Review: This one was slow to me and I had a tough time getting into it. I did think it was a good NA read though.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 28, 2014
Review for Ramblings From This Chick. ramblingsfromthischick.blogspot.comSlowly We Trust is the third book in Chelsea M. Cameron's Rise and Fall series. This book can be read as a standalone, but does have interconnected characters. I had not read the previous two books in the series before reading this one and even though I didn't know the characters previously, I had no problem understanding this one. I am interested to go back and read the first two books though after having read about them in this story. I really liked Audrey and Will's group of friends, and I am interested to get to know them better and see how some of them ended up together. While I really enjoyed their group, this book did leave me with some mixed feelings. There were things that I really liked about this story, and then there were a few things that I didn't care for.Audrey never intended to fall for Will, but once she got to know him there was no stopping it. Audrey has things in her past that she hasn't told anyone and because of that she thinks that she needs to push him away. But the more that she tries to stay away from him, the harder it gets. Will is heartbroken when Audrey says that they need to just be friends, but he would rather have her as a friend than nothing at all. The more that they continue to run into each other though, the harder it gets to stay apart. Will and Audrey both love each other, but there are still many things that stand in their way. Will is determined to be whatever Audrey needs as long as he gets to stay in her life. Audrey knows how Will feels and when things between them continue to get stronger she decides to give a relationship between them a chance. Will knows that there are things in Audrey's past that she hasn't told him, but he continues to tell her that it won't make a difference in how he feels about her. Audrey isn't so sure though, and she has a hard time trusting because of her past and family. Can Audrey really open up to Will and give their relationship a chance? Or will her past continue to affect her future?I really liked Will. He was such a different hero, and I found him absolutely adorable. He was sweet and kind, patient and understanding. He was the most committed and loving hero that I have read about maybe ever. He never wavered in his devotion to Audrey, even when she was pushing him away. I honestly felt like her let her get away with too much sometimes though, and I really wanted him to stand his ground a bit more. He really did love her though and it was clear that she was the only one for him. I loved how he was such a lovable nerd though, and his Star Wars obsession was really cute. I will admit to being frustrated with Audrey several times in this book. I liked her and she was really smart and funny, but she definitely had issues. I really wanted to see her open up and trust Will more. Eventually she realized that she could talk to him, and she did start to open up to him. However she had said that she wasn't going to tell him everything, and she didn't until she was basically forced to. That bothered me, and I felt like she really never made that decision to be completely honest with him. I felt like Will deserved better than that, and it really made it hard for me to fully connect with Audrey because of that. I understand that she had been through a lot and had some issues because of her family, but Will never gave her any reason to doubt him and I really thought that she should have given him the whole truth by her choice. I did like that she was such a huge Harry Potter fan though, and I liked that she was a bit of a nerd also. I thought that her and Will really fit because they understood the other's quirks and really made it a point of supporting the other and their interests. Will and Audrey had great chemistry also, and you could tell just how much they were attracted to each other and couldn't keep their hands off the other.I did think that this book was a rather slow though. I had a tough time getting through this one, and it didn't hold my interest like some of Chelsea's other books. I felt like the first third of the book was extremely slow and even though it picked up after that, it was mostly Audrey's journey or Audrey and Will having sex. Audrey did make a lot of progress from the beginning of the book to the end, but it was done in a way that I had to put the book down and walk away for awhile rather than keep flipping the pages to find out what was next. I also felt like Audrey was frustrating a lot of the times, but Will's sister Lottie was also really annoying at times as well. For the first third to half of the book Lottie was torn between her friend Audrey and her twin Will, and I couldn't tell half the time if she was trying to get them together or keep them apart. She was really annoying and frankly I thought she interfered far too much. I wanted her to go away, and honestly I didn't like her at all. She got better towards the end of the book though, and it was like she was a completely different character. I did like Audrey and Will's story despite my criticisms with the book, and I did think that they were good together. I will admit that I wasn't shocked by Audrey's big reveal though, I had it figured out early on and I am surprised that Will didn't figure it out. I think that this is a good read for NA fans that are looking for not only a love story, but also a story about personal growth and overcoming obstacles that life throws in the way sometimes. I think that a lot of NA readers will find these characters to be likable and easy to relate to. If you haven't read anything be Chelsea M. Cameron, I would recommend checking out her work. She always writes characters that are deep and complex, and are easy go get invested in. I look forward to reading more from her in the future.**Complimentary Copy provided by Inkslinger PR**