Review: An Okay Story  With a Lot of Repetition Throughout
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 7, 2014
I enjoyed the overall storyline but there was too much repetition threaded throughout this book for my taste and most all of that was focused on Mia's family and Joe, the brother who had chosen his own path.Mia's parents were very controlling and had their children's lives all planned out, never considering what their children may want for themselves. If the siblings were to follow their parents plans for them, they would be required to attend the school of their parents' choice, follow the family's chosen career in the family business, who and when to marry, when to produce children, and how they lived their existence in every way. They put the D in dysfunctional. It was pretty sad, really. When the eldest son, Joe, decided on a different path for his life, he ended up leaving his family to strike out on his own. There was no way he could stay near his family and live the life he wanted to. The parental interference would have made that impossible. Once he left, his parents disowned him and pretended he had never existed.Mia bases her whole life on what her family wants for her as she works diligently to help hold them all together. The poor gal doesn't know who she is or what she wants for herself. She is too busy following her mother's instructions for all of the extra curricular activities that will show well on her college application and making appearances at her family's business functions so they would appear like the strong cohesive family they wanted everyone to believe them to be. When she begins to have her own thoughts and desires, she is sure they are wrong, giving up what she truly wants. Her parents wouldn't approve. It made life tough on her.Ryan is the sweet, gorgeous, carefree, sexy neighbor that attends the same school as Mia and who has wanted a relationship with her since they were 15. Now at age 18, Mia becomes his tutor and she falls hard for him. He feels the same and is in love with her.Will Mia allow her family to keep her from her heart's desires?I had a bit of difficulty remaining focused on this book. For me, there was a lot of unnecessary details that drew the story out too long with too much time between interesting interactions.