1st read - 4 stars
2nd read - 3.5 stars

The first time I read it, I really enjoyed this book because of the slow burn.
When I read it for the 2nd time, I founded it a little too long... and also it had too many cliché situations and I just wanted to roll my eyes. Nevertheless, I liked the story. ( )

It was okay. I am not keen on the college romance genre.
I am also not keen that once the H/h notices the H/h he is intimate with other people.

I apparently read this a really long time ago (in my book years). I knew it lacked a review, and I know the second is my favorite. And also, I was curious after reading Ney's recent (JOCK RULE) little fairy tale and Bubu's DNF review of that how this might hold up. And NA was hitting the spot so I decided to reread this in 'downtime' meaning when I didn't really feel up to much else. And frankly, I've got KU for a bit here and I find almost nothing on there...

I get what Sara Ney was going for, but I think a lot of the same things from Bubu's review of Jock Rule stand here as well. However, the trajectory of this is more as a series of interrelated characters, so it benefits from having some low level team members and the like popping up-this is very centered around their relationship and Oz. The lack of fully fleshed out secondary characters-generally it doesn't bother me if the relationship development is strong but on reread that meant it was a little tedious-because I wasn't exactly feeling the tension between Oz and James this time around.

I also struggled with Oz's subconscious telling him how he feels.

This is still a good, fresh, stripped down NA, but it also lacks a lot of elements that would make it a really good novel for me. I had it at a 4 w/o review (so not sure where on the 4 scale that is) but b/c I'll never reread it again more than likely, I'll be downgrading to a straight 3. I'm really curious to see how the second holds up upon reread for me-I recall some of the series feeling a bit richer but also remember by the 3rd or 4th James and Oz even feel flat. So...to be continued. ( )

Okay read

Nice girl meets asshole guy and they fall for each other. That's the basic storyline. The girl, James, is pretty cool. She's confident and smart and sassy. She doesn't let guys push her around and dresses however she wants. I really liked James and she has a badass name. Oz needed more depth. I know he's supposed to be a douchebag, but I wanted more redeeming moments. He wasn't terrible, like his friend Zeke, but could have been better. There wasnt as much smut and I thought there would be and it took a long time for them to get together. Pacing was a little slow. Not too bad overall. ( )

Soo.. this is a short spoilerish review. Proceed with caution.

barely 3/5 stars

There were some things I liked and some things I hated.
I wasn't a major fan of either character. The story always stays on a shallow level and therefore they never felt like actual people. I wasn't impressed with the romance and their way to get there.
The guy has sex with another girl after they've met and he already likes her. She is also there, watching for a while. It just kind of ruined their romance for me... how can you just stand by and watch that like it's the sexiest thing ever, when you are the one who already really likes him.



Then there is a scene around 57%, which I've read have caused many people to stop reading this book. Which wasn't really necessary, since it was all just a dream sequence. *roll eyes*. I read a while ago that authors shouldn't use dreams in their books to fool readers. Now I understand why. She just lost me with that scene. I started to question if anything I read was real and I started wishing for the dream to be reality. I mean... he gets to sleep around, even with her watching. She wants a relationship, but he doesn't want to commit to her.. good on her for moving on and sleeping with someone else. But no... it was all fake.



All in all, both things made me like the story less and less and then when they got together... it was just a bunch of chapters about nothing. There was no interesting storyline beyond the two of them and by then even that wasn't that interesting anymore.

I might read the next book, but I'm less excited to read it after this one. I was kind of disappointed.
But there are lots of positive reviews, so don't let little old me hold you back from giving this one a go. ( )