BAD HABITby CHARLEIGH ROSE
BRIAR
I was infatuated with Asher Kelley the moment he came tumbling through my brother’s window five years ago.
Even bruised and bloodied, he was the most beautiful boy I'd ever seen.
We couldn't ever be together.
I was too young, and he was too untouchable.
He was too troubled, and I was too naive.
But the heart is rebellious, and mine decided it didn’t care about any of those things.
As I got older, harmless flirting turned to stolen moments in dark corners.
Until one day, he was gone without a trace.
Now, three years later, he’s back.
Callous and cruel.
He’s my brother’s best friend. My parents’ worst nightmare.
I should hate him.
But like a Bad Habit, I can’t quit him.
ASHER
I was drawn to Briar Vale from the first time she looked up at me with stars in her big, blue eyes.
She was just a kid, nothing but elbows and knees, but she was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen.
We could never be together.
I was too old and she was too off limits.
She was too good and I was too fucked up.
Eventually, the temptation became too much to resist.
I risked everything for a kiss and she betrayed me.
Three years have passed and I’m forced to see her again, but now she's all grown up.
She’s my best friend’s baby sister. My downfall.
I hate her for what she did.
But she's always been my drug of choice.
"Two selfish hearts, hiding and lying and sneaking, with blatant disregard to anyone else."
Welp!!! It's official....I read and enjoyed my first Charleigh Rose book! She is a very new to me author, and she writes taboo/forbidden romance and we all know how much I love that, so picking this one up was an easy decision. This one, yep. yep. yep. I enjoyed this one. Age gap and all. There was a lot more good than the bad, but this book had a little bit of both. Having said that, I cannot wait to read more from her after this one. With an easy to follow storyline, and a pull between two characters that they couldn't fight, this one really worked well for me and I didn't want to stop reading it.
I feel like Charleigh Rose captured some emotions and actions perfectly for this type of story. I was able to feel the giddiness of a young, first love, and I enjoyed remembering those butterflies and doing the things that made me blush. This is a young love book. Young love making mistakes and fixing those mistakes. Young love finally understanding what true love is. Asher was fighting a moral fight, for all intents and purposes. I mean, how does an older guy love a younger girl!? It messed with him bad. It messed with her even worse. A conundrum of epic proportions. The build up of tension, desire, need and teenage lust was all there.
FYI -- For those that don't enjoy taboo/forbidden love stories, this might offend some, but I always say, love doesn't always have an age barrier. As horrible as that sounds, it is a very valid truth. I realize the age difference between the two characters can be problematic for some, and I respect that, but it didn't bother me at all. I remember being 14 and in love with my 17 year old boyfriend...and we dated until he was in college and I was still in high school. We were both young and dumb, so this was just one of those books that made me remember when I was that young and doing dumb things I probably shouldn't have been doing. Was it/ is it right? Probably not, but memorable in many ways. Everyone reads a book through their own eyes and is able to apply their experiences to the books that we are reading. This one, I loved it for the simple reason that it gave me an escape, with some butterflies and some swoony times to boot. It’ll probably come across as juvenile to some, and it may have been in some aspects -- the characters were young and they had a very young love. It may come across as not deep to others. Maybe it wasn't, but this type of read was definitely nice when I didn't need heavy and emotional. This book checked off every single box I needed for an easy, good read this holiday break. So yes, I really enjoyed it.
WHAT DID I QUESTION OR HAVE A HARD TIME WITH?
Honestly, not a lot really bothered me with this book because I enjoyed it overall, but some things just didn't sit well with me. Charleigh did a good job separating the rich lifestyle with the boy from the other side of the tracks; showing the privilege and the unprivileged, the give in one life and the take in the other. However, her leaving and her parents never questioning it? I realize this was a book about privileged kids, and I certainly remember some kids from my little town that had SO much freedom growing up that it shocked me what they could get away with, so this wasn't so entirely far-fetched for me, but that seemed off. I have seen it, but I just had a hard time with it in this story because of how far reaching it felt. Like I said, not completely out of the norm for me growing up in a small town, but.....yeah.
The drama in this one was a little over the top for me, but it worked well in the story. I know that is very contradictory, but I wanted to mention it because I hate drama for drama's sake. This one didn't feel like it was for drama's sake, per se, but it was a little dramatic for me. While I didn't truly understand the reasoning as to why they were separated, it seemed to be the catalyst for the story and sort of pushed it along, but it was definitely proof of their maturity level and age in this book. But again, they were very young kids and so they didn't make the best choices or decisions sometimes.
Some small inconsistencies that were missed in the beta/editing stages, as well as some timeline issues, caused a few double takes for me (June party/August breeze). Easy to gloss over, but they gave me pause a few times, almost as if parts were pieced together. Also, some of the action sequences and transitions didn't line up completely, or we missed some steps along the way. Some things were discussed in depth, and some were skipped over completely. Again, not a deal breaker for me since the story kept me entertained the entire time I read it, but they were things that caused a read/re-read scenario for me so that I could figure out where I was going (laying down/standing up kind of issues). I am just glad that the story was entertaining overall, so I was enjoying it while I read it.
FINAL OPINION: For me, this was nice. It wasn't heavy, but I felt the emotions behind their actions. It wasn't deep, but I felt the growth behind their love. It was an easy read that I didn't have to think about while reading and it was the greatest escape for me after this holiday weekend. So easy to follow, so easy to read, so easy to fall in love. Charleigh Rose created this world of characters that I can’t wait to read more of. I’m excited for more in this standalone series, because the baseline story has already been set and I want to get to know them better. While it sounds like I am just tearing this book apart in my review, I'm not. I don't want it to come across as me hating it because that couldn't be farther from the truth. I can and will read more by Charleigh Rose. I really enjoyed this book and loved Asher and all his brooding ways. I loved Briar's attitude and her carefree outlook on life. I loved that these two fought to do the right thing, but couldn't truly fight it within each other's presence and that was what I really enjoyed. That push and pull between the two characters; knowing that what they were doing would have been frowned upon by everyone in their lives. I look forward to more reads from her because she definitely has a knack for telling a story.
"Being loved by him is magic, but being left by him is tragic."
~BEE
PURCHASE: http://amzn.to/2zshzPY
AVAILABLE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED
~MEET CHARLEIGH ROSE~
Charliegh Rose just outed herself in this book. I will allow you to read her bio at the end of this book so that you can get a better understanding of who she is.
~CONNECT WITH CHARLEIGH~
Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure. <3
DeleteGreat review Bee! I'm gonna dive in maybe this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy it, Bunny!!!
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