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Wednesday 21 January 2015

Bad Romeo (Starcrossed #1) by Leisa Rayven - Review


Blurb:




While performing the greatest love story of all time, they discovered one of their own...

Cassie Taylor was just another acting student with big dreams at her prestigious performing arts college, then she met Ethan Holt. She was the good girl actress. He was the bad boy on campus. But one fated casting choice for Romeo and Juliet changed it all. Like the characters they were playing on stage, Cassie and Ethan's epic romance seemed destined. Until it ended in tragedy when he shattered her heart.

Now they've made it to Broadway where they're reunited as romantic leads once again, and their passionate scenes force them to confront the heartbreaking lows and pulse-pounding highs of their intense college affair. For Ethan, losing Cassie was his biggest regret, and he's determined to redeem himself. But for Cassie, even though Ethan was her first and only great love, he hurt her too much to ever be trusted again. The trouble is, working with him reminds her that people who rub each other the wrong way often make the best sparks. And when it comes to love, sometimes it's the things that aren't good for us that are the most irresistible.





Kristine's Review:

Reviewed: January 2015





I don't know where to start with Bad Romeo, the hype and my excitement for this story had my expectations high, I don't know what I expecting exactly... Angst, drama... yes definitely but the humor, the hilarity, no I didn't think Bad Romeo would have me laughing as hard as I was.

Bad Romeo is told in a series of present tense moments filtered with flashbacks, the detail so vivid that I felt every moment of Ethan Holt and Cassie Taylor's story. The boy who doesn't want to be liked and the girl desperate for everyone's approval.

Holt the self proclaimed broken bad boy, with more baggage than a Boeing 747, after two failed auditions for the prestigious Arts academy The Grove, he is at the end of his rope, lacking the want or ability to connect with other fledgling actors the likelihood of Ethan gaining acceptance into the college of his dreams seem slim.

Enter Cassie, green, a tad naive, people pleasing Cassie, the immediate attraction she experiences to seeing Holt is something she never expected, or has ever experienced. The formidable chemistry these two exude is palpable, shining from every pore.

As the reader, we know the college romance these two had was ill fated from the very beginning, a modern day Romeo and Juliet tale of pure unadulterated bliss and crushing lows, but despite hindsight being 20/20 - the more I read the more I found I couldn't guess where Rayven was leading me. I devoured this story much the same way Cassie and Ethan devoured each other, with a fierce hunger to know more, to see more, to feel everything.

The pure unadulterated joy I felt in watching Cassie Taylor come out of herself, demand more for herself had me cheering her on, eagerly praying for a rewrite of Romeo and Juliet. One where their romance could bloom and blossom, where Holt could fight his demons and not let his past hurts dictate his future. I felt every inch of his resistance and every inch of Cassie's pain, confusion and desperate need.

There is so much more I want to say about Bad Romeo, I want to tell you how exquisite this story is, how beautifully jaded Holt is and how captivating Cassie is with equal parts naivety, youth and silent strength. I want to tell you that Rayven's words had me believing that no two people had ever had the raw connection and intense chemistry that these two had, still have, and most of all I want to tell you that despite everything I still have to believe that these two have a chance at a love, so limitless, so endless, so all encompassing that there's still a chance for them.

My first 5 star read for 2015 and I'm already sitting here eagerly awaiting Broken Juliet, chest tight, fingers tingling, breath baited.


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