Review: Sweet story!!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 30, 2014
The third book in the True Believers series, Believe is actually the first I've read. I love series like this because even if I haven't been a fan from the beginning, it's easy to pick up anywhere in the series and catch up as I can. Believe was a lot of fun to read. It was not overly angst filled, but the main characters did have their issues to work out individually and as a couple.I started out wondering if I would like it, because Robin is dealing with the aftermath of sleeping with her best friend's boyfriend. Cheating is one of my touchy subjects. It's not a deal-breaker for me, but it does make me uncomfortable and at times it can be a big hang-up that keeps me from truly connecting with a character. Maybe because Robin did feel guilt and that guilt drove a lot of the initial plot points, I ended up feeling a great deal of sympathy for her, while also waiting for the blow-up that was sure to happen, but the cheating did not present a roadblock for me to enjoy the story.Phoenix was such a complex character compared to Robin. Her issues were pretty straight forward and related to her guilt. On the other hand, his issues stemmed from a deeper place of hurt. The child of an addict, feeling freedom after 5 months of prison time, Phoenix has not only the stigma of being an ex-con, but also has to get his feet back under him after his time away.The pacing moved well, and not having read the previous novels in the series didn't hold me back. Because this was the first book from the series that I've read, I already know the couples that pair up in the first two, but that will not stop me from picking up and reading those two while I wait for the next book. Part of me thinks that certain throw away comments by some of the other characters piqued my interest more than they would have if I had the background, but that just means I need to go pick Sweet and True up!Thanks to Erin McCarthy, Penguin Group USA | Berkley | NAL, and Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. Quotes are from Arc copy and are subject to change in final draft.