Laura's Review of Step-Lover by Bella Jewel

Synopsis

You’ll only ever have one forbidden love.

Care to know why?

Because when you find it, forbidden love that is, you’ll forget everything else. You’ll forget your first kiss. You’ll forget the first boy who made you smile. You’ll forget all the bad, and remember all the good. You’ll forget that it’s wrong. You’ll forget that it hurts. You’ll forget everything that came before him.

Forbidden love, it has a way of changing you. The secrets. The lies. The guilt. You want something so much you no longer care about the world around you. The passion takes away the pain. I’ve felt it. I’ve lived it. I didn’t need it, but it chose me.

I met him before I knew. I loved him before I knew.

I didn’t know that he was my stepbrother. I knew I had stepbrothers, but I didn’t know he was one of them. Now I know, I have to walk away. My mom, she deserves this happiness so much more than I do. If she ever knew…it would destroy her.

You have to understand why.

I saw my father die right in front of my tiny, eight year old eyes. He took my sister with him. All that’s left is my mother and I. She’s found her happy place, the only place she’s had since our worlds were destroyed.

So you see, I can’t have him. 

I can’t want him.

But there’s this problem with passion, and love, and destiny.

It doesn’t give you a damned choice.

What I Loved

          The prologue sucks you right into the plot and you immediately become emotionally invested in Aria’s story and her happiness.  Your heart is so quickly broken because of her and her mother’s past and due to how powerful the prologue was I couldn’t put this book down.  I had work crazy early this morning but I literally couldn’t put this book down last night until I finished it, and even then I had a horrible book hangover because this story was that good.  

            We learn in the beginning that Aria fell in love fast with a mysterious boy only for him to abandon her and show up two years later as her step brother. From there the sexual tension was palpable the drama apparent and heartache plentiful.  Stepbrother romances are cropping up everywhere, they are like the new Fifty Shades of Grey genre.  Although, this isn't my first stepbrother romance, this story did possess qualities that set it apart from the rest which I really enjoyed. 

          It was easy to become emotionally invested in Aria and because of that as a reader you do get sucked in to the overall plot.  The tension between Aria and Blade is crackling the entire time which I thoroughly enjoyed, I knew at some point they were going to get it on, but I couldn't wait for them to just start ripping each other's clothes on.  The forbidden love that Aria feels for Blade is just overwhelming at times, and when her heart was breaking mine was too for her.  When he abandoned her it was just crushing and when he shows back up again it was even worse! 

         Another thing I loved was the secondary characters and their stories as well.  I became so intrigued with Brody and Ripley and their pasts on top of the main characters.  Falling for them made it so much easier to become so much more emotionally involved in the entire story.

Not So Much

          Okay, for a good half of the book I thought this entire story was happening on an entirely different continent let alone another country! This is the first book that literally gives you no indication as to where it is taking place.  I only know it took place in the US after the question is asked to a main character, what your favorite state is!  The colloquialisms and names for a lot of things did not resonate as American. I have no problem with stories that take place in other countries but I just like the writing to reflect that country so I can become more involved in the story rather than distracted by the lack of detail.

        There was no description about where in America this story was taking place, I still have no clue.  The lack of those types of details lead to huge holes in the plot and frustrated me greatly.  I have no idea what Aria’s house looks like with her mother, or what her apartment looks like with Melanie.  I have no idea what Blade’s apartment looks like, or where his job is compared to Aria's apartment or college.  The college Aria goes wasn't even given a name and it was just hard to create the scenes around the characters without these types details. 

To Sum It All Up!

       

             Overall this was an awesome story, Aria was a very relatable  down to earth character.  I think any girl that has ever had their heart broken can feel for Aria in some way and that makes is so much easier to be emotionally enthralled with her story.  The sexual tension between Blade and Aria pours off the pages and is in almost every single part of this story, you can almost grab onto how much these two want each other.  Of course this hotness leads to some sizzling love scenes that I of course enjoyed immensely. 

         There were definitely some twists and turns as the plot continues, and some very emotional scenes that I truly loved.  The sentences though were very fragmented at times and kind of stunted the flow of the story.  I felt like at times the story was being talked at me rather than me being part of the plot.  The grammar mistakes and the lack of details was distracting at times and frustrated me.  But I will say this was a great story with lots of drama and love sprinkled with a happily ever after!