kindle | Buy in Paperback | My review

Book #2: MILE HIGH
Buy on Kindle | Buy in Paperback | My review

Book #3: GROUNDED
Buy on Kindle | Buy in Paperback | My review

Book Review – This Man by Jodi Ellen Malpas

November 17, 2012 by Aestas · 23 Comments

3.5 stars.

“Just tell me one thing before you leave, Ava.” His voice prickles at my senses… His face is serious, but still stunning. “How loud do you think you’ll scream when I fuck you?”

I’m not a fan of comparing books, I prefer to let each one stand on its own. But in the case of this book, after the huge impact of the last 2 mega-successful controlling billionaire series, its inevitable that some comparisons will be made. But, personally, if I were to do so, I honestly feel like Jesse was maybe a bit more like a non-kinky Knight (by Kristen Ashley) than Christian (by EL James) or Gideon (by Sylvia Day).

Let’s start out from the beginning. Because I felt differently about this book in the beginning than I did at the end.

To say that the beginning melted my panties and set my heart a-flutter is a mega understatement. I swear, after their first meeting, I was ready to just throw a 6 star rating at the book. I was hooked and utterly captivated by their chemistry.

When Ava, an up-and-coming interior designer lands a job at The Manor in the country side, the last thing she expects is for the proprietor, or Lord of the Manor, to be drop dead gorgeous. He is beyond intense and she is so strongly affected by him that he just takes over her mind every time she sees him. She jumps to several conclusions about him and decided though that its all too much for her and walks away. But Jesse is not one to be deterred from getting what he wants. He relentlessly peruses her until finally the combination of his determination and her intense desire for him make her give in.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers softly… “I lied, I’m sorry. I told you, I can’t stay away… I need to have all of you, Ava. Say I can have all of you.”

Jesse gave me shivers!!! He was a gorgeous, controlling, domineering, self-assured British billionaire with a husky accent. I mean, holy hell, can you just picture that?? *fans self* But… he was also an unreasonable control freak and pretty much a stalker. I do love me a controlling, possessive hero but… I felt he went too far. Even I was feeling stifled and I wasn’t the object of his attention.

He was just … too much sometimes… like too stalker-ish, too rude, too demanding, too extreme, too unreasonable, too neurotic, borderline immature (especially at the end). And Ava just gave in every time. I wish she stood up a bit more.

And honestly, if he told her to “Watch your mouth!” one more time… *mimes throttling* . I mean, its not like he was a saint or anything. He swore all the time, but every time she’d swear at all, he’d yell at her. Every. Time.
It got old real fast.

Let’s just say that, in real life, I’d personally actually put up with a Christian or a Gideon, but a Jesse would have been kicked to the fucking curb if he said/did the things he did in this book to me. That being said, this is fiction. And, in the spirit of appreciating him for the fictional character that he is, I tried to be more lenient in my judgement.

But I guess I just found Jesse too extreme overall. At the same time, I really did like him and felt like I wanted to know where his story went, but I couldn’t really look past a few of his demands.

Ava. hmmm I don’t know what to say about her. I didn’t like a lot of what she did but at the same time, I didn’t dislike her. She didn’t make me mad or anything, but her actions/reactions just didn’t make me admire her. First of all, I’m really surprised she didn’t see the “twist” at the end. I had my suspicions from the beginning and after that, there was a lot that hinted at it and she never had a clue. Second, I didn’t like how, on her own she was an intelligent, relatively strong, independent woman, but the second she shared the same air as Jesse, she pretty much turned into a doormat. So many moments when he’d say things to her like “Who has the power?”, I really just wanted her, at some point, to stand up to him, but she completely gave in every time. Even when she did “rebel”, it was always relatively short-lived. I felt that Jesse took things to an extreme and what would have been needed to balance him out was someone that wouldn’t like outright defy him per say, but that would have stood on her own enough to not give him complete and utter power.

Also, with many other such controlling, possessive heroes, I guess what makes me accept them so readily, is that, no matter what extremes they’ll go to to control their women, they are still always thinking of the woman first. But there were several times here where I felt that Jesse put his need to control her above her comfort.

There are a few examples, but the one I’ll reference is the scene at 25%. I found it very unrealistic and unbelievable. I don’t have any problem with butt sex – if its done well. But the fact that it was her first time doing it, that it was only their second time having sex at all, that she wasn’t even like ‘looking forward’ to it and then he just rammed her so suddenly like that (and that was after it was made very clear how well-endowed he was)…. I didn’t like how he handled it. I mean sure the scene was hot, and she did enjoy it in the end but I guess it was about as un-realistic as their always-perfectly-timed mutual orgasms… lol, I felt sometime like they were taking a photo or something “three…two…one…COME!” o_O

This book takes place in England and has a LOT of “Bristishisms” –> Sodding. Knickers. Jumper. Quiff. Plum. Posh. Tart. Tube. Lush. Dribble. Bloody. Tosser. Bin bags. Knackered. Bird. Shag. Cheeky fag… there’s a lot. It didn’t bother me or anything, this isn’t a complaint, but it definitely jumps out at you.

The plot wasn’t overly gripping. The whole story was about them figuring each other out. Again, it wasn’t bad, I just didn’t feel like there was too much change in the characters by the end of the book and wasn’t really sure if the story had gone anywhere except at the very end.

There was only one thing in the books that really made me mad. Now, I understand that this book came out after Fifty Shades and that it’s got to fight to be appreciated on its own terms and not be labeled a copy or a wanna-be. But regardless, there IS the blatant fact that it is in a similar genre and, although it did stand on its own, it is without a doubt along the same lines and as such, given the context, I did NOT appreciate the blatant dig at putting down Dominants. I thought it was petty and disrespectful because there is NO doubt what was being referred to there. I hope that if this book ever gets published officially (currently, it is self-published) that that line gets taken out.

That being said, you should know that this is not a BDSM book. In fact, Jesse is relatively anti-kink. Its all straight-up, albeit intense, vanilla sex.

Parts of this book thrilled me and excited me. Parts of this book annoyed me and frustrated me. I’m torn here because I know a lot of people rated it with 5 stars. But I’m just trying to really be honest and something about the book didn’t fully sit right with me. At the same time, I did like it. I really did. I didn’t hate it. Please don’t think I hated it. Its not a bad book. I just had some issues with it.

It really helped that Jesse was totally hot. And when he wasn’t being overly control-y and stalker-y, I could really see myself falling for him. He had him moments of tender and sweet to be sure and I really did get the feeling like he was just out of his league with this relationship.

“I want to look after you forever,” he whispers, pressing his lips against my temple.”

I am intrigued by him. I do want to know more about his past. Where did he get that scar?? How old is he???? What happened in his past to make him so utterly terrified of loosing her? There are a lot of questions still to be answered and I’ll definitely be going on to the next book. I hope he gets over some things though in it. I didn’t feel like he ‘grew’ at all as a person in this story. In fact, you could almost say it ended on a major low point for him. So I’m really, really hoping that in the second book (that is supposed to be out in December, so thankfully not too long a wait) he makes some progress at learning to be more reasonable and finding a more balanced way of being controlling and possessive.

Buy THIS MAN on Kindle

CASTING:

Here is his description: “This man is so perfect, I’m almost in pain. His dirty blond hair looks like he’s half attempted to get it into a semblance of a style but given up. His eyes are sludgy green, but bright and way too intense, and the stubble covering his square jaw does nothing to conceal the handsome features beneath it. He’s lightly tanned and just… Oh God, he’s devastating.”

Jesse –> Click here

Book review – Back To You by Priscilla Glenn

November 17, 2012 by Aestas · 98 Comments

Buy BACK TO YOU on Kindle
Buy BACK TO YOU in Paperback

5 stars!!! A top favorite of 2012!

Oh my God. Oh my God. OH. MY. GOD.

Guys, you all HAVE to read this book!

Its a beautiful, believable second-chance friends-to-lovers story that was both heart breaking and heart warming, with an uplifting, satisfying ending that left me clutching my heart, with happy tears in my eyes and a smile on my face 🙂

I loved it.

“Right back to him. Always to him.”

I started this book late last night after a long day at work and it kept me glued to my kindle until I finished it at 3:30AM. I couldn’t put it down!! My heart was just SO wrapped up in the story and so connected to the characters!

This is the best-friends-to-lovers story about Michael Delaney, an angry badass badboy with a tragic past, and Lauren Monroe, the straight-lace good girl who saw through his facade and into his heart.

“His face, like everything she knew about him, was purely contradictory… He was too lovely to be menacing, but too intense to be innocent.”

Eight years ago, when they were still in high school, was when Lauren first saw Michael. Everyone treated him as though he was dangerous, with a constant stream of angry, violent outbursts, a string a suspensions, and an all-round rebellious attitude, people were afraid of him. But something about his demeanor called to Lauren. She was inexplicably drawn to him, seeing something in him that no one else did. They became best friends throughout the rest of school until something happened that tore them apart leaving her heart bruised without answers.

Now, eight years later, Lauren has just started a new job teaching a kindergarten class and the last person she expects to see is Michael. The rush of emotions and memories that flood back when she sees him shows that there is still something deep between them, but Michael needs to win back her trust, and Lauren needs answers as to what tore them apart. And together they find that no amount of separation can change the depth of their feelings for each other.

“It suddenly felt like there was a magnet in her chest, like some unforeseen force was pulling her toward him.”

The smoothly flowing writing style beautifully depicts the depth of the story. The author perfectly captured the emotions of her characters and projects them onto you. You feel them as though they were yours.

The story is told in a mixture of past and present day story lines. Starting out with the present and intermingling it with bits of where Lauren and Michael’s story began 8 years ago. There are alternating POVs with an initial focus on Lauren’s but with just enough of Michael’s to keep us strongly connected to him on a more personal level.

This book spoke to my heart. You know the kind of story where, if it says, “Michael grinned”, it makes your heart feel full? Yeah, its that kind of book 🙂

I literally would just read scene after scene with my hand over my heart either smiling or near tears. Parts were sweet, parts gave me shivers, parts broke my heart and parts put it back together so beautifully that I forgot everything but the happiness.

I loved that it was a much deeper friends-to-lovers story than the usual… they were friends but with something so much deeper than that – a connection that that kept drawing them together in every way.

“I always knew I would fall in love with you,” he said softly, “But you were never supposed to love me back,”

Lauren was a wonderful heroine. She was a straight up, no-stupidity, honest, kind, intelligent and deeply understanding character who made me totally sympathetic to everything she went though.

And Michael, I fell in love with right from the start of the story. Like Lauren, I felt drawn to him. The mystery, his pain, the kind heart that was hidden behind the layers of hurt just melted me <3

I love these second-chance stories where the characters get a chance to make things right again by finding a way to build new, positive memories over the painful ones and find a way to heal and build a beautiful life together.

“…I never stopped loving you. Not for one second.”

I was so emotional for the last 20% of the book. You know that constantly-near-tears, brimming-with-emotion feeling? I had that! So much heart-break, heart warming, and healing, with an achingly beautiful love scene and a wonderful epilogue.

I love stories that have some heart ache in them as well as happiness because sometimes, its through the pain that you can come to appreciate more fully the beauty that life and love have to offer. Not that it is necessarily needed to appreciate it, but those who have gone through it know how lucky they are to have that love. Michael and Lauren knew it. It was absolutely beautiful!

Its got a bit of both a YA story (their past) and an adult story (their present). There is steam, but its more emotionally descriptive than blatantly graphic.

Fans of AL Jackson’s books will definitely love this.

**little note because I know some of you will be wondering about this: there is no cheating in this book. There is a whiff of a love triangle at one point, but it doesn’t go anywhere or get developed into a source of angst so your hearts can rest easy.

I am utterly floored that this is a debut novel. It is absolutely one of my top favorite books now!

Everyone should add it to their to-read lists 🙂

Thank you to the author for offering to send me a copy to review!

Buy BACK TO YOU on Kindle
Buy BACK TO YOU in Paperback

THIS BOOK MADE MY LIST OF “BEST BOOK OF 2012″!!!

Book Review – Dirty by Megan Hart

November 15, 2012 by Aestas · 3 Comments

4.5+ stars (maybe 5? I’m still debating).

Woah. I think I loved this book.

It was a completely unconventional erotic romance. Raw, but not gritty. Real, introspective, dark and sexy, painful and yet not in a rip-your-heart-out way, very erotic, heavy and just so “different” than anything else I’ve read so far.

It a very well written, character-driven book that touches on themes of guilt, self worth, trust, survival. And a sort of love.

I started this one because I wanted something ‘different’. Don’t get me wrong, I live for my romance books that you see me review all the time but every once in a while you want something a little outside the box. Something that kind of jars your senses and makes you sit up and pay close attention because its ‘new ground’… this book gave me that. Still, after having finished it, I’m not sure where to classify it and I’m fine with that… and I like knowing I have Megan Hart’s writing to turn to to add more change-ups to my to-read list.

So don’t go into this expecting your classic romance story. You have to be open minded and I think that if you know that from the start, it will help you better appreciate the story. But, that being said it is a romance. For sure. All the way. Just not your regular guy-meets-girl, they fall in love, they sleep together, declare love and live happily ever after romance. Its heavier. More raw. Real.

Elle meets Dan in a candy store. Unlike all the other men in her past, he doesn’t compliment her, ask her name, make a move, or try to sleep with her. He just shows her a good time for the afternoon and then walks away.

“So, you’re a good girl.”…
“Depends on your definition of good .”…
“Are you flirting with me?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Do you want to do what I want?” My pulse pounded at his question, murdered directly into my ear.“

She can’t get him out of her head.

“I’d met men who made me laugh, who made me sigh, even a few, very few, who’d made me come. Until now I had never met one I couldn’t forget.”

The next time he pops into her life, she is again drawn to him. They are at a club and he gets her off on the dance floor. And she lets him. He seems to treasure her but not try to claim her.

“The next time I watch you come,” he said, “I want to be inside you.”
Then he got up from the table and left me there, alone.

Elle’s life has made her disenchanted with men and she doesn’t believe that Dan is any different from. She doesn’t date. Only has sex. Never anything more. Almost the same way guys typically go through women – not really caring emotionally about who they screw, just using it as a means to an end. She doesn’t want to fall in love and doesn’t want to be loved. She has closed her self off from all intimany. The only thing she will accept is raw sex. No strings.

“I believe Dan and I were drawn together… I believe I was empty and waiting to be filled, and Dan was there to do it. And I believe it could have been someone else, that we are not bound for one person in the universe, and another time or another man might have found a way to fill me. I believe that, but I am glad it was Dan who did. Dan had opened my eyes, but only because they were ready to open.”

So Dan goes about showing her slowly that she can be cared for. Not pushing what he wants on her but willing to give whatever she’ll accept. Showing her through his actions rather than his words how serious he is at the same time of being respectful of her feelings.

And eventually Elle realizes that, at some point, she has to choose between having the wall she’s built around herself or taking a real chance on the man she can’t stop thinking about.

“I do not like that I let circumstances rob me of the ability to have a normal relationship with a man, to have friends, to be happy. I do not like it, but I had felt myself powerless against it.
I didn’t want to feel powerless anymore.”

Why is it that if a guy sleeps with a lot of women, its accepted, but women who do the same are looked down on as sluts and whores? How is that fair? Its an interesting concept though because Elle is clearly neither of those, but still has slept with 78 men in her life.

Elle was very… real. Neither fake nor fantasy perfect. Just… real. She was a complex, damaged woman with a lot of pain and emotional scarring in her past. But I like that she didn’t feel completely broken. Damaged yes, but not broken. She had found a way to cope. To move on with her life. I loved that Dan helped her bring down some of her walls, but at the same time, I totally understood why those walls were there.

“Sex is not wrong. Sex is not dirty. Not even sex in a public place with a man you barely know. Its not. Sex is a gift, a built-in human pleasure, something to enjoy and cherish and utlizie. Sex rejuvinates. Sex replenishes…. Sex is not. I am not dirty. I’m not.”

And omg Dan was just perfect. But not in a ‘too perfect’ way. His patience with her melted my heart. But I just fell in love with him. With how was willing to just take her as she was. To hold back and give her what she needed to feel safe. Not caged, but safe. To make her trust him…. If he had done it any differently, he would have lost her in a heart beat.

It was like he knew she couldn’t be tied down, but he was always there to catch her when she fell.

I loved that their relationship (or arrangement, or whatever you want to call it) wasn’t rushed. No insta-love here. It was about building trust. A connection. Until finally it naturally developed into something deeper as Dan helped bring Elle out of her shell and taught her to feel safe again.

The book was very well written. Very introspective. Kind of just pulls you right into Elle’s head. Into her thoughts. You see her move through her life as well as hear her pause to contemplate things along the way. It was a seamless blend of the two. I honestly started highlight a bit in this one chapter near the beginning and had to stop when I realized I pretty much had a solid page and a half I wanted to quote. You’ll just have to read it for yourself to see what I mean. There is really no fluff in this book. No excess drama. The story was utterly non-perfect and I loved it.

“Sometimes grief is a comfort we grant ourselves because its less terrifying than trying for joy. Nobody wants to admit it. We’d all declare we want to be happy, if we could. So why, then, is pain the one thing we most often hold on to? Why are slights and griefs the memories on which we choose to dwell? Is it because joy doesn’t last but grief does?”

And boy is it EROTIC!!!! The sex in this books is OFF. THE. CHARTS. HOT. I really mean it!!!! Graphic. Erotic. Sensual, Kinky… A part of me felt like I should have had a problem with some of the things that happened, but oddly enough, in the context of the story, I felt that everything was just right.

I’ve heard mixed reactions to the ending and so I was very curious about it. I think the best way to describe it is ‘perfectly fitting for the story’. Its a happy ending, and yes, they are together, but at the same time, it wasn’t “riding-off-into-the-sunset-with-hearts-and-rainbows-and-fluffy-unicorns perfect”. Like the rest of the book, it just felt very real.

It’s not the kind of book I’d reread over and over again but I loved that I read it.

I think what I’m left with is the thought of what a talented writer Megan Hart is. She has a really beautiful writing style and I’m very much looking forward to reading more of her books.

Buy DIRTY on Kindle
Buy DIRTY in Paperback

This book has two different covers. I’ve been asked this a lot so just letting you know that the two are the same book. There is kind of a white-based one and a black-based one. Same book.

To the best of my understanding, Megan Hart’s books aren’t necessarily a series, but there is an order to them. Here it is:

CASTING:

Dan –> Click here
Elle –> Click here

PAPERBACK AND eBOOK GIVEAWAY: Winner’s Choice Round #3

November 12, 2012 by Aestas · 133 Comments

*** THIS GIVEAWAY
IS NOW CLOSED ***

WINNERS WILL BE
ANNOUNCED
LATER TODAY.
STAY TUNED!

ARE YOU READY FOR
ROUND #3
OF THE
WINNER’S CHOICE
GIVEAWAY???

*drum roll*

<— Here are the new selections!!!

They were chosen partly based on books that I adore and would love to share with you
and partly based on the suggestions that you guys had requested after the last Giveaway.

I’m trying to make everyone happy here 🙂

Please note that the reason some of your suggestions from last time (for example, the Love Unscripted/Unrehearsed books are not part of the Giveaways yet is simply because they are not yet available on paperback, but I assure you, as soon as they come out, there’ll be a chance to win them.
Cross my heart!

So, here’s how the Winner’s Choice Giveaway works:

You can enter below at the Rafflecopter link for your chance to win any ONE of these books in paperback.

***The winner will get to choose any ONE of these paperbacks. ***

And wait! There’s more…

A second winner will be selected for the Kindle Giveaway at the same time.
—> All you have to do to enter that is to SHARE THIS STATUS ON FACEBOOK and then COMMENT ON THAT STATUS (not here on the post!) that you shared. And when the contest is over, a winner will be randomly selected from the list of people who said they shared the status)

The Paperback Giveaway is only open in the US and Canada.
The Kindle Giveaway is International.

If you want to read my reviews of each book, just click the cover… or you can just skip below to the Rafflecopter part and enter for your chance to WIN!!! 😀

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE AND HAPPY READING!! <3

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review – My Only by N.K. Smith

November 11, 2012 by Aestas · Leave a Comment

4 stars

This is a very beautifully written YA book about how tragedies can occur and mark you, and how to find a way to accept them and find the strength move on.

Adam lives a quiet life – engrossed in his school work, surrounded a by a few close friends, but always on the sidelines. Never one of the popular kids, not noticed by girls, he’s always the responsible one, a musician, gamer, straight A student with a good heart and a lot of insecurities who constantly feels overshadowed by his nearly identical twin brother Aaron who is basically, what he feels to be, a better version of him. He’s slightly taller, more muscular, more popular, more social, is adored by the girls… he’s everything Adam isn’t.

When Olivia moves to town, she’s all Adam can think about. She’s free spirited, sweet and out going and Adam is absolutely smitten with her. But when there is a better version of him out there, why would she ever notice him?

“What’s wrong?”
I wanted to tell her exactly what was wrong. I wanted to tell her that Aaron liked her, and that I liked her. I wanted to tell her that Aaron liked a lot of people, but I didn’t, making my feelings more meaningful. I wanted to grab her hand and take her back to my room… I wanted to tell her that I was scared that she would fall victim to my brother’s charms and forget about me.
But I didn’t say or do any of those things. Instead, I said, “Nothing.”

And despite Olivia’s happy exterior, there is more to her than meets the eye – something she is trying to forget about. A secret that could change her life forever.

This book was very seamlessly written – the writing style flows smoothly and it immediately drew me into the story.

I loved that this whole book was from Adam’s perspective. It really got you deep into him mind and gave you a full understanding of his character – his desires, his insecurities, his thoughts and feelings.

There is a bit of a love triangle going for a while – one that really hurt my heart. Both brothers were interested in her. Adam, because she was ‘it’ to him. He just fell so strongly for her from the moment he first saw her but was too shy to tell her. And Aaron was interested in her because she was ‘new’ – another conquest to add to his slew of broken hearts.

Adam and Olivia connected very deeply but remained friends for a long time. They had both suffered similar loss in their pass and, although it had marked them in different ways, they found a connection through it.

I wasn’t sure about the twist going in to this, it was bittersweet. Not your classic romantic HEA. I actually thought it would be different than what it was but this book would be perfect for fans of Chasing Nikki or A Walk To Remember.

My heart hurt so much for Adam in this. I guess it was because of how connected the POV made me feel to him but watching Aaron trying to step in with Olivia made me ache. A part of me wished Adam would just man up and talk things out with to tell her how he felt, but another part of me understood why he didn’t and sympathized with what was holding him back.

I’ll say that I didn’t cry ever, even at the end, but there were times when I came close.

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