⭐︎
4.5 stars rounded up!
⭐︎
My first outing with this author and it was a success for me.
Julian and Asher are about the same age, and have been step-brothers since they were 15. Now both 21 and in their senior year of college, they've now hated each other for 5 years.
Because Asher's mom and Julian's dad had an affair together, and both of their lives were ruined by this affair - not that they were sunshine and roses before, but they were still not as bad as they became - and both of the, really, took out their trauma, their pain and anger, out on each other.
This was interesting because both their parents suck ass, completely. They're just shitty parents all around. And now they share a 4 year old sister, Riley, who they seem to parent more than their parents. They certainly treat her better than their parents.
On Julian's side, his dad cheated on his mom when she was sick and not doing well. Six months after the affair came to light, she died. For Asher, his dad is alive, but he's always been a massive prick who cares more about making money and keeping his image perfect than actually giving a shit about his son.
Since the affair, he's married to a younger supermodel, and they have tow kids together, who Asher's dad seems to be more involved with (he's really just seen doing more family things with them for his image, as he plans to run for office)
So it's shitty for both of them all around, and they've been directing their hurt and anger at the wrong people, really.
And when Asher's dad refuses to pay for his off campus housing his senior year as he's done for his first three years of college, his mom and Julian's dad put him and Julian together in a cheap, run down apartment together.
Before Julian lived in the dorms, as his scholarship he has demanded it, but it seemed it was okay for him to live off campus his senior year and still have his scholarship.
At first these two do not get along at all. My only real gripes with this story are the fact that the step-brother thing was practically a non-issue in this for them. There was no freaking out from them or their friends they tell, and eventually everyone when they come out at the end. The only one who really freaked out was Julian's father and kind of Asher's father as well. I wanted that step-brother thing to be a bigger deal, because otherwise why introduce that aspect? It's supposed to be a "forbidden" aspect and when that's taken away form the story it's a bit of a let down. So points off for that, even though I did love the rest of this too much to care too much about the lack of forbiden-ness in the story.
My other tiny gripe is that in the beginning of this, there was a lot of repeating of "I hate you" "yeah I hate you too" and Asher calling Julian a "slut" repeatedly during sex. That's a mutual kink for them, they both love it, but him just saying it over and over constantly while they had sex got to be a little annoying at times. And how much Julian's comebacks when they fought were just "I hate you!" and Asher saying "hate you too" back or he'd say "you're such an asshole" and not much else. It's not too big a deal, and once things changed between them a lot of that was toned down, thankfully, but it annoyed me in the moment when I was reading it.
But other than that, I adored this. Their chemistry was top notch, the sex scenes were sizzling, and I love loved loved seeing them go from enemies to lovers. To see their walls go down slightly over time, and then a big event leads to them letting them down completely, and their relationship completely changes.
I loved seeing them love each other as much as hate each other. It was such a treat, and the transition in their relationship felt believable to me. It just worked so well.
I highly recommend this one. I definitely want to check out more from this author after reading this one. 👍 Definitely two big thumbs up from me! 👍