I’m really not sure where to start with this one. This is very much a slow and detailed exploration of the relationship between the daughter of a rich business and society leader, Emery Winthrop, and her best friend’s bad-boy, older brother, Nash Prescott.
When her father’s business collapses after he embezzles money, the whole town suffers as a result. Nash believes the whole family, including Emery, are to blame and he vows to make them pay.
Unlike suggested in the blurb, the story starts with a hefty dose of backstory. If you like internal monologue this story is packed with it. There’s a line of dialogue, a few paragraphs of internal monologue, then the conversation continues, but by that time I’d forgotten what the last line of dialogue was, and had to back track to re-read it. It’s terrible for the flow.
There are also glaring inconsistencies and plot holes. Too many things to list here had me questioning the plot and the behaviour of the characters.
If you’ve read some of my other reviews I can be quite (ahem, clears throat) unforgiving when it comes to a writer’s style. I’ve stopped reading books with less stylistic issues before. Yet, this book makes me a complete hypocrite because for some reason I could not stop reading.
I suppose I liked the characters. They give the story so much potential. The conflict is constantly simmering between them. On the surface they claim to hate each other and go out of their way to make things difficult. They are also secret text pals as part of a mental health action group. I was drawn in by this element of the story. Through the texts they connect on an different level, as friends and sext buddies. I couldn’t wait for them to realise who was at the end of the phone. There’s only a handful of sex scenes and although they were hot, I wanted more.
Its just a shame that it’s all let down by the writing. It’s like reading a first draft. The foundations are good. The tension and conflict fuels the story. There’s loads of potential, but it needs a good sorting out. Get rid of the extraneous fluff, flesh out the characters and pot holes, rectify the inconsistencies, and it could be great.
Plot: ⭐️
Feels: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat: ⭐️⭐️
Overall: ⭐️⭐️
