Review: Love Sucks or Does It?
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 16, 2014
Love sucks.It’s cruel.It makes people weak.It destroys people.It makes people say and do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do, which ends up hurting them.This is exactly what Vanessa, one of the main characters of Beth Michele’s Rex, believes. Vanessa lives and breathes this motto to the extent that at the beginning of the story, she goes to a tattoo shop because she wants to have it tattooed on her body as a constant reminder that loving someone only leads to disappointment. Rex is the tattoo artist Vanessa goes to for her new ink, and let’s just say that their first encounter doesn’t go so well; in fact, Rex talks Vanessa out of the tattoo, and then their strong personalities piss each other off. But then they’re brought together again and the sexual tension between them threatens to undo them both, so they give into their attraction and find that the connection between they have just might be more than sexual, which scares the hell out of both of them.Vanessa and Rex are both fighting demons from their past that have created a cement wall around their hearts. They don’t have love to give because they’ve never received it in the first place to understand how it works. Vanessa’s parents proved that having an emotional attachment to anyone can destroy you, and Rex’s mother taught him that women are cruel and dishonest, only good for one thing. So how do Vanessa and Rex make a relationship work when they don’t know the first thing about anything healthy? Can the woman who believes love sucks and the man who calls himself the tin man find something in each other worth the risk, or will these two tortured souls who focus solely on the people who have caused them pain end up destroying any hope either may have had left that love can actually work out?Every time I read a book by Beth Michele, I know I’m in for an emotional journey. Her main characters usual have a mountain of issues that they have to face in order to prove to themselves that their pasts don’t have to dictate their future. Vanessa and Rex have allowed their backgrounds to control their present actions, which makes complete sense to me. Vanessa says it best when she explains, “people who bring you into this world set the tone for your entire life.” When you grow up in such a loveless environment, it’s going to do a number on your psyche, but I also believe there comes a point where you have to stop living your life according to what people you have zero respect dictate and start being the you, you want to be…the one those you love and love you know you can be. Vanessa recognizes that idea a lot earlier than Rex does, and she’s willing to come out behind the mask she wears and give herself fully to Rex. For Rex, it’s not as easy. He can’t let go of his anger because it’s his battle wear; it’s all he has to protect himself, and once he lets that go, he doesn’t know who he is. But what he also doesn’t understand is that if he doesn’t free himself from the binds of his past, his future will be without Vanessa. He has to decide what the greater risk is.Boy did Rex have my emotions all over the place! It took me a bit to get into Vanessa and Rex’s story because I had a hard time getting past Rex’s attitude; even when some of the details of his past were revealed, it didn’t change my opinion of him because I always feel like you have a choice to change, and he just never chose to change. But the further I got into the text, the more I realized that his guilt was torturing him, and he needed the numbness of unemotional attachments to make it through each day. He needed to react first before the other person hurt him. Having everything explained through Rex’s perspective also helped to see the bigger picture of what was going on in his head as he dealt with his feelings for Vanessa in the least constructive way possible. He’s a flawed character, which makes him perfect for Vanessa because she sees through it all and only sees the man she’s willing to take a chance on.Rex is a great story. It’s sexy, angsty, and emotional. It will have readers rooting for Vanessa and Rex until the very end…hoping they would both finally understand that…Love rules.It’s kind.It makes people strong.It completes people.It makes people say and do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do, which ends up healing them.A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.4/4.5 poison apples (The Fairest of All Book Reviews)