This was...kind of perfect. Such a refreshing change from Suzanne Wright's Dark in You and Deep in Your Veins series. There wasn't really an insta-love (insta-possessive?) thing here like there are in many of Wright's other books (cough, Jared...cough, Knox); Bree and Alex had known each other since Bree wasn't legal. And even after Alex started becoming sexually attracted to Bree (and she became legal...), Alex doesn't feel the need to act on that until much later. Additionally, Alex wasn't some CEO, next high prince, or an official uber-scary and prestigious(? for lack of a better word) enforcer. He was just a guy with animal magnetism (see what I did there?) who's got a wolverine sharing headspace with him. I also particularly liked the juice from Bree's plan to move to greener pastures without telling anyone except her best friend and her Prime. That deliciousness will stay with me for days. And I simply adore how many domestic and silly moments there were here that don't really appear in Wright's other stories that I also love. Usually it's all about, “Who's trying to kill me? There's like 10 possibilities,” and, “We need to have sex now because the tension is ripping the reader into shreds.” That's in this story, too (and might I say, I thought they were done especially well here), but I love me some loving downtimes.
Well, I'd totally hold in my farts for you.
Love of the highest order with a healthy dash of realism to give it that extra oomph. 10/10
3.5 stars
WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED?
Seriously. What?
Ok so the beginning was kind of a rocky start. Or, I should say, it was completely disorienting. I've come to realize that I will not be able to keep this review spoiler free so let's just jump into things. Oh god. That beginning. The whole time, I just kept wondering how Jesse ever found Ava, and I was wondering if the author forgot to include it in the book when I got through 60% of the story without a reason as to how they got together in the first place.
Next, there was the whole running away-then coming back-then running away again thing going on. Really? Yeah, I guess that's how things would flow, psychologically, but still. It kind of got old after a while, especially when it became clear that Ava's just going to get back with Jesse one way or another (or maybe I should just say one way. Ahem-Jesse-ahem).
And then that leads me to Ava. Ava is...so...how should I say this? I wouldn't say she has zero personality. But I guess it's just that she doesn't have that many traits. A trait the author tried to establish for Ava was that she's incredibly untidy in her personal life to the point that she lost her birth control pills not once, but twice. However, I still think Jesse was the one taking her pills; I don't believe she lost them at all. BUT I WON'T KNOW THAT FOR SURE UNTIL I READ THE NEXT BOOK NOW WILL I?
And then there was that ending...what in the world? It was like the author tried to cram a whole lot of drama into that last 10% of the book. I'm not kidding. As it became clear that the book was ending soon (by the number of increasingly decreasing pages left), more things just KEPT HAPPENING to drive Ava and Jesse apart and to heartbreak. And that's just another thing I'm ticked about. Really? We couldn't have a happy ending? The author just HAD to muck it all up, presumably for a plot twist to play with her fans and as a way to get us to buy the next book? Really? Is a happy ending with hope for more happy stories with the same characters so much to ask for? Dang.
And I'm not through ranting about that ending either. What kind of pissed me off was Jesse's behavior. Ok, Ava was pretty darn shocked by the true purpose of the Manor. So he decides to “fix” that by getting drunk? He couldn't have thought of anything else? He couldn't have, oh I don't know, sold it or demolished it or whatever? Yeah, okay so he won't have a job anymore. But I'm pretty sure the man's wealthy enough to go on living quite extravagantly without working. And okay it was apparently his uncle Carmichael's “baby.” Is that “baby” worth more than Ava, Jesse sweetie? IS IT? Because really, it's half the reason (50% all right? 50%) Ava ran away from Jesse in the first place. Plus, if he got rid of the Manor, and told Ava, wouldn't that have moved her so much that they'd have this weird breakthrough (I'm not saying immediately but yeah I'm pretty sure things would've led that way). But NOOOOOOO, he just went and did a truly progressive action: he got drunk. Yes, ladies and gentleman, Jesse got drunk. He got so drunk, in fact, that he denied that he was an alcoholic! And no, that wasn't all; he even yelled at Ava for running away and then coming back so often. And he's telling her to make up her mind.
‘
Wonderful job, sir. Awesome. And he keeps wondering why she runs away so much.
Now, I'm not saying this book was all bad. There were the sex scenes. The sex scenes were, to put it mildly, very good (more like, incredibly erotic, but let's just stay with the somewhat PG-13 version, shall we?). And let's not forget about all that comic relief. Still pretty darn shocked that Jesse bought a new van for Kate just so Ava won't get a bruised butt from holding up cakes in the backseat over roads with an insipid number of speed bumps on it. And that was just one thing I laughed my butt all over. And I guess I can't hate the relaxing sorta-dates Jesse and Ava go on. But yeah. I guess this book just wasn't my cup of tea. I don't know. It could've been so much better. But yeah, there's always hope for the next books right (don't tell me I just jinxed myself because I'm already hooked on reading the other books).
