Member Reviews

This book was a middle of the road read for me as I saw most of the ‘plot twists’ coming from miles away. I predicted that ending from page 1 but I did enjoy the characters and the writing so it was worth the read.

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I liked it, it was a decent read although at some points it did drag and I was losing interest. But it was a good guilty pleasure

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Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review your titles.
I do appreciate it and continue to review books that I get the chance to read.
Thanks again!

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I love books about Hollywood and celebrities so much, so this was a natural book for me to read. The romance in Until You was so great, and I was rooting for them to end up together the whole time! I have such a love/hate relationship with books like this, because I get so frustrated when the characters can't see what is so plainly in front of them.

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I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I have read a few books like this but this was well done. I liked that we got both characters POVs. Ellie is given the opportunity to be the fake girlfriend of a famous movie star. She is offered money to help her family. She does it but it is not all she assumed it would be. There were times I just wanted to punch Jason, but his POV made me understand some of his actions. It is a sweet story. I enjoyed it and will have to look into other stories my author has written.

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I felt this book was a bit predictable but I still loved reading it and being in the head of these characters.

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I have 2 guilty pleasures that I pretty much always love in romance novels:
1) The teacher x student romance
2) The celebrity x ordinary person romance

This clearly falls into the second category, but I somehow didn’t enjoy this particular one.
Everything was so boring and I saw most of the ‘plot twists’ coming from miles away. I predicted that ending from page 1. The characters had no depth and I didn’t particularly love, nor like, any of them. I was so annoyed by the main couple’s lack of communication and the constant drama between them.

This could have been so much better.

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Until You by Bridie Black is a cute young adult love story. Ellie Foster is a normal girl who takes on responsibility for everyone. Jason Holden is a movie star loved by millions. What happens when Ellie and Jason agree to be a fake couple? I love this genre, there is something so innocent about first loves. I love the quirky people and situations in this book, and watching the characters grow. I found this book to be a quick read, and recommend it to all readers who enjoy a sweet romance.

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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I was in need of a contemporary romance book after reading so much fantasy this month and Until You was the perfect one and I’m so glad I picked it up <3

It’s been such a long time since I last read a book where the love interest is a superstar that I was afraid I wouldn’t like that trope anymore, luckily I loved how the superstar aspect came into play. It was so unique because the stories I’ve read focused on the nice side of being famous but Until You also shows that celebrities’ life sometimes isn’t as easy as the media says. There are a lot of things that our main male character, Jason, has to deal with like backstabbing, friends that are with you only when you serve a purpose and fake gossip going around that it could cost you your job.

Our main female character, Ellie, also has problems of her own such as her family not having enough money to live a comfortable life and a cheating “boyfriend”. I really enjoyed watching them fake a relationship and slowly start developing feelings for each other. There were some scenes and interactions that were so cute that I couldn’t help myself from whispering “awww”, it truly was such a sweet slow burn romance.

Moreover, I really liked how down to earth Ellie was. She was a simple girl who liked simple things like enjoying an afternoon with friends or taking selfies at impressive places just to send them to her family. Everyone ends up loving her and for good reasons, she’s a lovely and sweet girl.

An aspect I didn’t like about this book is how there is a conflict almost at the end that’s there just to make the story longer because it gets solve way too easily for my liking.

All in all, I did enjoy this book due to the characters’ personalities and the romance was super sweet without being too over the top. The fact that the “superstar” trope was done so uniquely definitely added up to my enjoyment of Until You. The only bad thing I have to say about it is that there is an unnecesary conflict almost at the end which made no sense but I still gave this book 4 stars so obviously I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.

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This book felt amateur, with very choppy writing and an overly simple storyline. The writing wasn’t refined. The writing is jarring and rushed and doesn’t feel natural, especially at the beginning. The characters aren’t consistent. Jason is hot and cold, even in his own thoughts. The author resorts to telling us most things instead of showing, which makes it feel forced and contrived instead of flowing naturally. The story is overly cliche and the writing is underdeveloped and we learn next to nothing about the characters or their real lives, but still yet I was sucked in. It’s the type of story I’d love to see in movie form. Thanks to NetGalley and Evernight Teen for providing a copy for me to read!

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This book was received as an ARC from Evernight Teen in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

Until You looks like an exact carbon copy of the young adult dramas our patrons generally go for. While reading the description I could not help but be reminded of the movie Win a Date with Tad Hamilton and The Secrets of my Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita and how the hollywood lifestyle is so glamorous at first but when reality hits, its not what its meant to be. I got a little sense of that vibe while reading Until You but the story had a little more drama and flare to it that it kept things interesting and peaked to know what will happen next and that is what our readers are looking for in these types of books. This book is a real page turner and is sure to not disappoint.

This book will definitely have a home in our YFiction collection at the library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

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I absolutely loved this book!!!! I read it in a day and couldn't have been more happy. Ellie and Jason had great chemistry that made me want to keep reading. I was on an emotional rollercoaster and loved it! Can we talk about how sweet Jason's grandparent were toooo. Defiantly going to have to re-read this one!

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Not exactly what I was expecting. I am not sure really what I was expecting, but I do think that this was a good book.

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Until You by Birdie Blake
Oh wow this was such a wonderful book I absolutely fell in love with all these characters and I want so much more for their story to continue! I would even love to read Georgia's story!! I hope there is more to come from this book!!!
5 stars

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I made a comment a little while ago while I was reading <i>Until You</i> by Bridie Blake that I didn’t know why I still bother to read books with this sort of premise anymore and every part of me wishes it wasn’t true. I have always, for some reason, found myself drawn to the “fake dating a celebrity to save his career” plot. Every single time I find myself disappointed because I am reading basically the exact same book. Yet somehow I always convince myself beforehand that this wont be true.

There’s nothing new about <i>Until You</i>, nothing that sets it apart from all the other books just like it. I’ll admit, the characters in this on were certainly a <i>lot</i> less annoying than the ones in the last one I read, I think largely due to just better overall writing this time around. But even with that, they were all poorly developed and followed the same typical set of events that all the other books do.

First they meet somehow (and this is about as original as this particular book gets), then they end up in a contract where the girl will fake date him for a while to help his image, then they start to fall for each other—and for some reason that is seriously beginning to infuriate me this always as an excessive amount of focus on <i>how she looks</i> as opposed to her personality—and then something happens, usually with one of his employees that causes a miscommunication that results in a big dramatic fight and resulting breakup that is eventually resolved in a flash forward a few weeks later. Sometimes these characters reveal their feelings prior to the intervening of aforementioned member of his staff and sometimes they reveal them after, but really, is that a good enough difference to make this sort of book interesting?

I don’t know why I ever expect there will be something new to these books.

But, wait. There was something new to <i>Until You,</i> something that became the primary reason for why I rated this book with two stars as opposed to three. The main character gets sexually assaulted. And literally no one does anything about it. She’s left in a booth in a club with a massively predatory celebrity who kisses her neck and reaches his way up her dress to her underwear. And then her fake boyfriend shows up, pulls her away, glares a bit and that’s the last we hear of it.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I could’ve handled the poorly developed characters, the typical motivation, the plot that could literally be compared to a cooking recipe, but I cannot handle sexual assault not being addressed. We don’t live in a time period where that is acceptable anymore. Plain and simple. I know this book was published in 2017, but let’s be a bit more progressive than this. I was honestly so uncomfortable reading this scene and I can see it being exceedingly triggering for someone.

And I suppose the book could have some points for having some LGBTQ representation, but frankly it was so hidden and minimal and then only addressed in a couple of sentences that it was pretty pathetic, so I don’t even know if the book deserves credit for it. Needless to say, I’m pretty disappointed.

Overall, my complaints about the main bit of the story come down to the fact that no one ever seems to have any originality. Which, I suppose, if I’m reading a book that follows this plotline I should just start to expect so maybe I’ll be happily surprised one day? Had it not been for the problems regarding the sexual assault and the gay character, I might have given this book a three just for not being <i>terrible</i> in terms of writing quality. But...those portions of the novel were truly quite poorly handled.

Truth be told, I think a two star rating is being generous.

<i>I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

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I absolutely adored this book. It was funny, relatable, and sweet. Predictable in places, but what good romance novel isn’t?

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What a wonderful book! I discovered this book by accident, and boy am I glad I did! The author does such a wonderful job of really delving into the characters so you feel like you not only are there, but know them. I loved this book so much I neglected my family and house until I was able to finish it, and once I did, I was sad that it was over. This book kept me wondering what would happen next. I would highly recommend this, and now plan to seek out other books by the same author.

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I have really mixed feelings about this one. I honestly thought I would love this one. The fake relationship trope with a celebrity is one of my favorite stories. Ellie is a college student who by fate happens to meet and help Jason, a mega celebrity, out of a sticky situation. Months later, when her family is in need of help, she contacts his publicist again, and as fate would have it, Jason happened to need a fake girlfriend at just that time.

I enjoyed the parts about being a celebrity as well as the travel and sightseeing they did. And I did love some of the secondary characters. But, I truly almost gave up on the novel after a few chapters. The beginning was super rushed. I pushed through and I did enjoy the middle of the novel. But, the end was again really rushed. The characters were not very well developed, in my opinion. I honestly feel like I know nothing about Ellie except the basics (age, occupation, etc…) even after finishing the book. Jason was slightly more developed. He was an arrogant jerk in the beginning, and you did see a change in him at the end. If you enjoy fake relationship and celebrity tropes, you'd probably like this one.

* ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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