Mini Reviews : Sugar on the Edge by Sawyer Bennett & Teaching Roman by Gennifer Albin

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : Sugar on the Edge (Last Call #3)
Author : Sawyer Bennett
Publication Date : July 28th 2014
Publisher : Self-Published
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

He’s utterly alone…

Tortured and existing in a dark spiral of despair, bestselling British author, Gavin Cooke, has come to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to escape the seedy lifestyle he had been living in London and in a desperate attempt to regain his writing focus. He’s twisted, bitter and angry at the world. He’s a loner… needing not a single thing other than his Scotch and a laptop upon which he can bang out his next erotic, dark thriller.

She’s running in place and getting nowhere…

Savannah Shepherd’s life is falling apart. Her dream of being a wildlife photographer seems a distant memory and she’s barely able to make ends meet. Driving herself forward with no clear goals apparent, she’s about ready to pack up her bags and head home with her tail between her legs.

Two unlikely lovers…

He’s raw, forceful and a dirty talker. She’s a flowers and romance type of girl. Yet within each other, they find a mutual craving that can only be satisfied by giving in to their desires for one another.
Lust turns into something more… something they were not looking for but tentatively accept. Will it be enough to push them past the obstacles of Gavin’s bitter past?

*SUGAR ON THE EDGE can be read as a stand-alone*

Personal Thoughts

I've loved all of Sawyer Bennett's books that I've read in the past and the Last Call series is one of my guilty pleasure series. I was thrilled to get a copy of Sugar on the Edge and I immediately jumped into the book as soon as I got it. While the book started off decently for me, it all went downhill towards the end and I'm sad that this book is my least favorite Sawyer Bennett read. Even before starting the book, I knew that I would have some issues with Gavin. Just from reading the blurb, he sounded like a tough character to like, but I was ready to give him the benefit of the doubt because I liked Savannah, his love interest. While Savannah was a sweet and hard working girl, who I respected tremendously for being independent in the face of her poverty, Gavin was someone who never grew on me. Still, he and Savannah had off the charts chemistry together and I liked that he made Savannah's wilder and more sexually free side come out. It was all going well and I was enjoying myself until Savannah wound up pregnant and from there on, everything started crashing down. Gavin has some past issues that he had to deal with, but I honestly can't believe that he left Savannah knowing well that she had absolutely no money to raise a child on her own for months. He was already a douche, but when he did that, he turned into a complete villain to me. What's worse though is that he wasn't the one to make the first effort to repair things with Savannah. Savannah, who turned into a doormat at this point, ran to one of his book signings to meet him. I wanted him to grovel hard, but Savannah was so easy to forgive him. All this just didn't bode well for me and by the end, I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth. I despise heroes like Gavin and in the end, not even the hot chemistry between the two characters could make me want to love Sugar on the Edge.

Rating

Cover : 1/5
Plot : 2/5
Characters : 2/5
Writing : 2/5

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : Teaching Roman (Good Girls Don't #2)
Author : Gennifer Albin
Publication Date : June 26th 2014
Publisher : Self-Published
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Jessica Stone has her life in perfect order until her perfectly boring boyfriend Brett puts things in perspective. So when she receives a call to action from her heartbroken best friend Cassie, she ditches her plans for Winter Break in gloomy Olympic Falls and sets off to Mexico for some fun in the sun.

Determined to use her oceanview to prep for her MCATS, she doesn't plan to run into anyone from Olympic State, least of all the cute communications prof she's been crushing on for a year. When he unexpectedly saves the day, the two are thrown together in a distinctly extracurricular activity.

Roman Markson doesn’t expect to run into anyone he knows from Olympic Falls while visiting his family in Puerto Vallarta, especially not a former student. Although Jess Stone has a way of catching men’s attention, a relationship with her is strictly off-limits. However, the rules feel less strict in Mexico, so they agree to a plan: one week in paradise and nothing more.

But avoiding each other back on campus is harder than they anticipated, especially when they can’t stay away from one another. Neither is sure what they have to learn—and lose—before life teaches them a lesson they’ll never forget.

Personal Thoughts 

I've been waiting for ages for Teaching Roman to come out. I really liked Albin's NA debut, Catching Liam, but I was even more excited for Teaching Roman because I love a good old forbidden romance. Unfortunately, I was incredibly let down by this book. I apologize if this sounds harsh, but it read like such a sloppy and hasty piece of work. Jess was someone I admired in the first book, so I was happy that she was getting her story, but she, along with her love interest, Roman, were underdeveloped and so was their relationship. Their relationship started off as a fling in Cancun and it was all about the lust, so I was taken aback when the L-word came out of Jess' mouth soon after their week together. It was especially unbelievable because all they did was have a ton of sex. It would have been more realistic to me if they had gotten to know each other over the week, but I didn't feel like they did. There were also some weird moments in the book such as Jess's friend Cassie watching Jess and Roman have sex and then clapping after they were finished. Maybe I'm being prude, but that is just so weird. If I caught my friend having sex, I would run the hell away and give her some privacy, not watch and applaud her like a creeper. *shudders* The plot after Roman and Jess' return to their university was pretty much unmemorable and unoriginal. Gennifer Albin can write, but this book was too short. If there had been some more relationship development, this could have been a much better read. In the end, I feel like I waited so long for nothing impressive.

Rating

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

Thank you to NetGalley, Sawyer Bennett and Gennifer Albin for the e-ARCs of Sugar on the Edge and Teaching Roman.