Review: A good romance, but pretty dark sometimes
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 1, 2013
This story was definitely an emotional one, and one that hit home. Alcoholism is a serious subject and it has affected my family so reading about it hit me in the heart a bit. A lot of people's experiences with alcoholism are different and the one that affects my family is not like this, so I guess I could somewhat relate and somewhat not relate. It was a little weird emotionally while reading this, but all of that aside this was a pretty interesting romance. I liked how put together Toby was. He's a little different from all the men in New Adult novels, and I liked it. Granted I have not read the first two novels in this series (and obviously I should), but I found Toby refreshing. Even though he's gone through some serious stuff he's still the kind of guy that can go to a party, can go on vacation, and studies. He seems pretty normal. But, Toby is good an appearing normal on the outside while his insides are all messed up-thats the life he leads as a political son. Kennedy on the other hand isn't. She's just messed up period. To be honest I'm not entirely sure if I like Kennedy. She's had a bit of a `Carrie' upbringing with a crazy grandmother that basically hated her, but when she reflects back on her childhood and hear her grandmother say those things she reflects on how crazy her grandmother is, and when that happens I just can't understand her. But, the romance between them is pretty awesome. I love that he can bring her out of her darkness and he refuses to give into her, instead he shows her what it means to live. But, overall the only thing a side from Kennedy that I didn't like was the fact that there are basically no happy moments in this novel. There is a moment on a plane, but otherwise I didn't feel happy or didn't feel the characters were happy at all. It was kind of weird. But, the book was still a good emotional read about two characters that were trying for each other.Good:The romance between Toby and Kennedy, especially their first night together, but including ever one of their nights together.Toby- Although messed up he's a pretty good guy.Bad:Some of the age and year stuff with Kennedy doesn't add up. I received an ARC copy, so maybe that's the reason, but I'm pretty sure how old she was when he parents passed kept changing. It threw me off a bit.The lack of happiness--Generally when reading why empathize with the characters and what is happening to them, we smile when they smile, we hurt when they hurt. This book is filled with a lot of hurt so I can honestly say there weren't many moments while reading it that I found myself, and the characters, feeling happy.Overall (Writing style, story line, and general):Overall it was still an enjoyable read. I still like the characters and the serious situation they go through and really did enjoy the romance and they way the responded to each other. I received an ARC copy, so any of the timeline of grammatical issues are hopefully corrected in the finished copy.This book was provided courtesy of the author/publisher for review; however, this is no way affected my review.