I feel like I'm committing a crime by giving this story a one star, So, before I get to reviewing this book, I'd like to point out that I'm familiar with this author on wattpad, and am quite fond of her writing style with her other books on wattpad, and a fan.
But this particular book didn't do it for me, it felt amateur at best,
I could deal with grammar errors because Hey! Everyone's human, I think reading on wattpad has prepared me to be completely oblivious selectively so when it comes to typos, grammar and stuff like that even though my brain is hardwired to want to fix these errors.
But it doesn't mean I like to pay money for them, Yes, with this book I admit, I couldn't even finish it, which goes against my rules of reading, and I failed to finish it for several reasons.
. There were too many repetitive phrases, it made me want to bang my head against a wall for all the "purring" every other character did in the book.
There's so many other phrases I don't even want to spell out because it would make me annoyed all over again, No one person had a distinct voice to seperate from the other, It was such a disappointment to find that this book had so much potential, and just judging from the authors other works, I know that she has potential.
But this particular book missed the mark,
. The serious themes addressed such as: rape and abuse, were taken lightly, Not only that, but the author struggled with the execution on both themes, making the plot seem all over the place, Again, I was disappointed with this because I know this author can do better, Much MUCH better.
. Amber and her resistance to being touched, For a person who has suffered sexual abuse for so long, her relationship with Liam came off too unrealistic and contrived, Her behaviour was too contradictory to the main theme, that it made me screw my nose up and think 'this girl is just unrealistic' that it's hard for me to empathize with her 'problems'.
. The fact that Liam and Jake were so 'hot' that they were eye candy to every human walking school girl alive at school Now there's a fantasy.
I mean, almostof the female student body placed a bet to have a taste of Liam, just because him having a girlfriend was common knowledge, and this was never heard of before.
I don't know, but when I was going to school, my bunch of girl friends all had different tastes of what 'hot' was, so that's hard to believe that there were only two guys that were, and I quote.
"so fricken hot" that I'd bet my money on sleeping with them, Unless you were lucky enough to have Johnny Fricken Depp at your school, then no, Not possible.
Besides the obvious, I think Liam was so sweet at times, He's a fantasy character that girls wish existed, but too GarySue to exist in the real world, A bit creepy with the constant pet name 'Angel' for Amber, but I think if he used it less, it would be sweet, Too much of it strayed into creepy territory, Yes, he kept me going forof the way on my kindle, but then I just couldn't care for the main character Amber for me to finish it.
I noticed that there was too much petty drama going on in the book for the sake of it, and not enough depth with the main themes to make the storyline more interesting.
I don't know, I might pick this book up and try finish it, and give it a chance again, because I feel that maybe I'm being a bit too harsh
I wish I could like this one, because as I said, I support this author wholeheartedly, and I encourage her to keep at it.
She's an awesome author, I think this particular book just needs a professional editor to keep her consistent and grounded,
Although I rated this book one star, I give this author a five star rating because I've read much better and authenticated books from her on wattpad, that I'm baffled this is written by her.
I do look forward to reading more from this author, and I congratulate her for selfpublishing a book,
EDIT: Octoberst
So, I decided to pick this book kindle version back up with a fresh mind, and to give the author the benefit of the doubt by being considerate or just really extreme OCDness by promising to actually finishing this book.
The second time around was just as bad as the first, My rating still stands, and my opinion is set in stone, I struggled through the lastof this on my kindle, and maybe I'm a masochistic lion or just a stupid lamb see what I did there LOL for thinking that I could actually like this book if I had finished it, because surely I'm just that mental to put my precious mind through so much pain!
I admit, there were times where the novel progressed into a sweet love story with cute little scenes with the two characters, but a lot of the time it seemed too contrived.
Everyone was onedimensional. The characters learned nothing, there was little to no character development, and a potential plot device that went downhill,
All in all, it wasn't an enjoyable read for me,
If I were to say something honest if this review wasn't honest enough then I think that the best thing about this book is that it is indeed a work of fiction.
Enough said.
:: Peace, Love, and Reading
xxTiny
Almoststars, . . maybe.:S
"It's always been you it'll always be you, Angel, "
My goodness I felt torn about how to rate this book, There were literally times where I was grinning, and awwwing and proclaiming my wholehearted love for the book, . . but then, there were times where I'd cringe, roll my eyes or want to throttle the characters, I kept going back and forth between,and.stars. It was a tough call because the good parts were reeeeally heartmeltingly good but the inconsistencies and some parts of the writing kind of brought it down for me.
This book has a fair bit of flaws moments of stilted dialogue, a LOT of outofcharacter, unrealistic and nonsensical actions from the heroine, some notsogreat writing, and plain flatout stupidity, but the thing is, if you can and I mostly did overlook those flaws, and remember that this is purely a work of fiction, its actually a very adorable, at times hot, and definitely awwworthy romance about a girl who came for an abusive home and a boy who has loved her since she was a little kid, has been
her protector ever since then, and is willing to do just about anything to make her happy, comfortable, feel safe, and loved.
. Its all very swoony and sweet underneath the flaws,
yearold Amber lives with her mother and older brother Jake in constant fear of the verbal, physical, emotional and in Amber's case, sexual abuse inflicted on them by their father.
No kid should ever have to lock their bedroom door at night just to feel safe, But every night, once her door is locked and no one can hurt her anymore, her brother's best friend Liamyears old, sneaks into her bedroom window and just holds her as she cries, comforts her when she feels unsafe, and by secretly staying with her through every night, helps her to push back the pain.
So, so sweet of him! sniff
", . . he was wearing his pajamas, . . "I saw you through the window, I just wanted to come and make sure you were alright, he whispered, . . I'm not leaving until you stop crying,", . . He had his arms wrapped around me so tightly that I couldn't even squirm away, I felt safe and warm, I scooted closer to him, . . and sobbed into his chest, "
Cut toyears later, Liam is still sneaking in through her window and staying the night with her awwwww, right and he has almost every night since they were kids.
His presence is the only thing that keeps her nightmares away, Jake, the older brother and Liam's best friend, is seriously protective of her too, His willingness to do absolutely everything to protect his sister and to keep her physically and emotionally away from anything that could hurt her was really gorgeous.
But Amber can't figure Liam out, He's an annoying and lovable jerk by day, and the sweetest guy ever by night, He's also your typical manwhore plenty of girls, no girlfriends, no meaningful connections, He has always really only had eyes for Amber,
"Night Liam was considerate, loving and thoughtful, Day Liam was a flirt, slut and a jerk, However, both night and day Liams made me feel safe and protected, "
I was a little frustrated with how long it took Amber to clue into Liam's feelings for her, but at the same time, it was really sweet to watch her come into the realization that the guy who'd been sharing her bed since they were kids is also crazy about her.
I have to say that I LOVED Liam!! Seriously, he made the book for me, He was utterly, perfectly sweet, swoony, hot and thoughtful, The guy literally had no flaws other than his manwhoring past which he completely stopped once they got together, He has always seen himself as her protector and is always watching out for her, Whats more, he knows what she's been though and although he's completely in love with her and wants more, he never ever pushed her outside of her comfort zone and just settled for being protective and caring for her, willing to just be whatever she needed from him.
Once Amber started to realize that she has feelings for him, the adorable hotness begins as they start going out, . . Its really hard not to love a guy who is always telling his girl how beautiful he thinks she is, who will check the bathrooms and closets for undead after a scary zombie movie, and who can't fall asleep without being wrapped around his girl.
I went though many "awwww, he's just so freaking sweet" moments that made my heart squeeze :
And I loved how Liam was the only person who could help her through her pain, who understood her deep down, who knew what she needed, who made her feel safe it was really cute.
He totally let her set the pace of the relationship, was endlessly patient, never pushing her or rushing her, but yet always letting her know he was there for her and ready to go wherever she was comfortable going.
And once they started going, he pulled out all the swoony stops,
"Liam, what do you want from me" I asked quietly, . .
He put his finger under my chin and lifted my face so I had to look up at him, "Everything," he said simply. "
But I also felt it was all a little too 'romance book perfect', The story basically had a lot of the elements that make romance books swoony, but I felt like at times they were a bit crudely put together not all the pieces fit and sometimes it just made the whole thing feel offkilter at times.
Also, there were times when the characters felt much older than they were and especially in the second half of the book, there were a lot of overthetop and cheesy elements.
The intention was swoony, but the execution, not always so much, But if you could overlook that and a few other things, the book was really cute,
This book touches on themes of abuse and teen pregnancy, and is set again a high school background, however the focus of the story is the romance.
There is a really adorable epilogue and there's no cheating or separation in the book, Once Amber and Liam get together, they are both completely crazy about each other with no deviations, "My girl. " He kissed me again. "The only one I want, " However, despite a lot of steamy buildup, teasing, flirting, making out etc, the actual bedroom scenes are fadetoblack, Its YA, but its hot YA :P
How I see Liam and Amber:
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