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Title: FINALLY MINE
Author: Anne Hansen
Age group: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cover designer: Anne Hansen
Organized by: WordSmith Publicity
Book Description:
An incredible stroke of luck lands Vin Moretti a plea bargain—he spends his summer slaving at a country club instead of rotting in a jail cell. He plans to keep his head down and avoid the trust fund brats.
He never expects to fall for a gorgeous, amazing girl way out of his league.
When Keira McCabe falls in love with Vin Moretti, it’s head-over-heels, crazy, incredible love. She’s sure nothing can ruin what they have…but she has no idea how far Vin will go to protect her from the one thing he’s most afraid of: himself.
Summer ends, and Keira returns to the sprawling suburbs where she belongs, while Vin slinks back to the wrong side of the tracks and his old trouble-making ways. They promise to make long-distance love work.
It’s just dumb luck that her father’s unexpected demotion moves Keira smack in Vin’s gritty neck of the woods. Vin realizes he’ll need do whatever it takes to keep Keira safe—even if it means shutting the person he loves the most out of his dangerous life completely.
When Vin turns his back on Keira at her lowest moment, it finally hits her: she was never going to be anything more than his dirty little secret. Her life as she knows it has been torn to shreds, but she’s determined to make the best of it…with or without the guy she gave her heart to over the summer.
Vin starts to have second thoughts about his decision when he realizes how empty life is without Keira around. The problem is, Keira’s learned her lesson, and she isn’t about to be used again.
Vin realizes he’s going to have to pull out all the stops and turn his life around if he wants to make Keira finally his.
Review:
Finally Mine was recommended highly to me by one of my close friends. Going by the cover which eludes to a sexy chemistry between the characters and the synopsis that grabbed my interest I was excited about reading this. Then my friend said it reminded her of the movie Grease and my enthusiasm was deflated like a used condom. I hate that stupid movie. Don't judge me! It goes back to 8th grade watching my half bald gargantuan foreign language teacher act it out as we were forced to watch it. *shudders* I thought it would be geared more towards a college age group. I was surprised to discover the two MC's were still in high school.
Vin and Kiera are your average good girl bad boy couple. She comes from a nicer side of the tracks while Vin is used to living life below the middle class bracket. The prologue opens with Vin and Keira at the end of Summer having fallen in love getting ready to go back to their normal lives. Vin got into some trouble that sent him to some country club Kiera frequents and the two form a bond. After the summer ends and Kiera's mother passes away her dad loses everything and they end up on the side of town that Vin grew up in. During the summer Vin was a different guy, a guy Kiera could be proud to be with but when she ends up coming to his school, thanks to divine intervention of where her and her dad end up moving, the two come face to face again.
So...I have a confession to make. I didn't love Finally Mine. It was a decent story but I have mixed feelings about it. Like I said I was expecting something geared more toward an older crowd so the high school melodrama between the characters grated on my nerves throughout most of the book. Vin is a car thief who hates himself for what he does but can't get out of because his mafia-esque uncle basically has the family in a pigeon hold. Kiera is a doe eyed recently deflowered virgin with her head in the clouds. She can't see what the weather's like outside because her head is so far up Vin's ass. I get that they fell in love during the summer, even though I didn't experience it for myself, and yeah, young love is painful but their over dramatized emotions made me a little ragey. Because Vin hates himself and Kiera ends up in his school he tries to push her away and of COURSE she'll never recover because who does at seventeen? Vin pushes her away, then begs her back and they reconcile. Then he does it again in a more forceful way and breaks her heart again. Bleh. That aspect I could do without. Because like I said it was over dramatized and I felt like I was trapped inside a High School Musical movie.
What I did like was the relationship between Vin and Kiera when they weren't starring in West Side Story. He was sweet to her when he let himself just enjoy his happiness and stopped worrying about what his uncle would do or how opposite from each other they were. Kiera had a backbone I was glad to see come out when her dad put the kibosh on her romps with Vin. The memories of her mother and the life they had before were a nice touch that balanced out the emotional side of the story. Drama I can dig. Melodrama. Not so much. The friends Kiera made in her new school, Lily and David made me smile and gave a nice a break for me between Vin and Kiera moments. They were so supportive of her and her choices and protective of her when Vin started acting like a meathead. David was my favorite part of the book. He was such a darling spirit and his flamboyant side just made him more endearing. The fact that he was bullied almost to the point of being fatal and the part Vin played in his rescue was the bright spot. I was very pleased with the bond between Vin and David's family.
I know my review sounds negative but Finally Mine wasn't a completely shitty story. There were moments where the story was fantastic and then not so much but like all new stories you jump into eventually things smoothed out. Once you get past the fact that this is about high school kids with high school problems and emotions you find a pretty decent foundation. I found myself satisfied with the way everything panned out and a little glad I didn't put it down because there were some golden moments after about 50%. Not every story is for every person and what I didn't love about the story may be exactly what you look for in a book. So, in the words of Levar Burton "Don't just take my word for it".
Quotes:
Instead of accepting the realities of my life, I'm somehow always looking at ways to escape my fate, dream bigger. Which is dumb because I know better than anyone that the road to hell truly is paved with good intentions. eARC 30%
"You're so damn badass, aren't you? So mysterious, so fucking tortured! Well, guess what Vin? I don't buy it! I think it's a cop out. I think it;s a way for you to do whatever the hell you want, but never hld yourself accountable. I think you're scared." eARC 70%
Giveaway:
About the Author:
Anne Hansen is a die-hard romantic who loves fast cars, unsung heroes, and those crazy, funny conversations that make you laugh so hard, you end up in tears with stomach cramps. She likes to travel and has been all kinds of cool places--like Knoebels Theme Park, the biggest Paul Bunyan statue in Minnesota, and Paris. She loves listening to indie music, sitting around the campfire with her awesome family, and obsessively flipping through celebrity Instagram accounts (don't judge). But, most of all, she loves reading books and writing them, and she's excited to share her greatest passion with other book lovers!
Author Social Media Links:
Reading Rainbow! I loved that show.
ReplyDeleteSorry you didn't love FM, I thought Vin and Keira were very sweet together.