So, it’s not really a secret that my reading tastes have become a little on the wussy side over the years. Every now and then I look back over the books I’ve read and realise just how drastically my reading tastes and my reading style has changed. But the thing is I still want to read some of those books that I used to devour I just always feel like I need to be in the right head space and to be honest with a houseful of kids running around along with a handful of adult or mostly adult kids my head space can change on a dime. 

 

Then you have the fact that the books labelled as dark, and bully can vary so drastically and the things that I like in those books are hard to discover when just reading the blurb and warnings and tags. So, I tend to steer away as I would rather read a book I’m pretty much guaranteed to like rather than read a book I hate and can’t review fairly because it’s my own personal preference as to why it didn’t work for me. Then a book like this comes from left field. Like seriously never heard of the author or the book but while looking for a different book spotted a teaser and had all my kinks jump out at me and make me instantly one click it. Plus, it’s a KU title so bonus.

 

From the first page I was so in. Lily was so sweet and drove herself so hard to be perfect without realising the only one putting that pressure on her was herself. But she was no push over either. She had grown up in such a safe and loving and perfect family and place that she knew her own worth and knew she was safe even when she was picked on by the queen bees. Plus, she had an awesome friend who had her back. But then we meet Cayden and suddenly the story just grabbed hold even tighter.

 

Cayden was a character that I can kind of relate to and I swear I read half of this book with tears in my eyes. His actions are so understandable when you see the trauma he has lived through and having his point of view and knowing how he felt made me love him so much. Even if I wanted to slap him for his self-sabotage and tell Lily that she deserved more I couldn’t help but want her to stand up and push back and see where his actions came from. And the fact that Lily didn’t let him walk all over her but that she did forgive him and see past his front made her the perfect match.

 

I literally couldn’t be happier that I picked up this book even if I did it on a whim. And now I’m going to go beg for the next one. Oh, and I need to know more about Nikolai and see if I can see if my big girl panties can handle that now. Toodles.

 

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