Vi Keeland, Penelope Ward - Stuck-Up Suit

It started out like any other morning on the train.
Until I became mesmerized by the guy sitting across the aisle.
He was barking at someone on his phone like he ruled the world.
Who did the stuck-up suit think he was...God?
Actually, he looked like a God. That was about it. When his stop came, he got up suddenly and left. So suddenly, he dropped his phone on the way out. I might have picked it up.
I might have gone through all of his photos and called some of the numbers.
I might have held onto the mystery man's phone for days―until I finally conjured up the courage to return it. When I traipsed my ass across town to his fancy company, he refused to see me.
So, I left the phone on the empty desk outside the arrogant jerk's office. I might have also left behind a dirty picture on it first though. I didn't expect him to text back.  I didn't expect our exchanges to be hot as hell. I didn't expect to fall for him―all before we even met. The two of us couldn't have been any more different. Yet, you know what they say about opposites.
When we finally came face to face, we found out opposites sometimes do more than attract―we consumed each other. Nothing could have prepared me for the ride he took me on. And I certainly wasn't prepared for where I'd wind up when the ride was over.
All good things must come to an end, right?
Except our ending was one I didn't see coming.

Comment: I got this book for free at a site I registered in. I had also read previously read a book by Penelope Ward, one of the authors of this book, but it hadn't wowed me and I had all intentions of not reading more things by her. Since this was a co-written story, I hoped things would be different.

In this book, we meet Soraya, a very bold and confident woman who one day keeps the cellphone another commuter of the train they both use to work had dropped. Since what she had seen of the guy's behavior didn't make her think he was a good person, she decides to play with his phone before giving it over. She calls someone from his contact list, she checks his photos and she saves pictures of parts of her body when, after trying to give the phone back, she realizes he is a super busy executive who mistreats his secretary.

After this, the two start exchanging messages when he calls the number also saved in his phone, and the content of those messages heats up until they decide to meet face to face. Will there be any hope for these two?

This book is labeled new-adult (NA) which apparently reads as people between 18-30? Is that it? Well, guessing so, I suppose it can be understandable the behavior often found in these books is a little confusing. As with all my experiences reading NA, this book also presented two grown up people who often at as teenagers and not adults. Our world has evolved a lot but it seems the only change between YA - young adult, and NA is the age number, not the age maturity. All often behave very silly and I can't understand why I can't find romances with NA characters that don't have some of the following:

- whiny/loud characters

- characters who equal brash and vulgar to confident and outspoken

- thoughts of everything but real life

What sort of disappoints me the most is the failed expectation. The blurbs and the premises of NA books are always very appealing and except for the ones featuring tropes I dislike anyway no matter the genre, so when I read these stories and they inevitably go towards the same path as all the others and present characters that often behave the same, it can be annoying.

In this story, as usual, Soraya is a very exuberant and captivating character but she does think a lot about sex and she can't think of the hero without associating him with it too. I get it, that's the point of these novels, but for me her personality isn't that of someone I'd like to be friends with. She has a vulnerable side but the emotional content gets lost among all the other superficial sceens about her.

The hero Graham is the same, he follows a pattern of the hero who is smart and confident and rich but there's some hurt i his past that makes act as a jerk sometimes. Only their love saves them both and while it's great that we can see some romance in it, the superficiality of most scenes of them interacting just doesn't really make me want to read more.

The story is alternatively told by the two characters and in each chapter we read things with each one being the narrator. It's great we can have access to their thoughts and also see scenes with them both through different eyes, opposed to only have one of them as a narrator for instance.

I liked the end too, it's a little sugary but sweet and almost like a reward afetr some silly behaviors during the plot.

I don't think this is a bad book but the choices made by so many authors regarding this NA genre baffle me. The personality of the characters, the interactions between characters, the sex scenes and talk and whatever just feel like mechanics otherwise readers wouldn't like the books. So much potential and for me, not enough serious development. 

I'm still hoping one day a book in this genre (with the romance specifics too) can prove my opinion/expectation of it, wrong. It wasn't this one yet.

Grade: 5/10

Penelope Ward - Stepbrother Dearest

When my stepbrother, Elec, came to live with us my senior year, I wasn’t prepared for how much of a jerk he’d be.
I hated that he took it out on me because he didn’t want to be here. I hated that he brought girls from our high school back to his room. But what I hated the most was the unwanted way my body reacted to him.
At first, I thought all he had going for him were his rock-hard tattooed abs and chiseled face. Then, things started changing between us, and it all came to a head one night.
Just as quickly as he’d come into my life, he was gone back to California.
When tragedy struck our family, I’d have to face him again.
And holy hell, the teenager who made me crazy was now a man that drove me insane.
I had a feeling my heart was about to get broken again.

Comment: I got this book relatively recently and I thought it would be a quick read to decompress after such a bad reading experience that was the previous book. I should know that these types of books usually don't do it for me but...always that wishful hope that this could be different...

This book tells us the story of Greta and Elec when Elec comes to live with them. Elec's father married Greta's mother so that makes them stepbrothers although there's no blood connection between them.

Greta is the narrator of the story so basically everything is told from her perspective. Their relationship doesn't start very easily and goes through some bumps but in the end such a powerful bond couldn't end any other way...

I'm laughing at myself because of what I just wrote. Seriously, it's good I'm not the one writing blurbs for authors because in some cases I would ruin it. The story wasn't as easy as I make it sound but honestly I found some things too annoying to actually care.

First of all, the characters are annoying in some parts. I really wished I could shake them and make them behave for their age.

Secondly, this is new adult but half of the story is set on their teenage years. Sure, that's fine but then the label isn't as correct as that.

Sometimes I don't get the new adult label. I think for the most part they are just older YAs. Funny words for "teenager". It's so annoying. I hated being a teenager, hate teenager's social behavior and find it irritating to read about them. I really hoped this was different but no...

The first half of the story happens when they are teenagers - for real - but their interactions, even if close to reality didn't make them anything special or different that I liked meeting them. Their relationship was always focused on their attraction and jealousy and it annoyed me. The end of that part was realistic sure but made me want to shake them and make them act differently.

The second part of the story they're in their 20s but act as much as a teenagers as they could. I don't know, I hoped for a more intense story in terms of behavior and actions but it was just a very disguised YA book instead.

There's a HEA in the end that I admit is kind of cute but overall, the focus of the story went to things I don't think should have as highlighted and the author missed interesting points to address further like how their relationship affected the rest of their social lives, how that affected the family bonds, how they should have dealt with things differently...I felt everything was brushed at surface to leave room for the sexual attraction the things that didn't matter. I don't know, it felt superficial at times.

The protagonists didn't make such a balanced couple in my opinion. I understand people are all different and even age groups don't always act according to their real age, but I always hope that we see characters try to be responsible and conscientious of their surroundings. In this last aspect I think the author did a good job portraying them but the sexy parts...I also get that, sex sells, sex makes it all seem exciting, but for me it just makes it all seem repetitive and boring.

All in all, it wasn't so bad but the things I found annoying are the ones I can't get past, so my opinion reflects what I can easily imagine about the book. In this case, the negatives. This is worth by what it is and I respect that but it still isn't something I enjoy much and something I keep waiting to touch me differently and more emotionally every time. Maybe the next one, one day...

Grade: 5/10