Author: Liz Reinhardt, Steph Campbell
Release Date: August 9th 2012
Add it: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Nineteen-year-old Whit Conrad leaves her conservative Pennsylvania home for sunny California, looking for independence, a fresh start, and a place to stash her grief. She promptly finds a job at a tattoo parlor, a craptastic first apartment, and one friend—Ryan—who is a little less friend, a little more benefits.All right, so what can I say. It was a light read and I pretty much enjoyed it the whole way through. I thought the flirty behaviour between Deo and Whit was sizzling and the way they first got together was both sweet and exciting.
Deo Beckett is a soulful surfer with a passion for tattoos and beautiful women. On the eve of his twenty-second birthday, he finds himself living with his grandfather, recently unemployed, and seriously adrift. He doesn’t know much about what he wants out of life, but he does know his current situation isn't cutting it.
When Deo meets Whit, she’s all sexy makeup and fierce, smart-ass fun. It doesn’t take him long to see past her tough shell. And when he gets a good look at what's under all the superficial stuff that usually gets his attention, it leaves Deo wondering if there might be more to life than living fast and free.
Too bad Whit has a past she doesn't plan on sharing—no matter how hot Deo is. She might want him, but she knows better than to let her guard down.
Deo falls for Whit, and falls hard. But everything about her, down to that mysterious tattoo and the way she thrashes in her sleep, tells him that the girl he loves is hiding something. And the more he pushes for answers, the more Whit pulls away.
Having your guard up is one thing, but are the lengths Whit goes to to protect her secret worth throwing away the second chance she has at happiness with Deo? Contains mature themes, sexual situations and language.
“Seriously, Whit? I’m considering growing out my toenails so I can get a better grip on the edge of the mattress. I have, like, six inches top. You sleep like a bus wreck.”
Characters. Whit is trying to figure out her life since it took a very wrong turn at one point and now she's trying her hardest to fix things for herself. She blames herself for something terrible and cannot seem to be able to forget it. So she travels all the way to California to set up a new life. Whit has left her parents, is in a 'no strings attached' relationship and attends college without having a major. She's all about living the life to the fullest because she learned her lesson that life is freaking short and it can end at any minute.
Deo is a free spirit. The book begins with his 22 birthday. He doesn't work nor does he study. What Deo does is surf, smoke weed and casual dates with different girls. He kind of has this 'I know I can't make it, so why bother' attitude. Oh, and he's got the coolest Mom (Marigold - what an awesome name that is). She's like a hippie or something. A true nature's child. She gives some of the best advice and I love her caring, free, fun personality. Rocko - Whit's boss (at a tattoo shop where Deo and Whit first meet) and Marigold's boyfriend is also pretty darn awesome and I enjoyed his scenes very much.
There were two characters that caught my eye in addition to the already mentioned ones - Cohen and Deo's Grandfather. Ha. His Grandpa made me smile on so many occasions, he was a cool dude and I think anyone would be delighted to have him as a Granddad. Cohen (brings back memories of Seth freaking Cohen, ugh, loved his character on the O.C.) is Deo's best friend and I gathered that they've been through some of the crazyest things together and it's fun to see such bromance. I'm all about #teambromance. Cohen cracked me up so many times. Like literally he made me laugh for minutes. And it warmed my heart how supportive he was with his words and still managed to be a man through it all. That dude has got some skills, I tell ya.
“If I were Deo Beckett, what would I do?” He studies the bottle in his hand. “Well, I wouldn’t be a fucking bum, first of all. I’d crawl under my bed and pull out all those gold coins I’d been hoarding like Gollum—”
“Is this another Lord of the Rings reference?” I groan.
“If you’d read Tolkien, like I did, maybe you wouldn’t be the unmotivated loser you are today,” Cohen observes.
“Dude, you run your parents’ furniture store,” I point out.
Plot. So I liked the characters. That much I can say. I even liked the plot. It was intriguing, thrilling, sweet, sad, very emotional and yeah, I enjoyed it. Mostly. What I didn't enjoy was the progress of Deo and Whit's relationship. They like each other. They go out. They fight. They're friends. They flirt. They start seeing each other (for two weeks). They have a huge fight over nothing (or sometimes over the secrets Whit's hiding). They break up. They ignore each other. They make up. They break up. They make up. They break up. Repeat cycle. It was like a neverending catastrophe. However, even if it did bother me a little, there were still some of the sweetest, sexiest, most amazing and devastating scenes and it was great to live out my emotions through this book.
Do I recommend? Heck yeah! It's not something original nor is it a master piece, but it was entertaining and the characters sucked me in with their everyday problems, grief, future plans, hilarious oneliners and the make up scenes were 100°C hot. It's a light read suitable for a day at the beach or after an exhausting day at work, for instance. Yeah, it was good.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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