Latest Read: All of You by Christina Lee

Here are the basics ...
All of You by Christina Lee
Publication date: Sept. 17, 2013
Publisher: Intermix (Penguin Group (USA) LLC)
Category: New Adult
Source: Purchased

Summary: Avery has just met her hot upstairs neighbor, Bennett. He's irresistible,  tattooed and a virgin. Nursing student Avery Michaels wants nothing to do with dating—she's perfectly happy single. Privy to too many of her mother's bad decisions and even worse taste in boyfriends, all Avery can handle is a string of uncomplicated hookups whenever the mood strikes. And she wants Bennett for just one night. But he won't accept a no-strings-attached arrangement. He lives by a straight-laced code of values based on his own troubled upbringing. Bennett sees something special in Avery and he wants more from her. Danger and tragedy force them to open up to each other and Avery must face the terrifying realization that she wants more from him, too. So she needs to make a choice—let Bennett go or finally let him in. (Adapted goodreads.com)

My thoughts…

The good: All of You was completely impulsive for me. I saw someone's review (can't remember whose!) and immediately bought it afterwards. Then one weekend I woke up super early and couldn't go back to sleep so I figured, why not read this. I ended up not getting out of bed until I was done. It's engaging, sexy and does delve into some dark drama (it's New Adult so I expected that) but most of all, it was a great book to escape into for a couple hours.

You all know by now my love-hate relationship with NA and this one definitely fell on my good side. While it does have some standard NA tropes, there are a couple nice twists that make it a little different. Avery is a hardworking, nursing student with no time or desire for a real relationship. She's happy with her random hook-ups and hanging out with her best friends. She's seen enough of her mom's troubles with men to swear her off from falling in love. Then at a party she meets Bennett, hot and tattooed and seemingly not interested in her. She finds out that he's a virgin and waiting until he's in love. The book is a push and pull between their obvious attraction to one another, the real friendship they begin to develop and what they want (or in Avery's case, doesn't want) conflicting with their feelings.

Both Avery and Bennett are easy characters to like. It didn't take me long at all to warm up to them, even when I wanted to tell Avery to stop being so anti-relationship! (But her fears are understandable.) Although the attraction is immediate, the author takes the time to let these characters hang out and get to know each other. One of my grievances with NA is usually the two main characters hop into bed early on and that basically becomes the story. Here, there was a pretty good balance of sexy times and getting to know the characters.

(Minor) reservations: It's pretty standard for at least one (if not both) characters to have a dark past, usually dealing with some kind of sexual abuse. I don't think it's a spoiler to say so because like I said, it's expected. Even though Avery's past plays a role here, I didn't think the book needed it. It may have heightened things but I was interested enough in the growing relationship between Avery and Bennett that I personally didn't think the sub-plot was necessary.

Do I recommend?: I do! If you want an entertaining, sexy book that you can breeze through in a couple hours, I'd recommend this.

Happy reading!