Review: Reviewed by Read the Rainbow
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 30, 2014
[...]Reviewed by ShaylaThis is Love – 3.5 stars  There is much to say about why I rated the book with only 3.5 stars. The plot was well-thought, it flowed well, the writing was crafted and you couldn't tell it was written by two authors. However, there were certain things that bothered me to the point I had to struggle to keep on reading.Firstly, it's the view these authors had (and I honestly don't mean to offend the authors, but I really need to get it out)on rich people – rich people are all dirt and bastards and the only way rich people should live is if they give away to poor people. Now, I might be biased because I grew up in a well off family, of course far from the wealth millionaires have, but I grew up in a happy and loving environment and I watched my parents struggle to earn every penny. When I was little we ate margarine on bread for breakfast and beans soup for dinner because my parents wanted more from life. I only got caramels on my birthday and on Christmas and when I got a toy, it was reason for celebration because I only got them on very rare occasion, not because my parents loved me less, but because they wanted to give me a way better future than what they had. They saved each cent to finally buy a house, then slowly came the cars and the land etc.I don't believe in giving to the poor just because you have more because no one ever helped my parents when they didn't have anything even though they asked for fair loans from richer people. One needs to roll their sleeves up and work if they want more in life, not expect others to give them something. It felt like the authors put their financial frustration or education to hate rich people in this story and it hurt me that this hatred towards people who have more is spreading even though books.I really was turned off when the main character, Merrick, got a job for a rich guy and immediately he loathed the guy for the simple fact he had a big house. Why does he have seven bedrooms when others starve to death? Well, newsflash, he has them because he can afford them. If I had that kind of money, why should I be ashamed of buying myself a big house? It's not like I stole from anyone. I earned them by working my ass off. As a result, all empathy that I had for Merrick vanished like dust. Of course, some readers might agree with Merrick, and I'm one of the few who think this prejudice is as unfair as the prejudice gay people face or people in interracial relationships face. To each their own.Then there was Andy, the spoiled rich boy, the eternal cliché. With all the money his daddy gave him – a daddy he hated with a passion for the simple reason his dad had traditional views that his son didn't gave him the chance to change, but whose money he spent with no worry - he couldn’t afford bringing his one-night stands in a hotel or even a motel. He wouldn't even do them in a back alley or in the safety of his car. No, he had to bring them in the pool house, and then bemoan how unfair his life was that he wasn't able to afford to have proper sex because his father could catch him in the deed at any point if he wasn't careful of the motion sensors around the property. Mhm… Some people have real problems. Loans, children to take care of, illnesses. This guy was suffering because he hated his father – who fed him and clothed him and left him a huge fortune when he died – and he was too coward to come out to him. I'm not saying it must be easy to be in the closet, but seriously, it was a bit exaggerated.Then Merrick and Andy met. They barely kne each other and they were already in love, even though I felt no chemistry. Andy called Merrick a coward because he won't have sex with him (yeah that takes a lot of courage), he gave his dad a heart attack (probably) which killed him, then Andy moved in with Merrick and they lived happily ever after, but not before selling the house and giving to the poor because, of course, otherwise they'd have been bastards. In all this, Merrick's past which is pretty deep (an unjust conviction and a dead lover) is barely spoken about even though it would have made a very good empathy factor. He, instead, came of fas a bit of a jerk for his opinion on rich people, his spending money on tattoos and beer when he didn’t have a job, and not accepting jobs from people who cared because he found it too humiliating (I get that, but one if is really desperate, at some point gets over their pride and stops fussing).All in all, like I said, by the middle of the book I was ready to give up. The story got a lot better when they got together. I really loved Merrick's relationship with Shane and the fact that he gave his mother money for the boy's future; it did a lot to redeem him in my eyes. I also loved how he proposed and how their ceremony ended. But it felt like a different story altogether because I was already disconnected from the characters. And, of course, I loved the fact that it was an interracial relationship which is something we rarely see in books and the sex was delicious, but a bit too long for my tastes.Now, let's restate the good and the bad for those too lazy to read this entire behemoth of a review.The good :-  Interracial-  Lots of sex-  The characters turn into benefactors by the end of the story-  Superb marriage scene at the end (oops, spoiler!)The bad:-  Chapters end at odd times in the middle of scenes where the next chapter restarts – that was a bit dizzying-  I felt a lack of chemistry between characters-  A 'bit' of prejudice against super rich peopleI feel very sorry that I wasn't able to rate this book higher, but I'm sure both authors will bring better books in the future. We all learn from our mistakes. I, for sure, have received a lot of bad reviews, but they have only served to make me stronger. Keep on fighting and keep on writing! And you guys, keep on reading. There is a sparkle of beauty in every book so, no matter how low the reviews, don’t give up on reading. We all have different tastes and something a reviewer disliked might prove to be a wonderful book for you.Love,Shay