Landon’s mom will throttle him if he even looks at his future stepsister the wrong way. Problem is, Chloe is everything he didn’t know he wanted, and that’s…inconvenient. Watching her tear it up on a karaoke stage, stand up to his asshole friend, and rock her first string bikini destroys his sanity.
But there’s more than their future family on the line. Landon is hiding something—something he knows will change how she feels about him—and she’s hiding something from him, too. And when the secrets come out, there’s a good chance neither will look at the other the same way again…
(Pub Date: Aug 22, 2016)
Review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. I want to also thank the publisher for giving me this opportunity.
The author picked nice themes and did a good approach to them. Still, this was one long and boring book...
So this is a 2.5.
To get away from things after being almost raped by the guy she had always had a crush on, Chloe travels with her best friend Jenna to her father's new house. However, he is about to get married and she likes a little too much Landon, her future stepbrother.
I really like the falling-for-your-stepbrother trope, among other weird forbidden love ones. So I was sure I'd enjoy this book...
Character-wise, there was no problem. I liked everyone—of course, except the raper but he was never in the story anyway. I appreciated the way the author described Chloe's strained relationship with her father without cliches like "always at work" and the such. I could relate with most of the main characters too. I hadn't expected to like Jenna, the semi-celebrity best friend, and yet she was my favorite. Landon is very cute as well. Cynthia wasn't the super hateful or super lovable stepmother, she was just real.
About Chloe, specifically, she is going through post-traumatic stress, I believe. Although I opened this review stating how bored I was from the read, this wasn't the cause. The author was successful in portraying the issue while avoiding going too deep into drama, for it wasn't the proposal. I especially liked how Chloe eventually faces the matter but I won't spoil you.
Landon also has his problems, he suffers from dyscalculia and that affects even his choice of college. I did feel a bit aggravated from how many times he'd go into paranoid mode about this. Then again, I don't know anyone with the problem and this book did open my mind to how serious it can be.
Rhythm may have been the issue as well as the near-instalove trope. Although Chloe and Landon don't fall in love at first sight, they are definitely interested from the start. And... I got bored right there. Even though this was a book about getting together, it felt like relationship problems from the go. That is not my thing, sorry. To make it worse, the romantic scenes didn't make my heart race at all.
Adding that to the slow rhythm in an almost uneventful plot—who'd guess when you have an almost rape by a close friend and their parents getting married to each other nothing would really go wrong! I mean, there is this or that conflict but in the end it was just the same as always, including most cliches you can imagine, plus an opposite-sex controlling best friend.
So... maybe I was too old for this. I wonder if I hadn't already read so many times this same story I would have had more fun. Still, this isn't really for younger teens, as it discusses sex and other sensitive issues. It's no erotica but it came close.
I didn't rate this 2 because I liked the author's approach to so many different themes without feeling convoluted, as well as the characterizations. The book had a lot of good sides. It's a pity they weren't what makes a story interesting.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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