I don’t think I’ve seen sugar sweet, humor and intense dark situations be mixed in one book. Even after sleeping on it I am not sure how I feel about this book. There are many pieces of it I liked very much. The characters were all great and the setup of the next book has me wanting to read it but I guess my issue is with the dark parts. I like dark books when you know that it’s a dark book going into it, you’re prepared mentally for it going in. But the warning on this book leaves out two very important things. An extreme sexual assault in a very intense scene and a then a rape in another scene. I don’t understand quite why the author chose to show us this 19 year old virgin who bakes pies for a living in the pie shop that was her mother’s dream before she died of cancer, is basically is raising her 6 year old step brother who has the cutest lisp, has a man whore as a best friend but no matter what these two have each other’s back and then rips her world apart not once but twice.
__COULD BE CONSIDERED SPOILERISH__
The first 50 percent of the book was very humorous watching Ana and Elijah fall in love. Her the very mature but innocent 19 year and him the mysterious bad boy stranger who comes to town to work in her father’s motorcycle garage. You knew Elijah had a bad past but we were given no specifics until right before that first intense scene 50 percent in. I am assuming the author wanted to make us as shocked as Ana was when a group a Hell’s Angels assault them. Now I’m all for slowly letting us get to know the characters which the first 50% of the book was but by the hero not telling Ana anything she was so traumatized over what happened she ends up getting herself in another situation with devastating consequences. Until the very end of the book the heroine only knows violence when it comes to penetration sex.

In the end I can say I couldn’t put the book down until I’d finished it. But its left such a bitter taste in my mouth I cant really decide how I really feel about it. I'm going to give it a 4 rating as the first half of the book was very funny and engaging and even though the 2nd half was some very dark stuff I was still rooting for Ana and Elijah to get their HEA.
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Wow. This book had me feeling so many emotions in just a few hours that I have a book hangover. I laughed out loud at so many parts while reading this, especially when Holly was involved. I felt the lust that Ana felt for Elijah. The disappointment she felt with him. And I cried. OMG, did I cry. This book was ugly and beautiful, funny as could be and serious at times, and horrible and fantastic all at once. This book is definitely getting my recommendation to be read. Just be careful, it could cause triggers because of the sexual abuse. I loved this book and can't wait to dive into the next one. ( )

4.5 stars! This book started out a little fluffy. We were introduced to Ana, a sweet little pie maker who spends her days whipping together perfect pie recipes in her sweet little bakery in Sugartown. Yep, all fairytalish and stuff...



It actually started to remind me of the movie Waitress with Keri Russell (good movie, BTW!)but wait...it gets better. Sexy bad-ass biker Elijah comes to town and enjoys Ana's pies so much that he soon wants more than just a slice! LOL! Then the sweet bubble gummy romance crap ends!



Whoa!! And it's almost as if Madeline Sheehan stepped in smacked the writer in the face! (and I mean that as a compliment!) Then it starts to get interesting. We learn that Elijah is running from a bad past and danger is following him. Call me twisted but as tragedy is happening, I'm jumping up and down with excitement! Elijah would make Deuce's Hell's Horsemen proud! Oh yeah! Just my kind of fuckedupedness!



My only complaint is that I thought it ended in the wrong place. I turned the page and realized it was over! That sucked! I wanted more! It loses half a point for that! Other than that, it rocked!!

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I loved this book! I want to read more of their story now, but I think Jackson's book is next. A week later Ana & Elijah are STILL in my head, and I've read 2 books since then! I love characters that stay with you, and I think the vivid nature that Jenner described their surroundings helped. ( )

POV: Alternating first-person between the main characters, Elijah and Ana

Romance: This book is a typical romance where the good girl falls for the bad boy who does bad things for good reasons. There's actually very little actual romance and a whole lotta steamy chemistry. If you like reading hot scenes you'll probably enjoy this.
Insta-Love: Yes Love Triangle: No Cheating: Yes

Plot and Pacing: For the first 40% of this book almost nothing happens. Ana and Elijah meet, there's lots of sexy talk and a couple of steamy scenes but in terms of plot, not much is happening. Just before the halfway mark, things pick up a little bit. A lot actually. Some pretty horrific things happen and there are a couple of violent and somewhat graphic scenes in particular that may be hard for some readers. Then things stagnate again. The pacing here felt a little off to me the whole time. I never felt like things were building toward a satisfying climax (no pun intended). The storyline, or what there was of one, was resolved by the end but I really felt pretty "meh" about it.

Characters: I liked Ana. She was a strong female character who stood up for herself but still had some vulnerability. I did not particularly care for Elijah. I would have preferred to read the entire story from Ana's perspective. He was an extremely immature character and seemed like the stereotypical young male - his world revolves around his you-know-what. The chapters from his POV frequently mention his dick twitching or jerking and Ana's big, beautiful tits. Much of his language is vulgar. I'm not a complete prude and I don't mind some vulgar language but it seemed repetitive here.

Cliffhanger: No

Overall: This book was just not for me. I usually stay away from New Adult Romance for this exact reason. There's usually some really great sex scenes but very little plot, as was the case here. It's a shame, really, because the author can write well. The dialogue was great, the characters were interesting and the descriptions were fantastic. There just wasn't a lot of substance to this book and the plot-line wasn't all that original. Fans of this genre and those who like a lot of steam and don't mind the lack of substance will like this a whole lot more than I did, I'm sure.

Also, there's one chapter - only one! - from the POV of Holly, Ana's best friend. It was completely unnecessary. It comes towards the end of the book and is basically there to set the stage for the second book in the series which is about Holly and Jackson. The chapter is not needed to start their story. The reader already has all the info they need about Holly going in to book two. It was a little jarring and further hurt the pacing of the book. It wasn't badly written, just not needed.

On a side note, I downloaded this book partially because I think the cover is pretty stunning. However, the more I look at it, the more it bothers me. It bothers me that the girl looks like she's hanging on the guy while he's looking away and seems like he couldn't care less. Like, "yeah, I know I'm hot and all the chicks want me." I don't know. The cover is still gorgeous, I just wish the pose was different. ( )