{Review} Love Me If You Dare by Kate Laurens

Title: Love Me If You Dare
Series: Safe Haven #2
Author: Kate Laurens
Publication Date: June 25, 2013
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Some things change... It’s been three years since Kaylee Sawyer has been home—home to the alcoholic mother she can’t handle, home to the painful memories of her sister Ella... and home to the guilt she’s carried for years. About to enter her final year of college, she is determined to come to terms with the mess of her past—and to ignore the guy whose single kiss has been tattooed into her mind forever.

Some things stay the same...

Dylan McKay is still golden haired and dangerous, the flame Kaylee was always afraid to touch for fear of getting burnt. But despite the damage that’s been done, she finds that she still can’t stay away from the one person who accepted her the way she was.

Some things are meant to be.Kaylee is no longer the innocent girl she once was. Though tragedy ripped them apart before, one look from Dylan brings all of the old feelings rushing back. Torn between her past and her future, she’s not sure if a person can ever truly go home again.But Dylan doesn’t plan to let her go without a fight.

Review

Kaylee struggles with the demons of her past, her absentee father, helping her alcoholic mom, finding a summer job, keeping food on the table for her and her mom, keeping her old life apart from her new one, and keeping a certain boy who still holds her heart at a safe distance. Just when she thought her life couldn't get more complicated as it is, her two worlds collide and threatens everything she tried to hide and the life she built for herself. As the characters struggle with inner turmoil full of guilt, blame, and heartache they still carry from the past, as a reader you can really feel how deeply it hit them.

Even after all these years, the burdens of the past still has a control over Kaylee. Kaylee coped by staying as far away from home as possible while hiding behind a facade polar opposite of her own. Adopting the wild party lifestyle her sister once lived, she comes to realize that she's been trying to keep a part of her sister alive, and the alcoholic tendencies they share must run in the family. But the one guy who shouldn't be able to see past the facade, can see right down to her heart and soul.

The former bad boy and crush, Dylan McKay -- the one she thought she couldn't have. Dylan becomes an obstacle of his own in Kaylee's life while she tries to figure out his motives, and keep him at arms length when he tries to persue her. As Kaylee tries to figure out if he's trying to reconnect with her sister vicariously through her now that her personality is identical to her late sisters, he reveals that the feelings between them are mutual.

Staying away from him doesn't come easy for her because he is still wrapped around her heart after all these years. Should she dare to let him in knowing the risk of potential heartbreak, and guilt for taking the guy who belonged to her sister? I keep encouraging her to go for what her heart desires.

Author Kate Laurens does a great job of conveying feelings with her writing and use of imagery to help readers feel what the characters feel, and to understand them as well. As the characters comes to terms with their roles in the death of her sister, they learn to let go of guilt and blame, and find peace and love. With a surprising help from usually incoherent mom, and meddling best friend, Jax. Although the HEA (happily ever after) is a bit short and fast-paced, the story in it's entirety is anything but. The pace and flow was easily to follow each step the characters take throughout the story.

The epilogue, short as it is, hints at where Kaylee and Dylan go in their life together. Spoiler alert for any Kaylee/Joel shippers out there. This story teaches us that the past can rear it's ugly head, but you can overcome it.

{Review} Frigid by J. Lynn

Title: Frigid
Series: Frigid #1
Author: J. Lynn
Publication Date: July 15, 2013
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

For twenty-one-year-old Sydney, being in love with Kyler isn’t anything new. They’d been best friends ever since he pushed her down on the playground and she made him eat a mud pie. Somewhere over the years, she fell for him and fell hard. The big problem with that? Kyler puts the ‘man’ in man-whore. He’s never stayed with a girl longer than a few nights, and with it being their last year in college, Syd doesn’t want to risk their friendship by declaring her love.

Kyler has always put Syd on a pedestal that was too high for him to reach. To him, she’s perfect and she’s everything. But the feelings he has for her, he’s always hidden away or focused on any other female. After all, Kyler will always be the poor boy from the wrong side of tracks, and Syd will always be the one girl he can never have.

But when they’re stranded together at a posh ski resort due to a massive Nor’easter, there’s nothing stopping their red-hot feelings for each other from coming to the surface. Can their friendship survive the attraction? Better yet, can they survive at all? Because as the snow falls, someone is stalking them, and this ski trip may be a life-changer in more ways than one.

Review

Add best friend turned love interest, Kyler Quinn, to the list of swoon-worthy book boyfriends because he definitely fits every criteria and then some. He is so protective of Sydney, he puts her above everyone else including himself. And they can start a fire with the heat between these two. There is a bit of skinny love going on between the two best friends which they had thought was unrequited at first. Their dynamic starts getting a little rocky right when they leave for their trip, and even more so during and afterward. But soon their walls break down and the truth about their feelings for each other slips out. All the while surviving a brutal Nor'easter and someone who is out to kill them for bitter revenge. It's no easy feat for them to save their friendship, so working on getting back to the way things used to be or persuing a relationship is quite a challenge for these two. They say trips changes things, and Sydney and Kyler find out how.

Sydney's mom was hilarious, even over the phone. My mom and I's relationship is similar to Sydney's and her mom's relationship. I, like Sydney, am studying Psychology and whenever my mom and I are on the topic, she always mistakes it for therapist or psychiatrist just as Sydney's mom has. The conversations between them had me laughing tears, it sometimes took me a while to come up for air.

Frigid has romance, a ton of snow, one hilariously drunk Sydney moment, steamy bedroom scenes, mystery, and suspense to stir things up. The only thing missing was an epilogue. I would love see a bit more of where Sydney and Kyler ended up in their lives together. If Frigid 2 isn't about them, I'm guessing it'll be about their friends Andrea and Tanner. If you like a light read filled with romance and suspense in equal measure with an easy flow and a steady pace, this book is for you.