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Romeo #1
Running from Romeo
Emilia King is entering her senior year at Santa Barbara University. For the past three years, she lived in the library – doing what she knows best – focusing on her studies and forgetting her past…a past that has forever changed her life. But this year marks a new beginning…
Logan Prescott is not only the hottest guy on campus, he’s heir to a billionaire hotel fortune. Emilia knows he’s trouble and should stay clear of him. But his notorious good looks and piercing blue eyes make him simply irresistible – especially when he’s quoting her favorite literary works.
Intrigued by Emilia’s innocence and resistance to his charm, Logan discovers she’s a challenge he simply can’t resist. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but running from him may be impossible.
Logan Prescott is not only the hottest guy on campus, he’s heir to a billionaire hotel fortune. Emilia knows he’s trouble and should stay clear of him. But his notorious good looks and piercing blue eyes make him simply irresistible – especially when he’s quoting her favorite literary works.
Intrigued by Emilia’s innocence and resistance to his charm, Logan discovers she’s a challenge he simply can’t resist. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but running from him may be impossible.
345 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2013
18 people are currently reading
1573 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
August 23, 2016
Tropes: 19
Welcome to the newest episode of The Next Been Done Before! Today's episode contains a heroine so beautiful that she can't see it herself even when roughly every guy she meets tells her so. We also have a hero who's most valued characteristic is his piercing eye color and how out of this world handsome he is. For good measure we throw in some deaths in their backgrounds, some martial problems among his or her parents, and something sexual in the past that could cause trauma for one of the main characters (you get two guesses on who!).
Introducing our heroine, Emilia King, a college student who's majoring in Shakespeare. She's perfect. Every guy she meets wants her. They ask her out constantly, and while she claims to not see how beautiful she is and how she doesn't want to go out with them, she never tells them outright no, and then blame them for continuing to ask her out, instead she tells them "some other time" or "not now". You'd think they get the message, but still. She's clumsy.
She's... in denial (given that everyone keeps telling her how beautiful she is).
She's never felt sexual attraction before our hero crosses her path.
She's different from other girls, because... other girls don't listen to music?
And, of course, she's not like other girls.
Now, for our male lead: Logan Prescott. He's perfect (except for once, and it's only so we'll have a cliffhanger at the end). He, also a college student and a business major, is a rich bachelor who, until meeting Emilia lived only for pleasure.
Add to it, he's out of this world gorgeous (in case you missed the quotes above). Either way, he has a reputation of having multiple sexual partners. A fact that makes him avoid Emilia at first, for her own good, of course. He has the ability to cure Emilia of her nightly terrors by his mere presence after knowing her for roughly two hours. (Noteworthy that years of therapy, support from family and close friends could not manage this.) His most important characteristic, apparently, has nothing to do with his actual personality, though.
Apart from that, his biggest (and only role) is to tell Emilia that meeting her - not knowing her - changed his life.
By the by, this is also the general plot: Emilia's ability to change Logan's life. Because of this we have her doubting him whenever a woman comes within ten feet of him (which also makes it easy to include some casual slut-shaming). Add in some past trauma - hope you'd already made your guess - she must face it head on by simply being in a relationship with Logan. Which causes her best friend to give contradictory advice more or less all the time. Go out! Don't go out! Live a little! Life will hurt you! And more.
There you have it folks! This was another episode of The Next Been Done Before! 'til next time!
Also, before I forget: Authors, DO NOT use rape for shock value. Do not use it for the sole purpose off getting a (poor excuse for a) cliffhanger. Do not use it as a plot device. Do not "reveal" it on the last page.
Welcome to the newest episode of The Next Been Done Before! Today's episode contains a heroine so beautiful that she can't see it herself even when roughly every guy she meets tells her so. We also have a hero who's most valued characteristic is his piercing eye color and how out of this world handsome he is. For good measure we throw in some deaths in their backgrounds, some martial problems among his or her parents, and something sexual in the past that could cause trauma for one of the main characters (you get two guesses on who!).
Introducing our heroine, Emilia King, a college student who's majoring in Shakespeare. She's perfect. Every guy she meets wants her. They ask her out constantly, and while she claims to not see how beautiful she is and how she doesn't want to go out with them, she never tells them outright no, and then blame them for continuing to ask her out, instead she tells them "some other time" or "not now". You'd think they get the message, but still. She's clumsy.
I am so embarrassed and caught up in the beauty of this man that I blush, trip, and miss the chair.
She's... in denial (given that everyone keeps telling her how beautiful she is).
Who am I kidding? He would never be interested in someone like me. I’m so boring, plain and he’s so…well, out-of-this-world gorgeous.
She's never felt sexual attraction before our hero crosses her path.
This is the first time in my twenty-one years where I’ve ever been interested in a man.
She's different from other girls, because... other girls don't listen to music?
“Most girls are all about Adele. You like the Neon Trees, Mumford and Sons, and the Black Keys. Any other favorites?”
And, of course, she's not like other girls.
“I think it’s safe to say that most girls feel that way, you would be the exception.”
“I suppose I’m not like most girls.”
“Emilia, first of all, no one is perfect. But if anyone is as close to perfection…that would be you.”
Now, for our male lead: Logan Prescott. He's perfect (except for once, and it's only so we'll have a cliffhanger at the end). He, also a college student and a business major, is a rich bachelor who, until meeting Emilia lived only for pleasure.
“You bewitched me. I don’t know how else to explain it. I met you and I realized that only caring about pleasure and instant gratification just made me feel empty, lonely. Does that make sense?”
Add to it, he's out of this world gorgeous (in case you missed the quotes above). Either way, he has a reputation of having multiple sexual partners. A fact that makes him avoid Emilia at first, for her own good, of course. He has the ability to cure Emilia of her nightly terrors by his mere presence after knowing her for roughly two hours. (Noteworthy that years of therapy, support from family and close friends could not manage this.) His most important characteristic, apparently, has nothing to do with his actual personality, though.
"He’s not only drop dead gorgeous but obscenely rich. He’s a keeper, Emilia."
Apart from that, his biggest (and only role) is to tell Emilia that meeting her - not knowing her - changed his life.
“I told you. I was quite careless and out of control for a long time. Meeting you made me want to change. Is that so hard for you to understand?”
By the by, this is also the general plot: Emilia's ability to change Logan's life. Because of this we have her doubting him whenever a woman comes within ten feet of him (which also makes it easy to include some casual slut-shaming). Add in some past trauma - hope you'd already made your guess - she must face it head on by simply being in a relationship with Logan. Which causes her best friend to give contradictory advice more or less all the time. Go out! Don't go out! Live a little! Life will hurt you! And more.
There you have it folks! This was another episode of The Next Been Done Before! 'til next time!
Also, before I forget: Authors, DO NOT use rape for shock value. Do not use it for the sole purpose off getting a (poor excuse for a) cliffhanger. Do not use it as a plot device. Do not "reveal" it on the last page.
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June 20, 2013
I have no idea how to rate this, I have such conflicting emotions toward this book.
It's like a hate annoyed addiction and I can't even explain. I will have to read this a second time knowing what i know now so I can honestly rate it without being annoyed. This is also the authors first book, and authors always grow with every book they write. She also has more balls than I ever could for writing and putting her work out for people to read and to take the criticism that come with the territory. I couldn't do that my feelings would get hurt so I also don't feel right rating low because she did something I could never do. So on to the review...
First for the irritation:
322 that is the number of times the word giggle was used in some form, that girl freaking giggles a lot. I found that highly annoying. It was one of the most annoying parts of the book for me, I cannot tell you how much I hate that word now. I'm a happy person, I love to laugh and in high school my best friend and I were referred to as the giggle twins by EVERYONE, I still have no idea how this girl could giggle so much.
15 this is how many songs with lyrics are in this book. NOT including how many other songs are mentioned but those don't bother me because the lyrics don't take up space to make the book longer. Incidentally she has excellent taste in music, I would just prefer to not have the lyrics in the book maybe one song but not freaking 15. I feel like she wanted to make the book longer and get her word count up so she added lyrics.
146 give or take a few is how many times Emilia and Logan wrote emails to each other. Most of their "bonding" was through email. I couldn't really "bond" with Logan. I found it kinda annoying and gave me a 50 shades feeling, I hated the emails is that book too.
I took this "dislike" out because I was in a bad mood and it was stupid and bitchy.
I found Emilia and her best friend Bryn to be completely wishy washy. Bryn would tell her not to go out with Logan or that she needs to be careful or something negative, then when Emilia would agree or doubt a relationship with Logan Bryn would change her mind. Seriously girls pick a side and stay. Oooo he's rich go out with him, ooo he's hot you should go for it, oooo Tiffany's he's a keeper... Wait he's a stalker, he's possessive, he's a player, he's doesn't deserve you. Oh he's so in love with you, be careful I don't want you to get hurt. Seriously this is what you deal with through this whole book. These girls are supposed to be 22 years old their actions remind me of high schoolers, yet when Logan and Emilia are talking I feel like they are playing pretend adults. I feel like Emilia has a split personality. Logan is supposed to be this party boy but when he's with Emilia he sounds all "grown up".
It's really has nothing to do with the writing but you can only get this off of smashwords and I wanted to read this and It took me forever to figure out where to get it. Then it was a pain in the butt to be able to actually read it, but that's just my problem I'm stupid when it comes to smashwords.
That is how I feel about smashwords
Oh one last problem how in the world is this about "Running from Romeo" this title has nothing to do with the book. Normally you can see how the title goes along with the book ooh no not this one. This has no running except for the fact that Emilia is a runner, and Logan is probably the farthest thing from Romeo you can get. Well maybe not the farthest but still. I get that she's an English major and that she runs, I get that there are Shakespeare quotes in here. Like I said Logan is no Romeo. When I see the name Romeo in a title I'm expecting more that the fact that Romeo is mentioned and that a book contains quotes from Shakespeare. Sorry that must be just me, my bad people.
For the conflicted feelings I have...
At the very end of the book it finally had some potential, this book really didn't peak till the very end. It seriously flat lined until the very end. It has a major cliff hanger and I feel like this was just half of a book. Which brings me to make a confession as much as this book had so many things that totally irritated me as soon as the second book comes out I am going to be fighting with smashwords again and beating my daughters off my iPad so I can read it. I have to find out how it ends. Logan is a complete dick, and Emilia wasn't at all a likable character. I really didn't like anyone in this book. But the story wasn't finished for me and I have to finish books. I think that I have only quit reading one book without finishing it. So as much as I complained about this book I will buy the second one. Like I said the end had the peak and I need to know what happens. I also guess I did get kinda attached to the characters because my heart was broken at the end, I wanted to scream, cry, and throw a fit. So I don't really know what that tells you, for all the irritation of the book I genuinely am looking forward to the second book.
July 17, 2016
DNF at 28%
I've lost interest.
I've lost interest.
August 31, 2014
I really enjoyed reading this book...
I loved how Logan pursued Emilia, all the romantic dates, gifts, EMAILS they share, were amazing!!
Logan was simply amazing, so romantic, sweet and mysterious... I loved they way he was always so patient, loving and attentive!
Emilia was a great character, although there were times were I wanted to slap her, so she would wake up and say Hell Yes to Logan... I understood all the emotions and drama that she went through, but Logan deserve a chance to be happy with her.
I really enjoyed reading about the other characters, Bryn was just a mother hen, Tyler such a sweet and lovely guy, Mr. And Mrs. Sutton were the bomb, I LMFAO when Mrs. Sutton gave Emilia self defense classes...
The bad characters in the story ugh Sebastian and Seraphina... Hate those ones!! Something tells me that Luke will be added to this list in the second book!
Another part that I truly enjoyed reading was the Email exchange, it was amazing, the titles of each one of them were so funny, all the quotes from different authors was a nice touch to their flirting and Emilia's play list was great too, I loved all the songs she listened to, they were so suitable for every scene, so now they are on my play list too... :)
The only thing that broke my heart was the ending OMG, did I suffer a lot, thank goodness I had the second book in the series or I would have die waiting for it...
If you want to read a sweet and lovely story, totally recommend this book...
Fav quotes:
“Nothing can come of nothing”
“I would like to hope that something can come from something.”
“Go wisely and slowly. Those who rush stumble and fall.”
Shakespeare....
“I knew you would do me good in some way,
at some time; I saw it in your eyes when I
first beheld you: their expression and smile
did not – did not strike delight to my very
inmost heart so for nothing.”
Jane Austen....
"Emilia, you took my breath away the first time I laid my eyes on you.”
“Then you walked in my life or should I say tripped into my life and that’s when I woke up”
“something worth having is something worth waiting for.”
∞ and forever
Logan.... ❤❤❤❤
Thank you Diane Mannino for this book!! Can't wait for Waiting for Romeo....
I loved how Logan pursued Emilia, all the romantic dates, gifts, EMAILS they share, were amazing!!
Logan was simply amazing, so romantic, sweet and mysterious... I loved they way he was always so patient, loving and attentive!
Emilia was a great character, although there were times were I wanted to slap her, so she would wake up and say Hell Yes to Logan... I understood all the emotions and drama that she went through, but Logan deserve a chance to be happy with her.
I really enjoyed reading about the other characters, Bryn was just a mother hen, Tyler such a sweet and lovely guy, Mr. And Mrs. Sutton were the bomb, I LMFAO when Mrs. Sutton gave Emilia self defense classes...
The bad characters in the story ugh Sebastian and Seraphina... Hate those ones!! Something tells me that Luke will be added to this list in the second book!
Another part that I truly enjoyed reading was the Email exchange, it was amazing, the titles of each one of them were so funny, all the quotes from different authors was a nice touch to their flirting and Emilia's play list was great too, I loved all the songs she listened to, they were so suitable for every scene, so now they are on my play list too... :)
The only thing that broke my heart was the ending OMG, did I suffer a lot, thank goodness I had the second book in the series or I would have die waiting for it...
If you want to read a sweet and lovely story, totally recommend this book...
Fav quotes:
“Nothing can come of nothing”
“I would like to hope that something can come from something.”
“Go wisely and slowly. Those who rush stumble and fall.”
Shakespeare....
“I knew you would do me good in some way,
at some time; I saw it in your eyes when I
first beheld you: their expression and smile
did not – did not strike delight to my very
inmost heart so for nothing.”
Jane Austen....
"Emilia, you took my breath away the first time I laid my eyes on you.”
“Then you walked in my life or should I say tripped into my life and that’s when I woke up”
“something worth having is something worth waiting for.”
∞ and forever
Logan.... ❤❤❤❤
Thank you Diane Mannino for this book!! Can't wait for Waiting for Romeo....
August 30, 2013
This book could have been really good. The premise sounded great…right up my alley…exactly my type of book. I love NA books and the description of this book screamed at me. I couldn’t wait to start it.
Unfortunately, that was the end of my excitement. The book started out ok. But I quickly found I had some issues. According to my kindle, this book has 833 pages. Now, I’m not scared of long books. I actually prefer long books to shorter books that have cliffhangers or abrupt endings and sequels. I would rather get the WHOLE story in one book. However, that wasn’t to be the case with this book. For the record. I gave this a good shot. I read 161 pages. That’s 11 chapters (plus the last chapter to find out how it ended). That was 30% of the book (not counting the last chapter). I gave this a shot. It just wasn’t the book for me.
Lordy lordy, this book was wordy! This wouldn’t have been a huge issue if the book hadn’t been so long. But it was long and consequently the wordiness was overwhelmingly obvious. Here’s an example:
That’s just one paragraph to show what I’m talking about. Just reading that paragraph, I felt like I went from reading a novel to reading a travel brochure. Now, just in case it was me, imagining things, I ran this paragraph by a writer friend of mine. She agreed with me and said it could easily be cut down to “Josh Harding, Tyler Irwin, and their two roommates live in a four-bedroom house just blocks from State Street in Santa Barbara's downtown." And honestly, I didn’t need Josh and Tyler’s last names. I couldn’t help feeling like this book would have benefited from more editing. Or, this author comes from a research background and did what I would do in a research paper and cover my bases with details so that the reader didn’t have any unanswered questions. But in the end (or 30% rather), I was wading through a sea of excess words and I barely scratched the surface of the story.
Another complaint (related to the wordiness) was the songs. Don’t get me wrong. I love how songs and books can go together. And I love it when songs are quoted in books (when done right) but there were so many in this book, that they lost the impact on me. I think the full song quotes combined with the wordiness led to me skipping & skimming, especially the song lyrics.
Bryn…Emilia’s best friend. At first, I liked her. Then Emilia made a point of saying Bryn was maternal toward her…multiple times. And after that, she sounded more like a mom than a friend. And in some cases that mix is fine, but it didn’t work for me here. She sounded older and more of a mother lecturing her child than well-meaning friend expressing concern for her bff. I just got turned off when Bryn entered any scene.
I have to address the ending. Even though I didn’t make it through the book, I did read the ending. And I hated it. The biggest reason…IT HAS A CLIFFHANGER. I really hate cliffhangers. And this was bad because the author spent 800+ pages getting them together and then And I have a real problem with that.
In reality, the story wasn’t bad. And the writing was pretty good. I just couldn’t get through the sea of words to get to the story.
Unfortunately, that was the end of my excitement. The book started out ok. But I quickly found I had some issues. According to my kindle, this book has 833 pages. Now, I’m not scared of long books. I actually prefer long books to shorter books that have cliffhangers or abrupt endings and sequels. I would rather get the WHOLE story in one book. However, that wasn’t to be the case with this book. For the record. I gave this a good shot. I read 161 pages. That’s 11 chapters (plus the last chapter to find out how it ended). That was 30% of the book (not counting the last chapter). I gave this a shot. It just wasn’t the book for me.
Lordy lordy, this book was wordy! This wouldn’t have been a huge issue if the book hadn’t been so long. But it was long and consequently the wordiness was overwhelmingly obvious. Here’s an example:
Josh Harding, Tyler Irwin and their two roommates live in a four-bedroom house with a large deck. Its centrally located – just blocks from State Street. State Street is the main street in Santa Barbara’s downtown. It’s filled with popular bars, restaurants, and shops – including Spyder Surf.
That’s just one paragraph to show what I’m talking about. Just reading that paragraph, I felt like I went from reading a novel to reading a travel brochure. Now, just in case it was me, imagining things, I ran this paragraph by a writer friend of mine. She agreed with me and said it could easily be cut down to “Josh Harding, Tyler Irwin, and their two roommates live in a four-bedroom house just blocks from State Street in Santa Barbara's downtown." And honestly, I didn’t need Josh and Tyler’s last names. I couldn’t help feeling like this book would have benefited from more editing. Or, this author comes from a research background and did what I would do in a research paper and cover my bases with details so that the reader didn’t have any unanswered questions. But in the end (or 30% rather), I was wading through a sea of excess words and I barely scratched the surface of the story.
Another complaint (related to the wordiness) was the songs. Don’t get me wrong. I love how songs and books can go together. And I love it when songs are quoted in books (when done right) but there were so many in this book, that they lost the impact on me. I think the full song quotes combined with the wordiness led to me skipping & skimming, especially the song lyrics.
Bryn…Emilia’s best friend. At first, I liked her. Then Emilia made a point of saying Bryn was maternal toward her…multiple times. And after that, she sounded more like a mom than a friend. And in some cases that mix is fine, but it didn’t work for me here. She sounded older and more of a mother lecturing her child than well-meaning friend expressing concern for her bff. I just got turned off when Bryn entered any scene.
I have to address the ending. Even though I didn’t make it through the book, I did read the ending. And I hated it. The biggest reason…IT HAS A CLIFFHANGER. I really hate cliffhangers. And this was bad because the author spent 800+ pages getting them together and then And I have a real problem with that.
In reality, the story wasn’t bad. And the writing was pretty good. I just couldn’t get through the sea of words to get to the story.
November 30, 2013
I liked it at first, but then I didn't. it reminds me of fifty shades, you know the interview and the emails. it is not as good as I expected. To be fair I think that's because I set such high expectations for it. umm but wait, frankly…I didn't get the chemistry between our hero and heroine here. seriously. I thought a rich guy would be an alpha male or possessive a little? but I didn't found it here. how about Tyler? Sutton's son, and Luke? I know they said, 'take it wisely and slowly' but I still don't get it. If a man's convinced that he truly likes the girl and wants to be with her (read some parts of it), he would be more possessive…right? what's wrong with Logan? and the giggles, smiles, teases…annoyed me. sorry.
September 21, 2013
I really hate being critical of an author's first book. So let's start with the positives -- the romantic trope of a mega rich bad boy turned around by a working-class, scholarship student with a love of Shakespeare and Jane Austen is always a good one, as is the sweet innocent girl harboring secrets and the scars of childhood trauma, both of which are in this book. Here's where I had difficulty -- The book had serious pacing and plot structure problems, made worse by SO MUCH unnecessary garbage -- dialogue, repetitive scenes, full song lyrics, etc -- that it was tough to follow the story Mannino set out to tell. Honestly, the book (which is way too long) needs a good editor.
August 15, 2014
This story had such potential, but was executed so poorly that it’s not even funny...What's with the 100 page song lyrics, seriously?!
Logan was sort of OK -until he started to behave like a pussy whipped momma’s boy- with no good reason at all, and that seriously pissed me off!
Emilia was so annoying, that I can’t even think about her without wanting to smash my computer or my head, for that matter, against the wall!!! Frigid, tired all the time, whiny, spineless moron!
To be honest, their chemistry was awful- actually nonexistent, a sure recipe for disaster...
The story was a boring flat liner, and it sucked the life out of me!
Overall, a huge disappointment! I want my 5 hours back!!!!
Logan was sort of OK -until he started to behave like a pussy whipped momma’s boy- with no good reason at all, and that seriously pissed me off!
Emilia was so annoying, that I can’t even think about her without wanting to smash my computer or my head, for that matter, against the wall!!! Frigid, tired all the time, whiny, spineless moron!
To be honest, their chemistry was awful- actually nonexistent, a sure recipe for disaster...
The story was a boring flat liner, and it sucked the life out of me!
Overall, a huge disappointment! I want my 5 hours back!!!!
September 28, 2013
I found this book to be excessively lengthy, a lot of minute details that could have been done without. There is a lot of 'giggling' and one also gets to know the 'lyrics' of some nice songs which nevertheless conform to the moods of the characters but I thought them to be quite unnecessary. That said, the chemistry among the characters is good. Logan seems like a great guy but, as Emilia feels, it is hard to believe a person could change so much in such short time. The friendship of Bryn and Emilia is heart warming. The ending gives the book a nice turn and makes one look forward to the sequel. All in all, it is a light read with very little, if any, action.
August 26, 2013
Bought this book for my 18 year old niece who absolutely LOVED it! She said her heart was pumping all the way throughout the book. She's going away to college this summer, and can't wait to meet her Romeo now. :)
September 9, 2013
I reviewed this book at MustReadBooksOrDie with my friend Shelley.
Shel: I'm going to start with the setting, unusual maybe?, but it seemed like one of the main characters...so why not? Diane Mannino set this novel in the beautiful city of Santa Barbara. I've never been to Santa Barbara but the descriptions in this novel have me considering it as a future vacation destination. It seemed so lush and balmy and beautiful...and the perfect setting for her characters, Emilia and Logan.
Court: I thought too that the setting of California was like a character in that it was part of the essence of their lives if that makes any sense. The descriptions and the ocean and the surfing all painted a picture of who these people are, and it made me also hope for a West Coast vacay in the near future...I love it there!
Shel: This story begins at the beginning of Emilia and Logan's senior year in college. They meet when she interviews him for a college TV broadcast and BANG! this romance starts. Emilia is beautiful, and studious, and haunted by her past. She's also notorious for being a hardcore student and her best friend Bryn is using this year to draw her out and get her to have some fun. Court: Bryn does get her out of her self-imposed shell and out to have some fun, but she was a hard girl to like...in the beginning. I will say that she grew on me as things went on and she got more wrapped up in her own relationship and stopped mother-henning Emilia to death so that was so nice!
Shel: Logan is heir to a fortune, a professed hedonist, and surprisingly kind and studious as well. After his first meeting with Emilia he in hot pursuit of her time and attention. When she isn't as eager to return his attention, he uses his power of persuasion and clever wit to get her to give him a chance.
Shel: As the semester progresses, so does their romance. Neither of them are familiar with the idea of dating and so they have a few hiccups along the way-- a little jealousy, issues with trust, and Emilia often withholds her thoughts in favor of silently over-analyzing or jumping to conclusions. These problems aside, they agree to take their relationship slowly and it is apparent that they are falling in love. He is very tender, patient, and sweet with her and she is very supportive and encouraging of him. Of course we'd be fools to think that all of this lovey dovey sweetness would remain, right?
Court: Logan made this book for me. We really don't know a lot about him aside from when he is with Emilia because we are always in her point of view, but it is apparent that he has a lot of internal conflict going on in his poor tortured soul. When I would have a lot of trouble with the dialogue with Emilia and Bryn, a scene with Logan would come up and he would be sweet and encouraging with Emilia and would get me back on track. He really has to struggle to keep this girl from falling through his fingertips because she is genuinely bound and determined to punish him for how he used to be. He really doesn't give her any indication that he isn't fully invested so I needed her to chill out!
Shel: As I neared the last 10% and things were going fairly smoothly, I just KNEW two things: 1) something bad was going to happen and 2) we'd be left standing on the cliff waiting for our next book. My predictions were correct. GAH!!!!! Just when I was holding out hope that I was going to get my happily ever after...NOOOO! I haven't seen a release date for book 2 but I know I'm very interested in seeing how these two are going to work this out (please tell me they work it out!)
Court: The end! Definite shocker there...and it made me sad....and mad....and just WHY! I was Team Logan the entire way and he has to screw it all up!!! Gah!
Court: There were a few issues for me, mostly with the dialogue, but it was a really sweet story. The quotes from whatever literature she happened to be studying at the time were amazing and made Logan all the more likeable. The Surf shop owners who are practically Emilia's surrogate parents away from home were a great addition to the story as well. The secondary characters were mostly enjoyable, aside from Sebastian. I wish we could have gotten a little bit more about why Logan and Sebastian were the way they were and why Sebastian disliked Emilia so dang much!!! Frustrating boys!!!
Shel: I'm going to start with the setting, unusual maybe?, but it seemed like one of the main characters...so why not? Diane Mannino set this novel in the beautiful city of Santa Barbara. I've never been to Santa Barbara but the descriptions in this novel have me considering it as a future vacation destination. It seemed so lush and balmy and beautiful...and the perfect setting for her characters, Emilia and Logan.
Court: I thought too that the setting of California was like a character in that it was part of the essence of their lives if that makes any sense. The descriptions and the ocean and the surfing all painted a picture of who these people are, and it made me also hope for a West Coast vacay in the near future...I love it there!
Shel: This story begins at the beginning of Emilia and Logan's senior year in college. They meet when she interviews him for a college TV broadcast and BANG! this romance starts. Emilia is beautiful, and studious, and haunted by her past. She's also notorious for being a hardcore student and her best friend Bryn is using this year to draw her out and get her to have some fun. Court: Bryn does get her out of her self-imposed shell and out to have some fun, but she was a hard girl to like...in the beginning. I will say that she grew on me as things went on and she got more wrapped up in her own relationship and stopped mother-henning Emilia to death so that was so nice!
Shel: Logan is heir to a fortune, a professed hedonist, and surprisingly kind and studious as well. After his first meeting with Emilia he in hot pursuit of her time and attention. When she isn't as eager to return his attention, he uses his power of persuasion and clever wit to get her to give him a chance.
Shel: As the semester progresses, so does their romance. Neither of them are familiar with the idea of dating and so they have a few hiccups along the way-- a little jealousy, issues with trust, and Emilia often withholds her thoughts in favor of silently over-analyzing or jumping to conclusions. These problems aside, they agree to take their relationship slowly and it is apparent that they are falling in love. He is very tender, patient, and sweet with her and she is very supportive and encouraging of him. Of course we'd be fools to think that all of this lovey dovey sweetness would remain, right?
Court: Logan made this book for me. We really don't know a lot about him aside from when he is with Emilia because we are always in her point of view, but it is apparent that he has a lot of internal conflict going on in his poor tortured soul. When I would have a lot of trouble with the dialogue with Emilia and Bryn, a scene with Logan would come up and he would be sweet and encouraging with Emilia and would get me back on track. He really has to struggle to keep this girl from falling through his fingertips because she is genuinely bound and determined to punish him for how he used to be. He really doesn't give her any indication that he isn't fully invested so I needed her to chill out!
Shel: As I neared the last 10% and things were going fairly smoothly, I just KNEW two things: 1) something bad was going to happen and 2) we'd be left standing on the cliff waiting for our next book. My predictions were correct. GAH!!!!! Just when I was holding out hope that I was going to get my happily ever after...NOOOO! I haven't seen a release date for book 2 but I know I'm very interested in seeing how these two are going to work this out (please tell me they work it out!)
Court: The end! Definite shocker there...and it made me sad....and mad....and just WHY! I was Team Logan the entire way and he has to screw it all up!!! Gah!
Court: There were a few issues for me, mostly with the dialogue, but it was a really sweet story. The quotes from whatever literature she happened to be studying at the time were amazing and made Logan all the more likeable. The Surf shop owners who are practically Emilia's surrogate parents away from home were a great addition to the story as well. The secondary characters were mostly enjoyable, aside from Sebastian. I wish we could have gotten a little bit more about why Logan and Sebastian were the way they were and why Sebastian disliked Emilia so dang much!!! Frustrating boys!!!
August 7, 2013
You can also find this review at http://girlinthewoodsreviews.blogspot...
Detailed Review: In the case of this book, it wasn't the story that really drew my attention, but the details and the setting and the characters. The main characters were really the deal for me. They made me cry and laugh and do other things I wouldn't have done while reading other books.
Even though the story was simple, it still managed to affect me, because it was a contemporary, which meant it could happen in real life and the characters just felt so real. I could literally imagine them in my mind and what was happening between them.
So my favourite characters were:
Emilia King: She is the main character and narrator in the book. Her innocence is her most distinguishable trait but her sense of humor is just the thing that makes me laugh. My heart really reached out for her when she was in any difficulty. I love the fact that she's majoring in English Literature since I love Literature too!
Logan Prescott: Emilia's love interest. He's hot and he's the heir to a chain of successful hotels around the world-Prescott Hotels. And at the same time, he's caring and kind and I loved the times when he and Emilia were together because they seemed to get along so well together, not to mention that he's also well-versed in Literature. Ahhhh could you have wished for a better guy? Even though, he was a playboy before he met Emilia, I think he could really change if he tried hard enough.
Bryn: Emilia's best friend and my imaginary best friend. I so wish she's my best friend! She's so protective and maternal and I would love a friend like that! My friends, do you hear that?
I especially love Logan's and Emilia's email exchanges because they just reflect how the pair are getting on with each other. They also managed to reveal the fact that Emilia is slowly letting her guard down and finally falls in love with him. I also love the literature which Diane has included in Emilia's English course and the songs, they just give so much hints and increase the tension between Logan and Emilia even more!
The best moment in the book was when Emilia and Logan met for the first time because it was so funny and tense and I also think that is a turning point in the story where everything for the main characters start changing. The worst moment was the ending, or more precisely the last few pages. My heart was completely shattered... I can see my heart in pieces, literally....
And not to mention the title is a good one since it relates to the book quite well, and I can't wait to know what the title for the sequel is! And the cover OMG it's so BEAUTIFUL!
And you can guess who 'Romeo' is. *winks*
Also you've got to watch the trailer for the book! It's absolutely AWESOME. This is gonna make you wanna read the book even more!
Brief Review: The author really overworked her abilities to write this book. It couldn't have been more perfectly done and Diane can make you swoon with just a sentence over Logan and also sympathize with Emilia with just a paragraph. She definitely can break your heart in a few pages' time. This book is a MUST-READ for contemporary and romance lovers! If you don't read it, you're clearly missing out!
Final Rating: 5/5 'Totally Amazing!'
Detailed Review: In the case of this book, it wasn't the story that really drew my attention, but the details and the setting and the characters. The main characters were really the deal for me. They made me cry and laugh and do other things I wouldn't have done while reading other books.
Even though the story was simple, it still managed to affect me, because it was a contemporary, which meant it could happen in real life and the characters just felt so real. I could literally imagine them in my mind and what was happening between them.
So my favourite characters were:
Emilia King: She is the main character and narrator in the book. Her innocence is her most distinguishable trait but her sense of humor is just the thing that makes me laugh. My heart really reached out for her when she was in any difficulty. I love the fact that she's majoring in English Literature since I love Literature too!
Logan Prescott: Emilia's love interest. He's hot and he's the heir to a chain of successful hotels around the world-Prescott Hotels. And at the same time, he's caring and kind and I loved the times when he and Emilia were together because they seemed to get along so well together, not to mention that he's also well-versed in Literature. Ahhhh could you have wished for a better guy? Even though, he was a playboy before he met Emilia, I think he could really change if he tried hard enough.
Bryn: Emilia's best friend and my imaginary best friend. I so wish she's my best friend! She's so protective and maternal and I would love a friend like that! My friends, do you hear that?
I especially love Logan's and Emilia's email exchanges because they just reflect how the pair are getting on with each other. They also managed to reveal the fact that Emilia is slowly letting her guard down and finally falls in love with him. I also love the literature which Diane has included in Emilia's English course and the songs, they just give so much hints and increase the tension between Logan and Emilia even more!
The best moment in the book was when Emilia and Logan met for the first time because it was so funny and tense and I also think that is a turning point in the story where everything for the main characters start changing. The worst moment was the ending, or more precisely the last few pages. My heart was completely shattered... I can see my heart in pieces, literally....
And not to mention the title is a good one since it relates to the book quite well, and I can't wait to know what the title for the sequel is! And the cover OMG it's so BEAUTIFUL!
And you can guess who 'Romeo' is. *winks*
Also you've got to watch the trailer for the book! It's absolutely AWESOME. This is gonna make you wanna read the book even more!
Brief Review: The author really overworked her abilities to write this book. It couldn't have been more perfectly done and Diane can make you swoon with just a sentence over Logan and also sympathize with Emilia with just a paragraph. She definitely can break your heart in a few pages' time. This book is a MUST-READ for contemporary and romance lovers! If you don't read it, you're clearly missing out!
Final Rating: 5/5 'Totally Amazing!'
August 31, 2013
Review
At the end, I realized that nothing actually happened.
This review is written in complete honesty. Some will like RUNNING FROM ROMEO and some will not.
I can only give it a rating between 1 to 1.5 stars. I finished the book – with not much joy – I will rate it just like this. But seriously… this…I am speechless…and annoyed as hell.
Let’s just begin with the one thing I thought it was actually pretty ridiculous.
The number of song lyrics in this story is too damn high!
I like it if authors mention songs. They often have good taste - really. They often choose the right songs for the right scenes. But this time I was just frustrated…or annoyed. I did not even care which song was chosen, I practically skipped everything. If I wanted to know the lyrics to every song that were mentioned I would have googled it. Really. The copy and past part of lyrics in the story was not necessary. It just feels like writing a paper that has to have a certain amount of words. If that specific amount of words is not reached people end up writing unnecessary things to fill up the space… did the author encounter the same situation with RUNNING FROM ROMEO? I don’t know because the story seemed actually never ending in my point of view.
Look I have to be honest… I am just inhumanly disappointed. RUNNING FROM ROMEO was a huge disappointment considering the fact that I was actually anticipating reading it. I mean… let me do a checklist:
Nice cover: check
Interesting blurb: check
Catching title: check
But I guess disappointment is part of life.
Because the story was written in such a way, it ended up being … very robot-ish. Is it me or am I the only one thinking like that? But there was practically no flow. Therefore, every the conversation basically ended up being awkward and uncomfortable to read. Besides that I found that certain parts were overly described - too detailed maybe?
What did I expect? As a typical NA novel you will have a girl with ‘problems’ … who meets an irresistible hot guy – no wait… I am wrong it was not even a NA? Or was it? Whatever…anyways RUNNING FROM ROMEO has covered that yes. I have read a lot of books sometimes I get annoyed with the characters and sometimes I just can’t help but love them. But the fact that I couldn’t relate to both characters says a lot already. I didn’t like Emilia, because she giggles too. Friggin. much. Really can she stop giggling? Just once. Thank you very much. I didn’t like Logan. I don’t know why but something is just not right with him… Did we encounter sizzling chemistry between those two? In my opinion…definitely not. I didn’t like her best friend or the other characters.
But in the end I realized that it was not only the characters that did not capture my attention it was also the storyline itself. I thought that it would be romantic… you know Shakespeare etcetera, but it was not romantic at all. Did I get excited once? No. Not even at the end with the unreasonable cliffhanger. It was one flat story I can sum it up in a few words: Sleepless night – Running – School – Work – Sleepless night – Partying Alcohol? I just wanted something to help me pick up my reading phase but with this… I guess I met the failure of my summer.
I am not sure what I wanted or expected but at the end nothing actually happened. Nothing. Happened. The goal… you know the point of the story. Where did it go? I am not even sure what I have just read. And seeing some other reviews and the overall rating I am not even sure if I have read the same story as you guys.
More reviews @ http://moringoreviews.blogspot.nl
At the end, I realized that nothing actually happened.
This review is written in complete honesty. Some will like RUNNING FROM ROMEO and some will not.
I can only give it a rating between 1 to 1.5 stars. I finished the book – with not much joy – I will rate it just like this. But seriously… this…I am speechless…and annoyed as hell.
Let’s just begin with the one thing I thought it was actually pretty ridiculous.
The number of song lyrics in this story is too damn high!
I like it if authors mention songs. They often have good taste - really. They often choose the right songs for the right scenes. But this time I was just frustrated…or annoyed. I did not even care which song was chosen, I practically skipped everything. If I wanted to know the lyrics to every song that were mentioned I would have googled it. Really. The copy and past part of lyrics in the story was not necessary. It just feels like writing a paper that has to have a certain amount of words. If that specific amount of words is not reached people end up writing unnecessary things to fill up the space… did the author encounter the same situation with RUNNING FROM ROMEO? I don’t know because the story seemed actually never ending in my point of view.
Look I have to be honest… I am just inhumanly disappointed. RUNNING FROM ROMEO was a huge disappointment considering the fact that I was actually anticipating reading it. I mean… let me do a checklist:
Nice cover: check
Interesting blurb: check
Catching title: check
But I guess disappointment is part of life.
Because the story was written in such a way, it ended up being … very robot-ish. Is it me or am I the only one thinking like that? But there was practically no flow. Therefore, every the conversation basically ended up being awkward and uncomfortable to read. Besides that I found that certain parts were overly described - too detailed maybe?
What did I expect? As a typical NA novel you will have a girl with ‘problems’ … who meets an irresistible hot guy – no wait… I am wrong it was not even a NA? Or was it? Whatever…anyways RUNNING FROM ROMEO has covered that yes. I have read a lot of books sometimes I get annoyed with the characters and sometimes I just can’t help but love them. But the fact that I couldn’t relate to both characters says a lot already. I didn’t like Emilia, because she giggles too. Friggin. much. Really can she stop giggling? Just once. Thank you very much. I didn’t like Logan. I don’t know why but something is just not right with him… Did we encounter sizzling chemistry between those two? In my opinion…definitely not. I didn’t like her best friend or the other characters.
But in the end I realized that it was not only the characters that did not capture my attention it was also the storyline itself. I thought that it would be romantic… you know Shakespeare etcetera, but it was not romantic at all. Did I get excited once? No. Not even at the end with the unreasonable cliffhanger. It was one flat story I can sum it up in a few words: Sleepless night – Running – School – Work – Sleepless night – Partying Alcohol? I just wanted something to help me pick up my reading phase but with this… I guess I met the failure of my summer.
I am not sure what I wanted or expected but at the end nothing actually happened. Nothing. Happened. The goal… you know the point of the story. Where did it go? I am not even sure what I have just read. And seeing some other reviews and the overall rating I am not even sure if I have read the same story as you guys.
More reviews @ http://moringoreviews.blogspot.nl
August 22, 2013
Crossposted at my book blog: Vicariously!\
-Originally given 3.5 stars, but I refuse to lower that to 3 because goodreads, wonderful site that it is, has not made a way for us to give half stars-
Do not ever doubt my love for this book. Never. Because, while it was a hard start for me (small complaints: the dialogue seemed stilted, imagined, and not real, I didn't like the pacing), but I got to page 44 and that was it. Two hours later I was done and staring at Margaret (who is my NOOK) aghast.
Cause I how can I even describe this book?
If you know anything about me, it's that I like heavy subjects. I like exploring them, picking apart situations, and pondering. Joel(my ex-coblogger and pseudo-brother) will tell you in a hearbeat that I'm a 'Lifetime Movie' who 'talks like she's in Dawson's Creek.'
This book was just a couple points short of hitting that sweet spot of perfection of me.
Emilia, and I will argue this so hard don't test me, was such a real and relateable character for me in more than one way-some of them painful. I like that stuff was hinted at about her insomnia, but not revealed until later. Some might argue, but it made me feel like *I* was getting to know her as well. And the way things were dealt with and explained are so plausible it's not even funny. I found the insomnia, night terrors, and subsequent explanations hard to swallow, but more because I knew that it could happen-and has to many people. I could have done without the giggling every ten seconds.
Logan, oh my Lord! When my only complaint about someone is that they sound too good to be true? (But that ending OMFG) He was amazing, but I there's so much that wasn't said, that was only hinted at. I need it explained. He pushes at Emilia, who clearly has trust issues (and for good reason, not that he knows this til much much later), but doesn't really explain his past. His 'explanations' are matter-of-fact. I don't doubt them, they're said with an interesting type of conviction. What kills me is what is implied by that conviction, which is that there is so much to the story and he doesn't either a)feel like talking about it or b)doesn't trust Emlia to react how he wants her too. Which, I mean, makes him just as realistic as her.
And let me touch on this. We don't really know about who Logan was before other than what little he said and the examples Sebastian and Seraphina respectively set. Other than Emilia's continuous musings we don't know. I want that. I want to understand the relapse, Sebastian's awful attitude toward Emilia, and I just need further explanation.
The reason these characters are so relateable is because they are beautifully flawed.
I loved Brynn and getting to know her what little I did. She was an awesome confidant and best friend, fierce to the end. Their relationship was vastly reminiscent of my few very dear ones. I would have liked to know more about the other characters in the story, but this isn't THEIR story. This is Emilia and Logan's.
Here's the thing though: I loved this book.
Yeah, alcohol flowed abundant and the friends I have that drink that much are alcoholics, as well as it was rich in terms of surroundings and what their financial situations were. And Logan was very akin to Logan Echolls via season 3 of Veronica. There were plot holes and the writing could have been less flowery, words more varied, and sometimes more descriptive.
But it was good. Hat's off to you Diane. I'm eagerly awaiting the next book. :)
-Originally given 3.5 stars, but I refuse to lower that to 3 because goodreads, wonderful site that it is, has not made a way for us to give half stars-
Do not ever doubt my love for this book. Never. Because, while it was a hard start for me (small complaints: the dialogue seemed stilted, imagined, and not real, I didn't like the pacing), but I got to page 44 and that was it. Two hours later I was done and staring at Margaret (who is my NOOK) aghast.
Cause I how can I even describe this book?
If you know anything about me, it's that I like heavy subjects. I like exploring them, picking apart situations, and pondering. Joel(my ex-coblogger and pseudo-brother) will tell you in a hearbeat that I'm a 'Lifetime Movie' who 'talks like she's in Dawson's Creek.'
This book was just a couple points short of hitting that sweet spot of perfection of me.
Emilia, and I will argue this so hard don't test me, was such a real and relateable character for me in more than one way-some of them painful. I like that stuff was hinted at about her insomnia, but not revealed until later. Some might argue, but it made me feel like *I* was getting to know her as well. And the way things were dealt with and explained are so plausible it's not even funny. I found the insomnia, night terrors, and subsequent explanations hard to swallow, but more because I knew that it could happen-and has to many people. I could have done without the giggling every ten seconds.
Logan, oh my Lord! When my only complaint about someone is that they sound too good to be true? (But that ending OMFG) He was amazing, but I there's so much that wasn't said, that was only hinted at. I need it explained. He pushes at Emilia, who clearly has trust issues (and for good reason, not that he knows this til much much later), but doesn't really explain his past. His 'explanations' are matter-of-fact. I don't doubt them, they're said with an interesting type of conviction. What kills me is what is implied by that conviction, which is that there is so much to the story and he doesn't either a)feel like talking about it or b)doesn't trust Emlia to react how he wants her too. Which, I mean, makes him just as realistic as her.
And let me touch on this. We don't really know about who Logan was before other than what little he said and the examples Sebastian and Seraphina respectively set. Other than Emilia's continuous musings we don't know. I want that. I want to understand the relapse, Sebastian's awful attitude toward Emilia, and I just need further explanation.
The reason these characters are so relateable is because they are beautifully flawed.
I loved Brynn and getting to know her what little I did. She was an awesome confidant and best friend, fierce to the end. Their relationship was vastly reminiscent of my few very dear ones. I would have liked to know more about the other characters in the story, but this isn't THEIR story. This is Emilia and Logan's.
Here's the thing though: I loved this book.
Yeah, alcohol flowed abundant and the friends I have that drink that much are alcoholics, as well as it was rich in terms of surroundings and what their financial situations were. And Logan was very akin to Logan Echolls via season 3 of Veronica. There were plot holes and the writing could have been less flowery, words more varied, and sometimes more descriptive.
But it was good. Hat's off to you Diane. I'm eagerly awaiting the next book. :)
December 17, 2014
I was really intrigued with both the plot story and the cover. It had me at the cover, even if it was different and artistic… The story on the other hand. Let me bust out my list.
I had 9 major issues with this book:
1. It was too long. Awfully long.
2. It was repetitive in a annoying way. The characters did the same things everyday. They drank, they studied (in a fairy-tale way), they cuddled (Logan and Emilia) and…oh well it was so repetitive that I started to forget and everything turned into an automatic reading. I would have liked it more if it weren't so long.
3. Emilia’s best friend Bryn was a strange character. They are in their very early 20’s and Bryn, who is filthy rich acts both like a mother and a crazy house mate. Nothing wrong with that but those are two totally different characters that may go together in real life. Maybe not in book-world without being weird.
4. They drink like drinking water. It’s strange since Emilia decided to start live her life more now that she and Bryn is at their last year of college. She wants to step out of the library world and have fun. That’s okay but her drinking so often? It doesn’t make that much sense since she runs every morning and some evenings. From what I know and have heard, consuming alcohol isn’t that good when you exercise. I’ve tried it and I’ve noticed the bad effects it gives.
5. The most annoying thing that got to me half way was IT WAS AWFULLY LIKE Fifty shades of Grey. Everything could be linked to FSOG.
6. They use the same naming and sentence as, ”Do you now, miss King?” or ”I would never do such thing Mr. Prescott.”…
7. They never text or call each other. They EMAIL. No one email each other nowadays, it’s too slow.Why are they doing it?!
8. Why bother build up the Emilia’s reason behind her fears if the reveal was awfully presented? It didn’t even matter three seconds after it was revealed.
9. Did it just end like that? Seriously? Is there a sequel? I dragged myself through the rest for that? I have to give credits to the emotional ending scene thought. Loved it.
I want to go deeper into my anger for the resemblance of FSOG and RFR. I’m admitting that I like FSOG but this made me super defensive. FSOG may be awful in a lot of people’s minds but it was enjoyable awful for me so, so na na to RFR, don’t even try. I don’t even know if the author was heavily influenced or if it just was a sheer coincident that everything is so much alike.
I had 9 major issues with this book:
1. It was too long. Awfully long.
2. It was repetitive in a annoying way. The characters did the same things everyday. They drank, they studied (in a fairy-tale way), they cuddled (Logan and Emilia) and…oh well it was so repetitive that I started to forget and everything turned into an automatic reading. I would have liked it more if it weren't so long.
3. Emilia’s best friend Bryn was a strange character. They are in their very early 20’s and Bryn, who is filthy rich acts both like a mother and a crazy house mate. Nothing wrong with that but those are two totally different characters that may go together in real life. Maybe not in book-world without being weird.
4. They drink like drinking water. It’s strange since Emilia decided to start live her life more now that she and Bryn is at their last year of college. She wants to step out of the library world and have fun. That’s okay but her drinking so often? It doesn’t make that much sense since she runs every morning and some evenings. From what I know and have heard, consuming alcohol isn’t that good when you exercise. I’ve tried it and I’ve noticed the bad effects it gives.
5. The most annoying thing that got to me half way was IT WAS AWFULLY LIKE Fifty shades of Grey. Everything could be linked to FSOG.
6. They use the same naming and sentence as, ”Do you now, miss King?” or ”I would never do such thing Mr. Prescott.”…
7. They never text or call each other. They EMAIL. No one email each other nowadays, it’s too slow.Why are they doing it?!
8. Why bother build up the Emilia’s reason behind her fears if the reveal was awfully presented? It didn’t even matter three seconds after it was revealed.
9. Did it just end like that? Seriously? Is there a sequel? I dragged myself through the rest for that? I have to give credits to the emotional ending scene thought. Loved it.
I want to go deeper into my anger for the resemblance of FSOG and RFR. I’m admitting that I like FSOG but this made me super defensive. FSOG may be awful in a lot of people’s minds but it was enjoyable awful for me so, so na na to RFR, don’t even try. I don’t even know if the author was heavily influenced or if it just was a sheer coincident that everything is so much alike.
October 4, 2013
The writing is not very good. Clumsy in fact. Not only does it have that cheesy five-guys-are-obsessed-with-the-very-boring-heroine, everyone reacts really strongly in this book. It's almost overreact, but not quite. Even though the author doesn't intend it that way, the relationship felt like a whole lot of emotional abuse. There's the occasional joke that had me smiling on the inside, but it didn't quite outbalance the amount of poor jokes. After a while, I learned to ignore the awkward writing, and started getting more into the story. However, by about 3/5 of the way I started losing interest again because nothing was happening. Just a whole lot of rehashing and repetition.
Emilia's past involves more than just the death of her mother. It started becoming a bit of a mystery as she keeps alluding but never revealing what exactly happened to her. Emilia suffers from anxiety, nightmares and just stressing out a lot. She's not emotionally unstable, but she is super cautious.
Emilia is not very nice to Logan straight off the bat. He makes her nervous so she just runs at the mouth. She's actually quite saucy. I liked that she digs deep into her trust issues and analyses the situation and the relationship quite logically.
I liked how firm she is with him. Most of the time it's for the wrong reasons, but she's not indecisive and I enjoyed that.
Bryn is an annoyingly beautiful party-girl but she's an awesome friend. She's so protective and generous to Emilia and behaves just like a mother hen. When Emilia comes back late she's frantic and in tears and it's all so dramatic.
Logan is dark and moody in a completely unattractive personality. He has a super quick temper like a switch. The good part is, I enjoyed their romance over English literature. Even though he's a real hottie, the way Emilia shoots him down constantly, kind of evens up the power play. That as well as he's a total sucker for her.
P.S.
If you have to use the word “passionately” to describe a kiss you're not describing it right.
P.S.2 Why didn't she just tell all the guys crushing on her that she had a boyfriend?
Emilia's past involves more than just the death of her mother. It started becoming a bit of a mystery as she keeps alluding but never revealing what exactly happened to her. Emilia suffers from anxiety, nightmares and just stressing out a lot. She's not emotionally unstable, but she is super cautious.
Emilia is not very nice to Logan straight off the bat. He makes her nervous so she just runs at the mouth. She's actually quite saucy. I liked that she digs deep into her trust issues and analyses the situation and the relationship quite logically.
I liked how firm she is with him. Most of the time it's for the wrong reasons, but she's not indecisive and I enjoyed that.
Bryn is an annoyingly beautiful party-girl but she's an awesome friend. She's so protective and generous to Emilia and behaves just like a mother hen. When Emilia comes back late she's frantic and in tears and it's all so dramatic.
Logan is dark and moody in a completely unattractive personality. He has a super quick temper like a switch. The good part is, I enjoyed their romance over English literature. Even though he's a real hottie, the way Emilia shoots him down constantly, kind of evens up the power play. That as well as he's a total sucker for her.
P.S.
If you have to use the word “passionately” to describe a kiss you're not describing it right.
P.S.2 Why didn't she just tell all the guys crushing on her that she had a boyfriend?
August 11, 2016
First off, I really enjoyed the characters in Running from Romeo, even if there were moments I wanted to slap them silly. I think that may be the sign of a good book. Getting emotionally involved in their situation and what is going to happen. That being said, this is a cliffhanger. This is a rip-your-heart-out and show it to you cliffhanger. As soon as I finished Running from Romeo, I had to start reading Waiting for Romeo just so I could find out what happened next.
Emilia is a senior in college and lives with her best friend, Bryn. I liked Bryn’s attitude and I also liked her pushing for Emilia to live a little in her last year of school. There is a ton of drinking in this book. Drinking at home, drinking in bars, and drinking in clubs. I have to say though, that was definitely true to college life.
Logan is the somewhat cocky, totally hot, hotel heir college senior that Emilia has the pleasure of interviewing during one of her school news broadcasts. Let the fun begin.
There are sweet moments in the book, Logan can really be romantic. Some of the book is slow-going for me, but are also parts that need to be in there to move the connection forward. It may seem like a long book at over 500 pages, but some of those pages are back and forth emails between Emilia and Logan. Lots of literary references, so you will be able to brush up on your Shakespeare.
Diane Mannino writes a story of new love, finding your other half, and then losing love.
Emilia is a senior in college and lives with her best friend, Bryn. I liked Bryn’s attitude and I also liked her pushing for Emilia to live a little in her last year of school. There is a ton of drinking in this book. Drinking at home, drinking in bars, and drinking in clubs. I have to say though, that was definitely true to college life.
Logan is the somewhat cocky, totally hot, hotel heir college senior that Emilia has the pleasure of interviewing during one of her school news broadcasts. Let the fun begin.
There are sweet moments in the book, Logan can really be romantic. Some of the book is slow-going for me, but are also parts that need to be in there to move the connection forward. It may seem like a long book at over 500 pages, but some of those pages are back and forth emails between Emilia and Logan. Lots of literary references, so you will be able to brush up on your Shakespeare.
Diane Mannino writes a story of new love, finding your other half, and then losing love.
July 14, 2014
Um...what the fuck? I took a break from this book because I had finals to study for but since I'm on summer break now, I decided to get back to reading this. Honestly, the story was cute throughout (minus a few parts where I wanted to throw up because of the many terms of endearment), but besides that, the story was okay. There were times when I really got into the story and how realistic the whole plot was. However, it was hard sometimes to think how good-natured Logan became after a lifetime of bad decisions. It was nice for a change to have a male lead so enamoured without even having to utter, "I love you." But, there were times when it got repetitive and somewhat boring. I got past that because I was hoping Emilia would finally just be able to open up fully to Logan. The feelings were there, the songs were on point, but the ending wanted me to disintegrate. I understood the "old habits die hard" thing going on with Logan, but there weren't any events leading up to what happened to foreshadow it. I am very angry and I pity Emilia. I am hopeful to read the sequel and see where everything goes from there.
September 9, 2013
I felt this book was dragging and just wouldn't end. Although the concept of the book sounds great and very eye catching the content within the book doesn't match up unfortunately. The storyline was very slow paced and very repetitive. At some point in he book I got bored and predicted what was about to happen next as it was slightly predictable. Maybe if the length of the book wasn't so long and repetitive this book would of been better. Also there was a few editing mistakes which was annoying! Such as spelling, grammar etc.. I won't be reading the next book.
December 9, 2015
Let me tell you the book's preview screamed that it should be read...Good looking-megarich-manwhore falls for the unasuming beautiful smart girl that loves Shakespeare...(yeah totally my thing)BUT
*The pacing(worse than an Indian tragedy)
*Unneccesry walks BY EMILIA-there were a lot of those since the book had more than 800 pages
*the frequent songs that i don't even like destroyed the story for me.
AND the word giggle was used so frequently that I started wondering that maybe Emilia will get a lock jaw.
*The pacing(worse than an Indian tragedy)
*Unneccesry walks BY EMILIA-there were a lot of those since the book had more than 800 pages
*the frequent songs that i don't even like destroyed the story for me.
AND the word giggle was used so frequently that I started wondering that maybe Emilia will get a lock jaw.
July 7, 2013
What an exciting read! It takes me back to my younger years...college, love, great friends and FUN! Santa Barbara was the perfect setting for this trip down memory lane. The characters, some you love, some you hate or love to hate make for a winning combination. The relationships are cleverly constructed by Ms. Mannino and evoke a range of emotions right up to the end. I wait in eager anticipation of the sequel to see what happens next!
July 17, 2013
Once I started, I couldn't stop! Running from Romeo captivated my attention from the start with believable characters and descriptive imagery that made it so easy to feel like I was watching a movie in my head. Great books will do that! I fell in love with Emilia King and was intrigued by her complexities just under the surface of a seemingly perfect facade. She is relatable and likable. I can't wait to read the sequel and find out how Emilia deals with her Romeo.
August 20, 2013
A very big thank you to Irresistible Reads Book Tours, the Tour Host, for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Check out my review for this book here.
Check out my review for this book here.
June 11, 2013
I couldn't put this book down. Perfect book for the summer. I fell in love with the characters and didn't want this book to end. I hope a sequel is soon too follow. I highly recommend this book to other Young Adult readers.
June 18, 2013
I read this book over a rainy weekend and I couldn't put it down. I was really drawn in to the characters and the story. So sad it's done. I really hope another book is forthcoming but I want to see what happens.
April 6, 2017
After 726158404027281 pages... BOOM! Major CLIFFHANGER! @$#*+=€£*&!!! Why do I torture myself??? :(
October 27, 2013
Such a cliffhanger! HUHU 3 Cannot wait to read the next one!
September 1, 2017
YES!
YESS!!
YESSS!!!
YESS!!
YESSS!!!
July 31, 2013
Rather Be Reading YA
I received this book through Irresistible Reads in exchange for an honest review.
Running from Romeo was my first new adult book so I wasn't sure what to expect. It's a very long book. I'm not sure how many pages it is, but my Kindle has it at 12767 "locations" and most YA books I read are 3000-5000. I feel like the reason for the length is that there's a lot of filler, particularly Emilia's and Logan's dates (which got repetitive because they were all pretty much the same) and the many song lyrics. I'm used to song lyrics in fan fiction, but songfic generally isn't very good (in my experience), so the inclusion of so many them -- and they were full lyrics, not just snippets -- isn't a good thing for me. They're good songs though: Snow Patrol, Neon Trees, Bruno Mars, and many others that I hear on the radio a lot. I think there's only one song I was not familiar with.
Emilia is my favorite character, although she suffers from moments of immaturity (CONSTANT giggling). I relate to her because she's a runner like me, and I like that she has a job, a best friend (Bryn), a full college schedule, and work at her college's news television program. None of that suffers when she meets Logan. He doesn't become her life, he's a part of it. Most of the book is set on weekends, with only occasional mention of classes (and more frequent mentions of papers she has to write), so that Emilia has free time to spend with Logan, Bryn, and Bryn's boyfriend. I wish there was a little more focus on Bryn and her friendship with Emilia rather than just the drinking that's almost as constant as the giggling. I know they're in college but there were times I worried about both girls' livers.
I'm not as big a fan of Logan as I am of Emilia, though. Where Emilia struggles with immaturity, Logan struggles with being a jerk sometimes. He's impatient when she deals with unwanted attention from other guys and he's demanding when she doesn't deal with it fast enough for him.
Uh, yeah. Any guy who talks to me like that is going to get straightened out real quick. I do give him credit for having extreme patience when it comes to sex. Emilia's a virgin, not sure she's ready to change that status, and he never once pressures her.
The quoted section above also highlights a huge problem I had with this book: the editing. There are several your/you're (and similar) errors, but my main issue is that every single line of dialogue ends with a period. There should be a lot more commas and a lot less periods in this book.
Even though I'm not 100% behind Logan/Emilia, I liked their many email exchanges. At first I wondered why they weren't texting, but Emilia has an explanation for that when Bryn wonders the same thing: they have a lot to say to each other. Strangely, some of their emails seem very formal, not like the emails of two people falling in love. They need to loosen up a little bit and write to like they talk to each other. I didn't notice formality when they were speaking face-to-face.
I found this book trailer on Diane Mannino's website. The scenery at the beginning is gorgeous! Emilia and Logan are lucky to be going to school in a place that looks like that. I'm afraid I might never make it to class.
The book is a little slow, but it really picks up near the end when a twist is revealed. I think the sequel should have a faster pace and I'm looking forward to reading it. I expect it to cover the second half of Emilia's senior year, which is an exciting and scary time for most college students.
I received this book through Irresistible Reads in exchange for an honest review.
Running from Romeo was my first new adult book so I wasn't sure what to expect. It's a very long book. I'm not sure how many pages it is, but my Kindle has it at 12767 "locations" and most YA books I read are 3000-5000. I feel like the reason for the length is that there's a lot of filler, particularly Emilia's and Logan's dates (which got repetitive because they were all pretty much the same) and the many song lyrics. I'm used to song lyrics in fan fiction, but songfic generally isn't very good (in my experience), so the inclusion of so many them -- and they were full lyrics, not just snippets -- isn't a good thing for me. They're good songs though: Snow Patrol, Neon Trees, Bruno Mars, and many others that I hear on the radio a lot. I think there's only one song I was not familiar with.
Emilia is my favorite character, although she suffers from moments of immaturity (CONSTANT giggling). I relate to her because she's a runner like me, and I like that she has a job, a best friend (Bryn), a full college schedule, and work at her college's news television program. None of that suffers when she meets Logan. He doesn't become her life, he's a part of it. Most of the book is set on weekends, with only occasional mention of classes (and more frequent mentions of papers she has to write), so that Emilia has free time to spend with Logan, Bryn, and Bryn's boyfriend. I wish there was a little more focus on Bryn and her friendship with Emilia rather than just the drinking that's almost as constant as the giggling. I know they're in college but there were times I worried about both girls' livers.
I'm not as big a fan of Logan as I am of Emilia, though. Where Emilia struggles with immaturity, Logan struggles with being a jerk sometimes. He's impatient when she deals with unwanted attention from other guys and he's demanding when she doesn't deal with it fast enough for him.
"He wants you, Emilia and I don't like it. You need to tell him...if you don't I will." He says, forcefully. Then he clambers out of bed.
"I will." I murmur as I rise beside him.
Logan gently grasps me around the small of my waist. He lets out a breath and stares down at me.
"I don't want to keep having this conversation. I hope you understand?" Wow, he's getting a bit carried away. I'm sure Tyler knows we're together. This is getting silly.
Uh, yeah. Any guy who talks to me like that is going to get straightened out real quick. I do give him credit for having extreme patience when it comes to sex. Emilia's a virgin, not sure she's ready to change that status, and he never once pressures her.
The quoted section above also highlights a huge problem I had with this book: the editing. There are several your/you're (and similar) errors, but my main issue is that every single line of dialogue ends with a period. There should be a lot more commas and a lot less periods in this book.
Even though I'm not 100% behind Logan/Emilia, I liked their many email exchanges. At first I wondered why they weren't texting, but Emilia has an explanation for that when Bryn wonders the same thing: they have a lot to say to each other. Strangely, some of their emails seem very formal, not like the emails of two people falling in love. They need to loosen up a little bit and write to like they talk to each other. I didn't notice formality when they were speaking face-to-face.
I found this book trailer on Diane Mannino's website. The scenery at the beginning is gorgeous! Emilia and Logan are lucky to be going to school in a place that looks like that. I'm afraid I might never make it to class.
The book is a little slow, but it really picks up near the end when a twist is revealed. I think the sequel should have a faster pace and I'm looking forward to reading it. I expect it to cover the second half of Emilia's senior year, which is an exciting and scary time for most college students.
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