Waffle, waffle, waffle...3 stars or 4 stars? Let's go with 3.5, or just a hair above because while I didn't love it, I never once got bored.
WARNING for those who haven't read book 1, Down to You...what are you doing reading a sequel review? Go away...tons of spoilers!! No spoilers for Up to Me, though.
Cash and Olivia...talk about a couple who don't know where they stand with each other! Since finding out that Cash and Nash are one and the same, Olivia is confused as to who she really ended up with...the sexy entrepreneur playboy or the responsible, controlling, equally sexy lawyer. Just who is Cash? Well, I'm here to tell you...he's a god in bed...and on the bar, and in public restrooms...and in the shower, against the wall....AHEM! You get the picture. The man loves to boink, and Olivia has no objections.
"When Cash loses control, it always ends in us lying, exhausted, in a sweaty heap somewhere. And I wouldn't have it any other way."
Now, I can see this book getting completely ripped apart by those who like to pick at the little pieces. It's so full of plot holes, it looks like it's been used for target practice. Even in book one, which was simply an intriguing contemporary romance until the last little bit...the whole man with two lives was a bit farfetched. To go so far as to be banging Olivia's cousin when he was pretending to be Nash and then coming back to Olivia was a bit much for me. But in this installment, the suspense is prevalent throughout...which means fast motorcycle rides, gunshots, chases, kidnappings, stabbings, and Russian gangsters. And not once do the police get involved!
I honestly think I was just in the mood to really enjoy another pure fantasy book, just like I did with book one. Nothing at all realistic about this story. But it's chock full of hot guys...Cash and a couple other studly do-rights, damsels in distress, smoking hot sex and foreplay, and TRUE LOVE!!!
"As though I've been given a sedative, a drug of a different kind, being in Cash's arms has an instant and an intense effect on me. I feel like crumbling and flying , like dancing and crying, like living and like dying. Wrapped up in him, in his bad boy ways and his good guy heart, is my whole world. Somehow, while I wasn't looking, I fell. And I fell hard."
So I enjoyed the ride while it lasted. In fact, I enjoyed the hell out of it. Leighton cracks some witty jokes, gives a couple of shout outs to some eighties rock gods...(Bon Jovi, anyone?), and puts together a really great cast of characters. Ginger, the old cougar best friend who wants nothing more than to jump Cash's naked self, Olivia's complete bitch of a mother that should have been sterilized long ago, and Cash's sudden best friend and bar manager Gavin, who doubles as a badass ninja backup. (Not really, just the image in my head) Cash and Olivia have a fun relationship...neither are at all stuck up...they are both very down to earth and joke around often...sometimes acting endearingly pervy and other times crude, but always funny.
"It's the very best kind of thing. Makes all other things look like shit."
" Well, far be it for me to cause you to conjure mental images of shit without panties."
"Can we not talk about shit and panties in the same sentence?"
"You're the one who was talking about panties and lack thereof."
"Oh my God! I can barely remember that far back. Too many traumatic things have been said since then."
"It was forty-five seconds ago."
"Told you it was traumatic..."
This was completely readable, sexy as all get out, and I imagine if you like the first, you'll like this one too. Even though it has a completely different feel. It was still very engaging. Though I'm wondering what can be told in a third book. Seems like this wrapped up pretty nicely!