REVIEW: A Beautiful Mess by T.K.Leigh
"What happens when you lose everyone that promised they would always be there for you? How can you protect the few pieces of your shattered heart that remain? Olivia Adler is a woman with a troubled past. After losing her parents at the young age of six and being raised by an uncle who she lost years later, she refuses to get attached to anyone, including friends. For the past decade, she has been able to remain unattached to any man, too worried about losing someone to get too close. Until Alexander Burnham walks into her life one night and changes everything. But he has issues of his own. And he’s keeping a secret that could turn Olivia's world upside-down. Will Olivia let Alexander in enough for him to get close and protect her from a force threatening her very existence, or will she push him away, scared of letting Alexander in, in order to protect her heart?" I didn't really get along with this book. Which is odd because I do really like Romance Mystery and Suspence, but this was just far too cheesy and drawn out for my liking.
For starters, the author did my ultimate pet peeve, which is to reference that 'stuff like this only happens in romance novels'. IT IS A ROMANCE NOVEL! and that is what I shout at my kindle. For me, it just completely snaps me out of it, I'm all happy and then bam, the author goes and does that. For which I deduct one star. I'm being brutal.
The story seems very romantic and Olivia has clearly had a very difficult life, which has left her with a multitude of issues, including NOT NOTICING THE FLAMING OBVIOUS. This is another thing that annoys me, when the author makes it so apparent to the reader but for some reason the character just can't seem to see it. This goes for the both of the lead characters. Deduct another star.
Olivia knows that Alex is hiding something and he appears in one of her frequent dreams/nightmares. The boy she dreams of, who saves her from a car accident when she was 6, morphs into Alex. The boy and Alex have the same green eyes and yet she never seems to think that MAYBE the boy was/is Alex!
Alex is no better. He knows Olivia is remembering a lot and he has a letter from his father which could potentially help the siuation and yet he chooses to be a massive pansy and doesn't read it. You go through the whole book waiting for him to open the damn letter and he doesn't. You need to read the next book.
Pretty much, this whole first book is just an introduction and you can tell the really gritty stuff is going to happen later, but seeing as there are 3 books I doubt it will even happen in the next one. Frankly I wish I had skim read my way through this one. But because I left this one just peeved that I had wasted my time for nothing, I don't think I can take having to go through that again with another. So I'm leaving the series, even though it barely started.
If you can handle cliffhangers and epic fluff then I'm sure you will be gripped by this book rather than annoyed, like me. I feel like I know more than the characters and therefore I just know the outcome. So yeah, a disappointing read for me. However, the sex scenes are okay, but again they take their sweet time there too!
