Member Reviews
Unfortunately, I don't have much to say. I didn't love it. It's probably for someone out there but it's just not for me.Thanks to netgalley, the author and publisher for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.
DNF.
Thanks to netgalley, the author and publisher for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.
My rating was unfortunately tainted by the book I had read immediately before this one, which was about the history of punk music in the 1970s-80s. Those guys were so much more hardcore in that scene that Adleigh’s issues with fame and fortune and all that came with it felt a bit trite to me. That being said, I loved how Adleigh and her beau both dealt with the grief and betrayal of their exes as well as how their damage impacted their relationship, which was so pure and sweet despite everything else.
While I did overall enjoy the story and what the author was going for and it could be a great novella, there is a lot of work to be done. It was a very rough read for me between the issues with formatting, grammar and spelling, it kept pulling me out of the book. I hope that she does have a team to help her edit this better so that it will be able to find an audience.
Thank you NetGalley, and Alyssa Milani for picking me to be an arc reader of this book.
Thank you to Alyssa Milani and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.
Adleigh finds out that her fiancé is cheating right at the beginning of the book, which makes it difficult for the reader to empathize with her feelings. She then goes to a bar, meets someone, and falls in love with him right away after he saves her from the creep. This was a really short read, however I have to admit that I had to push myself to finish it.
The start was just very rushed with Adleigh finding her fiance cheating, immediately as the book starts, and not letting the reader get emotionally invested in Adleigh and her feelings in this relationship, and she goes to a bar, gets hit on, and it essentially becomes insta-love with the guy that saves her from the creep.
This was a very quick read, although I will say, it did take some pushing for me to finish it. I was not emotionally invested in the characters and was not a fan of Adleigh or Colter, the MMC. Both of them were a bit insufferable and cringy and it just made me not want to read their story. Colter had a really bad anger problem and it seems like he spent more time angry than happy. He honestly left a lot to be desired.
Both Adleigh had a lot of healing from their passed traumas that needed to be done before entering a relationship and bringing someone else into their world of trauma. We did not get to see their maturity and growth on this front, and the traumas weren't really explored as much as they could have been to show the growth of the characters and showing that they could actually move passed it. Unfortunately we didn't get that.
Maybe because the book was so short, there was not a lot of room for the details that would have made this book great. The structure was there, and with more details and depth in the story, it could have been so much better. Throughout the book, there was also not a lot of details about anything. It just seemed to be a very minimalistic "Let's write some stuff and not elaborate on anything" kind of vibe.
I think it would have been great to have more back story about our FMC, before throwing her into the whirlwind.
Thank you to Alyssa Milani, Amazon, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.
What a ride! This book was exciting, beautiful and full of raw emotion, yet somehow helps you process grief and heal in unexpected ways. If anyone is looking for a hometown romance where city life meets country loving (with a little spice), this is the book for you!!!
Adleigh Cole is a music star who returns home after catching her fiancé and band mate cheating on her with her best friend who is also part of the group. The welcome at home is not warm as she left six years before after the death of her brother. Next door she meets Colton who can empathize with her as he has been cheated on in the past.
This book isn’t long, just over 200 pages and everything is instant. Instant attraction, feelings, etc. And it all feels kind of icky, never sweet. Colter watches her skinny dip in his pool, which his brother allowed, he gets all angry about it because she didn’t ask him. Yet he watches and gets off later to the images he saw. The writing style wants to be minimalistic. It doesn’t elaborate or fill in with descriptions. It leaves the reader having to interpret and read between the lines. My ARC copy had formatting issues putting the title and the authors name randomly in the text on every page. I am not marking down for that as I am sure it will be fixed but it made the story that much harder to read because I had to reread sentences on every page.
Reconnecting with her parents and getting past the loss of her brother was a decent storyline. I never understood Colter’s personality and wondered what she saw in him. I never saw Colter as anything other than a rebound guy although the epilogue helps. Overall this wasn’t a good fit for me. I prefer more depth to my characters and more build up to a romance. I did like the cover which was probably the main reason I requested the book.
absolutely devoured this story!
MFC & rockstar Adleigh Cole heads to her hometown following a breakup and to the family she left behind six long years ago. MMC Cole is still reeling from his previous relationship until he lays eyes on Adleigh. The story delves into the dark and traumatic pasts of the characters as they explore the undeniable attraction they feel.
Coming in at under 300 pages this was a novella, and other than minor things, I really enjoyed the story ; it was easy to read and I found myself really rooting for things to go right for the characters. The spice level was maybe a 1-2 🌶️🌶️
I loved the epilogue, it gave me all the good feelings and happy endings I found myself hoping for.
Some triggers - mentions of suicide, dying and illness, addiction, grief and cheating.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you very much for this, yet I sadly didn't fully enjoyed it. Somehow I was left feeling mixed fellings. On one hand it was an okayish book, it was easy to read and fast, yet it left me wishing for more depth.
Adleigh is a rockstar and comes home one day to her fiancée in bed with another woman. She goes home, back to a place she left suddenly 6 years ago and we follow her journey as she comes to terms with some childhood trauma and try’s to sort her life out.
Firstly this story is Insta insta-love. From the second she meets Coulter he’s calling her “mine” and can’t imagine life without her…literally hours after finding her fiancée in bed with someone else she’s INSTANTLY attracted to one of the first men she meets in the town.
I think the plot itself was good and I was invested enough to want to know how the whole thing was going to play out, but the fact that the story moved WAY WAY too quickly and the relationships between the characters made me feel cringy rather than enamoured.
I’m a slow burn kinda girl so unfortunately this particular story wasn’t my favourite.
A romance between a city girl and a country boy with a mix of grumpy and sunshine vibes from the start. The drama with their exes is both shocking and funny, with karma and fate playing a part. The main female character's dad evokes both love and hate, while her mom is a beloved character.
I absolutely loved this book! The cover is stunning, and the romance is adorable. I also appreciated how the story tackled some difficult topics with care.
I enjoyed this book, I loved how it dealt with some hard situations that people face through life.
Cover is absolutely gorgeous!
This was a really easy book to read, but I didn’t really click with it. I felt bad for the MF character a lot of the time but that’s about it.
I feel like the relationship was so rushed… like he was saying I love you and wanting her to move in within two weeks of knowing her…
I feel like there was so many inconsistencies. First one I noticed is that she said her brother never left a note… then there was a note?? And the relationship with his brother?? Who was never actually in the book, just mentioned that he was gay but slept with her a lot..?
I just didn’t feel a connection with any of the characters. It was so rushed and I cringed so much with the kitten references. It was gross.
This was just disappointing and I’m glad it’s finished
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this in exchange of my honest review
This book was pretty crazy and I couldn't be more grateful that it's so short! Love the FMC and her parents working out the tension and grief from her brother's suicide. It's great to see the family bond and their relationship evolve through the story. Unfortunately, the negatives in this book overweigh the positives. The number of times "Until Adleigh" was repeated in the story to emphasize on the title was just so unnecessary. The MCs relationship together felt super forced and toxic, and I felt that all the more during the epilogue.
I loved this book so much! And the cover is absolutely beautiful! The romance was so cute and I really loved how some tough subjects were handled.
~Colter & Adleigh~
~ Superstar FMC x cowboy MMC
~ Small town setting
~ Grief rep*
~ Past relationship drama
After Adleigh runs away from her LA life when she finds her fiancé cheating on her, she returns to her home town to rebuild some family relationships. Colter is feeling jaded after his ex also cheated on him. When Adleigh realizes Colter lives next to her parents, they aren’t able to get away from each other, even if they want to.
I often struggle with liking FMC’s and that was a big struggle for me in this book. I didn’t really connect with her and I found her pretty annoying during all of her interactions with the MMC. I know that there was suppose to be tension and angst between the two but I often felt that they were too toxic together.
While I didn’t really enjoy much of the romance pieces, I did enjoy seeing the growth of Adleigh’s family and working through their grief together.
*Note: this book does mention (previous) suicide of a MC’s sibling. Please read with care ♡
What a good romance read. I enjoyed the characters, the plot, the writing, everything about it. And look how cute the cover is.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
“Until Adleigh” follows our FMC, Adleigh, who heads back to the small town where she grew up after catching her fiancé cheating on her. There, she meets Colter, who she is instantly attracted to. Over the next several chapters, the two protagonists continuously find themselves together and become increasingly interested in each other.
I would have loved to see a few chapters at the beginning showing some behind-the-scenes of Adleigh’s band as well as her relationship with her fiancé. While I can empathize with her when she walks in on her fiancé and bandmate together, I think it would’ve hit harder if we were privy to the smaller aspects of her relationships with them.
While I don’t mind a shorter book, I would’ve liked to see, in the first half, more scenes that progress the MCs personal agendas and conflicts. They each had significant trauma and backstories that sounded interesting, and I wish we would have gotten to see those sooner. As I didn’t finish the book, I can’t say for sure how these work out, but without very much leading into it or moving it forward, I think it will end up feeling rushed or incomplete.
I wish the characters had been more fleshed out as they felt a little two dimensional. And, this is just a personal issue, but I was not a fan of the way the characters talked. I believe it was meant to kind of mimic a small town slang, but it felt very stilted. Also, the nickname “big boy” just rubbed me the wrong way and I couldn’t get over it.
Overall, I liked the premise of the book, but felt very underwhelmed. As I didn’t finish the book, I can’t speak to the second half. Some of the things I mentioned may actually be included in the last 55% (feel free to let me know if they are). Unfortunately the writing style in regards to dialogue/thoughts was not for me. If these don’t bother you, definitely give this book a try as you may very well enjoy the plot and spice it offers!
Thanks for the Arc read NetGalley.
This book though was not it for me. It was short a novella being under 300 pages, it helps to be a quick read and all so it was an easy go-through.
Our main character Adleigh is what can be assumed to be a country singer whose fiancee cheats on her with the band member. She wants to escape so she moves to her small hometown. She is estranged from her family dealing with drama regarding her relationship with her father. When she arrives in town she meets Colter a damaged country boy next door going through a breakup. Romance and drama happen, they end up happily married and have four kids.
The characters are given complex backstories and trauma but it was not fleshed out in the way it should have been. It wasn't given enough to make me believe that it was affecting them in that way to have them behave the way that they were. The writing was low level and language in the dialogue felt forced. They're supposed to be southern but it felt unbelievable (this is coming from someone who lives in the south and had lived in the deep South during childhood)
There was a slight mention of the female main character's relationship with her brother and it felt weird. Coter had anger issues that were not a "hot portrayal" A brief bit of spice but it was not detailed enough to make reading it only for the spice worth it. (it's something I read often)
With all this bein said, it did have it's cute moments and could benefit from being more fleshed out and becoming longer book. When it comes to cover art, Adleigh is described as having a multitude of tattoos yet when shown on the cover art she does not have any.