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Review

4 “feel the moment” stars

OMG, where do I even begin? I have so many feels, and even after talking at length with a friend about this book, I’m still so overwhelmed with thoughts of everything that I just read. So I still need to purge my thoughts, so please bear with me.

Firstly, I loved this book. Sulli’s long awaited story is fun and emotional, and full of the dynamics that I love so much about this series. I admit, when this book was announced, I had my doubts about it – a m/f/m romance when there is clearly already a lot of love between two of the people. How can the other person not feel left out? How can it feel natural and fair? Can the depth of love and intensity that I want so much for these characters exist between a woman who is sharing her affection between two men? And how will the rest of the family react? But I have full trust in Krista & Becca Ritchie, and by the time I got my hands on this one, I was full of anticipation and excited for the adventure to come.

Sulli is the daughter of Ryke and Daisy meadows. A free-spirited adventure seeker like her parents, she’s now 21 years old wants to experience all that life has to offer, and that includes sex. She’s a virgin, and after she talked to the two men she trusted most in the world – her two bodyguards, Akara and Banks – about one of them popping her cherry, things have become awkward.

I realize now that I didn’t friend-zone them.
They’ve friend-zoned me.
I’m the un-bangable one.

Sulli and Akara have had a close, flirty friendship since book 1 of this series, and we always knew something would happen between them one day. Banks is newer to the picture. Twin brother to Thatcher, Banks has been put onto Sulli’s protection detail now that Akara is running the security firm and doesn’t have the time to dedicate himself fully to Sulli’s protection. The two guys are the best of friends, and the double-bodyguard thing works well for the three of them, but it becomes complicated when Sulli and Banks begin to develop feelings for each other, at the same time as Akara suddenly opens his eyes to what has been in front of him all along.

It hurts to think that it’s taken me this long to see her.
But I know it’s good I didn’t before.
It couldn’t be too early.
I just hope I’m not too late.

I have to stress here that at no point in this book did this feel like a love triangle. It also didn’t feel like cheating. I knew what was coming, and so I was happy to go with the flow as we finally got to see what each of them were feeling. And here come the feels!

“You really like her,” Thatcher repeats what I said earlier, but with more awareness of the true depth of my affection for Sulli. His concern keeps amassing. “Banks–”
“I know.” I’m unblinking now, drilling my gaze into him. Please don’t say it.
“She’s going to choose him.”
“I know,” I whisper back, eyes burning. Throat swelling. “Once Akara comes around, it’s game over for me.

My heart was pounding, and I was reading with such a sense of anticipation. I was excited and nervous, and all of the things, desperate to see how it was all going to come about.

If chasing after Sullivan Meadows is the foolish thing to do, I’m gonna be the biggest fool this world has ever seen.
I’ve gotten this far. I’m not letting her go now. And whatever happens will happen.

It all happens when the three of them take a road trip across the country so that Sulli can free-climb the same cliff faces as her Dad before her. It allows them the privacy and freedom that they don’t get when they are at home surrounded by friends and family, and with the closeness they share, they are all up front and honest about everything they are feeling, and then it’s all on.

“It’s your choice, Sulli. We can’t tell you who you want to be with. But we both want to be with you.”

It’s such a unique situation and one that I haven’t read a lot in romance, but it felt very natural. For me, it did have the feeling of two distinct relationships, and I was definitely feeling the Sulli/Banks thing more than Sulli/Akara. It’s like the authors put more effort into setting Banks up as a romantic hero after dropping him into the middle of Sulli and Akara’s story (and they did it really well because Banks completely stole my heart in this book). Sadly, I think it was to the detriment of Akara as a romantic hero, but hey, this is a weird situation and there’s still a lot more story to be told, so I’m hanging in there. It worked with them exploring it all together, and I love that they were all so open about it, and things just naturally and organically happen. There’s no secrets and no games, they all just allow things to progress as they do, and it’s really freaking intense.

I’ve never drowned before today.
I’m drowning in them. By them. With them.

It’s hot and steamy, but most of all, there’s so much emotion between the three of them. They love each other deeply (the boys just as friends), and that underpins everything that happens between them – this sense of caring about each other, of wanting each other to be happy and not wanting to hurt anybody. They are figuring it out as they go along, and there is a lot of fear with that, because they have no idea what’s going to happen, so there’s this feeling of sadness as they all wrestle with their feelings, but they don’t let that stand in their way, and they openly explore everything that’s building between them.

My exploration doesn’t feel like a solo journey. We’re on this great, vast voyage together, and we all begin to smile because we’re seeing where it’ll take us.
Out here in the woods, there are no restrictions or boundaries or boxes we need to jump in.
We’re free to just be.

I loved Sulli. I wasn’t sure I would, because I haven’t connected to her very strongly in previous books. But she’s brave, smart, sweet, and I loved her sense of adventure and the way she loves the people in her life. She handles her situation with honesty and maturity, and she’s got a great sense of humour. She’s a fun heroine, and I loved being in her head during her journey.

What the hell is even happening?
Two guys.
Two kisses.
I am not Elena Gilbert. I’m not emotionally prepared for a love triangle. And oh fuck, I can’t believe I’m thinking about The Vampire Diaries right now.

Of course, the rest of the Like Us crew are a part of the story as they support Sulli through her climbing adventure, so we get to catch up with Moffy, Farrow, Thatcher and Jane… but…

I loved seeing Sulli’s bond with her sister, Winona, and Banks and Thatcher’s close relationship actually brought tears to my eyes, it’s so beautiful. And with Sulli being best friends with Beckett, we even get to see more of him and Charlie, which I enjoyed. Oh, and Ryke Meadows as a father… *dreamy sigh*.

The book ends in a good place, though on enough of an ‘oh shit’ moment to have me desperate for the next book. There is so much more to explore with these three as they figure out everything that is happening between them, and I’m so glad we’re getting two more books for them. I’m still wrestling with my own feelings, and I’m desperate to continue with their journey.

Definitely an unusual relationship set up, but it’s written beautifully, with all of the heart and emotion that I have come to expect from these authors, and I loved it.

4 stars.

 

Like Us series

 

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About the Authors

 

Krista & Becca Ritchie are New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors and identical twins—one a science nerd, the other a comic book geek—but with their shared passion for writing, they combined their mental powers as kids and have never stopped
telling stories. Now in their twenties, they write about other twenty-somethings navigating through life, college, and romance. They love superheroes, flawed characters, and soul mate love.

 

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