Review: Review
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 1, 2014
Let me start by saying that Ella James is one of my favorite new authors that I have discovered this year. I read Here by her much earlier this year, and it quickly became one of my favorite books of 2014. I really, really need to read the second book in the series. However, that was the start to a young adult series, and this book is the start to a new adult series. Despite that, since I enjoy her writing I did want to give the book a chance, though I was a little bit nervous about it.Needless to say, if you read my review from yesterday evening, this was not one of my favorite books. There were parts of it that I really, really enjoyed, but there were also parts that I struggled to get past. Let's start with the positives though, as most of the negatives for me are similar to what I spoke about yesterday.First of all, I think that the character development in this novel was really, really good. Libby was a very likeable character. While she was incredibly naive at first, I do think that we were supposed to see her that way in order for it to work with the novel. I do think that she felt incredibly guilty about her friend getting hurt, and she was willing to do whatever she had to in order to make the money to pay for his treatment - even if that meant selling her virginity.Hunter was a great character as well, but I hated him. I am not sure that I was supposed to hate him, but that was really all I could end up feeling for the boy. While he acted like he cared about Libby, a girl from his past, and therefore was the one to pay for her (or "Scarlett" I suppose), I just had a really tough time believing that he could actually be that sweet guy. He was busy sleeping with every other woman, something that Libby actually walked in on at one point, and I really did not understand her affection towards him at all. He annoyed me, and I could not help bu feel any different about him.As with the book I already read, Ella James' writing really was fantastic. I like her style very much, and that is probably part of why I did not completely dislike this novel. It certainly had its redeeming qualities; however, it still crossed a bit of a line for me when it came near the erotica area. It's just not something that I enjoy reading at this point, and so it always puts me off a little. Especially when I had to deal with the darkness that surrounded the sex that Hunter had with Priscilla. Honestly, I ended up skipping most of those parts.I did not love this book, but I did not hate it either. I enjoyed several parts of it, and it was enough to make me want to finish the book. I do think that New Adult fans will enjoy this book, it just was not really for me so I doubt that I will continue on with the series.