After finding out that her boyfriend betrayed her, Genevieve Tierney decides to spend the summer with her best friend Cali working at a casino to save money for grad school. She is determined to avoid men and relationships and quickly makes friends with another casino employee, Nessa. Nessa introduces her to her friends, and Gen is instantly drawn to Lewis. Lewis however had a complicated relationship with Mira, another friend of Nessa's. Gen decides to try to stay away from Lewis, but the connection between them is hard to fight. When Gen decides to sign up for the Alpine Mudder Competition, she ends up with Lewis to help her train. He was a finalist in the competition a year before and knows how to help her prepare. As they train together, they find it impossible to stay away from each other, and soon Lewis and Gen give in to their passion. Lewis might not be with Mira, but he does tend to put her before others and it becomes an issue for his relationships. Can Lewis find a way to make Gen his top priority and give their relationship a chance?
I really liked Lewis. He was strong and sexy, sweet and loyal. He was fiercely protective of Gen and Mira, and went out of his way to try to always look out for them. I thought that he let Mira get away with far too much, but it was nice to see him care so much about her as well as Gen. I think he definitely should have handled a few things differently, but he meant well and didn't always know what to do. Gen was strong and determined, but she was also insecure at times and had a tendency to run first and ask questions later. She jumped to conclusions at times, but she had been hurt and that was understandable. I did like that she was able to dedicate herself to doing something for her and that she took the competition seriously. She wanted to prove to herself that she could do it, and I admired her determination a lot. I also really loved that she refused to settle for less than she deserved. Regardless of her feelings for Lewis, she wouldn't allow him make someone else his priority over her and put their needs above her own. I thought that Lewis and Gen had amazing chemistry right off, and they were seriously hot together! But I also loved their playfulness and watching them fall for each other as they trained together and got to know each other.
I have to say, I had an intense dislike for Mira right from the start. I didn't understand why Lewis put up with some of her crap, regardless of what she had been through. I understand that she had it tough, but that doesn't excuse her to act like a bitch and take over his life the way she did. I am curious to see what is between her and Tyler (Cali's brother), but I am a bit skeptical on how I am going to get behind her story. Hopefully she can turn her life around and redeem herself, but frankly she has a lot to make up for. She took advantage of Lewis's friendship and did a lot of things she shouldn't have. I will say that the ending of this story was also pretty abrupt and I felt like even though things were happy for now with Lewis and Gen, that their story felt unfinished to me. We are left with a cliffhanger, and that will get me to read the next book alone despite the fact that it is Mira's story. I would recommend this book to NA fans, especially if you have read the first book in the series. I look forward to reading more from Jules Barnard in the future.
**ARC Provided by Inkslinger PR**
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Thank you for the great review and post!
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