Review: Hated it.....
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 11 15, 2013
I gave this two stars because the writing wasn't bad (otherwise it would have been one star) it was the characters and the storyline I couldn't stand.Gio had tragedy strike in the boxing ring, he's decided to take a break. His good friend highly famous professional boxer Felix asked him to join him at his compound in Big Bear to help him train for his upcoming fight. Gio jumps at the chance looking to get his head on straight and put his past behind him, that is until his loyalty to his good friend is tested when he meets Felix's girlfriend Bianca and his heart leads him astray.Okay the flirting, build up, and emotional connection are there, you feel the heat. The steamy scenes are steamy enough, but it didn't make up for the total lack of honor, morality, and basic human kindness of Gio and Bianca.Spoilers.........Gio and Bianca meet and recognize each other instantly from high school, so they reminisce about old times and catch up...sparks fly, but Bianca is in love with Felix (so she thinks) and staying at his Big Bear compound to keep him company while he train's with Gio. Gio and Bianca are thrown together a lot, alone, because Felix has to do a lot of publicity stuff for his upcoming fight. He's asked Bianca for an exclusive relationship (which she agreed to) a first for him, and in the beginning admittedly he struggled, but that doesn't make Bianca's actions acceptable. If you can't already tell where this going then I'll just say right now I really don't like romance novels that revolve around cheating and this one is worse than that because Felix's good friend and girlfriend cheat, use, and deceive him throughout most of the book. Not only that but they are disgusting, sneaking off and having sex in a van in the parking lot while Felix and the rest of their friends are waiting inside. She even comes up with the most hypocritical lame excuse not to be intimate with Felix to stay loyal to Gio even though she still sleeps with Felix in his bed.It ruins Gio and Bianca's romance, I lost all respect for both of them, and the circumstances are soooo ridiculous. Bianca lives in Big Bear she doesn't need to keep leading Felix on and using him for his money and connections to see Gio behind his back....umm ever heard of a cellphone and a car. There were so many other ways she and Gio could have seen each other without betraying and using Felix so badly. Then surprise, surprise Bianca is upset when her and Gio finally come clean and he has a hard time trusting her.....ummm...duh! It really came off as if the author was lazy in creating believable drama (well as believable as this kind of soap opera romance novel can get) so she chose the most stupid and cliched ways to do it, which just made me hate the characters and the storyline. The author was out of control with this book, it was awful, halfway through I detached, laughed, rolled my eyes, and unfortunately finished it.End Spoilers.......This is the second book in the 5th Street series and I wouldn't recommend it, it has a few tidbits of information that lead into the next book but not much you could skip it and still understand what's going on if you continue in the series. I already bought the whole series because I liked her Moreno Brothers series and now I am sorry I did, for now on if her summary talks about forbidden love with a friends girlfriend I am gonna pass. This book was stupid!