He Belongs With Me by Sarah Darlington was a really good book. I was originally drawn in by the cover and blurb, and I will admit the idea of twins both wanting the same guy was what really intrigued me. I loved the sound of them growing up with Leo and I am such a sucker for friends to lovers and even enemies to lovers. I will tell you that this book is a lot different than what I had gone in expecting, and even though I had a few criticisms with the story I really liked what happened. These characters wer all really interesting and I had to keep reading to figure out what would happen next. This was one that I didn't want to put down.
Maggie and Clara Ryder are twins. They grew up the daughters of a golfer who opened his own country club and golf course with a friend who owned a world famous hotel empire. They were basically raised with the heir to the hotel empire, Leo Maddox. The three of them might have grown up together but had very different relationships. Maggie and Clara are not close at all. In fact they barely speak to each other and can hardly tolerate the other. They are polar opposites in pretty much every way. Maggie and Leo are best friends. Maggie is the sweet one and her friendship with Leo has always just been platonic. Clara and Leo are constantly arguing and have always had issues being around each other. Clara is the wild child and will do just about anything to get a reaction. When Clara and Leo start getting closer and begin to think about dating, Maggie starts feeling more for Leo than friendship. Soon she believes that she is in love with Leo and is willing to fight for him. But with Leo and Clara's new relationship and growing feelings what does the future hold for the three of them? Is Clara meant to be with Leo or is it Maggie? And what happens when someone from their past reappears and changes everything?
I really liked Leo. He was so much deeper than you get at first glance. I loved getting to see not only how he was in the present, but things that had happened in the past. I liked his friendship with Maggie, but I felt like he had always had a stronger connection with Clara. They had some really great moments from when they were younger, and I really liked seeing the progression of their relationship. I liked Clara. She was strong and independent, and I liked that she as a bit of a rebel. She wasn't afraid to be who she was and yet she tended to show the world a facade while only letting in a few people. I really enjoyed seeing her drop her guard with Leo, and how he always saw the real her. Most people didn't see below the tough exterior with her, and I loved that Leo always did and she was never able to hide anything from him. Maggie was harder for me to connect with, and I felt like she was a bit too indecisive. She thought she was in love with Andrew and she thought she was in love with Leo, and then there was Dean. I felt like her feelings toward Leo were never anything more than friends. She was upset that Leo was interested in more with her sister Clara, and she didn't want to not be the important one in his life anymore. I didn't like that she was intent on getting in between them when they were first starting to have feelings for each other, but I liked how she backed off when she realized just how strongly Leo felt for Clara. I liked Clara and Leo together a lot and felt like they had a really great bond, and a ton of chemistry. They just seemed perfect for each other and like they were meant to be. I wish that we had seen a bit more of Maggie and Dean, or that they had been given their own separate book. I feel like we didn't really get a chance to get much of their story and they had a lot of history that I felt could have been explored more.
My main problem with this story was that there was a lot going on and at times (especially the beginning of the story) things got really confusing. It was interesting and I wanted to know what was going on, but it was a bit hard to get into initially. I almost wish that this would have been two books rather than one. I feel like a lot happened and a lot was going on. Because of that it seemed a little rushed to me, and I think we missed out on some things. By the time we got to the end it was like Leo and Clara were almost pushed to the side so that the focus was on Maggie instead, and I felt like Leo and Clara didn't really get the ending they deserved. It fell a bit flat because all of a sudden we were being given more of Maggie's story when the focus had pretty much been on Clara and Leo for the entire book. That was why I felt like this should have been two books. I think that if it would have been split we as readers wouldn't feel as though anything was missing and we would have been able to get the whole story for each of them and the characters would have been done justice. There wasn't a cliffhanger and things were wrapped up, but I just was looking for more. Maybe even an epilogue would have left things a bit more satisfying. I did like this book though, and I really enjoyed the characters. I thought that we really got to know Clara and Leo, while Maggie and Dean were still somewhat unknown. Dean was pretty much a mystery and didn't really have much of a presence throughout the story, and I would have liked to have known him better. I would recommend this book to New Adult fans, and I think that a lot of people will enjoy this story as I did. It was refreshing and different, and will appeal to readers looking for a standalone read with no cliffhanger. I look forward to reading more from Sarah Darlington in the future as I really enjoyed her writing style.
**ARC provided by Author**
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