Beyond Repair
by
Charlotte Stein
Rating:
4.5 of 5 stars
My
Review:
This
book was billed as New Adult. It's written in 3rd person,
but only from Alice's perspective. I agree that it's a bit different
than many of Charlotte Stein's other books, which tend to be
extra-super filthy. It had a little bit of dirty, filthy sex, but
that was mostly an afterthought compared to the emotion and gravity
of the characters. Alice and Holden were so, so, so messed up. The
way they met was crazy; their time together was sweet and bewitching;
and their conclusion was gritty, poignant, and intense.
There
was Charlotte Stein's signature depth of feeling and complete
submersion inside the characters' subconscious. I knew them, I was
them, and I couldn't help loving them. The language was so fun and
quirky. They felt like real people that I'd want to be friends with.
Here's an example of just a little piece of awesome:
She'd
always seen the term grab ass and imagined something brutal and rude.
The equivalent in her head was punching someone's great-aunt with a
penis.
I felt
like neither character had much in the way of physical descriptions.
In this case, it made it so easy to let them fly free. They could
both be attractive to each other without needing to narrow down what
that attraction meant. They loved each other because they connected
and accepted each other. It sounds like such a simple thought, but
they worked through things heartbreakingly and beautifully.
Alice
had some deep emotional issues to work through. I can't give away too
much without spoilers, so let's just say that her issues could have
veered into major psychological help needed, but I felt happy with
the way the book went. She was able to overcome, in what I felt was a
believable way, through being accepted and needed. She already had a
lot of the psychological help paving the way, but she found a reason
to fight once she established an emotional connection.
The
experience of this book is so intense because everything is so
constrained; one house, one moment in time, one single step taken
before thinking about the next. Holden and Alice are so broken and
seeing them heal and open up to each other makes life worthwhile. I
was drawn in to the pain and disconnect of these two. Life just
didn't work for them. They didn't have meaningful connections and
they're full of emptiness. Things didn't get easy once they meet, but
their love gave them reasons to fight through the emotional pain.
I loved
seeing how Holden and Alice connected. They met each other exactly
where they were. They pushed each other just a little bit, but there
was no judgement – only acceptance. It was exactly the type of
relationship that felt perfect. Even when they were dealing with
heavy issues, they were whimsical and quirky – giving each other
nicknames and allowing space for growth.
I'm not
often a fan of movie star books. I hate the whole famous person
thing. But it didn't matter that Holden was externally famous. It
only mattered that he was famous to Alice because it gave them a
connection. They got a little kinky, but that was just another way
for them to accept each other.
Beyond
Repair didn't quite knock my very favorite Charlotte Stein books off
the top of the stack, but I did love it. It was so vulnerable and
achingly raw. I agonized, I smiled, and I couldn't help the wistful
feeling when I read this book.
The Opposite of Nothing
by Shari
Slade
Rating:
4 of 5 stars
My
Review:
So, for
anyone that follows Shari Slade on Twitter, you know there is much
glitter and sparkle. I didn't see glitter in this book, but there was
confetti within the first sentence! That started the awesomeness and
it just kept going from there. This book was all about feelings and
let me tell you, it gave me a lot of them. When I tried to start this
review, all I could think about was how my shoulders were tingling
and my chest felt tight through the whole story. Shari Slade has a
delicious way with the emotional angst. Callie and Tayber are
exquisitely tortured by their thoughts and feelings. Their journey to
happily-ever-after doesn't involve pain or death; but insecurity,
lack of trust, and plenty of unrequited lust.
Callie
had a lot of trust issues; and along with being an introvert, that
made her seem anxious and depressed most of the time. Ordinarily, I
get too sad while reading depressed characters but Callie was able to
open up to Tayber and she had a sort of optimistic, bright-eyed
pessimism about her. Callie is so filled with wonder because Tayber
pays attention to her and wants to be around her, but she'd really
like to have more. So she creates an online persona to be a little
sexy with him. She's so quiet and vulnerable that even online, she
tends to get scared and shut down. Between her in-person persona and
her on-line persona, Tayber was able to see all of who she was, even
if that meant he thought he was interacting with two different
people.
Tayber
is more outgoing and has his pick of the college girls. But he's
friends with Callie and in his mind, that's more sacred than hooking
up. Because he didn't have a good home life, he tries to never want
anything, but at the same time, he's sort-of narcissistic and feels
like every decision someone makes is wrong if it negatively impacts
him. I was glad to see him get over himself and learn to empathize.
But even through the self-centeredness, he's wonderful and caring
toward Callie.
Anyone
who remembers what it's like to feel out of place will easily
identify with these two and cheer for their relationship. This could
have turned into a sad book with all the heavy feelings, but it's
actually optimistic and hope-filled. Sort of a 'yes, people can be
mean, but you are worthy and you can find a place to belong'. By the
end of the book, both character have grown more emotionally
intelligent – learning to trust people and accept that they're not
the center of the universe.
There
were times outside their relationship that I had trouble identifying
with Callie and Tayber. I felt the getting-fall-down-drunk was a
little gratuitous. I couldn't really be sure if these two were of age
anyway. And seeing that I've never had a college party experience, I
had trouble relating to the lure of drinking until you puke.
Also, it
was hard for me to understand why neither of them thought about
finding paid work before money got really tight. That probably comes
from me working all through my college times, but it was hard to
imagine letting yourself get to the point where you have nothing,
before you start looking for a job.
But this
wasn't really a find yourself story; not really a “coming of age”
story like I might expect from the New Adult genre. We don't get a
taste of what their goals are or even what degree they're pursuing. I
look at this book as completely and totally a true-love story, which
just happens to have characters in the New Adult age bracket. The sex
scenes were hot and sexy, in line with what I'd expect from a modern
contemporary, but not so abundant that you lose the emotional punch
of these two discovering their love.
I won't
lie, I really wanted more. I wanted to know more about them, more of
their lives, more of what their plans were and how they were getting
there. But I was also really satisfied with the story. They fit
together wonderfully and you just knew how much they cared about each
other. As an emotion-packed, grab-you-by-the-heart love story, this
one is a must read.
I
received a complementary ARC from the author in exchange for an
honest review.
**This
review is archived on my blog: The Theory of Lieto Fine
Deep Blue
by Jules
Barnard
Rating:
4 of 5 stars
My
Review:
My very
first taste of New Adult romance was a winner. When I saw Deep Blue
was set in Lake Tahoe, I just couldn't resist. It's so interesting to
see novels written near where you live. I've found some that are a
credit to the area and some that just don't work at all. This one was
great; well researched, lots of places I could picture, and a good
feel for the area experience.
I came
into this new-to-me genre with some general ideas of what to expect:
fresh out of college, trying to figure out where life is going, etc.
This book lived up to that idea in an authentic way. It's written
first person, so we only see what Cali is going through and it
brought up all kinds of memories for me of what that age was like,
the worry and stress and almost innocence to life. Also the thrill
and anxiety of striking out on your own and supporting yourself. The
heat level of this novel was very mild. Not exactly closed door, but
not explicit or drawn out sexual situations. There's attraction and
sexual tension, but most of the relationship lives as an emotional
entity instead of raw lust.
Cali was
a complex character who was trying to figure out what her next step
is after college. She was going to head off to graduate school, but
she just doesn't feel passionate about it. The story is told first
person and you truly feel apart of her emotional angst and depth of
feeling. Most of the time, she seemed very even and steady, not
overly emotional, but very attached to her friends.
I read
straight through the first half of the book with no breaks because I
felt so emotionally tied to both Cali and Jaeger. That part of the
book is their love story and it's filled with angst,
misunderstandings, and attempts at emotional maturity. I respected
Cali for having the wherewithal to concretely end things with her ex,
and make sure her friend wasn't in love with Jaeger, before they
started a relationship. I was thrilled that both characters were full
of integrity and loyalty.
Now,
that was the first fifty percent. Pretty soon after that, they both
said I love you and I was wondering how the book could possibly hold
my interest another fifty percent That's when the real drama and
mystery started. The story was pretty much non-stop action through
the second half. Cali gets dragged into all sorts of trouble, like
she's being ricochetted around in a pinball machine, in addition to
her continuing struggle with where she wants her life to go. Some of
it happened a little too fast and furious for me. Like, how many
things can truly happen to one person in a couple weeks.
It was a
gripping adventure, but there were times I rolled my eyes at the
shenanigans. The “evil woman” had no personality besides just
being evil. And it was a creepy, skin crawling evil to me that made
me feel distrustful of people in general. Cali is super trusting,
which backfires many times. There were lots of plot threads coming
from all different directions and they all coalesced into one answer
that felt a little far fetched to me. There are also some loose ends
that I assume will be worked out in the next book of the series.
In the
end, everything wrapped up nice and tidy. We don't really see a huge
cathartic finish. The problems are solved and everyone moves on with
happy times. No fake happily-ever-after here, but a content and
on-the-road-to-fulfilled ending. I was satisfied that neither
character was committing to forever and ever, but I felt like I
wanted a little more of their life before we left them.
All
together, I thought the writing was fun and real. I liked the
personalities inside the book. Cali and Jaeger were happy, well
adjusted people, with fun foibles and accepting personalities. It was
a good, solid introduction to the New Adult genre for me and I'll
definitely look for more by this author.
I
received a complementary ARC of this book in exchange for my honest
review.
