2.5 to 3

Navee gets released from prison, where she did time taking the fall for her ex who moved on. Now she's ready to get her life back on track, with the help of her brother and closest friends. Then she meets Dream, a street racing king and his brothers, and things turn up a notch.

So I have to say that the premise and the cover caught me, and I liked Navee and her toughness. I liked her brother and I like what Dream represented for her, and how good they were together, even though her past experience made her not want to take him seriously. I liked how he showed her he was serious. But I have to say this book had way too many competing storylines for me. Her two friends' connection to Dream's brother and the one friend's triangle situation with Navee's brother and Dream's brother was a distraction I didn't need, and although I have no qualms with Navee being a dancer, the book painted it like something she did because she was out of options, when she never even explored what her other options were. She looked for a job for like a week. Also, the author explored too many contradictions within the characters lives. First, they're all young people trying to find their way, then they're experienced partiers who have been experimenting with sex and street life for years and years. You never knew from chapter to chapter which version would appear.

Also, the secret between her ex and her friend??? Not a good plot twist. She was present and knew how it happened, and it wasn't a situation where somebody went behind her back. They had a right to keep that private. And while we're there, I didn't like the way the book presented the idea of the women being bisexual. If they are, it's fine and if it has some significance to the way they navigate relationships even better. But it seemed like something thrown in that didn't mean anything. Sexuality is not shock value. They are who they are. 

Anyway, the love story part wasn't too bad.