Continuation of Jared and Tate’s story – hot second chance romance
Blurb:
The tables have turned. Now I have the power—and it’s his turn to beg…
Everyone wants to be me.
Maybe it’s the sway of my skirt or the way I flip my hair, but I don’t care. Even though their attention is the last thing I crave, I just can’t stop. I dominate the track, the speed rattles my bones, and the wind and the crowd screams my name.
I’m her. The girl driver. The queen of the race. And I’m surviving—something he thought I’d never do.
They all still talk about him. Did you see Jared Trent on T.V? What did you think of his last race, Tate? When is he coming back to town, Tate?
But I refuse to care too much. Because when Jared does come home, I won’t be here.
Tatum Brandt is gone. I’m someone new.
As the book opens, we find out that Jared and Tate broke up shortly after the events in “Falling Away”. WTF? I was not happy! I was pissed off that they broke up after all they went through before. And I read on reluctantly. I’m not a fan of restart romances in general. They often feel like the author couldn’t let go of the characters they loved. The characters themselves often behave in ways uncharacteristic of them in order to fit to a new story line. Thankfully, that was not the case here!
As I read on, I understood Jared’s reason for leaving. He needed to grow up and discover what he wanted out of life, what would make him happy, and who he was outside of his relationship to Tate. He was going through the motions of life, heading into a career he didn’t want. Tate was his only focus and happiness. He didn’t want to end up resenting her. He always intended to return to her.
Tate only saw abandonment and thought she lost Jared forever. She tried to move on. Jared thought she had moved on and stayed away longer. He returns to town for family reasons, and his friends knock some sense into him. It’s a collective effort from all our favorite characters with some very funny moments.
They were very young at the end of Bully/Until You. They had to grow up and figure themselves out before they could come together as mature adults and make it stick. The usual cliches aren’t found here, which I’m grateful for. This was very fast paced and enjoyable. The sex scenes are very hot. And the grammar has gotten much better!
1st person past tense from both Tate and Jared.
Contains graphic sex scenes – hot ones, including some very good sexting.
Occasional foul language.
HEA. We finally get the epilogue(s) I’ve been wanting and find out some things about the future for all the couples.
8 errors. Very good editing.
$3.99 on Amazon.
237 pages.
Favorite Quote:
Jared and Tate are talking about the kids from all the couples being in high school together later on. Jared: “Relax.” He grabbed his jacket and slipped it on. “I don’t think anyone can get in as much trouble as we did.”
Two victims of abuse become survivors and break the cycle by learning to love each other
Blurb:
Jaxon is the guy she’s supposed to avoid.
K.C. is the girl he won’t let get away….
K.C. Carter has always followed the rules—until this year, when a mistake leaves her the talk of her college campus and her carefully arranged life comes crashing to a halt. Now she’s stuck in her small hometown for the summer to complete her court-ordered community service, and to make matters worse, trouble is living right next door.
Jaxon Trent is the worst kind of temptation and exactly what K.C. was supposed to stay away from in high school. But he never forgot her. She was the one girl who wouldn’t give him the time of day and the only one to ever say no. Fate has brought K.C. back into his life—except what he thought was a great twist of luck turns out to be too close for comfort. As the bond between them grows, he discovers that convincing K.C. to get out from her mother’s shadow is hard, but revealing the darkest parts of his soul is nearly impossible.…
K.C. has another truly messed up wicked mother. She has been enduring abuse and conforming to her mother’s wishes in most things to lessen that abuse. Jax bullies her a little bit, telling her she is gutless, in order to spark her defiance and get her to be herself, to figure out who that really is. Jax has to do the same thing, moving past his own history and learning to accept love.
The sex with OP scenes at the beginning really skeeved me out. But I pushed past it and did enjoy this very much. The sex scenes with the main characters together were very hot. The story is good. I was happy to get to know both Jax and K.C. a lot better. They both grew tremendously and got better from interacting with each other.
This was another fast paced and enjoyable read with a lot of emotion.
Graphic sex scenes.
Occasional foul language.
HFN verging on HEA
8 errors. Very good editing.
!Start Rant! I really hate reading detailed sex scenes with Other People. I don’t care if the main characters aren’t in a relationship yet. I don’t care that it isn’t cheating. I don’t like characters to be promiscuous, male or female. It’s a hurdle I have to get past, something I have to actively try to ignore, in order to enjoy the book. I wish authors would stop with this! I don’t need to be shown that a character is attractive and popular by them having sex with OP! !End Rant!
$5.99 on Amazon.
434 pages.
Favorite Quotes:
K.C.: If only life could be edited like a story, I’d rock.
K.C.:
We want a house, a car, a fancy fucking vacation, and prestige, so what do we do? We go to school, and we get jobs we hate to pay for the things we want. We deal with people we don’t like and waste years of our lives sitting in stark, fluorescent-lit rooms and listening to coworkers who bore us so we can pay for a small amount of precious time to enjoy what makes us happy. To achieve a fraction of our lives just feeling as if it was all worth it.
We sacrifice to earn.
Ciaron, Fallon’s father, to Jax: He shook his head. “Son, women are easy. They simply want everything. It’s not difficult.”
Madoc and Fallon. Two estranged teenagers playing games that push the boundaries between love and war…
She’s back.
For the two years she’s been away at boarding school, there was no word from her. Back when we lived in the same house, she used to cut me down during the day and then leave her door open for me at night.
I was stupid then, but now I’m ready to beat her at her own game…
I’m back.
Two years and I can tell he still wants me, even if he acts like he’s better than me.
But I won’t be scared away. Or pushed down. I’ll call his bluff and fight back. That’s what he wants, right? As long as I keep my guard up, he’ll never know how much he affects me….
Fallon and Madoc have another love to hate to love story filled with secrets and misunderstandings. I loved Tate’s dad, and Jared’s mother was getting there, working on it. But Fallon has a queen bitch evil mother. There is a lot of drama from her.
I loved the witty verbal sparring between Madoc and Fallon. They have fun together, and I got their connection. Madoc is loveable, sweet, and funny. Fallon is grittier, darker, and more damaged. But Madoc brings out the spunk and humor in her.
This is a re-read, so it must be 5 stars. Fast paced, fantastic writing.
You have to read the dedication! It’s a hilarious and cute poem, “To Hubs”. Don’t miss it!
Again, I had a big problem with having to read detailed sex scenes with Other People! Ewwww!
Contains graphic sex scenes. Other than the OP ones, they are very hot! Characters are 18 and in their summer before starting college.
Occasional foul language.
HFN verging on HEA
1st person past tense from Fallon and Madoc. I was very happy to get chapters from each of them this time.
14 errors. So the editing has gotten much better with this one.
$11.99 on Amazon.
366 pages.
Favorite Quotes:
Fallon: One thing I knew right then and there. I might hate Madoc, but I loved his friends.
Madoc: Sometimes I wondered if the angels talked to get me to behave or to entice the devil to come out to play.
Fallon: I wished I didn’t feel the invisible cord pulling me to him, wanting to touch him again, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. We always want what’s bad for us.
Madoc was hot. He knew it. And he knew everyone else knew it.
Madoc: Her white bikini was just that. A bikini. In every possible definition of the word, it was evil and temptation in its worst form.
Fallon: Who was I kidding? I’d have better success trying to jam a tree branch up my ass than convince myself I didn’t want him.
Fallon: “Madoc?” she whimpered, sounding pained. “I’m not a piano. Stop playing me.”
Jared and Tate’s story told from Jared’s POV – Not just a rehash!
Blurb:
Have you ever been so angry that hitting things felt good? Or so numb that you actually felt high? The past few years have been like that for me. Traveling between fury and indifference with no stops in between.
Some people hate me for it, while others are scared of me. But none of them can hurt me, because I don’t care about anything or anyone.
Except Tatum.
I love her so much that I hate her. We used to be friends, but I found out that I couldn’t trust her or anyone else.
So I hurt her. I pushed her away.
But I still need her. The sight of her centers me, and I can pool all of my anger into her. Engaging her, challenging her, bullying her…they are my food, my air, and the last part of me that feels anything human.
But she left. She went to France for a year, and came back a different girl.
Now, when I push, she pushes back.
I love “Until You” more than “Bully”. Maybe it’s being a woman and seeing into the mind of a man? I know I like novels from the man’s POV, so yes. But “Until You” is better beyond that difference. In “Bully”, I didn’t totally get the connection between Jared and Tate. Because I didn’t get inside his mind, I didn’t completely believe his swift turn around. But here I get it. I’m so glad that Penelope Douglas wrote this story! It’s not the same story from a different POV, so you won’t get bored. You don’t need to make choice on which one to read. There are lots of extra things in each of them. But if you only want to read one, I recommend “Until You”. It had more feels for me. Plus there is an extra sex scene 😂.
As I said in my review of “Bully”, I like bully stories. I especially like this one because the bullying doesn’t go too far. There is no sexual harassment or physical violence. The girl isn’t depressed or brought to suicidal thoughts. Both Tate and Jared are strong. Jared gets stronger, grows, throughout this novel.
My one big problem with this was the parts in the beginning where Jared was with Other People. They were much too detailed! I don’t like it when the main characters are promiscuous before the relationship. I don’t care that it isn’t cheating. And I definitely don’t want to have to read the details of it. Nasty! I wanted it to stop! If you are with me, I hope you can push past it as I did.
1st person past tense all from Jared.
Contains graphic sex scenes, hot ones.
Occasional foul language.
HFN (Happy For Now)
There are many errors (25). That I love it anyway is a testament to how good it is!
$4.99 on Amazon.
406 pages.
Favorite Quotes:
I used to keep her up late watching scary movies, and after all this time, nothing had really changed.
Her ass still wasn’t getting any sleep tonight.
“I never touched their bodies like that or held them. I never cared about them enjoying it. They didn’t get any part of me worth having, Tate. Especially, K.C. I never touched her like this.” I stroked her hair. “You own me body and soul, and everyone is going to know it. Sometimes I’m going to go slow with you, and sometimes I’m going to fuck you. But it will always be love, Tate.”
Always has been. And always will.
Tate, we are climbing out of this fucking mess one way or another, because no one ruins us.
“You made me mean. And now I pummel poor, defenseless girls… and guys,” she added, and I wanted to laugh again, thinking of the damage she’d done to Madoc.
My name is Tate. He doesn’t call me that, though. He would never refer to me so informally, if he referred to me at all.
We’re neighbors, and once, we were best friends. But then, one summer, he turned on me and has made it his mission to screw up my life at every opportunity. I’ve been humiliated, shut out, and gossiped about all through high school. His pranks and rumors got more sadistic as time wore on, and I made myself sick trying to hide from him. I worried about what was around every corner and behind every door.
So I left.
I spent a year studying abroad and bathed in the freedom of life without Jared. Now I’m back to finish up high school and get the hell out of here forever. I’m hoping that after a year of breathing room, he’s moved on and forgotten all about me.
But even if he hasn’t changed, I have. I’m not interested in avoiding him or turning the other cheek anymore. We’re going to go head to head, because neither of us wants to back down.
I love this book. I read it in 2014 and was surprised how much I still remembered from it. I’ve read hundreds of books since then! So this is very memorable. I like bully books. This is definitely one of the best. The bullying wasn’t that bad. There were no sexual assaults or threats of it and no physical abuse. Jared didn’t make Tate’s life miserable, and she never became depressed or suicidal.
Tate is strong, which I love. Jared bullied her before she went to France for a year, but she comes back a badass. The way Tate became the bully was handled brilliantly. “This is how bullies are made.” I also liked how that didn’t go on too long, how Tate pulled herself back from that abyss.
Jared and Tate had a history of love, and Jared had a great excuse. He just needed to grow up and figure himself out after the trauma he went through. I didn’t completely believe Jared’s swift turn around at first, but by the end I got it. I believed how Tate could take Jared back into her heart as quickly as she did, which wasn’t overnight quick (a cliche I hate in bully books).
The story isn’t perfect. I hate that Jared was sleeping around but Tate is a virgin, and he even says how he loves that, that this makes her really his. Thumbs down on that cliche. I’m also not a fan of the cliche bitchy slut revenge for stealing her man bit. But I forgive these things because of all the rest. I love this book.
Oh! And the sex scenes were very hot.
1st person past tense all from Tate. I didn’t feel that Jared’s character was completely fleshed out because I only got Tate’s POV. For this reason, I like “Until You” better. More on that in the next review.
Contains graphic sex scenes. The characters are 18 when they get down to business.
Occasional foul language.
HFN (Happy For Now)
Alright is not a word. It’s two words: all right. Beyond that, there were 50 errors. That’s a lot. That I look past this speaks to how great the story is! Note: I may be reading an earlier version of the book because I bought in 2014. Amazon thinks I don’t own it when I go to its current webpage.
$4.99 on Amazon.
333 pages.
Favorite Quotes:
As I faced Madoc, who had raised himself to meet my gaze, I grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted my knee into his groin. Hard. The amount of pressure must’ve been a lot, because he yelped and fell to his knees, moaning while holding his crotch.
I’d been called a bitch before, and it didn’t hurt the way being called a slut did. Being a bitch could be a survival technique. They get respect. There was no honor in people thinking you were a slut.
Best friends to lovers with great small-town drama
Blurb:
Rayna would do anything for Brady and she has. She’s bailed him out of jail. She’s healed his bruises and picked him up from parties. She’s always been there for him regardless if he had asked or not. But when a potential love interest for Rayna returns to town, their relationship is threatened. Brady has to decide if he’s going to make her his or let her go. And when he tries to do the right thing by both of them, neither could’ve foreseen what secrets their decisions would’ve exposed. Their small town is soon rocked by controversy and in the midst of it, Rayna and Brady try to figure out if they can be together or not.
I love this book. I originally read it back in 2014. Even after all those years, I remembered a few things. “Get off!” – “I just did.” was my favorite. I thought of that recently and wanted to re-read this. I’m not going to put the quote here. It’s at the start of Chapter 2, which you can see in the Sneak Peek on Amazon. Tijan’s Fallen Crest series seems more popular, but this is my favorite of her books.
There is a lot of great humor here. It’s a fast read, quick paced. Tijan does soap opera drama very well. Whose father is whose and who slept with who and when, absentee parents, good surrogate parents to replace them, that sort of thing. I loved Rayna’s grandparents and other secondary characters.
Both Rayna and Brady grow during the story. I love both of these characters and how they interact. I don’t like that Brady has been having casual sex. It doesn’t seem like he was a real slut as I don’t know how many girls he has been with. But I don’t think he is a man-whore (doesn’t make the girls pay emotionally, doesn’t lie to get it).
All sex is off camera.
Occasional foul language.
1st person past tense, all from Rayna.
286 pages.
$3.99 on Amazon.
Standalone.
Errors: 33 (wrong words, extra words, missing words, misspelled words, wrong punctuation marks, laughing/groaning/smirking/etc as dialogue tags, alright is not a word – it’s all right)
There is a never published start to a sequel called “Brady Remington Is My Boyfriend” that was abandoned. I have it and read it. It just stops with no resolution to the story but does have some actual sex scenes in it. I think Tijan posted the chapters to Facebook at one time, and I copied them into a Word doc. I feels like Tijan didn’t like where the story was going, and I would agree. Rayna was acting wish-washy and vague, not the great character that was in the actual book.
Favorite Quotes:
A tingle shot through my toes from his soft tone, but I clamped down on it. I didn’t need to be getting hot and bothered by him, not tonight. Not ever.
“You… you upheavaled my night. I wanted to stay in. I wanted to be boring. I like being boring, Brady”
I looked away when Clarissa sent a scorching glare at me. I wasn’t going to bend to her will and go against my grandmother. Viola had spoken.
A delinquent and a young police officer – clean romance
Blurb:
HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO?
All Meg has ever wanted is to get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far…and almost doesn’t make it back.
John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won’t soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won’t be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge — and over….
This is about two teenagers 17/19 who face fears, grow, and heal. It’s clean – there is only making out on camera. It’s funny, sweet, and has a great, dramatic story. It is very well written and fast paced. I read it all in one go. 5 stars – this is the second time I have read it.
The book ends at 75%. The last 25% is a sneak peek at two other novels.
1st person past tense all from Meg.
Errors: 10
Favorite Quote:
I didn’t quite dare, because I didn’t want him to tell me no. But I got very close to touching The Place Prisoners Should Not Touch Policemen.
You can be a Normal—a cheerleader, jock, member of the debate team, or on the yearbook committee. You pretend everything is normal.
Or you can be crew. You insult us? We hurt you. You hurt us? We really hurt you. And if you f*ck with us, we will end you.
My name is Bren. I’m the only female in the Wolf Crew—the best, fiercest, and most dangerous crew there is—and we have a rule: There’s no falling in love.
Well… too late.
This series is loosely related to the Fallen Crest series and set after it. You should read the Fallen Crest series first if you don’t want to encounter spoilers here. Rousseau is a poorer, neighboring town to Fallen Crest. If you have read the Fallen Crest series, you will have heard the term “Crew” as it was mentioned there. Crews are a little like gangs but nowhere near as rough and criminal-leaning. They are more like tight friend groups with people who will always back each other up. Loyalty is number one. They aren’t cliques because their members do socialize with people outside their crew. People who don’t join crews are called Normals.
Bren is one of only two females in the crew system. She is in a four-member crew called the Wolf Crew. This novel is really about how Bren grows and evolves, becoming emotionally stronger, finally speaking about her past and accepting the love that has always been waiting for her.
I liked it a lot. It was fast paced, interesting, and enjoyable. There wasn’t too much violence for my tastes. I liked being in Bren’s head and how things were slowly revealed. Bren is a strong character but not maxed out unrealistically. She had learned to stuff things down to survive, but she wasn’t happy. Her growth was in starting to unpack and deal with things. I also liked the secondary characters and felt I got to know them even though we get everything from Bren’s point of view. All the characters are complex with both good and evil inside them.
There are some sex scenes, but they aren’t long or very graphic.
Lots of good humor, which I loved. Zellman cracked me up.
No cheating or Other People drama.
There are a bunch of catty Normal girls. I liked how Bren dealt with them.
Lots of foul language.
1st person past tense, all from Bren.
This is well edited. I found only 10 errors.
372 pages. $2.99 on Amazon.
Favorite Quotes:
Zellman: Good head is like an animal on the endangered list.
Cross chuckled. “My point still stands. Zellman has no taste in women. He’d bang a door if it had a hole his prick wouldn’t get a sliver from.
Bren: “…There should be a rule where teachers and staff can’t leave the school. When you enter, you deal with them there and only there. It’s too much, thinking of all of them having their own lives.”
Cross: Walking backward, he winked as his back hit the screen door. “And just so we’re clear, I’m intending to grab your tits someday. I’ve been intending for a long time.”
Zellman: “You’re like my sister now. Crew family. But no lie, I’m hoping to see your tits someday. And it’s probably going to happen, since we all scrap.”
Being crew is walking between two worlds. One world is normal: Prom. Parties. College. Those are the concerns they worry about.
In our world, we deal with other situations. Cops. Drugs. Brawling. That’s a typical day for us.
But what if it wasn’t?
What if there came a day when you stopped? When you considered letting your enemies win? When you didn’t fight back? When you chose a different path?
First I lost my family. Then I got the Wolf Crew. I couldn’t lose them too.
But what happens when Cross, Zellman, and Jordan keep going… …and I don’t?
In Crew Princess, the adults are after the Crew system again, and Bren grows up emotionally, getting ready to face her future. There is more drama, parents divorcing, surprise family members, and a conspiracy to be solved. Bren and Cross are going strong, and Jordan has a girlfriend. Zellman is still funny, but we don’t get as much of him in this one.
For the longest time, I was Bren Monroe. I lived in Roussou, California. I had no parents, no brother, but I had a crew.
Then things started to change. I never planned for any of it. I didn’t think I’d fall in love. I didn’t think I’d have a relationship with my brother again. I didn’t think that he’d come back.
Now I’m in Cain. My crew is in college. They’re growing, going through their own things. And here I am, figuring out my life.
There’s always hurdles and obstacles to overcome. That was never my hardship. That was my regular. But living? Being content? Being happy? Those were my challenges now.
Everything was going well… Until it wasn’t. Again.
This one is about Bren finding her career path, drama between Cross and his surprise family member, and romantic relationship drama for Jordan and Kellman.
In this, Blaise and Aspen are together. They have their own book. So I think that one should be read before the Crew series. Maybe? I haven’t read it yet to know. But we always assume there is going to be a HEA, so it’s not that much of a spoiler.
We get several chapters and sections from Cross and a chapter each from Zellman and Jordan.
This one had a bad problem with two different speakers in the same paragraph. The paragraph break was just weirdly missing 12 times! I only found 2 other errors.
364 pages. $4.99 on Amazon.
Favorite Quote:
Zellman: Each person should get their rocks off as many times as they could. I felt it was a worthy mission for the world’s population.
This is a guilty pleasure read. It’s a soap opera, a group of characters that Jerry Springer would jump at. The parents in this are terrible! They go from outright abusive to just not there. The teenagers are always having raging parties, setting things on fire, and fighting. Someone is always out to get them. These novels are mostly about catty, backstabbing, jealous people trying to hurt the three main characters – Sam, Mason, and Logan. Tons of teen angst. It’s so much drama that I have to forcibly suspend my disbelief and just let the telenovela happen. Embrace the crazy, and it is very amusing. There is a lot of humor in this, most of it coming from Logan.
I do like that Mason is a good guy to Sam. He is a complex character, good to her but can be manipulative and a jerk. But at least he is honest about it.
Sam’s character starts off numb. Sam doesn’t care about anything. She seems to take everything in stride, being bored by all the teenage angst and drama around her. She is angry with her parents about their split and says so to both of them, but she doesn’t lash out. She just goes running to escape. I didn’t like that Sam’s character changed in the second book. She got weak for a while.
Logan is a slut, but he is also honest about that and so funny that I can’t hate him for it.
This series is complete now and ends in a HEA.
This contains sex scenes, but they aren’t graphic. We know what happened, but it’s not as detailed as I usually see. The C and P words are not used. Instead, it is something like, “He was in me.” The scenes get a bit more descriptive in the latter books when the characters are in college.
The entire series is in 1st person past tense. The first two books are all from Sam. In the rest of the series, we get some chapters from Mason too. We get a chapter from Logan in Book 5 (University). Logan Kade has chapters from both Logan and Taylor.
There are a ton of errors in the first book including wrong words and missing words. It’s not often enough to give me headaches but stretching it. The grammar gets better as the series goes on. I also felt that the plots got better as Tijan matured as an author over the series.
Another soap opera. I didn’t think this was as good as the first. The abuse stuff was brought up out of nowhere, and I didn’t like how Sam’s character got weak.
In the second book, Sam is suddenly suffering PTSD from something her mom did when Sam was eleven. It never came up in the first book. It seems like Sam’s character was changed to conform to the desired plot. Because she stood up to her mother in the first book. Sam told her mother that their relationship was over, done, that she wished she hadn’t been born to her mother. She also said she would move out as soon as she turned 18. And Sam does have the option of going to live with David, who fought for shared custody. It also seems very strange that Becky and Lydia would have suddenly abandoned Sam in the intervening time period when they had sworn loyalty to her at the end of the last book. I’m not buying it. Then the stuff about Sam being arrested as a runaway weeks before her 18th birthday and Mason possibly being charged with statutory rape was far from the legal facts. The changes are too stark, and I felt they were done to facilitate the desired plot here.
The soap opera continues… This story is all about the mean girls and the queen bee going down, just like getting hit by a bus. But again, it’s a guilty pleasure. Very cliche story line about a spurned girl who launches attacks on Sam because she wants Mason.
Favorite Quote:
…Malinda. She always had a quick retort for Logan, and when there was a lull in conversation, she’d grill Mark on his love life. He was mortified when she suggested getting a vibrator for his girl. “Mom!” he cried out. She shrugged. “You’re not a virgin, and I’m promoting her pleasure as well. The girl will enjoy it a lot more. They don’t always, you know.” She scanned the rest of the table. “I’m sure you two bucks think you’re the stud for all those does,” she remembered me and amended, “well maybe just you and Logan, but I’m telling you. Girls fake it eighty percent of the time.” That opened a whole new channel of adoration from Logan. He wanted to know it all. The rest of the conversation was a question and answer forum from Logan while Mark looked ready to throw up. I even caught Mason listening intently to her. He told me later that he’d be stupid to pass up information like that.
There would be so much less drama if they communicated with each other. Can’t have that!
I like the screenshot of the texts.
I’m glad Sam has grown more of a backbone. In Fallen Crest Family, she got too weak for me.
Wow. I know this is a soap opera, but I keep getting shocked when it goes to that level. Hahaha There was a huge error in that near the start, Sam thought, “Maybe it was time I tried drinking. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it.” But she had been drunk so many times in the first three books! This was ridiculous. Alcohol was not new to her!
Mason is keeping secrets from Sam. Sam is keeping secrets from Mason. They are both trying to protect each other. If there aren’t any secrets, there can’t be any drama! 😂
We all know Logan is a slut and sometimes a man-whore, but I read this because of how funny he is! Oh yeah, do you know the difference? Sluts are just promiscuous, lacking respect for their own bodies. Man-whores make the women pay in some way, hurting them. I don’t slut-shame. I’m not a fan of it, but whatever floats your boat. I just don’t like reading about characters who are so casual about sex because it’s a turn off for me. I really hate man-whores. They are bad people.
This was good, more fun, less of a soap opera. I really liked it until what happened near the end. Then I was disgusted! I have to knock at least a star off for Logan being far too much of a slut / manwhore.
Favorite Quote:
“I’m Logan Motherfucking Kade. I’d switch classes, too. I mean, shit. If I were a chick? I’d be all over me. I couldn’t keep myself away from me.” He let out a whistle. “Bring out the handcuffs and bullwhips. We’re going the BDSM route.”
Near the beginning, everyone is worried about Sam and Mason being at a Roussou event, and they are always surrounded by people acting as bodyguards. Then the group lets Mason and Sam walk off alone to leave. It makes no sense that everyone would be worried at the beginning of the night and then let them leave alone. Stupid characters! 🙁
Home ends on a cliffhanger that is so soap opera.
Favorite Quotes:
“Good thing I’m Logan Kade. I mean, come on. If I wasn’t the #sexmachine, I might’ve felt a little self-conscious.” His eyes grew thoughtful. “I’d never noticed how ripped he is. I think he needs to cut back on some of his training. He’s lean cuisine now. Does it hurt? When you’re bumping and grinding against him? Do all those hard muscles give you road rash or something?”
He smirked. “You’re calling me the dumbass when you’re the one who needs to be reminded how to eat. Put it in and chew—unless it’s Mason’s dick. Don’t chew then. Please, don’t chew. I don’t want to take my brother to the emergency room for that.”
Bullied damsel in distress gets rescued by hot guy
Harlow’s parents were murdered, and she has to move to her grandmother’s house in a new town. The five Carter brothers live with their grandfather, next door to Harlow’s grandma. On the first day of school, Harlow makes an enemy of Davis, a bully. Malik Carter and his brothers protect Harlow from this creep. Harlow is also bullied by a girl in school.
I thought this was a bully romance at first, but it’s not. The bully is a bad guy that Harlow is definitely not going to fall in love with.
I was disappointed with how weak Harlow was. I know she had just lost her parents, but she had been bullied at her old school before they died. I really wish Harlow would have stood up and fought back more against Davis. She is bit too damsel in distress for me. Knee him in the balls, scream, scratch, tear his eyes out, anything! I wanted her to stand up to the girls more as well. She is also down on herself, thinking she is plain, when it becomes clear that she is actually beautiful. I loved the secondary characters of the girls, Denny and Charlie. They were much stronger and fought back against bullying.
Malik was great! No complaints there.
Harlow’s grandma is hilarious. She loves to pull pranks and make the grandkids feel uncomfortable. She was a big part of the humor in this book.
The pacing was good. It was a fast read. So one star for story/writing, one for Malik, and one for Harlow’s grandma!
Two of Malik’s brothers, Max and Mason, are man-whores. They each have books in this series, and I’m not excited about reading theirs. I was cautious, so I started reading the sample on Amazon of next book, Mason. There are many more errors in that one! Just reading the first few pages, I saw several issues. Malik needed another proofread, but it looks like Mason didn’t get any. A quick peek at the next one, Myles, revealed the same issues. So I won’t be continuing with this series.
Trigger warning – there is a rape scene.
There are a few graphic sex scenes.
No cheating.
Contains foul language.
1st person present tense, from Harlow except for one chapter from Malik.
This is written in British English.
Errors: 27 (missing periods, extra commas, missing/wrong words, the first letter of a sentence not being capitalized)
Favorite Quotes:
(Harlow walks in on one of Malik’s brothers taking a shower, and Malik runs in to see why she screamed…) I want to roll my eyes at him, but I’m too embarrassed to move or to reopen my eyes. His penis was there; right there, in full view. My first live penis and it’s a complete stranger’s. I never wanted my first penis sighting to be like this. Just thinking about it has my cheeks heating. “Come on, Harlow,” Malik orders, snapping me out of my penis trance. I let him drag me quietly out of the bathroom and into his room before I whirl around on him, my anger finally surfacing now that I’m safely away from the penis. “How could you!’’ we say at the same time, both of us glaring at each other.“ “No, how could you? How dare you remove my clothes while I’m unconscious. How could you do that to me? Did you get a good look?” I snap sarcastically as I move myself closer to him. “Did you? I can’t believe this. Not only does a boy see me naked—half-naked anyway—for the first time, but I’m also unconscious through it. Then, to top that shit list, I see my very first penis. A very fucking frightening one. They’re big, Malik. Fucking big,” I cry out, feeling hysterical.
Malik: “My first thought in the morning is no longer about an upcoming race, or my boner, but you. It’s always about you—and my boner.”
Malik (Joan is Harlow’s grandma): “Joan warned—okay, threatened me, that if I got dirt on her carpet, she was going to castrate me. I love my dick, babe, and Joan keeps threatening it.”
Joan: “Don’t go,” she groans. “I need some advice on other things too. Like, do you think I should get some Viagra? I’m known to go all night.”
(Joan and Mark, Malik’s grandfather, get caught making out on the sofa…) I mumble, before turning to Grams. “Say goodnight, then get to bed. If I don’t hear the door shut—with Mark on the other side—I won’t be pleased, Grams.” “Shush, child. It’s not like you haven’t got Malik upstairs,” she tells me like a sulking teenager. She does have a point. “Yes, but we’re kids. You’re adults. You shouldn’t be fondling on the sofa at your age,” I defend. “Say goodnight, then go to sleep.” Walking up the stairs, I can’t help but grimace when I hear Grams asking when they can fondle again. Jesus, pass me a bucket.
V. B. Law 