Avery Melrose is used to having it all. So when her boyfriend cheats on her, she reacts like any spoiled rich girl-she freaks out and vandalizes his new truck, Carrie Underwood style. Now she’s stuck with 300 hours of community service doing roadside garbage duty.
Seth Hunter just got out of prison, and after a few hundred hours picking up litter on the side of the highway, he can finally put his mistakes behind him. If he can string together some kind of existence, maybe it’ll be enough to get his sister away from their stepfather, the man who sent Seth to prison in the first place.
A romance between these two is doomed from the start. Girls like Avery want castles and white horses, and Seth is no prince charming.
But sometimes, being around Avery makes Seth think he could make something of himself. Maybe even be worthy of a girl like her. It’s just too bad real life gets in the way first, tearing these two apart before they have any chance of getting to Happily Ever After.
First off I think I should let you know – in case that you hadn’t figured out yet – this is a New Adult book, and it has a lot of sexual content (hemhem… very EXPLICIT sexual content). So, if you don’t like it, or are not comfortable, you should skip this book, because really people, it has a LOT (and I couldn’t be happier)! I read this book in one day, people…
This is a super fast paced story, told in dual point of view – we get a chapter by Avery, one by Seth and so on, which really allows us to meet the 2 main characters quite well. I liked them both so much! Avery was a little stuck up at first, but poor thing, I got it: she found her boyfriend of 4 years in bed with someone else, destroyed his truck, and the SOB pressed charges? I would be more than pissed. And to top it off, her politician father makes her an example of tough law? I mean… she just destroyed a truck! After that she has to pick up trash? Give up a whole semester of college and all that came with it? Oh man!
Seth is likable right from the start, we learn early on that he went to jail for attacking his step-father, a drug dealer responsible for his mother’s death and pimping out his baby sister. Who doesn’t love Seth already, right? To top it off he’s hot as hell (and he has a lot of talents that we learn later on…).
The lust comes hot and heavy right from the beginning, and it made a lot of sense, really. The love however – not that the word is ever used – comes a lot later and after a few weeks of butting heads. It’s beautiful, because we can see how much they want each other but are not willing to admit it. When they finally let go and admit it, oh well, it’s all fireworks!
Both of them have a big character growth, with Avery finally stepping up for what she wants and not following the plans that her parents laid out for her, and Seth finally wanting something more in life for himself (as much as for Avery and Sarah).
I liked the writing, the two voices were very distinct, and the writing was easy and fast. Seth sex-talk was a bit much for me sometimes, but I won’t argue about it because it is effective. And he says the most romantic things!!! I won’t splatter them here, but you should definitely read them to see what I mean.
I did see a couple of small problems with the plot, but nothing major. The premise was simple and, again, affective, but although I commend Avery for totally destroying the jerk’s car, I don’t think she had enough feelings for him to do so, but I can buy it on the “betrayal” level. I do think that in the end she forgave him too easily, even if he justified all his actions, he still did an horrible thing, and I didn’t agree with their truce and friendship. I was also pissed by the way Seth reacted near the end, I think that Avery deserved better than that – lucky for him, he was able to redeem himself. I also think that Shari disappeared too easily from Avery’s life once she got to college, given that they weren’t that far away, I would expect – and wanted – a little girl time, maybe discussing Avery’s new relationship with Seth.
But that’s not really that important! It was a great book and I hope we get to see more of Seth and Avery in the next book, about Ryan ( 😀 – we already know that he’s also good at a lot of stuff… thanks Shari!), Whatever It Takes.
By the way, Seth is boyfriend material! Any guy who can keep his girlfriend THAT happy without even taking his clothes off, deserves all the praise! – Again people… very explicit material in this book… go read it!
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