Yikes, review to come, took me twice as long to read this as it normally would, so I need to get my thoughts straight.
So, looking back through my review of the first book, Consumed, it appears I rated it 3 to 3.5-stars, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how that could be after reading book two. To say I am frustrated would be putting it mildly. It took me forever to read this book. The writing was ok, what I was reading was just boring and not very interesting, honestly.
Olivia was still annoying and not a very likable character with all her self righteousness. If she were a real person I would probably want to punch her in her smug face. I really cannot get a grasp on why I am supposed to care about the person she was on the pages of this book. She gives her friend, Selena crap about the sexual adventures between Selena and Jackson, then turns around and enjoys the same type of things here and there,with Seth. What makes it wrong when others do it, but okay when she does? I thought her actions after Don paid a surprise visit to Seth was ridiculously stupid. The fact that Jackson went along with it was idiotic. I do not blame Seth for being upset with her, and was glad when other characters were telling her she was in the wrong. Yet she still tried to maintain an air of righteousness about the situation, it was maddening. Also, what is the deal with moving in with her mom after being so adamant about NOT moving back in book one? Yes, I know her dad dies in book one, and I get maybe staying with her temporarily, but moving in completely is nutty considering the fight it had been. I don't like her. I mean, thoughout the book she is such a snooty witch. It was present through the entire book. After Seth's first fight in Vegas, she declines going out with everyone, says she is going to stay at home and read?! What a bitchy thing to do. Go out with everyone, jeez. I don't care if going out ends up being a debacle, this is a time you suck it up and just go. If you are worried about being selfish, well, sister, this is you being selfish by not going this particular time.
Seth, well, he started reminding me of Nico in Worth the Fight and I honestly was getting the backstory of Seth and Olivia mixed up with Nico and Elle. I read Consumed in November 2013 and Worth the Fight in February 2014, and I have to say I really think they were quite similar, and I could have interchanged characters very easily. There was also the ending with the fight with Don that reminded me of another MMA book, but dont know which one, I think it was Remy. All of these MMA books are really similar and starting to get confused in my mind, I don't think a whole lot of new scenarios are coming up in these books to make them unique.
I like Seth, he seems to really love Olivia and be amazed at the amount of love he has for her and how much she seems to center him, he welcomes that. But I felt his character sounded soft and gooey one minute, then was overly cocky the next. It got to be quite obnoxious, and the demands he was making to his new employer was way over the top. Who is he that he is be the newest member of this pro fighting league and tell them what is going to happen? I was actually glad to see the organization standing up to him. So, he demands certain things with his new employer, yet he cannot ask Olivia to marry him? What? If he is as cocky as he is portrayed to be, this should not be an issue. Yes, I get Olivia kind of unravels his tough guy facade a bit, but whatever, it makes no sense.
There was a common theme for both Olivia and Seth for awhile. They both kept asking themselves if they were selfish or selfless. Who the hell cares, you were both annoying the hell out of me. There was soooooo much internal rambling by both characters I thought I was going to go mad. It took forever to get to Vegas, I think it was 6-days until Vegas when the book starts, and that timeframe took like 65% of the book and the 4-WEEKS they were actually in Vegas took like 30% of the book. Just what we were supposed to get out of those 6-days, I am not certain. I thought this was a book about an MMA fighter and other than a few training scenes, we had 2 fights shoved in the last 10% of the book.
BTW, the way Seth proposed? HORRIBLE!!! I though it was extremely degrading, and I was actually waiting for it to have been recorded and used by Don in some way. Maybe it will in the next book? I mean, didn't Seth say he did not enjoy or think about doing the things Jackson does, but then he does the night he proposes? Just...no.
To stop my rambling, I am going to say that this book felt different than the first, it felt disjointed and I have no idea what the purpose of this book really was other than to get our characters married. The past flings that randomly popped up, the angry spells, the no having sex rule, all of it was silly and used as an excuse to make this into a 3-book series. I am going to make a guess and say this story, which has ultimately become as much about Seth and Don's rivalry as Seth and Olivia's relationship, could have been told in 2-books easily. I am pretty sure I am not going to read the next book. I don't care enough about any of this to go on. Sorry, I was hoping to like this, even pushed it up on my TBR list to read it, but I barely made it through.