A review by fictionallysam
Diary of a Bad Boy by Meghan Quinn

3.0

Well this was a time.

Diary Of A Bad Boy is a new enemies to lovers standalone romance from author Meghan Quinn that follows the relationship of Roark McCool and Sutton Green. After a mishap at a hot dog joint both Sutton and Roark’s phones get accidentally switched and Sutton gets a taste of Roark’s personality as she tries to get her phone back and vows to have nothing to do with him after the exchange…that is until she finds out that her father has paired her up with the one and only McCool for his charity event in Texas. Forced to work together both Sutton and Roark take a journey of self discovery and as they spend more time together and their relationship builds they both realize not everything is as it appears to be.

As Enemies to Lovers is one of my favorite tropes out there, I enjoyed reading this; I truly did. However, this isn’t my favorite book from Quinn. The beginning was a little off-kilter and somewhat hard to get invested into as the dialogue and situations didn’t feel authentic/realistic to me. But, as the story went on and we got further into the relationship of Roark and Sutton, and got to know them more and why they respond the way they do to situations, I found myself easily slipping into the storyline and even craving to read more of it.

The book is told through a mixture of mediums, text, diary entries, and our normal dual POV prose– which works really well for the story that is trying to be told once you get past the rocky beginning. I don’t think I connected with any one character, but instead what drew me in was the connection between them. I loved the relationship Roark has with Sutton’s Father and the journey that Roark took throughout the book to face his past and inner demons. I enjoyed reading Roark’s asshole personality and found it refreshing that it wasn’t a sudden switch of him becoming this good guy once the chemistry became undeniable between him and Sutton–instead his hot Irish Alpha ways remained but we got to see the tender moments of this good guy inside the hard exterior which made me appreciate them that much more.

I really was not vibing Sutton in the beginning as she was coming as this Mary-Sue character and overall angel that does no wrong–but just like with everything else in this book I was pleasantly shocked that she had a lot of hidden depth within her. With more layers being pulled back I started to understand why she is the way she is, and just exactly her real personality is like. I loved how Roark challenged her in both the best and worst ways possible and really pushed and furthered her character development like she did with him.

Overall I really enjoyed my time reading this even with the super rocky start. Roark and Sutton’s chemistry alone is something to stick it out for and I recommend this to anyone who enjoys an alpha romance with a huge dose of steamy enemy tension!

ARC provided by Inkslinger PR in exchange for my honest review. Quotations taken from an uncorrected proof and may change upon final publication. Graphics and Promotional used with permission from Inkslinger PR.