imme_van_gorp's reviews
697 reviews

This was funny, but the romance could have been better. I suppose the romantic tension was definitely there most of the time, but it felt a bit off. Don’t get me wrong though, it was entertaining, definitely, but it didn’t draw me in entirely. I feel like every feeling someone had or was supposed to have wasn’t worked out properly, and as a result it just didn’t have a whole lot of meaning to me, the reader. 
I don’t want to be too critical though, because I surely did enjoy reading this book a lot. I guess I was just hoping for a little more swooning, that sort of thing. 

A big plus, however, was the fact that I liked both the female lead as well as the male lead. Poppy is a bit ditzy and quirky, but lovable and often extremely humorous. Sam is a bit more serious, but surely also has a heart of gold. They’re opposites (at first glance), but turn out to actually really be quite compatible. Their eventual ‘get together’ subsequently didn’t seem random or out of the blue: You can understand why they’d fall for one another. 

The underlying subplot, i.e. the plot involving corruption and other business drama, was decent. I’m not going to say I was overly invested in it or anything, but it wasn’t boring either. It kept the romantic plot going without trying to take over the spotlight. The subplot handled its purpose well, I’d say.

Well, what is there to say, really? The plot and characters of this story seem interesting enough, but it didn't really pay off in the end. The story consists of 4 chapters, and in the end you just get left hanging with questions and no pay-off. I'm certain this could have been quite good, but, unfortunately, this whole thing just feels like a beginning with no end.

Gosh, I truly love this series. This book was once again super enjoyable with extremely likeable characters and an interesting story. 

It didn’t start out as great as I would have hoped, though; it was fairly different from the first book, which had the MCs go from enemies-to-friends-to-lovers (the best trope). While opposingly, this book had the female MC, Grace, already be totally into Logan from the get-go and began with them hooking up. Funny thing is, though, that at a certain point the male MC, Logan, messes up big time, making them go from lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers, which was a helluva lot better than the instant-lovers trope I thought this book was going to go for at first. 

Another thing this book lacked in in comparison to the first book were the vibrant and healthy friendships. The male friendships remain the same, but they don’t seem nearly as awesome and aren’t at all featured as often. And don’t even get me started on the female friendships, because Grace and Ramona are a total mess. A sheer contrast to the amazing friendship between Hannah and Allie in book 1.

The chemistry between Logan and Grace was great, although it did take a while for me to really see their connection. They didn’t bounce off of each other as well as Garrett and Hannah had in their book, but I don’t really mind. It was still more than good enough, and that doesn’t change just because it didn’t match Garrett and Hannah. 

I liked both Logan and Grace; they’re good people. I definitely preferred Logan over Grace, even though he was annoying the shit out of me at the start because of his dumb actions. Not that I didn’t like Grace though, that’s not the case at all, but I just felt more emotionally connected to Logan. Grace was a teensy bit flat, and was basically just not as well developed. The sub-plot with Logan’s drunk father and Logan’s subsequent possibly miserable future probably played a big role in why Logan was better developed than Grace. I guess her ‘drama’ was that she had to put up with Ramona, but that got resolved fairly fast and is a bit silly compared to Logan’s very real problems. 
I do have to say that at the end, I think Logan’s problems got resolved to hastily and easily. For the entirety of this book, Logan’s future is completely in the balance, and you can’t figure out how it’s ever going to turn out right for him, but then, like magic, everything turns out all rainbows and sunshine and all his issues fade away. That seemed a bit unrealistic and was a rather unsatisfying fix after all that build-up.

But anyway, I feel like I’m being a bit too ranty, because this book surely doesn’t deserve that. It got me engaged from start to finish, it had me laughing, swooning and even a bit sad at times. This was good, really, I probably would have been nothing but praise if the first book hadn’t been as awesome as it was: I just know the comparison is making me a bit too harsh on its sequel.

This book really did not offer much new to this series. This didn't take away from the fact that I still enjoyed the read a lot: I wasn't bored once, but I'm not having much feelings towards it either. The whole thing feels a bit familiar, because of the similarities with the other two books: It follows the same format without bringing many new things to the table. It was like a weaker rehash of what I'd already read before.

Although Allie and Dean had good chemistry, I feel like their connection is based far too much on sex. It's almost like they only like each other as much as they do because they're both good in bed. It makes their relationship feel superficial and therefore I never really got as emotionally invested in it. This being their main relationship trait also leads to a LOT of sex scenes, and sometimes I even wondered if sex seemed to be the entire plot. I didn't really like that.

BUT, like I said, I wasn't bored at all, and I thoroughly enjoyed the read (I think I only put the book down once to sleep, but apart from that I read it in one sitting). Sadly, although it was entertaining, my feelings just weren't really in it. It’s a good book nonetheless: it for sure would have gotten a higher rating if it'd been a standalone and I hadn't read the rest of the series yet.

When I first started out reading this book, I did not initially like it all that much. I thought the main character, Charlie, was a bit annoying and too much of a stereotypical tom-boy. She soon improved though, and I ended up actually liking her. She. as a character alone, was not necessarily what I think is what makes this novel so great though. It is the relationships between her and the other characters that make your heart flutter and make you feel all warm inside. I mean, I absolutely loved the family dynamics between Charlie, her single dad and her three older brothers. Especially Charlie and Gage were very cute as siblings. Their friendship just felt authentic and seemed very sweet and fun. 

But, of course, there is one relationship in this book that I loved the most and that is the romantic one between Charlie and Braden. Their romance is a slow-burn, but you can feel the tension all the time. It's amazing. You want them to be together very badly, but you also cannot help loving the build-up to that point. Therefore, I did not lose my patience for when they would finally get together: I loved every minute of the wait. 
Charlie and Braden’s relationship, in my opinion, just never felt forced and one could really understand why they both like each other so much. I think what might have made their blossoming romance even cuter is that they are already such good friends. I really think they are a great fit for one another and I love them together. I’m not going to lie, they totally had me swooning.

So in conclusion, even if the surrounding plot apart from the relationships is not all that profound, I thoroughly enjoyed my entire read of this book. It made me laugh and swoon. Everything was so cute. Really, this book just brings out a feeling of joy. What more should I want?

This book has me a bit conflicted. On the one hand I want to go on and on about how much I loved Alex and Brittany's slow-burn romance, how it totally swept me off of my feet due to their great chemistry, seductive teasing and riveting tension. I want to swoon over 'bad boy' Alex and his adoration for his unlikely dream girl, Brittany, which really was the cutest thing ever. I want to talk about all the interesting plot points and characters. I also want to (or maybe need to...) take a cold shower from how hot Alex is, because damn, his whole personality, way of speaking, and treatment of Brittany had me under a love spell. I basically just want to only have to emphasize how much I am infatuated with this book. But.. I can't. 

And it is all because of that ending.. Oh my, it was so not what I had hoped it would be. Not necessarily because of what happened, but more so because of its execution. It felt rushed. The resolution regarding the mystery of Alex's father's death, the breaking point of Brittany finding out about the bet, the dramatics of Alex stepping away from his gang, the intensity of Brittany's whole family situation, the climax of Brittany and Alex having their happily ever after: it all could have been so much more, but instead it was rushed and felt weird. It did not grip me at all, and I was so disappointed. Especially because of how much I love Alex and his romance with Brittany. I just wish the ending was better, so I could have been fully gushing over this book. Sadly, that's not how it is, but since I do believe that it is more important that I really enjoyed the big majority of this book rather than the fact that I think the ending is kind of crap, I will still remember this as an exciting book with a great romance.

What is it I could add that has not been said plenty already? This book is well-written in terms of its plotline, but even more so in its characterization. Rather than feeling stiff and tedious, these characters awaken interest and even captivation. It is after all a classic for a reason.

I read this book as if I were participating in some sort of sprint. I turned those pages quickly and without stop. I was invested and needed to know the ending. I think it is mostly the mystery itself that you want to see unfold: you want to understand how it is all being done. And you want to know it as soon as possible, not wanting to wait 'til the end.. but you must: hence the unavoidable quick and non-stop turning of pages.

Everyone involved in the story was really quite interesting and had their own unique characteristics. None were particularly likable, but I did have a bit of a soft spot for one of them, which is funny since I think he was meant to be the one we were mostly led to believe to be the murderer. I, however, never thought this to be the case, and oddly enough, I found him to be quite.. funny and charming. I had begun to form this idle kind of hope to see him survive, yet he unfortunately did die and by the hands of the girl I kind of 'shipped' him with, no less. No happy ending for me.. nor them I suppose.

I must admit that I did have my suspicions for one person quite fast (which in the end turned out to be correct), as in my opinion only one of the ten was truly creepy and appeared to portray some sociopathic tendencies mixed with a lot of narcissism. I won't spoil who the killer was of course, and I won't pretend like I was sure of this person's guilt at all, it was just a gut feeling. 
Besides, although I had this gut feeling about the identity of the murderer, how the crimes themselves were actually committed I had absolutely not a clue until they were spelled it out for us in the epilogue. I'm not sure if I find the explanation quite satisfactory as it does lean towards the fantastical, but, although I feel like there must have been quite a few coincidences and luck on the murderer's side, I do suppose this explanation accounts for everything that has happened in the story and is, with a far stretch of the imagination, plausible. And you know, for novels like this, it doesn't need to be realistic. As long as the events described can indeed happen, no matter how improbable, the novel has done its job. Especially if it entices you completely like this mystery certainly does. Very well done.

This book really did a big 180 with its plotline. 
It started off really cute and it genuinely had me thinking I was in for a totally swoon-worthy romance. Thus, I treated it as such until I was led to believe otherwise.

I had made it a point to not know anything about this novel beforehand, so I went in completely blank. I advise everyone to do this, as it makes the story as well as Lily’s experiences feel much more authentic. You understand her shock when certain things come to a head as you feel that exact shock and surprise yourself as well. You truly want to think you have it all wrong (just like she wants to) and you still want to think the best of the situation. You keep at this until you can no longer outrun the truth and you have to realize that this story is not what you thought it was going to be like.

The whole story was just really well done when you think about it, and I really appreciate the psychological side of it. I think anyone should be able to appreciate this novel, not to mention that it’s also a really enjoyable read. I did swoon, I definitely smiled and even laughed, but most of all I felt quite unsure and disturbed. I was questioning a lot. 

This isn’t a light story, but I think it makes it better that the novel tricks you into thinking it will be. You are just like Lily with how she felt at the start of it all: thinking she was in for a swoon-worthy romance, but instead being in for quite an unpleasant surprise.

That was hot. Like seriously, hot. Bram and his adoration for Julia gave me chills. He was such a swoon-worthy romantic interest and every time we read from his POV, I knew I was going to enjoy every sentence written on those pages. I don’t particularly hold a big candle for Julia though, but that didn’t really matter to me. I actually found it even more endearing that Bram kept pursuing her and fighting to finally have her, even when she would have probably been rather annoying to anyone else. I don’t know, I found Bram’s unconditional love just so cute and also, like I said, very hot.
Additionally, I laughed out loud more times than I can count. This book was actually funny. That’s always a great bonus when it comes to a romance novel, and this one definitely has humour. Another big plus is that the story never felt like it started to drag. Not once did I consider myself bored, which is actually more rare with a novel like this than you’d hope.