Review: 4 1/2 Stars! This book was a nice surprise!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 6, 2014
This story sort of reminded me of the movie Clueless but only in regards to Cher (Alicia Silverstone) and her "former" step brother, Josh (Paul Rudd), falling in love and both being filthy rich. Everything else was unique and I LOVED it!! I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started this book and I have to say that I was genuinely blown away!I did not like Kyle at first and I thought he was just a spoiled jerk who only cared for himself. When he would yell at Sophie and tell her those horrible things, it made my heart hurt. Then I realized that as a young adult, he just didn't understand or know how to deal with the type of feelings he was having. Kyle as an adult, he had grown very wise and knew exactly who and what he wanted.The back and forth between Kyle and Sophie in their younger years is so damn hot that I get butterflies in my belly just thinking about it. As adults... its explosive!I did like Sophie but her constant whining got on my nerves. As a teenager I could completely understand her reluctance to be with Kyle. They live in the same house and their parents are married so that makes them step siblings/related. People will talk and crap will hit the fan. As an adult, I still understood her reservations about being together openly. What will their parents, family and friends think and what will people say? However, even after Sophie admitted her feelings and they were planning on being together openly, she continued to make excuses for them to not be together. It was infuriating! I finally got to a point where I just wanted to jump into the book and smack her!Now for some of the things I didn't like and only docked 1/2 a star because the story is soooo good. The word "whilst" is completely overused. I did a word search and its used 49 times. With that being said this author is British and it very well could be a British thing. Another thing that bothered me was that there was a lot of alcohol in this book. I don't mind the consumption of alcohol but it feels like it was an excuse to loosen up the characters so they can make some bad decisions. However, they never once blamed anything on the alcohol and that made me happy. It seemed to only loosen their inhibitions. Then when Kyle and Sophie were together for the first time...(you'll have to read it to know) Don't get me wrong, that was a HOT scene, but I think it would have been better if that part of their relationship was more developed first. And lastly the jumping back and forth from past to present. It wasn't terrible, but got a little confusing. In the beginning I found myself more interested in their younger years rather than the present. I think I understand why the author jumped back and forth from past to present and it's all about Sophie. She had a hard time coming to terms with their relationship when they were young and had all the same feelings again as an adult. So I guess if it was written with the past in the first half then the present the second half, then the author would have caught hell for repeating the story. So, bravo Hayley Oakes! Bravo!Overall, I loved this book! The characters are well developed and believable and the sex is amazing! This is a very, very well written book and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to skirt the line of taboo. This is a step sibling romance and I personally know one person who doesn't like reading about this. This was my first step siblings romance so I wasn't sure what to expect and I ended up really enjoying it. I can't wait to read more from this author!!