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Review

“Despite all the things I would have changed about our journey, I’d never want a different destination. It’s always been you.”

OMG, what an epic romance!!!!

The follow on from the incredible Bad Romeo, this book was my most anticipated release for this year. I have been desperate for it ever since Bad Romeo left me hanging with that nasty cliffhanger, and dying for more. But I have also been really nervous about it. It’s not often that the follow up to a book that blew you away meets up to your expectations, but Leisa Rayven has nailed it with this one, so you’ll have to excuse my excessive gushing!

This book is not so much a sequel, as it is a direct continuation of Ethan and Cassie’s story. One where we finally get the full history of their tumultuous love affair, and watch them deal with the repercussions of their reunion three years after Ethan broke Cassie’s heart and left her shattered (for the second time). And I can honestly say that this book gave me everything that I wanted – the details of their time together in the past (the good and the bad), and every moment of their reconnection in the present. It’s truly beautiful and really funny in places, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. In fact it’s a really hard journey for them, full of angst and heartache but OMG, it’s all completely worth it!

I’m not going to go into too much detail about their story, because if you’ve read Bad Romeo you’ll know it, and if you haven’t, check out the details in my review, and then then go and read the book… NOW!

Towards the end of the last book, Ethan really opened up and we started to see a very different man from the moody, closed off one that he had been for most of the book. And I am very happy to say that that continues in this one. Ethan is one very determined man-in-love. Fully accepting of all of the pain he has put Cassie through, and desperate to make up for his mistakes of the past as he fights hard to win her back.

“Boyfriend sounds so fucking lame. I’m nearly twenty-seven years old. I’m not a boy anymore. I want to be your man. Your lover. Your…damn it, I don’t know. Your Ethan. Whatever the fuck you want to call me, that’s what I want to be. My end game is to simply know that I’m yours and you’re mine.”

I love their reversal in roles from the first book. Ethan is now the one throwing himself at Cassie, opening his heart and begging for a chance, but this time it’s Cassie pushing him away, wanting him but desperate to protect herself from being hurt. But it’s not done in an annoying way. Leisa does a wonderful job with Cassie. She’s such an amazing character – smart, sassy and strong yet still vulnerable and completely relatable. Seeing what she goes through in the past with Ethan, I could absolutely sympathise with her, and I could feel her confusion as her heart and mind battled.

He was my first true friend. My first love. First lover. The master of more pleasure than I knew existed, and the architect of more heartache than I thought I could endure …
I want him. Can’t want him. Need him. Hate needing him.

I know some readers had issues with Ethan in the last book, and I have to admit that I felt it for the first time in this one. I started to get angry with him and his ‘I’m no good for you’ whininess back when he was a moody, emo 21 year old, but his pain is just so real! The book is told from Cassie’s POV (with some small insights into Ethan’s perspective), but we still get to see so much of him. Each encounter, each meaningful glance, gentle touch or narrowing of the eyes conveys so much, and when he lets it all out, it’s actually painful to read!

“You think I don’t love you? … If I didn’t, do you think I’d be in hell right now? You think I like feeling like this? Like pushing you away isn’t ripping out parts of me? Fuck, Cassie, I know the right thing to do is to leave you alone. But when I think about doing that, it…” He grips his chest. “It fucking hurts. And I’m so sick of hurting. I thought you could make it better, but you only made it worse … You want me to say it? Yes, I love you. But you have no idea how many times I’ve wished I didn’t.”
…
“Tell me how to stop loving you, Cassie. Please. I have no fucking clue.”

*sob*

But again, their past is intermingled really well with their present, where Ethan is a completely different man, madly and openly in love with his girl, and fighting hard to get her back. It’s balanced really well so that the angst never becomes too much because you know where it’s all leading.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt though! OMG, these two go through so much! Their early relationship is hard work, and somewhat toxic, but their chemistry is electric. They can’t keep away from each other, and that’s what makes it all so intense! And through it all the love between them is always there, and their passion for each other is absolutely incredible and leaps off the page.

“If our relationship was only based only on sex, do you think we’d have gone through all the shit we have? Sex is easy. It’s an itch that needs to be scratched, and as much as I love having sex with you, what I want from you isn’t easy. It’s messy and complicated, and it’s filled with so much fucking passion, I don’t have a clue how to cope with it all. But I find a way, because I love you. And love is hard, but it’s worth it. You’re worth it.”

There is also the continuation of the playfulness of them together. Even with all that they go through, they still have a good time together, and I laughed so many times at their interactions.

“Yes, I enjoyed it. A lot. You were, without a doubt, the best I’ve ever had. But thinking about it right now isn’t going to end well for me. So please, for the love of inconvenient boners everywhere, let it go.”

“I did tell you to go fuck yourself”
“Yeah, but you didn’t mean it.”
“Yeah, I did.”
He frown. “Really? Wow. I totally misread that moment.”

This one is a lot smuttier than Bad Romeo. While the first book is all about the build-up, and UST, this one is the culmination of all of that, there is sweet sex, angry sex, hot, up-against-the-wall sex, and steamy and ultra-intense love making. And it is all so freaking HOT!!!! Sex is such a huge part of their relationship and expresses the connection between them, so it ties into the story really well, adding to that sense that they belong together. They can feel it and I, as a reader, could feel it. They truly are soul-mates who share an incredible bond, and no matter what they go through, nothing is going to change that.

This book gave me everything that I wanted for Ethan and Cassie. There is no epilogue, but I honestly don’t feel like the story needs one. It ends beautifully, and I thought it was perfect for them. Liesa Rayven is continuing on in this series with Ethan’s sister, Elissa, and I’m sure we’ll see more of Ethan and Cassie in that one. Plus I’m excited to see more of Elissa, we don’t know a whole lot about her personally, but she’s a wonderful character!

And a quick shout out to Cassie’s roommate Ruby who is rude, feisty and hilarious, and their classmate Jack with his crude sarcasm that made me laugh so many times! He adds so much lightness to the story, every time he appeared was absolute gold

“Hey, guys,” I say as we stop in front of them. “Have a good summer?”
“I had an awesome summer,” Jack says with his trademark smirk. “I got together with the ex-girlfriend I dumped more than a year ago because I’m a miserable fuck who never stopped pining for her. Oh, wait, that was you, Holt, wasn’t it?”

I am so in love with Leisa Rayven’s writing! I laughed, I cried, and I felt everything that Ethan and Cassie were feeling right along with them! This is such an amazing love story, and even though it hurt at times, I finished the book deliriously happy with a huge smile on my face

I loved it – 5 huge stars.

An Advanced Reader Copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

 

The Starcrossed series