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bookish_notes's review
5.0
This review is also posted on my blog.
Well, this is just embarrassing. I probably cried while reading this entire book, because it's just...the END you know? I was just an emotionally mess because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to any of these characters yet, and this send off was just PERFECT. I absolutely loved Hate to Want You and Wrong to Need You and now we have everything coming together, and just UGH. I couldn't handle how well everything came together and giving everyone a happy ending and don't even get me started on the revelations. Because oh boy. What came out of this book was a total shocker.
Apologies if this review is an incoherent mess, because...y'know. FEELS. <3
We've met these characters in the previous books. Gabe is the owner of a tattoo shop Livvy works at. He was best friends with Paul (*sobs*) and when the break happened between the Kanes and the Chandlers, he had to choose a side. And he sided with the Kanes. Eve Chandler was young when everything went down. Gabe never saw Eve has anything but a kid back then, but now? Eve is now a woman and Gabe turns into a puddle of goo when he comes face-to-face with Eve again. He's just so soft and precious...
I will say that the beginning where Eve was staying true to character and being stalkery and creepy undercover was...well, creepy. I was just glad to move past those scenes because as much as I love Gabe and Eve being together as the endgame, I'm not sure I liked how that whole car service stalker thing happened.
This story is well-written. You can feel the sexual tension radiating off the page. Gabe is the guy Eve has always had a crush on, and Gabe finds Eve very attractive but worries about their age difference. I love their interactions and their will-they/won't-they status in this book. I found it heart-wrenching that they were keeping one another apart and just wanted them to admit how much they liked each other. <3
There's revelations in this book that I was not expecting. I thought there were just some things about the past that we were never going to find out. But then we DID and it's a real gasp out loud situation. I admit it, I was shocked. And then things just kept happening. I live for drama, apparently, so I love how everything just...came out in this book.
Any mention of Paul will just break my heart. Never mind that he was never actually a character who was alive at any point in this series, but anytime anyone brings up Paul, I get teary eyed.
I especially loved seeing the previous couples again. Livvy and Nicholas are just darling and Sadia and Jackson are downright precious. I don't know what more there is to say. I loved this book and how it fits in the overall series. It's a goodbye and I think Alisha Rai does a fantastic job closing the series out. I love that this series gave us the most brilliant women and the most lovely men. It's been a thrilling tale from beginning-to-end with ups and downs, filled with laughs and tears along the way. And I loved every moment of it.
***Thank you to Avon for providing me with an e-ARC of this book from Edelweiss***
Well, this is just embarrassing. I probably cried while reading this entire book, because it's just...the END you know? I was just an emotionally mess because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to any of these characters yet, and this send off was just PERFECT. I absolutely loved Hate to Want You and Wrong to Need You and now we have everything coming together, and just UGH. I couldn't handle how well everything came together and giving everyone a happy ending and don't even get me started on the revelations. Because oh boy. What came out of this book was a total shocker.
Apologies if this review is an incoherent mess, because...y'know. FEELS. <3
We've met these characters in the previous books. Gabe is the owner of a tattoo shop Livvy works at. He was best friends with Paul (*sobs*) and when the break happened between the Kanes and the Chandlers, he had to choose a side. And he sided with the Kanes. Eve Chandler was young when everything went down. Gabe never saw Eve has anything but a kid back then, but now? Eve is now a woman and Gabe turns into a puddle of goo when he comes face-to-face with Eve again. He's just so soft and precious...
I will say that the beginning where Eve was staying true to character and being stalkery and creepy undercover was...well, creepy. I was just glad to move past those scenes because as much as I love Gabe and Eve being together as the endgame, I'm not sure I liked how that whole car service stalker thing happened.
"There's a difference between being alone and not being surrounded by people."The main story is that it's Livvy and Nicholas' wedding, and everything that can go wrong, HAS gone wrong. Everyone in the wedding party was supposed to arrive early and spend the week getting ready for the big wedding day. WELL. It turns out that only Gabe and Eve are the ones who arrive at the house early, and you guys know how I feel about couples being forced to live in such close capacity with almost nobody around (I like it a lot).
This story is well-written. You can feel the sexual tension radiating off the page. Gabe is the guy Eve has always had a crush on, and Gabe finds Eve very attractive but worries about their age difference. I love their interactions and their will-they/won't-they status in this book. I found it heart-wrenching that they were keeping one another apart and just wanted them to admit how much they liked each other. <3
There's revelations in this book that I was not expecting. I thought there were just some things about the past that we were never going to find out. But then we DID and it's a real gasp out loud situation. I admit it, I was shocked. And then things just kept happening. I live for drama, apparently, so I love how everything just...came out in this book.
Any mention of Paul will just break my heart. Never mind that he was never actually a character who was alive at any point in this series, but anytime anyone brings up Paul, I get teary eyed.
I especially loved seeing the previous couples again. Livvy and Nicholas are just darling and Sadia and Jackson are downright precious. I don't know what more there is to say. I loved this book and how it fits in the overall series. It's a goodbye and I think Alisha Rai does a fantastic job closing the series out. I love that this series gave us the most brilliant women and the most lovely men. It's been a thrilling tale from beginning-to-end with ups and downs, filled with laughs and tears along the way. And I loved every moment of it.
***Thank you to Avon for providing me with an e-ARC of this book from Edelweiss***
allmadhere106's review
5.0
I'm so sad this series had to end, but it ends on such a good note! Eve and Gabe have such good chemistry in this book and we get to learn all the family drama secrets. I can see some readers thinking the plot/secrets to be a bit contrived--everything does fall into place and there are quite a few prominent tropes--but I think that's part of the fun. I love the author's note at the end too and about how the goal of the series was to promote hope in seemingly impossible situations. I look forward to reading the rest of the books from this author and seeing what's next. I highly recommend this series!
Tropes: m/f; working-class male with ridiculously rich female; animated extroverted tattooed male and reserved emotionally-stunted female; childhood acquaintances to lovers; semi-slow burn; crude language and sexy goodness throughout; issues with biological parents on both sides; dealing with abandonment, neglect, and emotional abuse; racially diverse couple--she's Greek/European, he's White/Hawaiian; he's adopted and has intimacy issues; she's learning how to open up and have feelings after years of emotional abuse
Heat rating: HOT—sex scenes throughout with explicit language, which adds to the overall story and relationship.
Tropes: m/f; working-class male with ridiculously rich female; animated extroverted tattooed male and reserved emotionally-stunted female; childhood acquaintances to lovers; semi-slow burn; crude language and sexy goodness throughout; issues with biological parents on both sides; dealing with abandonment, neglect, and emotional abuse; racially diverse couple--she's Greek/European, he's White/Hawaiian; he's adopted and has intimacy issues; she's learning how to open up and have feelings after years of emotional abuse
Heat rating: HOT—sex scenes throughout with explicit language, which adds to the overall story and relationship.
amandaexe's review
4.0
Probably a 3.5, rounding up because of how much I like this world. This one is hard to rate because while the last 30% was amazing, the rest was a little... boring, unfortunately. The main issue for me was that I didn't really click with the characters until the very end (especially Eve. I didn't like her that much in previous books, and it was hard to be in her head at first, but luckily she grew a lot towards the end). The romance was okay, I guess, but nowhere near as good as the ones in the previous books. Idk, something was missing in this one for me, but I still enjoyed it.
lanidacey's review
3.0
3.5, to be honest.
The romance in this one didn't really do it for me, which is SUCH a disappointment because I love the rich girl/poor boy, opposite-side-of-the-tracks trope. I just didn't feel any chemistry between Gabe and Eve, so I didn't really care whether they ended up together.
She spent the beginning of the book being a creep and lightly stalking him. He kept insisting was only looking for a fun time, not anything lasting. IDK ... they both spent so much time harping on why they wouldn't work that I guess I believed them. Hence, why I was able to put this book down for a whole week with no problem.
Everything else in this book, though, was so great. As always, I loved all the family drama. The dysfunction among and between the Chandlers and Oka-Kanes was so well done throughout the entire series. This book dealt with the culmination of the families' healing rift and how everyone had grown from it, and I loved it. There are more family secrets being reveled, and what's more, Alisha Rai never just straight out tells the reader what's going on; instead, the full mess is reveled slowly and in pieces. It was engrossing to read.
As always, I really love how she handles the mental health stuff. Eve has to learn to be brave, to validate and stick up for herself, and that's stuff I'm still trying to work on. I loved what Rai said about taking risks; that how, ultimately, no matter how badly you're hurt, you will survive. The woman nearly talked me into getting a turtle tattoo! 🐢
Overall, a strong end to a great series. I enjoyed this book as a family drama, even if I didn't love the romance.
The romance in this one didn't really do it for me, which is SUCH a disappointment because I love the rich girl/poor boy, opposite-side-of-the-tracks trope. I just didn't feel any chemistry between Gabe and Eve, so I didn't really care whether they ended up together.
She spent the beginning of the book being a creep and lightly stalking him. He kept insisting was only looking for a fun time, not anything lasting. IDK ... they both spent so much time harping on why they wouldn't work that I guess I believed them. Hence, why I was able to put this book down for a whole week with no problem.
Everything else in this book, though, was so great. As always, I loved all the family drama. The dysfunction among and between the Chandlers and Oka-Kanes was so well done throughout the entire series. This book dealt with the culmination of the families' healing rift and how everyone had grown from it, and I loved it. There are more family secrets being reveled, and what's more, Alisha Rai never just straight out tells the reader what's going on; instead, the full mess is reveled slowly and in pieces. It was engrossing to read.
As always, I really love how she handles the mental health stuff. Eve has to learn to be brave, to validate and stick up for herself, and that's stuff I'm still trying to work on. I loved what Rai said about taking risks; that how, ultimately, no matter how badly you're hurt, you will survive. The woman nearly talked me into getting a turtle tattoo! 🐢
Overall, a strong end to a great series. I enjoyed this book as a family drama, even if I didn't love the romance.
readerpants's review
4.0
THE EPILOGUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(does this mean we won't get a Maile novella? Please, please can we have one of those too? Also one for Rhiannon?)
(does this mean we won't get a Maile novella? Please, please can we have one of those too? Also one for Rhiannon?)
mindfullibrarian's review
5.0
AHHHHH! My favorite in the series 😍 so many loose ends tied up and so many happy dreamy couples ❤️ Definitely one of my favorite romance trilogies.
littlemisscass's review
3.0
Well-written, mildly-engaging book with likeable, relatable characters. I think its biggest issue was that it tried to involve too many (unnecessary) characters and it was just a bit much to keep track of when they weren't integral to the plot (in retrospect, this is part of a series and maybe they were important in previous books?). Not a favourite but not disliked.
pn_hinton's review against another edition
5.0
I really was totally on the fence about starting this series due to how much it was hyped up, but I am really glad I gave it a chance. This series got better with each novel, and this one was my favorite by far. Maybe because I have a soft spot for really tall heroes but whatever the reason this one just really sealed the deal for me and I thought it was a wonderful way to end the series.
I admit that the revelations that were revealed here were not exactly what I was expecting so I was surprised by all of those. One of the strongest themes in these books was the idea of family and what that means. It is also not even only the family that you are born into but the family that you make along the way and how strong those bonds can be. There were a few scenes here that made me tear up as it showed the ways our families, specifically our parents, can harm or heal us and that there can be others there to pick up the pieces.
I also enjoyed Gabe and Eve's relationship and how it progressed. I don't feel it was too fast or too slow and their love scenes were extremely hot! Like, fan-worthy, tall cold glass of water hot. But it didn't drive the story which I really liked since, as much as I enjoyed the other two volumes, I feel that it was the sex that drove most of the story. To be fair those, in the first one it had been an established relationship that broke up because of a meddling father, and the second one they were friends and there was a bit of a taboo about their relationship. So, in a sense this is the only one where the hero and heroine had to get to know each other outside of the box they had assigned each other to earlier in life.
I heartily recommend all three books and I may end up buying these for myself at some point since they were all library loans since I am 'bookin' on a budget', and if I do this will, hands down, be the one that will be the most read. All the thumbs up for this one!!
I admit that the revelations that were revealed here were not exactly what I was expecting so I was surprised by all of those. One of the strongest themes in these books was the idea of family and what that means. It is also not even only the family that you are born into but the family that you make along the way and how strong those bonds can be. There were a few scenes here that made me tear up as it showed the ways our families, specifically our parents, can harm or heal us and that there can be others there to pick up the pieces.
I also enjoyed Gabe and Eve's relationship and how it progressed. I don't feel it was too fast or too slow and their love scenes were extremely hot! Like, fan-worthy, tall cold glass of water hot. But it didn't drive the story which I really liked since, as much as I enjoyed the other two volumes, I feel that it was the sex that drove most of the story. To be fair those, in the first one it had been an established relationship that broke up because of a meddling father, and the second one they were friends and there was a bit of a taboo about their relationship. So, in a sense this is the only one where the hero and heroine had to get to know each other outside of the box they had assigned each other to earlier in life.
I heartily recommend all three books and I may end up buying these for myself at some point since they were all library loans since I am 'bookin' on a budget', and if I do this will, hands down, be the one that will be the most read. All the thumbs up for this one!!
readingwithhippos's review
5.0
Read the whole thing in a day. Alisha Rai is the queen. Contemporary romance isn’t really my jam—I much prefer my love stories to be set in a different time in history or in a fantasy world. However, I will make all the exceptions for Alisha Rai. This series is the ultimate comfort read. They’re the books you pick up when you need to see realistically messed up characters get their happy ending. Usually with contemporary romance I get taken out of the story by unrealistic situations or cringey dialogue, but Rai’s characters always ring true for me. This book is about Eve, the buttoned-up, socially anxious daughter of the Chandler fortune, and Gabe, a hulking, red-headed tattoo artist. They’ve had some awkward encounters in the past and there are unspoken feelings on both sides, but now they’re in a wedding party together. Eve and Gabe show up at a mansion upstate for a week’s worth of festivities, but oops—turns out due to scheduling conflicts, they’re going to have some time to themselves. What will happen, I wonder? ;)