Review: Not what I expected but still intriguing.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 6, 2014
We don’t actually meet Annie until Chapter 4, which is a bit unusual for a central character.  At the time of reading I was surprised, in hind sight; I can see where the author wanted to build the history as to how the situation came to be.  Annie is a loner, stuck in a Goth phase but let’s face it she uses it as an emotional cover-up or crutch.  She has only one friend, her roommate Corinne.  Corinne is almost the antithesis of Annie with her pinup looks, extroverted personality, and often wild behavior.  Annie prefers to be the wallflower.  After a less than ideal situation and fight with Corinne, she realizes she’s simply been sad and lonely for a long time.  Thrusting her entire life aside, she thrown caution to the wind and makes an abrupt and life altering change.Brendan has had his heart shattered by his long-term girlfriend.  He had doted over her for many years, choosing to ignore the womanizing ways of his closest friends.  The only thing he ever wanted was to make Sara happy.  Even when she up and moved across the country, Brendan was still crafting ways to make their relationship work.  It wasn’t until she revealed she’s engaged to someone else did he figure out they were over.  It was then he snapped and began to rethink he previously committed ways.  He wondered why he’d been so respectful to her and in turn all women when they weren’t deserving of it.  All he could see was the pain women caused the men around him.  With this in mind, he sets about drastically revolutionizing his approach to women and decides it’s time to be like his friends, just having a string of one night stands without emotion involved.  It’s then he makes some less than ideal decisions, but it’s those choices which lead his  and Annie’s paths to cross—just not in the way you’d expect.There are a couple of major points to you’ll want to remember while reading this story.  First, it is the initial installment of a new series from Sabrina Lacey.  Just when I thought I figured out what direction the plot was heading, I realized I was halfway through but there was no way it could finish in the portion that was left.  Fortunately, I passed my blonde moment and remembered it’s just the first part.  Secondly, any preconceived notions you have from reading the synopsis, just get rid of them.  Situations kept occurring that made me angry, confusing me as to how this could possibly have any type of HEA; it broke girl code more than once.  While reading I was cringing and want to get past the train wreck of situations that happen. Hold tight, by the conclusion of this first part there is light at the end of the tunnel.In the end, after getting through it, I can see the validity of those not so great scenarios and see the bigger picture forming.  While this may not have been the pleasant read I expected, stick with it because it’s interesting and intriguing.  By the time I finished this first installment I wanted to have the second.  This is definitely one of those times I curse the series gods for not having part 2 readily available.  I want more, I need more.Rating:  3.75 Stars~Complimentary copy received in exchange for honest review.~