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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
it had a good premise n i was enjoying it but towards the end, the story just wasnt going anywhere n i got bored
so much about this book was just ????? the plot was basically nonexistent and anytime the mcd got into a fight they would just fuck afterwards like nothing happened
I really loved this book. I was hooked on it, I didn’t wanna put it down. Ivy is going to school at Lindon and working at Beas coffee shop. Everyone always drools over Aiden when he comes in every Sunday but she pretends like she doesn’t have any idea who he is until he repeats her name over and over and asks if she’s just going to pretend like they’re nothing. Aiden is going pro with football, he has a future. Every girl wants him. Ivy went through some serious shit since the last time she saw Aiden she doesn’t feel as if she’s worthy to be a part of his life. The last time she saw Aiden she was 16, she had snuck in his window and told him today was the day she was running away and asked him to go with her but he couldn’t. They have shared zero contact since then. Ivy went off the grid so that no one could find her. Ivy ran away because of her parents. They didn’t beat or abuse her physically just mentally. They always made her feel like she wasn’t good enough and they fought constantly. She would stay in aidens closet whenever they were fighting and as she got bigger she’d stay in his bed. She stayed at aidens more than she was at her own home and her parents never seemed to notice or care if they did. Aiden is persistent that he won’t let ivy push him away no matter how hard she tries. She’s staying in the basement of a frat house. Most of the girls aren’t very kind to her. Raine is the only one whose nice to her, her boyfriend Caleb is Aidens best friend. Ivy sticks to herself. She goes to class, goes to work, studies and sleeps. She barely gets by money wise. But she’s proud to have found herself her own place where she doesn’t have to pay with her body. She forgets to lock her door and she hears someone coming downstairs during one of their parties so she slips out through the window. That’s when Aiden finds her and offers her a ride. She tells him she doesn’t want to go home so he takes her to his place. He stays with guys from the team but it’s nice and it’s way quieter than her place. When they go downstairs Ivy ends up straddling him and she goes to Jack him off and he tells her condom and she says no she’s just pleasing him and he tells her no and then she leaves. And she leaves Aiden with some serious blue balls. She tells Aiden how she’s not worthy of him how she had to sleep with people to have a place to stay and he told her that’s the past he just cares about the ivy now and that she did what she had to to survive. Caleb tells Aiden how nasty the basement is that ivy is staying in. He tells her she’s going to get sick and then she does. Aiden is there constantly taking care of her. He brings her food from Bea, he studies beside her so he can watch her. He’d wipe her down with a wash cloth. He took care of her the whole time she was I’ll. When her fever finally broke she knew she owed Aiden a thank you. He has unblocked his number in her phone. She had blocked it because blocking him out was easier than letting him in just to have to say goodbye again. She had missed and thought of Aiden every single day since she had ran away and she feared if she let him in again this time would be even worse. Ivy was trying so hard to push Aiden away. He had asked her if she hated him and that’s how the title started he kept daring her to hate him and he knew she couldn’t because she loves him too much. Shortly after getting better Ivy is told that they are no longer allowed to have anyone staying in the basement that it’s unsafe and she needs to go somewhere else. Ivy figured she’s being kicked out because the head out of the house was jealous she was getting attention from Aiden. So she packed her bags and hit the streets. That’s when Aiden got to her and took her to his place. All the guys said they had no problem if she stayed there. All the guys liked ivy. Aiden had directed them all to keep eyes on her and she had started to grow on all of them. Ivy would fall asleep on the couch and every morning she’d wake up in aidens bed, hed carry her there every night. Finally they caved into their temptations and had sex. Aiden came quick and when he apologized he said he had never done this before, ivy took his virginity. She couldn’t believe it. He had waited all this time she never imagined he was a virgin. But his whole life had been football. He told her after she left he just focused on his dream of football and didn’t have time for anything else. Aidens coach had noticed him getting distracted and had told him if it was a girl he needed to figure out his priorities. Aiden had just gotten ivy back he wasn’t letting her go again. He regrets letting her go the first time. Aidens coach came and visited ivy at work and told her if she knew what was best for Aiden she’d leave him alone so he could focus on her career. Ivy actually stood up for herself for once and told the coach that she knew these things and that she tried to push Aiden away and he wouldn’t let her and that he was not giving up on her. The coach respected that. Ivy didn’t go to the football games. She would stay and man Beas for the extra money. Aiden left a jersey out for her anyways in hopes she’d come. She texted him after the game. This might have been the night he devoured her and she took his virginity actually I might be out of order but after that they just fell into a steady rhythm. Ivy knew that Aiden was going to be leaving soon to go pro. But she just wanted to enjoy him while she could at this point. She had made friends with the boys in the house in a way. She would bake for them all, baking was her escape. The night after ivy took aidens virginity she woke up to him gone. He went and talked to coach. Ivy ran into raine and raine told her why she had gotten kicked out of the basement. Aiden had told Sydney to kick her out that it was unsafe for her. Ivy was pissed he took her control away from her. When she got home she started to yell at him in front of the others but he dragged her downstairs. They fought it out and then he ate her out as an appology and then they fell into tip toeing around each other. She confessed to him while she was at the library she had looked up her brother and had sent him a dm. And she sees he plays football now but that she misses Parker and would like to reconnect with him but had always been scared to. Aiden told her he was leaving for a weekend and couldn’t tell her where he was going. Ivy realized how much she missed him while he was gone. So when he came back she apologized and told him how she didn’t like control being taken from her. Aiden has a big game coming up. It’s against his old football team. It had been his dream team and he went there first but the players on the team hazed him out and that how he ended up at Lindon. He had always hated them for doing that to him but now he had ivy so he truly believed everything happens for a reason. Caleb drives ivy to work one day and tells her how Aiden has a lot on his plate with this game and she needs to start being more supportive instead of weighing him down. He suggests her going to the game against his old team. When ivy gets off work she asks Aiden who she has to blow to get a ride to the game, and then gives him a blowjob and he tells her he’ll drive them there. When they get there he disappears from the hotel room and she thinks he’s mad at her because she didn’t tell him she loved him when he had hinted at it in the car. But when she opens the hotel door expecting Aiden, it’s Parker, her brother. She finds out that when Aiden had left for the weekend with a couple of his buddies it had been to come talk to Parker. He had asked him if he’d want to ride with his parents and come to his game. Parker and ivy had a lot of catching up to do, over 4 years since she had seen him last. He told her how he was playing football now. How mom and dad got better after she left. And when they went downstairs she was greeted by the parents she had always wished were hers, aidens. They all went to the game together, Aiden played hard but he found himself distracted by ivy. He’d find himself checking the stands to watch her facial expressions, they lost against his old team and he took it hard. When him and ivy went back to the hotel room he fucked her hard and then told her to never let him do that again that he felt like he just used her like all those other guys and she told him it didn’t feel like that to her it felt like he needed her for releasing and she gave it to him. She told him to her that’s what love is and dont make it less than what it is. This was her way of telling him she loved him the best way she could. Ivy told him she wasn’t sure what love was she had never had a good example but she thought this is what it was. Wanting to be there for each other and to be needed by each other. After the game was thanksgiving. They all went back to the guys house. Ivy and aidens mom were baking together in the kitchen. Ivy had overheard aidens father tell him that morning that she’d be a distraction and his mother had told him not to think about those things that they believe in fate and for after all these years they ended up at the same place. The guys came back and they were all getting ready for thanksgiving dinner when a car pulled in the driver. Parker started apologizing and saying how he didn’t know they tracked his phone but they found him. Ivy’s parents were there. She instantly felt I’ll. She wasn’t ready to face them. That’s why she originally didn’t want to go to aidens parents for thanksgiving and it worked out for them to come here. She didn’t know what to say to them. She had wrote them a letter when she left of all the things she would achieve and how she would do better without them. And until then she didn’t plan on seeing them. But ivy didn’t feel like she’d done better. Sure she got her GED and she works at Beas and she has a roof over her head right now and she’s going to college, but it took her doing a lot of degrading things to get to this point, to survive. When they came in they started to lash out. Aiden told them there would be no fighting or they could leave. Parker took the blame for once and said how ivy had no idea that he was coming and when he told her he had lied to them she wasn’t happy with him so they couldn’t be mad at her. Ivy was so proud he finally took the blame. As kids ivy always took the blame for Parker’s wrong doings and he never backed her or ever took the blame so she was the chaos. Parker could do no wrong and that was part of why she left. The fighting between her parents was exhausting and the way her mother spoke to her was cruel. But Parker exhausted her too. She did everything to protect him but no one ever tried to protect her. Parker tells ivy her parents are finally getting divorced and they confirm that. Her mother confesses she always lashed out at ivy because of how miserable she was herself. How she didn’t have a degree or a job all she was was a mother. Ivy told her she didn’t want her excuses anymore and she didn’t want a relationship with either of her parents, she only wants one with Parker. Parker tells her they’ll stay in touch. They all leave. Ivy tells Aiden she decided she doesn’t want to stay at Lindon anymore, she wants to go wherever she goes. She realized college isn’t for her and what she really loves is baking. Aidens mom had helped her realize this during their talk. Aidens mom had always believed in ivy and her baking skills. Aiden couldn’t believe it and didn’t want to do that to her. She told him she wanted to be anywhere he was that she could bake anywhere she was. So when Aiden went pro; ivy went with him. She says how she didn’t try to become friends with the other pro wives. They always asked her when they were gonna have babies and what not and ivy wasn’t prepared for those decisions. Until after one of his games, Aiden told her to open the glove box and there was a box. And when she opened it was a simple and perfect ring that was so her. He told her they weren’t the romantic style so he said will you be my wife. Just while they were driving down the road. They bickered over how many kids they’d have someday and she told him yes she would be his wife but they’re only having 2 kids. Ivy had never been able to imagine herself settling down or becoming a mother but since Aiden she did see herself that way and couldn’t wait to do those things with him and start a life and family together. She had kept baking, and had a blog that made enough money to pay for her therapy sessions and some of the bills. She was going to therapy and getting better for herself and Aiden. There was a lot of character development in ivy throughout the book. At the beginning we know she still didn’t value her self worth, we know ivy had tried to kill herself when she was 18, we know throughout the book she would still consider self harm and didn’t trust herself around razors. And Aiden helped her with all that. He told her to ask for what she needed and he’d help the best he could. He made her feel like a person again. He made her gain confidence and self worth. She was letting her hair go back to its natural color she didn’t need to hide behind that control anymore. Aiden had saved her once again. He saved her as a girl when she’d crawl through his windows and then he saved her as an adult when he’d order half a muffin at beas so she could eat the other half. I really loved Aiden and ivy and I’m glad they never had like a real fight and falling out. They had their little bicker and their tip towing but she stayed living with him the whole time and Aiden knew what he needed to fix things, to give her back Parker. In which she still has a relationship with him in the epilogue. Her parents got divorced on Valentine’s Day but she still wished nothing to do with them. Her mother had confessed they had been called to the hospital and her and her father with on the way when she broke out. They were gonna bring her home. That was ivys hospital stay after she slit her wrists trying to kill herself and was 2 MM off. I am really excited to read the second book in the series and I think there will be more. I also get to meet this author June 10 so that’s exciting.
afternoon july 27th, 2023:
i don't think this book saw an editor
evening july 27th, 2023:
i cannot finish this. least healthy relationship ever. i never cared about the characters. so much slut shaming but in the weirdest way where everything contradicted itself. homophobia and also toxic masculinity af. had to delete from my online library so i'd never think about it again.
i don't think this book saw an editor
evening july 27th, 2023:
i cannot finish this. least healthy relationship ever. i never cared about the characters. so much slut shaming but in the weirdest way where everything contradicted itself. homophobia and also toxic masculinity af. had to delete from my online library so i'd never think about it again.
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Get ready to have your hearts broken and revived all in one book!
I read this twice on KU (and might go for a third reading) after I was sucked into the idea of meeting up with a long-lost friend. This is a heartwrenching story about a girl who ran away from home, the boy who refused to go with her, and the two of them coming back together in college. The characters experience so much pain and fear that brought me to tears on multiple occasions.
Tropes:
Second-Chance Romance
Teen Runaway
College Football Romance
Best-Friends-to-Lovers
I read this twice on KU (and might go for a third reading) after I was sucked into the idea of meeting up with a long-lost friend. This is a heartwrenching story about a girl who ran away from home, the boy who refused to go with her, and the two of them coming back together in college. The characters experience so much pain and fear that brought me to tears on multiple occasions.
Tropes:
Second-Chance Romance
Teen Runaway
College Football Romance
Best-Friends-to-Lovers
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
3.5
This was cute and got me out of my reading slump!
I needed something short, spicy, and an easy read and it did the trick.
Corny ending but tbh didn’t care bc now I’m back on my reading roll. Yay!
This was cute and got me out of my reading slump!
I needed something short, spicy, and an easy read and it did the trick.
Corny ending but tbh didn’t care bc now I’m back on my reading roll. Yay!
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes