Author: Isabella White
Genre/Age: Romance, Erotica
Series: 4Ever Series (Book One)
Publisher: Fire Quill Publishing
Format: ebook via Netgalley
Rating: ✺✺✺.5
Links: Goodreads
Synopsis: At 24 years old, Holly Scallanger has the perfect life. Everything a girl could want; a beautiful man, a stunning home, as well as being in the midst of preparing for the wedding of her dreams. This all vanishes the night she catches her fiancé, Brandon Morgan, in bed with her worst nightmare, Donna Sinclair, just a week before Holly is set to walk down the aisle.
Attempting to recover from his betrayal, Holly swears off the affections of men in order to pick up the pieces of her crumbling life. Unfortunately, meeting Jake 'Hooligan' Peters is not part of her plan. The tall, dark-haired and handsome as hell med student, sweeps Holly away from the pain of her past and reveals to her the bright future that lays ahead. That is, until she falls pregnant just as Jake begins his internship at P&E; his family's hospital.
Will this love at first sight lead her to the fairytale she has always craved? Or, will she fall victim to a betrayal of the heart yet again?
**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for honest review.**
That is how I feel after finishing this book. Like my usual reading, I finished this within 24 hours of starting. In that 24 hours, I went from amused to happy, then to confused and irritated. Finally, I am a bit angry. Here's why...
The story begins with Holly leaving her cheating ex. That much, I can easily get on board with. Her fleeing to her best bud who hated the scumbag, I can also see happening. Her falling head over heels for the handsome Jake? Sure, I'll bite.
The chemistry is cute, for the most part. The humor is entertaining. The sex scenes were definitely not "erotica" level but adequate for romance, I would say. The romance was there and for most of the book, I was happy with the progression of the story.
But then something begins to annoy me.
The repetition, for starters. We don't really need it hammered into our heads that Jake is handsome and Holly finds him out of her league (for some reason). Every single time they are in public together, we hear about other women staring Holly down or fluttering their lashes at Jake. We get it. Once or twice was enough.
Then comes the dreaded mother. She both irks me and fascinates me. Mara sort of reminds me of Jackson Avery's mother from Grey's Anatomy. No, seriously. Protective over her son and wary of any woman who he entertains. I can understand it.
But then...
Our plot twist happens.
I won't go into detail because I'd hate to spoil it for you. But I must say that the synopsis gives too much away, already, in my opinion. Yes, she gets pregnant and sure it causes friction. The behavior of Jake, Gus (his father), and Amelia (Jake's sister), made perfect sense to me at the beginning.
Then when the mother interferes, I get the sense that the author was really reaching, a bit too much. It was unnecessary and obviously intended to cause emotion and conflict. Unfortunately, it didn't make me sad. It made me angry and not at the characters.
I am peeved at the author. It just didn't make sense. I feel it was ridiculously blown out of proportion for shock value. The fatal scene near the end of the book would have been enough of an emotional spike in the story.
In closing...
I feel as if this book should definitely receive a sequel, if only to redeem the story. The extra chapters I found online (Chapter 3-4 of next book) do offer a glimpse of hope for this series. I will keep it on my radar and hope for the best!
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