I'd place this one at 3.5 stars, and I rounded it up to a 4-star rating officially. This was the second in the "Beds" series. Still a "cute" book, only with a slight touch on a couple heavy-ish/awkward topics.
Just FYI:
As with the first book, this second one was written by two authors, both under pseudonyms: Becca Ann (Cassie Mae) and Tessa Marie (Theresa Paolo). Each one took a character and would write alternating chapters in their voice. I also read this second book on Kindle Unlimited.
The Plot:
We meet back up with Lexie and Ryan, best friends newly turned sweethearts in the previous book. They are now getting to know each other on a more intimate level in their relationships. In this book, both Lexie and Ryan come across some awkward and potentially embarrassing situations when dealing with some new experiences. While they are feeling-out their new relationship, they're both also dealing with personal issues in their families. Lexie is learning to support her mother as she tries to get sober from alcoholism, and must learn how to interact with this new version of her mom. The main family-based story line revolves around Ryan and his previously-unknown step-brother. Turns out Ryan's mother had an affair, then got pregnant with the step-brother, Brett, when Ryan was just a baby. When Brett was born, she agreed to sign-over custody of him to the biological father. The two boys were unaware of each others' existence until Brett has nowhere else to live. Brett is 16, two years younger than Ryan. Brett's father is in the military and was called-up overseas, so he had to go live with Pop-pop and Gram and Ryan. Ryan and Brett butt-heads from the beginning, and the tension is felt through the entire story. In this book, Lexie, Ryan, Kaylee, and Nate all plan to go to a beach house during Spring Break. Lexie is convienced that she's ready to take their relationship to the next level physically, and wants to have sex with Ryan. Ryan's grandparents force him to bring Brett along on the beach trip with the hopes that they'll bond. The stress and tension that Ryan is feeling because of his brother starts to have a negative effect on Lexie and Ryan's relationship.
What I Didn't Like:
I'm going to go ahead and get the negative part out of the way.
I'll admit that the Lexie character felt more relatable to me that she had in the first book. But, I still had the same problems with the author writing as Lexie's voice, Tessa Marie. Again, the worst thing about the book was the writing of the Tessa Marie author...SOOO many silly little errors that were blatant, that should have been obvious, that were somehow overlooked. Just ask a friend to read your parts and check for errors. Lots of places where she would forget to complete a quote with a quotation mark. Lots of missing commas. Random grammar issues. Even though the Lexie character was better in this book, I was still annoyed by her a couple of times, especially when she'd automatically jump to the worst conclusions about her and Ryan's relationship. She'd panic that he didn't truly love her and that he never did instead of taking into consideration that he might be distracted with the issues that are stressing him out.
Now, the Becca Ann author is a better writer, and I like her style overall. In both books I was a lot more connected with Ryan's point-of-view. However, my other complaint was the extreme similarities of Ryan and Brett's idiosyncratic ticks and tells. I realize that they're brothers, so there'd be physical similarities that might remind the characters of each other. Yet, they've never met and both were raised by groups that were not related or knew each other. So, the chances that they'd have SO many body language motions and ticks that are similar just doesn't make sense. It's too coincidental and makes the characters seem less believable because of it. It also cheapens both of the characters, especially Brett, because it takes away their individuality. It makes me wonder if the author just got lazy, but I really think it was her just trying to tie too many things together as being "fate" or "cosmic coincidence."
What I Did Like:
So, like I mentioned in the plot overview, this book deals with Ryan and Lexie getting more and more intimate in the book, and yes that eventually leads to them having sex. I thought the authors did a good job of balancing the subject matters delicately between the vague and the descriptive. So, yes, you basically knew what was going on. And on several things they didn't just "fade out" the scene. Yet, at the same time, it wasn't graphically descriptive and it really didn't go into details. Really...I thought they did a good job of giving enough of a tease and getting the feel of how certain moments feel without being blush-worthy. In most books, you either get one extreme or another. I was impressed with their tact and their ability to make it each new relationship marker seem genuine. Not some fairy-tale, fluffy BS.
Because of their commitment to a somewhat everyday-life take on the relationship level, I was glad to see the genuine accounts of some of life's more awkward and embarrassing moments. Things that a lot of times get overlooked in most books. It was just nice to see a book highlight that in real life, things don't just fall into place without the necessary planning and steps; that things don't always work out the way you imagined; that there are a lot of awkward things that go on in life that are still essential to do and think about before making such big decisions; and that it's okay for it to be awkward or imperfect. First was both of the characters' reactions to friends/family giving them the "safe sex" talks and the grandparents' push of giving them condoms. Then, we have Lexie's trek to a clinic to get on birth control. The whole chapter devoted to that scene is worth the read. It definitely gives you the feel of all the confusion, ignorance, and embarrassment that comes with a situation like that. The other was Ryan's attempt to teach himself how to use a condom and all of his anxiety about doing it wrong or looking stupid when the actually time came. Then the best part was that when Ryan and Lexie finally did have sex, NONE of it went according to plan and they kept having mini-mess-ups and some botched attempts. Yet they still felt like it was the best way for it to have happened. They were still excited and happy. I don't like for all books to give people the wrong impression about intimacy, that it's princes, cloud-nine, and rainbows in an Utopian dimension. People need to realize that life and love is not just the good, perfectly executed parts - it's made up of fumbles, flubs, awkwardness, and mistakes. And that's still okay! Life is still wonderful even with all the mess-ups! It'd be uninteresting if everything was always perfect. No ones' experiences would ever be different and unique.
Closing:
Despite the fact that it's a "cutsie" book and some things are cliche, the book really is worth reading just for the realistic tone set during the classically-traditional awkward moments. I'll be moving on to the third book in the series sometime soon to see how the series concludes.