New Adult/Contemporary Romance
Kindle format submitted for review for blog tour
When Rose Jensen’s grandfather dies, he leaves her enough money to save her parents’ failing business and get her through UCLA. The only catch – she has to marry Lee Montenegro, the infuriating half-Spanish, all-playboy transfer. Rose and Lee’s grandfathers were fast friends, and betrothed their grandchildren to each other. Lee wants the money to run from his suffocating family, and turns his full burning charisma on Rose, but she won’t give in. She’ll never marry someone she doesn't love, and who doesn't love her. But memories of a mysterious boy in her childhood haunt her, and Lee insists they know each other. With her parent’s pressures mounting, her scholarship slipping, and Lee’s advances heating up with more than just money-lust, Rose is torn between doing the right thing for her family, and doing the right thing for her heart. **This story contains language and sexual scenes, some of which may be unsuitable for younger readers. **This is the first book in the ARRANGED series.
My Take:
This another book series that is going to cause me early onset angina! It's starts out as a lovely story about two childhood sweethearts finding each other again with a little twist involving marrying for money and then moves on to drop kick you in the balls!
Rose Jensen doesn't feel beautiful or interesting and hasn't for most of her life. She is studying at UCLA to be able to open her dream bakery when she graduates and therefore doesn't make time for anything but studying. When her parents' business starts to fail she wonders how she can help them save their dream while trying to make hers happen. Surviving only on grants and scholarship money to get her through school she keeps her grades up so she doesn't have to burden her parents to help her financially. When she gets the news that her biggest scholarship will be going to another student next semester, her dream seems to deflate before her eyes.
Until she gets a mysterious phone call from her Grandfather's lawyer informing her that she has been Willed a huge chunk of money when he passed away. The only catch is she has to marry Lee Montenegro. The half naked guy she runs into when he's leaving his latest random hookup in the dorm she lives in. Rose can't stand Lee and his man whore ways but his gorgeous hazel eyes and sinful smile seem to pull her in no matter how hard she fights it. As they get to know each other she begins having dreams she knows must be old memories and later finds out they involve Lee. He fills her in on their past summers together at her grandfather's house when they used to play in the creek nearby. Rose discovers that Lee has harbored a childhood love for her all these years and they grow closer and try out a relationship.
Their happiness doesn't last long as a past girlfriend and Lee's own father work against them with devious ultimatums that could keep them apart for good.
I have to say that throughout the first 3/4 of this book I was a swoony, mushy puddle of warm goo. Lee made this book for me hands down. This guy was written so well and his charm and character really stood out and made me fall head over heels for him. The way he looked at Rose and treated her was so sweet and beautiful. He was so vulnerable and watching him finally have what he has wanted all this time was rewarding...until Keira, his ex plaything comes into the picture and ruins it all. You already know his father is a conniving dick weed but this Keira bitch is ten times worse. She wants Lee so bad knowing he loves Rose that she stops at nothing to get him for herself. I was so upset with the decision Lee makes by the end of this book. I wanted to throw up. I was rooting for this couple so badly because they were so sweet together. I did like being able to read things from his perspective even though I didn't want certain things to go down the way they did. I think it was crucial to the story for him to have his say and I was very glad he got some page time. I wasn't expecting to read from his POV because it begins in Roses' and continues for a bit.
As for Rose, she was a little more difficult for me to bond with in the beginning. She's dealing with some body issues in that she is tall and lanky with no defining curves and she doesn't feel attractive. Even when she goes on a modeling shoot with Lee's sister and ends up on the pages of Seventeen magazine she still looks at herself as plain and ugly. I can relate to how she feels unattractive, I mean we all have those days but I wish she would have found just a shred of of something she found she liked about herself. I did like her with Lee, she seemed to open up a lot more than before she met him and that was nice to see. My heart broke for her when she got a visit from Keira telling her that Lee was just using her for the money. I hated to see Rose believe everything straight up without asking Lee about it but the bitch almost had me convinced as well she was so good at deceit.
I wasn't expecting the heat to be so intense in this book. I figured there would be some fade to black or some light petting but these two characters go at each other pretty hardcore! I mean it's not erotica but judging by the sweet innocent cover you wouldn't expect shy Rose to be giving her man head or seeing Lee tie her to a towel wrack and hit it from the back! Whoo! It was hot, intense and pretty damn ice water worthy if I say so myself. Lee and Rose together burn up the pages and it's a shame I was reading this at work because I could have used some private time. And by private time I mean I wanted to stick my fist up my junk to relieve the ache this book was causing!
Being the first book in a series it did exactly what it was supposed to do. Hook my interest and keep me on the line for the next in the series. I really liked this book and fell for the characters but I'm extremely nervous about where things are going to go due to the cliff hanger-ish ending! I hate to love endings like that and thankfully it's not over because if this was a stand alone I would totally ruin the author's day by shitting in her Begonias!
Favorite Quotes:
"Please," his voice is muffled as he skims his lips along my jaw. "Let me show you how I feel. Just say the word and I'll show you exactly how I feel about you." Kindle 29%
"You saved my life. So I want to make yours better - no, the best. I want you to have the best food and the best laughs and the best sex. I want you to have the best of everything." Kindle 41%
"We meet people and they change us, like chemical reactions, like yeast making dough rise. Without people we stay flat. Without sad and happy experiences, we stay the same. But by experiencing many things, we become greater. It' our yeast" Kindle 79%
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Guest Post:
Hey guys! It’s Sara Wolf, writer of ARRANGED, here.
First of all, thanks to Globug and Hootie for having me on your blog! It’s a beautiful blog, and I’ve spent the day reading your reviews, which are totally freaking amazing. It’s an honor to work with you.
My topic today is the best one in the world; the popularity of New Adult vs. Other genres
Because, c’mon. I could so easily turn this into a post RAVING about how much more awesome New Adult is than every other genre ever! But I’ll be a good girl and try to balance the best of both worlds. ;)
My favorite thing about New Adult is the fact it’s so open. It’s a genre that is still fighting to be recognized by traditional publishers and while it has terrifically strong roots in the indie community already, it’s still growing (at an amazing rate), like a little sapling! It’s incredible to see how much New Adult as a genre is growing every day, and the diversity is staggering. You can go from light and happy contemporary romances to dark and decadent paranormals in the blink of an eye. It’s that fluidness I like the most about New Adult!
New Adult is also this amazing sort of in-between; it straddles the time we learn to let go of our childhoods and move on to the adult world all at the same time. It’s just as scary as Young Adult, and not as comfortably set in responsible routine as Adult. I think it’s a time everyone can relate with – the struggle to afford college, the struggle to balance family and friends, and, maybe most importantly, the struggle to find out how you want to be loved. If Young Adult is the period you learn about the world works, New Adult is where you learn how you fit in it. And that’s just as powerful a thing to confront. In ARRANGED, I tried to tackle not only the aspect of sex, but also of responsibility, and how hard that is on a young person. Hopefully, I captured that mixed feeling of fear and hope and anticipation!
At the same time, I think New Adult suffers from being a less-established age group. This is all changing rapidly, of course, and a good story will always have people willing to read it. But at the same time, the newness of New Adult might scare off some potential readers, and that’s where it’s up to us to introduce people to fantastic books that make them go; “What genre was that? Give me more of that!”. I think the best feeling comes from when you introduce a friend to a book and they beg you for more like it. It’s like getting a friend hooked on drugs made of swoon-worthy heroes and delicious dramatic angst! What could be better? ;)
Personally, I started out writing Young Adult, and I still do. But ARRANGED was my first foray into New Adult, and with the awesome community and reception I’ve gotten, I’m hard-pressed to find reasons to leave. New Adult has been an eye-opening experience to write, and I thank every one of you for making it a fantastic one. Thank you. You are incredible. Let’s keep loving New Adult together, and helping it grow.
LOVE,
Sara
Gosh, you guys picked the best topic.
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About The Author:
Sara Wolf is a romance author who, in-between wrangling a husband and a parakeet, inhales a lot of chai tea and gardens (badly!!). She's a huge fan of Vampire Diaries, angsty love, and all kinds of chocolate. She works as a internet marketer in the day, but she'd much rather be writing tortured heroes at night.
LINKS:
Love the quotes. I'll have to take a look at this one.
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