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rykemeqdows's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
gerireads's review against another edition
2.0
Like I said in my pre-review I loved this series and its characters but for some reason, I just didn't feel this one.
I have to admit I was nervous about starting this because of the hype surrounding the identity of the heroine. The whole secrecy felt like a gimmick to me and I hate gimmick. I'd rather be told straight up. No BS whatsoever. My personal opinion (even though it's worth shit, I'm still going to give it anyway) is it should have been revealed earlier. That would give people time to deal with whatever issues they have with it not being Heidi or what. But whatever. Since I'm not the author and that ship has sailed, the point is moot but I digress.
There were parts that I really enjoyed while others left me scratching my head. In the end, the issues I had overshadowed my enjoyment. I wish I loved it more, I really do.
I enjoyed the cameos very much. And this is the book where I realized how amazing Jake is in his normalcy. That boy is a rock. He's probably McLean's most underrated hero and I'd love nothing more than revisit his book one of these days.
Another I enjoyed was Cam and Lucy. Obviously. It's no secret that their book is my favorite and still is. These two are still hilarious and provided a much needed lightheartedness to Dylan and Riley's story. I also enjoyed the pranks and Mal and Eric and Sydney. I enjoyed the humor and the friendship these guys have.
But beyond that, this book just didn't do anything for me. My lukewarm enjoyment for this book has nothing to do with the choice of heroine. I liked that it wasn't Heidi. Sorry Heidi fans but she never registered on my radar. I found her to be self-absorbed. And as much as I love second-chance love stories, I also believe that our first love isn't always our forever love. I wanted someone different for Dylan.
My issue was there was no build-up to Riley at all.She was Dylan's neighbor so Dylan knows her. Aside from that, we didn't get a lot of who she was to Dylan before the events in this book. Instead, we were given her sob story and the reason why she was this broken character. IMO, I think you can make the character sympathetic without giving her a very tragic background. I wanted to know her as Riley, the girl next door. Not just Riley, the broken alcoholic whose boyfriend got killed.
The first half of the book was slow and consisted mostly of Dylan sleeping in Riley's bed or staring at Riley while Riley drinks herself to a stupor.Don't worry, Dylan thinks Riley is still stinking cute. The second half is where the action was.
My second issue were the inconsistencies. So many character and narrative inconsistencies it's not even funny.Riley's mom, for instance. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry but is she for real? She knew her daughter was an alcoholic. She enabled her alcoholism and then suddenly, she became this wise earth mother who cares about Riley and Dylan. Umm, what? Did I miss the part where she had a personality transplant because I didn't get that.
I was so confused. And the wholealcoholism thing was, again, inconsistent. Her being an alcoholic was hardly an issue to Dylan and her mom in the first quarter of the book. But in the second part of the book, it was suddenly an issue and suddenly, she calls herself a recovering alcoholic. I missed the part where she admitted she had a problem and got herself a much needed help. But I guess, Dylan and twu wuv cured her of that. I dunno.
The same thing happened with Dylan's PTSD. One session with a psychology student and he's suddenly healed. Okay. Maybe I should start taking on clients now since I have a master's degree in psychology.
Look, I get that this is fiction but this was set in a contemporary world. If you consider the tragedies these characters went through as real and true, then why not make the solution to these problems also real and true. Some things you can get away with but making light of such a serious condition just didn't sit well with me.
And lastly, I'm just over the overly tragic character back stories that everyone in this series seems to have. Except maybe Jake. Like I said, with every book, the characters has to have the sobbest, brokenest, most tragic life ever to be considered interesting. Riley lost her boyfriend in a freak accident. She felt guilty because she was there. She survived; he didn't. Not only that, she had to lose it, destroy other people's businesses along the way, gets house arrest, and become an alcoholic. Same with Dylan. Not only did he get shot at, he had to watch his best friend take his life, etc. It's like a freaking competition. I'm over it.
For what it's worth, this series still remains as one of my faves. I will always be grateful for Jay McLean for giving us these characters. Sorry, I just couldn't love this one as much as the others.
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
I have to admit I was nervous about starting this because of the hype surrounding the identity of the heroine. The whole secrecy felt like a gimmick to me and I hate gimmick. I'd rather be told straight up. No BS whatsoever. My personal opinion (even though it's worth shit, I'm still going to give it anyway) is it should have been revealed earlier. That would give people time to deal with whatever issues they have with it not being Heidi or what. But whatever. Since I'm not the author and that ship has sailed, the point is moot but I digress.
There were parts that I really enjoyed while others left me scratching my head. In the end, the issues I had overshadowed my enjoyment. I wish I loved it more, I really do.
I enjoyed the cameos very much. And this is the book where I realized how amazing Jake is in his normalcy. That boy is a rock. He's probably McLean's most underrated hero and I'd love nothing more than revisit his book one of these days.
Another I enjoyed was Cam and Lucy. Obviously. It's no secret that their book is my favorite and still is. These two are still hilarious and provided a much needed lightheartedness to Dylan and Riley's story. I also enjoyed the pranks and Mal and Eric and Sydney. I enjoyed the humor and the friendship these guys have.
But beyond that, this book just didn't do anything for me. My lukewarm enjoyment for this book has nothing to do with the choice of heroine. I liked that it wasn't Heidi. Sorry Heidi fans but she never registered on my radar. I found her to be self-absorbed. And as much as I love second-chance love stories, I also believe that our first love isn't always our forever love. I wanted someone different for Dylan.
My issue was there was no build-up to Riley at all.
The first half of the book was slow and consisted mostly of Dylan sleeping in Riley's bed or staring at Riley while Riley drinks herself to a stupor.
My second issue were the inconsistencies. So many character and narrative inconsistencies it's not even funny.
I was so confused. And the whole
The same thing happened with Dylan's PTSD. One session with a psychology student and he's suddenly healed. Okay. Maybe I should start taking on clients now since I have a master's degree in psychology.
Look, I get that this is fiction but this was set in a contemporary world. If you consider the tragedies these characters went through as real and true, then why not make the solution to these problems also real and true. Some things you can get away with but making light of such a serious condition just didn't sit well with me.
And lastly, I'm just over the overly tragic character back stories that everyone in this series seems to have. Except maybe Jake. Like I said, with every book, the characters has to have the sobbest, brokenest, most tragic life ever to be considered interesting.
For what it's worth, this series still remains as one of my faves. I will always be grateful for Jay McLean for giving us these characters. Sorry, I just couldn't love this one as much as the others.
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
phuong's review against another edition
2.0
Unpopular opinion:
I struggled with this book so much. But I would say that to every book that came after [b:More Than Forever|18628601|More Than Forever (More Than, #4)|Jay McLean|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398578431s/18628601.jpg|26419682]. Honestly, I only read this book, because I missed Lucy & Cameron so much and wanted to catch up with the gang, therefore my expectations weren't too high to begin with. The book itself is not even bad, but I think I'm just done with all the drama and sad background stories. Even though I love the series, each book gets sadder and sadder and now it feels like a competition of who delivers the most heartbreaking story. Can't they be happy for once in their life?
This quote from the book best describes my feeling reading 'More Than Enough':
Part I: The Falling
I didn't really connect with Dylan or Riley, mainly because we don't know a lot about Dylan from the previous book. He is more the broody-quiet type of guy who is part of a group, but more in the background watching. Riley is a new character we haven't met and Dylan's neighbor. So in Part I, we get to know Riley better and why she is the way she is now,hiding in her room and drinking all day long . Dylan is home from the marines for a while and wants to help Riley because he feels a connection to her. Not much is happening in that part expect Dylan visiting Riley every day, sleeping in her bed and watching her. We see some funny scenes with the gang which I really loved! Lucy & Cam are still crazy as ever and their scenes were always hilarious (where is their second book as a married couple?). The first half of the book wasn't too bad, I didn't care too much about Dylan & Riley's romance but didn't feel the need to DNF the book. Therefore, I would give it 3 solid stars.
Part II: The Breaking
That was the turning point when the book didn't work for me. Dylan came home again afterhis best friend and teammate Dave committed suicide. He's feeling angry, mad and is pushing Riley away. I do understand that he is grieving, but the way he treated Riley? I'm sorry but I got so angry and pissed at him. Riley was always the supportive girlfriend, waiting for him at home while he was serving the country. She did not deserve to be treated like that. Maybe because I didn't connect with Dylan, every mean thing he did pissed me off so much. After a while, I got super angry with Riley as well because she was not standing up for herself and let Dylan get away with everything. I was skipping a lot of their scenes together because I couldn't read it without throwing my kindle across the room. Not going to lie, I only pushed through the book because of the scenes with the gang. Those scenes were the only bright spots in Part II and made me smile. Urg I'm sorry but I'm not done with my rant.. there were so many things that annoyed me. Why did Riley forgive him so easily? He was pushing her away because he didn't know how to deal with the anger and grief and wanted her to hate him, which didn't work out cause she actually understood what he was going through. But I did not. I needed a lot more groveling. I would give Part II 1 star, it was really bad. Luckily Part II wasn't as long as Part I, therefore this book still gets an overall 2 stars.
I struggled with this book so much. But I would say that to every book that came after [b:More Than Forever|18628601|More Than Forever (More Than, #4)|Jay McLean|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398578431s/18628601.jpg|26419682]. Honestly, I only read this book, because I missed Lucy & Cameron so much and wanted to catch up with the gang, therefore my expectations weren't too high to begin with. The book itself is not even bad, but I think I'm just done with all the drama and sad background stories. Even though I love the series, each book gets sadder and sadder and now it feels like a competition of who delivers the most heartbreaking story. Can't they be happy for once in their life?
This quote from the book best describes my feeling reading 'More Than Enough':
I’m sick of crying.
I’m sick of wiping away the tears.
I’m sick of hurting.
I’m sick of not finding a solution to the pain.
I’m sick of all of it.
Part I: The Falling
I didn't really connect with Dylan or Riley, mainly because we don't know a lot about Dylan from the previous book. He is more the broody-quiet type of guy who is part of a group, but more in the background watching. Riley is a new character we haven't met and Dylan's neighbor. So in Part I, we get to know Riley better and why she is the way she is now,
Part II: The Breaking
That was the turning point when the book didn't work for me. Dylan came home again after
ajsabajramovic's review against another edition
Not gonna lie, i was hella surprised to see 'riley' writen on the first page. Bc who the hell is rilwy? Where the hell's heidi? Im currently on p100 and im starting to...get it. Kinda. And i ship them. Kinda. The Dylan Heidi knew is not the Dylan he is now. And that's okay, sometimes people grow apart in order to grow as themselves. From what I saw in the previous books, he always sacrificed his dreams, so Heidi could dream. Until he didn't.
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