Book: Giving In
Author: M.R. Joseph
Pages: Under 300 pages I think...
How Long it Took Me To Read: 1 day
Read On: My Kindle
Plot Summary: Raphael Cruz doesn't do it. He just doesn't. Cruz doesn't fall in love. He's a "get in and get out" kind of guy. Ladies love him and fall all over him for his swoon worthy good looks and overwhelming sex appeal. He knows how to talk to them and tells them exactly what they want to hear. When he's done making them scream his name, he shows them straight to the door. The meaning of the word love doesn't exist in his world. But that could all change with a wink of a girl's eye... And one hot-as-hell romp in a bar bathroom.
Harlow Hannum is your typical girl-next-door. She has the brains, the beauty, and the money. What she doesn't have is the luxury of being someone's first choice in the game of love. She always comes in a distant second place, leaving her guarded with her feelings. Lies, betrayal, and secrets of her past follow her wherever she goes, no matter how hard she tries to hide them. That is until she's reunited with the one guy who can ignite the spark in her heart that's been extinguished for so long.
With sunny days, heated nights, and love lingering in the air in the beach town of Sandy Cove anything can happen. Especially when fate steps in for Harlow and Cruz. Will their blossoming friendship turn into unexpected love or will the collision of their opposing worlds be the end of what could have been?
General Thoughts: I was sent this book by the author for review. Melissa got in touch with me a couple of months ago and offered to send me a review copy and the plot sounded interesting and who doesn't like to read a romance? I read this book a few months ago and really enjoyed it. Even though this book was sent to me for free, all these thoughts are my own and honest.
Things I Liked:
1. This book starts with a straight up steamy sex scene. I won't lie I was a little thrown off by it, I was like wow hot and heavy in the first scene, this book is wasting no time. I was a little freaked out thinking this book would be allllll sex. Thank-fully this book is so much more than just steamy sex, though nothing is wrong with a book full of well-written sex scenes. But this book, which starts with our couple casually hooking up goes on to become a lovely story of love and deeper feelings.
2. The characters are really well written and nicely etched out. By the end of the book I felt like I really got to know these people really well and got a sense of who they were. From Cruz and Harlow, our main leads to even the secondary characters such as their friends and family all the characters in this book are distinct and memorable.
3. There is a back story for both our main characters and it does so well in explaining the psyche of both these characters and why they are the way they are and why they act the way they do.
4. I also loved the friendship that develops between Cruz and Harlow, it seems real and genuine and their feelings develop in a real way.
5. This book is a great summer read. The descriptions of the beach and the summer time were great.
6. I really liked both of Cruz and Harlow's friends and I hope there is a lot more of them in the next book.
7. The book ends in an intense cliffhanger, which mostly romance book series don't do..it was a nice, though heart-wrenching twist.
8. Even though the book is partially set in the summer it does go beyond a summer romance and follow Cruz and Harlow out of the summer setting.
Things I Didn't Like:
I mostly enjoyed this book but the only thing I had a slight issue with the crude way in which Cruz spoke, especially about women and sex. While I do get that guys in their early 20s don't often wax eloquently on the subject of hooking up, it still irked me a bit.
Rating: 3.5/5
I'd recommend this book if you are looking for a romance read and want something that is both fluffy and happy but also substantial.
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