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A review by allmadhere106
I Want You to Want Me by Erika Kelly
2.0
I enjoyed the first book and was excited to get a book about Derek. The book starts with Ben, Cooper, and Pete being out of hand with the partying and Derek at a loss to help them. In comes Violet, a "minder" who is hired to get them on the right track. I liked their tension in the beginning and how their intelligence was so well matched. I'm glad that the 3 members of the band wasn't a huge focus, but it did come up enough that I didn't enjoy the book as much. It was a lot of drama with those guys being rude/horrible, and there was more of it in the book than I wanted to see. I suppose it was realistic considering the discussions of addictions and the different levels that everyone was at, but it wasn't a feel good part of the read.
I also get that the point is that Derek is pushy/forward but that Violet is supposed to like it, but it pushes boundaries quite a bit. He doesn't take no for an answer in perusing her and cannot understand why she can't have a relationship with him because of her job. (He never pushes boundaries with having sex--there is consent.) If he believed in them so much, he would have tried to make it work long-distance instead of making her feel horrible for thinking of continuing to work. I understand that we are supposed to see the both of them grow from their separate insecurities, but a large portion of the book is him pushing and her trying to set boundaries. The ending was good, but a lot of the book made me go "ugh."
Like the first book, the pacing felt a bit off. The beginning showed a lot happening in a short period of time and it felt choppy. The ending was super drawn out with loads of angst. There could have been some more editing and/or exposition when needed. I'm not sure that I'll read the other books in the series, but the last 5% of the book did leave me with warm and fuzziness, which works to set up the rest of the series.
Tropes: m/f; super hot bass player in just-hitting-it-big band male meets sharp minded chameleon female; slow burn--there's A LOT of sexual tension until about 50% and then there's a lot of sexy times; crude language and sexy goodness; dealing with bad relations with parents; scenes featuring drugs and others having sex--witnessing the band go wild; miscommunication; discussion of her past in foster care and his physical abuse from his father.
Heat rating: HOT—sex scenes throughout with explicit language, which adds to the overall story and relationship.
I also get that the point is that Derek is pushy/forward but that Violet is supposed to like it, but it pushes boundaries quite a bit. He doesn't take no for an answer in perusing her and cannot understand why she can't have a relationship with him because of her job. (He never pushes boundaries with having sex--there is consent.) If he believed in them so much, he would have tried to make it work long-distance instead of making her feel horrible for thinking of continuing to work. I understand that we are supposed to see the both of them grow from their separate insecurities, but a large portion of the book is him pushing and her trying to set boundaries. The ending was good, but a lot of the book made me go "ugh."
Like the first book, the pacing felt a bit off. The beginning showed a lot happening in a short period of time and it felt choppy. The ending was super drawn out with loads of angst. There could have been some more editing and/or exposition when needed. I'm not sure that I'll read the other books in the series, but the last 5% of the book did leave me with warm and fuzziness, which works to set up the rest of the series.
Tropes: m/f; super hot bass player in just-hitting-it-big band male meets sharp minded chameleon female; slow burn--there's A LOT of sexual tension until about 50% and then there's a lot of sexy times; crude language and sexy goodness; dealing with bad relations with parents; scenes featuring drugs and others having sex--witnessing the band go wild; miscommunication; discussion of her past in foster care and his physical abuse from his father.
Heat rating: HOT—sex scenes throughout with explicit language, which adds to the overall story and relationship.