Thursday, September 11, 2014

Book review: He Belongs With Me by Sarah Darlington

Two girls. One Leo. 

Identical twins, Maggie and Clara Ryder, both grew up with Leo Maddox, billionaire playboy, apparent alcoholic, and heir to his grandfather's world-famous Maddox hotel empire. Their roles were cemented long ago: Maggie, as his best friend and Clara as his childhood nemesis. But when a simple twist of fate changes everything and both girls start to fall for the lean, mean, ridiculously sexy and seemingly spoiled Leo... which girl will win his heart? Throw in a little mischief, drama, and one smoking-hot bartender and lines are sure to blur. But one thing's for certain, neither good-girl Maggie nor rebellious Clara will be satisfied until they each figure out where they belong. 


*NEW ADULT ROMANCE. Recommended for 17+ due to sexual situations and adult language.*



NOTE: I received a review copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.

Picking up this book, I was expecting a light, romantic read. That's exactly what I got, only it lacked the beauty of a well polished and edited novel. Some scenes were unbelievable and unrealistic. Too many things happened 'coincidentally-on-purpose'. The phrase 'sawing some serious logs' was mentioned repeatedly in reference to snoring loudly. It was okay the first time, but became irritating afterwards. Other than that, it was a sweet story.

Writing style:
It was good enough to take me through the whole book, but by no means was it spectacular. Some things could've been written better, or edited better.
Also, I was unsure of the necessity of all the swearing.

Story line:
It's pretty simple actually. Two twins who have nothing in common finally find commong ground in the face of a childhood friend, Leo, and a past step-brother, Dean. Each of the falls for the right guy, at exactly the wrong moment.

Themes:
-twins – their differences and similarities
-finding love where least expected
-family approval is quite important in a child's development

Characters:
Clara was described as the bad twin. She was supposed to be impossible to live with, selfish and easy with guys. She turned out to be the complete opposite. She was a fiercely loving sister, even though she never showed it openly. Because of that she got in trouble more often than not. Clara was largely afraid to have her heart broken.

Maggie appeared to be the good girl – she adored her father, helped out on his golf complex and was generally easy to talk with. Still, she wasn't the angel everyone thought she was. She was fiercely jealous of Clara, had her fair share of boyfriends and could be pretty nasty when she wanted.

Leo could be sweet when he wanted, I suppose. But I had a huge issue with his dirty mouth. That kind of disgusted me and instead of waiting the scenes where he was featured, I kind of wanted to avoid them. I'm not sure what the large amount of cursing was supposed to accomplish towards developing his character, so I think it was quite unnecessary. Leo was selfish at times and was such a brat... he's definitely not the kind of book boyfriend I'd pick.

Dean... well, his story seemed to just have popped out of nowhere. He was the twins' ex-step brother, who returned to town. He was the most mature of the lot, and knowing his story it was no wonder. I liked reading the chapters where he was featured.

In Conclusion:
He Belongs With Me is not for everyone, but people who don't mind profanity may enjoy it.

My rating is

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