Review : Bad Romeo by Leisa Rayven

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Bad Romeo (The Starcrossed Series #1)
Author : Leisa Rayven
Publication Date : December 23rd 2014
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

When Cassie Taylor met Ethan Holt at acting school, sparks flew. She was the good girl actress. He was the bad boy about campus. But one fated casting choice for Romeo and Juliet changed it all. Like the characters they were playing, Cassie and Ethan's romance seemed destined. Until he broke her heart and betrayed her trust. Now the A-list heartthrob is back in her life and turning her world around. One touch at a time.

Cast as romantic leads once again, they're forced to confront raw memories of the heartbreaking lows and pulse-pounding highs of their secret college affair. But they'll also discover that people who rub each other the wrong way often make the best sparks 

Personal Thoughts 

I was looking forward to reading Bad Romeo because of the theater setting. Although I've never been part of a play, I'm fascinated by the concept. Plus, I'm always on the look out for more original NA books. Unfortunately, I just wasn't suited for Bad Romeo because I wound up being incredibly frustrated throughout the book.

My main issue stemmed from the characters in this book. Never have I wanted to lash out so much at a set of fictional characters as the ones in Bad Romeo. They really were complete pains in the backside that needed a few dozen smacks on the faces to allow them to see the reality in front of them. From the very start I knew that my relationship with Cassie, the protagonist, and resident Mary Sue of this novel, would be incredibly shaky. And I was right. My opinion of her did not change for the good one bit. In fact, my opinion of her just went speedily downhill. This girl had absolutely no self-respect. Why else would she repeatedly chase after a man who had absolutely no respect for her as an individual and treated her like utter crap? Cassie, quite frankly, made me angry. After a guy tells you a million times that he wants to do nothing about the attraction between you and him, you don't continue to run after him hoping for something. No, you quit and move on. Then there was her prince douchebag of a love interest. Gosh. Since when is acting like a complete ass attractive in any way? That's certainly not a book boyfriend material for me. Listen, I'm open-minded to reading about bad boys or jerks who change throughout the book, but Ethan? He took the assholery too far for my tastes and by the end, I honestly just wanted to push him down a cliff. Ugh.

I'll admit that Cassie and Ethan had decent chemistry, but it got boring very quickly, mostly because there was no change in these characters personalities at all. Everything about this book was so repetitive. In the "past chapters", Cassie would chase Ethan, he would be attracted to her, he would push her, they would dry hump and hurt her and back to square one. I'm not even going to lie, this was at least 95% of the book. Also, the intimate scenes, which I assume were supposed to be sexy, were so laughable and utterly cringe-worthy. I would shake my head in embarrassment for Cassie's pathetic attempt at boning Ethan. She also had an entirely too disturbing and creepy obsession with Ethan's penis (which she had never seen). She droned on and on about it in her diary or in her monologue and I just wanted her to shut up. Then, with the "now chapters", nothing basically happened either. Ethan is back in Cassie's life after he supposedly destroyed her life and turned her into cold and heartless person, convinced to win her back. And by the end, there was really no change to that. This is one of those books that does not need to be a series. It's unnecessary and just an excuse to have more drama. Also, the big event that led to their break up, was really insignificant.

Overall, I unfortunately can't recommend Bad Romeo. It was a disastrous read that gave me a headache and I do not want to do that to my readers. If you are curious, I would recommend just getting a library copy. It's not worth your time.


Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 1/5
Characters : 1/5
Writing : 3/5

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC of Bad Romeo.