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A review by jordanbates91
Tonic by Staci Hart
5.0
The Best Parts:
A lot of the times people think when you read romance novels that you won’t find a backstory, you won’t find history, you won’t find a storyline that will sink into your soul and consume you. Well, if you think that then this book will prove you wrong.
Annika and Joel’s story is such a refreshing one to read. It’s not just because they are hot for each other, but don’t get me wrong, that’s pretty awesome too, no it’s because they both literally have the same damn stubborn personality. When these two get together they clash, but then again they compliment each other in a way that I have never read before. These characters souls, and yes I know they are fictional people, but they have souls too!, are magical in the fact that they call to one another. Even in their time of need and hate they are still bound together. The bear and the fox.
If you have read one of Staci’s other books, Last Call, you got to see a glimpse at Joel, well what I love is that even with that glimpse you still don’t get his full story, and it’s not fully that Joel tells it form his perspective, but we get his story through Annika’s perspective, and get to see the emotion behind that. It’s so different for Annika’s story though. Annika tells it in pieces, but her parents are the ones who glue the whole story together. That right there it what I love most. The history behind who Annika’s character is and how that history makes her, her. Getting to see her parent’s and their love for each other and their wisdom shinned down on Annika and Joel was truly humbling to read. It is moments like this that when reading you realize that romance novels don’t just have to be fiction, that they can be real. That this can be someones life out there in the world. Sitting with someone they truly care about and listening to their parent’s story in life.
This. This is what an amazing story is supposed to be like, and trust me when I say that this will move you. Not in the, I’m going to change my life and the way I look at things, no. It will move you in the sense that you find peace in the realization that who you are and the things you do impact everyone in your life. That every decision you make has a consequence and that sometimes those consequences can be bad, but sometimes they can also be good. This is a book that will make you look at life and go damn, I’m actually doing pretty well for myself, and I actually have my shit together.
The Worst Parts:
Now for the not so fun part to tell you all. This book will make you hate characters. Not just like oh I am only mad at them for a chapter. No. Like I’m pretty sure I wanted to kill and disown Annika AND Joel for almost the entire book, but not for reasons you would think, and here is why I think some of you may not like them either, but that is ok, because you will also love them so much.
Annika is an independent woman who doesn’t need a man to lean on, and is head strong in her career. Remind of you anyone? Annika is the women of today. I will even say it myself, I am driven in my work. But why would that make me hate her you ask? Because when reading this story and seeing the choices Annika makes, I see a lot of myself in her. I see a lot of the women in the world in her, and I hated the choices she made, because I knew I would have made the exact same ones. I would have made those hard choices that people would have judged me for, but so would you. So when you are reading this book and you think WTF is she doing, step back and look at the choices you made to get where you are in your lief and career, and tell me you wouldn’t have done the same.
Now for Joel and his little indiscretions, well, we’ve all been there. We have all lied to ourselves and the ones we care about to save face. To save the hearts of everyone else, while destroying our own. Yes I want to kill him, and slap him, but Ic an’t because I’ve done the same thing. I’ve said no, it’s all fine, when it hasn’t been.
I looked back on these characters and realized that even though I hated them so much for their decision in life, that I couldn’t help but love them that much more. These characters had flaws, not just one or two, no they had real human flaws, and that is a hard thing to accomplish. You will absolutely love to hate these characters.
Final Thoughts:
This book was beyond what I expected to get. I know I was going to get fun, sassy, and sexy, but I didn’t expect to get feelings, all the freaking feelings, and not just about Annika and Joel together, no, but things just about them separately. I found myself laughing at not just funny parts, but funny personality traits, and I found myself crying at a random ass part to this book that literally was just so random and awesome all at the same time.
Staci outdid herself with these two, and the fact that it was done with such grace that allows you into BOTH Annika and Joel’s mind is just ten times better.
A lot of the times people think when you read romance novels that you won’t find a backstory, you won’t find history, you won’t find a storyline that will sink into your soul and consume you. Well, if you think that then this book will prove you wrong.
Annika and Joel’s story is such a refreshing one to read. It’s not just because they are hot for each other, but don’t get me wrong, that’s pretty awesome too, no it’s because they both literally have the same damn stubborn personality. When these two get together they clash, but then again they compliment each other in a way that I have never read before. These characters souls, and yes I know they are fictional people, but they have souls too!, are magical in the fact that they call to one another. Even in their time of need and hate they are still bound together. The bear and the fox.
If you have read one of Staci’s other books, Last Call, you got to see a glimpse at Joel, well what I love is that even with that glimpse you still don’t get his full story, and it’s not fully that Joel tells it form his perspective, but we get his story through Annika’s perspective, and get to see the emotion behind that. It’s so different for Annika’s story though. Annika tells it in pieces, but her parents are the ones who glue the whole story together. That right there it what I love most. The history behind who Annika’s character is and how that history makes her, her. Getting to see her parent’s and their love for each other and their wisdom shinned down on Annika and Joel was truly humbling to read. It is moments like this that when reading you realize that romance novels don’t just have to be fiction, that they can be real. That this can be someones life out there in the world. Sitting with someone they truly care about and listening to their parent’s story in life.
This. This is what an amazing story is supposed to be like, and trust me when I say that this will move you. Not in the, I’m going to change my life and the way I look at things, no. It will move you in the sense that you find peace in the realization that who you are and the things you do impact everyone in your life. That every decision you make has a consequence and that sometimes those consequences can be bad, but sometimes they can also be good. This is a book that will make you look at life and go damn, I’m actually doing pretty well for myself, and I actually have my shit together.
The Worst Parts:
Now for the not so fun part to tell you all. This book will make you hate characters. Not just like oh I am only mad at them for a chapter. No. Like I’m pretty sure I wanted to kill and disown Annika AND Joel for almost the entire book, but not for reasons you would think, and here is why I think some of you may not like them either, but that is ok, because you will also love them so much.
Annika is an independent woman who doesn’t need a man to lean on, and is head strong in her career. Remind of you anyone? Annika is the women of today. I will even say it myself, I am driven in my work. But why would that make me hate her you ask? Because when reading this story and seeing the choices Annika makes, I see a lot of myself in her. I see a lot of the women in the world in her, and I hated the choices she made, because I knew I would have made the exact same ones. I would have made those hard choices that people would have judged me for, but so would you. So when you are reading this book and you think WTF is she doing, step back and look at the choices you made to get where you are in your lief and career, and tell me you wouldn’t have done the same.
Now for Joel and his little indiscretions, well, we’ve all been there. We have all lied to ourselves and the ones we care about to save face. To save the hearts of everyone else, while destroying our own. Yes I want to kill him, and slap him, but Ic an’t because I’ve done the same thing. I’ve said no, it’s all fine, when it hasn’t been.
I looked back on these characters and realized that even though I hated them so much for their decision in life, that I couldn’t help but love them that much more. These characters had flaws, not just one or two, no they had real human flaws, and that is a hard thing to accomplish. You will absolutely love to hate these characters.
Final Thoughts:
This book was beyond what I expected to get. I know I was going to get fun, sassy, and sexy, but I didn’t expect to get feelings, all the freaking feelings, and not just about Annika and Joel together, no, but things just about them separately. I found myself laughing at not just funny parts, but funny personality traits, and I found myself crying at a random ass part to this book that literally was just so random and awesome all at the same time.
Staci outdid herself with these two, and the fact that it was done with such grace that allows you into BOTH Annika and Joel’s mind is just ten times better.