It's completely my fault that I started reading this book thinking this would be a similar feel to [b:Filth|7819128|Filth |M. King|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1267781725s/7819128.jpg|10853366]. That book was gritty, raw, and emotional. I highly recommend that book if you want a more realistic and emotional portrayal of a codependent relationship. So I went in with the wrong mindset, expecting this to be a more serious read. Completely my fault, I should have remembered that this was a Mary Calmes book and well, her books are written to entertain. x) & there's nothing wrong with that. Her Matter of Time series was a pure guilty pleasure series for me to read, where the writing and plot veers towards silly and unrealistic, but the characters are still loveable and it's all in good fun.
This was definitely a little better written than the Matter of Time series, and it is a little more serious, dealing with the codependent relationship between seemingly bi-polar Landry and runner boyfriend Trevon.
The problem was, as I said before, I couldn't help comparing this to [b:Filth|7819128|Filth |M. King|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1267781725s/7819128.jpg|10853366] and feeling disappointed. I couldn't become emotionally invested in the characters as I did with Kel and Toni (their relationship was an emotional wreck and absolutely absorbing). I also didn't really like how during the first half the book, they seemed to be having sex every time they were together...Not that they weren't well-written, but I was just in the mood for more advancement of plot, so just personal preference. Thankfully, this lessened. The plot wasn't really interesting either, just meeting Landry's wealthy and estranged family. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen-and things did pick up a little during the last 10%.
Judging from the other reviews for this book, most people seemed to really enjoy it, so I still recommend this because it was still really nice to see a slight departure from Mary Calmes' usual reads. I enjoyed her Matter of Time Series and stand-alone novel Acrobat more, though.
*I would rate this a 3.5, but since I feel like I would have definitely enjoyed this more if I hadn't read Filth first and had some unwarranted expectations, I'm bumping it up to a 4! You can chalk this one up to 'I definitely wasn't in the right mood/frame of mind for'.
