I have to start this review by clarifying that I usually avoid New Adult novels like fungal infections. I'm more of an Erotic/Contemporary girl. I didn't notice this book was NA when I picked it up and since I found myself getting into the story, I soldiered on. To make this review as fair and accurate as possible, I've put aside my NA bias and tried to give you a good representation of my thoughts on the story.
Hurricane is the story of Emily and O'Connell. When the story begins, Emily is a college student who is literally scared of her shadow. She does a lot of trembling and looking down at first. O'Connell is a boxer who has somehow become fixated on Emily. O'Connell sets about pursuing Emily. We learn, along with O'Connell that Emily has a horrific past that probably would have shoved anyone into a trembling shell. O'Connell is a good empathizer because he too comes from a really crappy background. Throughout the book Emily struggles believing that O'Connell could want her and O'Connell is steady in his determination to prove that the two belong together.
What is great about this book is the emotional intensity conveyed between the characters. The language the author uses is particularly good at describing the depth of the feelings between the main couple. The relationship develops slowly but it is a really sweet agony. For most of the book Emily and O'Connell are broke and I guess there is a certain charm to them writing notes to each other and buying little gifts that they can't afford. Even though I was annoyed by Emily constantly getting knocked off her mental square, I loved the scenes where O'Connell talks her back into the reality of his love for her.
There is no instalove in this book. There are conversations and dates and nights spent together where the relationship is developed. You would have to be the grinch not to root for Emily and O'Connell.
The supporting cast in the book were ok but this is where I have issues with NA. Emily was only 20 and her friends were around the same age so for a reader like me, the interactions in the book were very juvenile. To make matters worse, there were a lot of friend scenes in the book and it really did give me a college frat party vibe. That is not my scene at all but if that's ok with you, I don't think it will be an issue. The scenes are well put together and interesting if that's your thing. I just am not really interested in a bunch of college kids and their antics.
I really like O'Connell. He is extremely steady in his feelings for Emily. He is dominant and aggressive but has a soft spot for his girl. I feel like we get cheated a little with O'Connell though. The book begins in his POV and then we don't see it again for most of the book. I really really wanted to know what was going on in O'Connell's head.
The fight scenes and the gym details were well done but I'm not really interested in any of that so it didn't add much value for me. Even though O'Connell's mother was a crazy shrew, she added some spice to the plot and I wasn't mad at that at all.
The sex scenes were NA with a bit of an edge but just a bit. Not the sort of content I'm looking for to light my fire but good NA stuff.
So here's the bottom line, I recommend this book for it's strong strong character development, interesting plot and conflicts and superior romance. As an NA book, this one is definitely a step ahead of the crowd. If you thought this was going to be more grown up romance, you've been warned.
**ARC provided by Publisher**
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