"... swoon-worthy and totally worth reading ..." - Craves the Angst
SERIES: Something More #1.5
AUTHOR: Danielle Pearl
AGE GROUP: Young Adult
GENRE: Romance
RELEASE DATE: December 22, 2014
PUBLISHER: Danielle Pearl
PAGES: Approx. 142
COPY PROVIDED BY: Purchased
MY GOODREADS REVIEW LINK
RATING: 3 Stars!
BOOK BLURB:
You already heard the story. The one of how Rory and I fell in love, supposedly, even if she couldn't handle it in the end. You know how it all went.
Or you think you do.
You only know her side. But I have my own point of view, and even Rory couldn't know my thoughts in those few months it took for her to go from being a stranger to my whole entire world.
Every moment is permanently ingrained in my memory. In my goddamned soul. From the moment I stumbled upon the girl panicking outside of calculus - the one with the tight little body, the angelic face, and the fierce attitude - to the night she abandoned me in Miami. It was the sum of those moments that changed me irrevocably.
Our story isn't over. I won't let it be. But this, this is what happened so far, the way I saw it.
I'm Cap. Or Sam, to Rory. And this is my story.
3 Stars!
The Review:
I love getting a “his” POV. In fact, it’s one of my favorite things, when an author goes that extra mile, to let us see all the points we might have missed from the “her” POV.
This was a nice look into what Sam was feeling and how he saw things from the first book, but there wasn’t much in the way of anything new and it was really just a shortened, skimmed over “ReCap” of the first book. And again... just like in the first book, Too. Much. Internal. Monologuing! I skipped over a lot of it so I could get to the meat of the story. It all became repetitive.
As for the character Sam, I still love him so much. I was spellbound by his kindness in book one and I think the author did such a great job showcasing his emotions through Rory, that we really didn’t need this book. But it was nice to see how protective he felt and how much in love he is with Rory. That in itself, was swoon-worthy and totally worth reading this book.
....
"... I loved the direction of the story. I enjoyed the journey. And I loved Rory’s character ... What I didn’t like was all the back and forth ..." - Craves the Angst
SERIES: Something More #2
GENRE: Young Adult, Romance
RELEASE DATE: February 24, 2015
PAGES: Approx. 322
COPY PROVIDED BY: Purchased
MY GOODREADS REVIEW LINK
RATING: 2.5 Stars
CLIFFHANGER: No
BOOK BLURB:
After the horrors she’s survived over the past year, Rory never expected to find the one thing she certainly wasn’t looking for – love. But after the painful realization that her past has left her a dangerous liability to the person she cares for the most, she finally understands that for her and Sam, love means letting go.
Can two people hopelessly in love with one another ever revert back into just friends? Neither Rory nor Sam know for sure. But the one thing they do know – it’s the only choice they have.
As Rory recovers from a devastating assault, Sam will do anything to make sure it never happens again. But how far will he go to keep her safe? Their choices will change everything, and they will either bring them back together, or destroy them irrevocably.
OKAY is the follow-up to NORMAL and Book 2 of the Something More series. It is not meant to be read as a standalone novel.
2.5 Stars!
The Review:
I’m totally giving all my stars to the story itself, which I loved, but this book had a lot of what I disliked about the first book. It was filled full of rehashed internal monologuing. So much so, I actually skipped over a lot of the repetitiveness. One conversation would take up three or four pages with only four lines of actual dialogue because of all the internal monologuing! It was just TOO MUCH!
The first book totally “wow’ed” me. Rory’s pain was so emotional and her struggles so real, that I was hooked and couldn’t put it down. Sam made me swoon with his kindness, his understanding and his gentleness. This book, however, made me want to scream and not in a good way. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the direction of the story. I enjoyed the journey. And I loved Rory’s character, which grew and developed bit by bit with each passing scene. And I absolutely LOVED Sam. His strength and eagerness to help the girl he fell in love with, even when he was being jealous and didn’t understand what was going on, was heart-melting. And I never blamed him for being confused. He had ever reason because Rory hid a lot of things and just wouldn’t speak up!
What I didn’t like was all the back and forth, the miscommunication, the repetitive are-we or aren’t-we scenarios and all the points that were hammered home relentlessly. Rory spends a great deal of time contemplating ... everything! She struggles with the right thing to do and instead of showing us her struggle, we spend countless chapters with her internalizing everything. We also get a Sam POV, which I LOVED, but the author did the same thing with him. And we’re taken on several inconsequential tangents that have nothing to do with the main story.
I’m kind of over stories that use massive miscommunication to sell drama or conflict. I wanted to scream at both of them to Just. Be. Honest! They obviously trusted and loved one another, so Speak. Up! There was plenty of drama to be had, plenty of conflict and a ton of emotions at play, without all the back and forth.
After the first book blew me away, this one was underwhelming. Like I said, I loved the direction of the story. Rory and Sam went through some majorly difficult times, and I enjoyed their struggle and their characters, but the writing left me frustrated and I really think without all that fluff, Sam and Rory’s journey could have been told in one book ... and been phenomenal!
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