Review : A Little Too Much by Lisa Desrocher

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : A Little Too Much (A Little Too Far #2)
Author : Lisa Desrochers
Publication Date : November 12th 2013
Publisher : William Morrow
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In the follow-up to Lisa Desrochers’ explosive New Adult novel A Little too Far, Alessandro Moretti must face the life he escaped and the girl he loved and left behind.

Twenty-two year old Hilary McIntyre would like nothing more than to forget her past. As a teenager abandoned to the system, she faced some pretty dark times. But now that’s all behind her. Hilary has her life on track, and there’s no way she’ll head back down that road again.

Until Alessandro Moretti—the one person who can make her remember—shows up on her doorstep. He’s even more devastatingly gorgeous than before, and he’s much too close for comfort. Worse, he sees right through the walls she’s built over these last eight years, right into her heart and the secrets she’s guarding.

As Hilary finds herself falling back into love with the man who, as a boy both saved and destroyed her, she must decide. Past or future? Truth or lies?

Personal Thoughts

A couple of months ago, I read Lisa Desrocher's A Little Too Far, and had a lot of fun reading it. I loved the characters in the book and I was dying of excitement to read A Little Too Much, Alessandro's story.

When I went into A Little Too Far, I didn't expect to love Alessandro,  a young man training to become a priest as much as I did. By the end of the book, he had become my favorite secondary character. So, I was hoping that A Little Too Much would be told in his POV instead of his leading lady's because he seemed like an intricate and complex character and I just wanted to unravel the layers he had around him. So, you can imagine my slight disappointment when I realized that the book was being told in Hilary's POV. I didn't dislike Hilary but I personally thought Alessandro's POV would have made for a stronger story. Anyways, once I got over my disappointment, I did manage to get into the story, but I still struggled for a while with Hilary. See, she's not anything like Lexie, who was clumsy, funny and scandalous. Hilary had a lot going on for her and I think I was rather detached from her character not because I did not sympathize with her, but because I feel like I've read so many books with characters with somber pasts that once they are revealed in a book, I'm pretty much impartial to them. I did like that Hilary was the kind of girl who did not give up though. She fought for her dreams and that is an admirable quality. The readers do get to know Alessandro better in this book and I have to say that I really respected him for wanting to become a better person. He was still that quiet, but incredibly deep character that he was in the first book, but I did like the teasing side that he showed in this one as well. However, I hate to say this, but I thought Alessandro was a much brighter character with Lexie.

Like always, Lisa Desrochers' writing was fantastic. She has a descriptive writing style and I especially love it when she illustrates the places that the characters visit with her words. In the previous book it was Rome, but in this book she portrayed NYC vividly. The romance was also decently done in that there wasn't any overwhelming amounts of drama that kept the couple apart. There were some sweet moments, but there were also some super hot scenes between the two of them. Hilary and Alessandro also had a connected past, so their romance I felt developed at a nice realistic pace. There were some revelations about Hilary that were made that honestly had my jaw dropping to the floor because I didn't think they were very predictable. Also, I liked how Hilary's sister played an important role in her life because portraying families in a positive light is always a plus according to me. Another aspect of A Little Too Much I enjoyed was how the author managed to realistically show the struggles of being an actress in New York. Hilary did not get opportunities handed to her on a silver platter despite being gorgeous, so I thought the author portrayed that very well.

In the end, I do think I enjoyed A Little Too Far much better than I enjoyed A Little Too Much. It was by no means a terrible book, but it wasn't as fun as the previous one. That being said, I personally think the book is worth the read because Desrochers is a clearly talented author. I'm looking forward to reading more from her.

Rating

Cover : 2/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 4/5