Sunday, August 25, 2013

New Blog and My First Review!

Welcome to Roxy's Reviews!  I've been messing around with my own blog design for ages now, and let me tell ya, it is soooooooo frustrating!  It's missing a whole bunch of important stuff, so just stick with me - I promise I'll have it under control very soon!

And now, for my very first book review, here it is:


New Adult/Contemporary Romance - recommended for ages 17 and up.

With one look, I’m his . . .

With one touch, he’s mine . . .

With one kiss, it changes everything between us . . .

I’ve been famous since I can remember. Singing, acting, dancing—I’ve done it all. The tabloids cover my every move, but I don’t want that anymore. I want to be normal, whatever that is.

When I leave Hollywood for college in Vermont, I’m on my own for the first time in my life. This is my chance to figure out who I am and what I want in life.

But it’s a lot harder than I expected. I can’t escape my image. Classes are difficult, and I’m struggling. And then there’s Caleb Fox.

Sexy, intriguing Caleb Fox.

Caleb is the one man who doesn’t want to use me. He breaks down my walls. He challenges me. He wants me. And I just don’t know if I can give him the same—or if he’ll stick around when he finds out my shameful secret that the tabloids haven’t managed to uncover.

Dating him is risky enough, but loving him could break me.


Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

Some of what I will write here could be considered spoiler-ish, so continue at your own risk.

More like 2.5 stars, so sitting right in the middle for me. There were things I liked, (the cast of secondary characters, for instance) but they were balanced out by the many things I didn't like.

There is a bit of mystery surrounding the main character, Hailey. She is some kind of megastar who has decided to finally leave the Hollywood limelight that she hates to pursue a college education. She keeps alluding to a "secret" that would be the ruin of all her current happiness. And yet, when the secret is finally revealed, everyone's reactions are kind of glossed over. There's been this build up around "the secret" throughout the WHOLE book, and then it just fizzles. Which leads me to the next big element that annoyed me: Caleb Fox. Now don't misunderstand me here, Caleb sounds like a real "fox" (haha, pun totally intended!) but he's a bit too good to be true. A lot, actually. There is never any conflict between him and Hailey. The only possible misunderstanding there is between the two is when Caleb tells Hailey his major. Big freakin' woop! Oh yeah, and also the "big secret", but of course perfect Caleb is oh-so supportive and understanding (and yes, I am being just a tad sarcastic here). He is perfect, his family is perfect, his friends are perfect, and if he wasn't so cute, I'd probably puke!!! 

Some of the writing sounded very juvenile to me. It reminded me of those Silhouette romances I used to read when I was a kid, only with sex. And speaking of the sex, there is one scene I should go back and read, because I had some questions about the location (gasp!) I really hope they didn't do it where I think they did it, because that would just be really grody! The edition I read is an ARC, so I'm crossing my fingers that somebody with influence will read this review and please, PLEASE take out that last sex scene - it is really too cheesy for words!

So would I read the next book in the series? Maybe. I think this author has a lot of potential, and that the series can only get better, especially when it includes the secondary characters who seem a lot more interesting than Hailey and Caleb.  Let's hope so!