The rules of love and second chances are due for a major-league shake-up in a warm, witty, and unpredictable romance by the bestselling author of The Friend Zone.Ian “Bash” Sebastian and Ember Carlson were high school sweethearts…until their single parents got married. With one thorny twist of fate, a secret young crush went from on fire to off-limits. What could a new stepbrother do but bail? … stepbrother do but bail? Now, after almost four years, Bash has returned to Seattle, and he’s back in Ember’s orbit at End of the Line. EOL is the go-to college for second-chance scholarships. But what about love?
Sure, the old hurts are there. So is the attraction—and it’s more magnetic than ever. Still, they’re adults now, levelheaded and just fine with the friend thing. If only to make family dinners less awkward. But when they agree to start dating other people, moving on threatens to bring them closer together than ever.
Is it time to admit their past to their parents? Even trickier, their hope for the future? Because Ember and Bash deserve a love story of their own. With all their defenses down, can they make it a happy ever after?
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3.5 stars
Second chance romance, step brother romance, and a smidgeon sports romance all rolled into one. This book was a decent enough read, I just found myself skimming some of the internal dialogue at times, mostly because if they would just communicate with each other better there wouldn’t be a need for this much internal dialogue, LOL! I enjoyed both characters individually and enjoyed how easy the chemistry and dialogue between them flowed. Ember was actually quite witty with Bash and their conversations made me smile and giggle. There were many misunderstandings and assumptions and they were both pretty bad at avoiding their big issue which kept adding to the misunderstandings which got frustrating after a while…I wanted things to progress! It was also light on the physical romance, which is fine, but they did A LOT of making out for college kids, LOL. I will try this author again, just maybe not this particular series.
ARC copy kindly provided through Netgalley and voluntarily left a review
This was my first book by this author and I enjoyed reading this book. It had a nice flow, and it was kind of a quick read for me.
Unfortunately I couldn’t really connect with the main characters and that’s a huge aspect for me!
3,5 stars.
3.75/5 stars
First book that I have read from this author and I liked it. Bash and Ember fell in love when they were in high school until their parents met and eloped. They were a cute couple and believable. This is a low heat story so if that is what you like, then this will be the story for you. I like my stories with a little more heat to it but it was still a good read.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
Original review: https://myshelfbooks.wordpress.com/2020/01/05/review-just-a-boyfriend-by-sariah-wilson/
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
First book of the year. 2020 hasn’t started as gloriously as the previous one in the reading aspect of my life, but it hasn’t been horrible. When a book has almost everything I like in this kind of Romance novel and yet it fails to deliver a story that satiates me, something weird must have happened. Let’s see where the weirdness resides in this second book of the End of the Line saga!! (Spoliler alert: most likely the only weird stuff is the reader himself…).
We go back to the EOL college, where we met Logan and Jess, to follow the lives of a new couple in the making… or the re-making as in this case. We meet Bash, another football star who has fallen in disgrace due to the consumption of drugs. He ran away from home several years ago avoiding his problems, but it doesn’t matter how much of an athletic hunk you are…. problems run waaaay faster. That unavoidable issue has a face and a name: Ember. She was his highschool girlfriend, but had to break up with her when their parents got married. In order to please his father, Bash left his home to avoid Ember and never came back. Until now. Both of them go to the same college and even have some classes in common, so they are meant to find each other again. Will they be able to be just friends for the sake of their parents or the forbidden love will be too big to ignore?
In my previous review, I mentioned my love for slow cooked romances in a genre that tends to rush into things in a somehow unbelievable manner. So this story should have been my cup of tea, but this time the beverage lacks of a spoonful or two of sugar. Bash’s and Ember’s story is a very slow dance, but sadly I didn’t feel any kind of anticipation for their getting together. No butterflies in my stomach or the need of biting my nails. Being witness of the development of their relationship has been just an OK experience. It is not boring, but in several moments along the book the pages got a bit longer than physically possible. It was hard to keep the focus, because the dynamic between the characters is almost the same during the whole book. I know that in this kind of romances the reader has to wait for the spark that ignites the fire, but to make it interesting there has to be some “friction” in the meantime. The first book of the saga had a lot of banter in its arsenal to entertain me. That kind of sense of humor would have worked wonders in this book, but we only get a smidgen of it with this couple. Not enough to keep me truly engaged during the slowest times.
What is the source of my frustration with the book? In hindsight I can point out the characters as the main culprits. Being fair, more than the characters, it is the interactions between Ember and Bash. In separate corners of the world they are mostly great characters. Ember is funny, hardworking, too loyal and with a sarcastic drive that made me smile (one that hasn’t been properly exploited, though). Bash is the classic hugable giant of the Romance genre, with a heart as big as his biceps (you get the drill…). But when they are together, we get to see the other side of the coin. A side that I dind’t enjoy and even pissed me off a little bit. First of all, all the drama is based on them hiding to each other their feelings. That is not a problem per se, but with this couple it doesn’t make much sense. At first they are at odds with each other, but pretty soon they are capable of having serious conversations where they talk about everything. So, why don’t they tell each other the truth instead of agonizing like that? It’s like they are punishing themselves without an obvious reason (and we, readers, are the collateral damage). Secondly, I kind of hated their position where the parents were concerned. Bash in particular is so frigging cold towards Tricia and I don’t understand the need of it. It was awkward reading about it, taking into account the rol that plays Tricia’s illness. The same can be said of Ember and Doug. And don’t get me started about Bash’s way of not hurting his father. That was so selfish of him…
Thankfully, the extended cast is a good one and even a great one (the little sisters are a blast). We get to enjoy the presence of Logan and Jess in several moments, which is always good. And we also have the cameos of the peculiar couple formed by Ford and Keilani. Even though that last couple is fun, it kind of annoyed me to read such huge development on their relationship. It upsets me because it looks like they are going to have their own book and I have no idea what is left to tell… There is another couple that deserves a mention: Bethany and Woodby. I’m not sure if they were meant as the comic relief, but if that is the case, it was a total failure. Their personalities are too exagerated and twisted for my enjoyment.
It is not a bad book, but it leans too heavily in just OK in all its departments. The first one was superior in everything. In any case, an easy-to-read story that is more than enough to keep you busy for a little while.
3.5 stars.
Just A Boyfriend is the second book in the ‘End Of The Line’ series by Sariah Wilson. It’s a sweet story with a very slow-burning time-line.
Bash and Ember have a complicated and delicate relationship. They were once very much in love (while senior students at the same high school) but then Bash’s dad, met Ember’s mom and a new connection was made when these two single parents got married. Now Bash and Ember are stepsiblings and that’s all they are. Nearly four years later, Bash moves to Ember’s college and that’s when the lines start to get muddied. Neither has given up on the love they had felt for the other, but at the same time, they feel chained by familial and societal restrictions.
Through the following weeks, they are forced to breach the walls and answer some hard questions.
It all came together in the end, but I was slightly disappointed by the ‘fade to black’ method that Ms. Wilson employed. It came at the end however so didn’t detract from the story other than in building it up with some steamy foreplay which just never came to fruition.
Just a Boyfriend by Sariah Wilson is the second book in the End of the Line series and was angsty and steamy. Ian Sebastian, Bash, and Ember Carlson were on the cusp of finding young love when their then single parents marry. Suddenly what they want more than anything is forbidden. Not able to deal, Bash leaves. Years later the chemistry and connection between them is just as strong, can they continue to deny what they feel? Bash and Ember were great characters. Loyal and caring, they wanted to do the right thing, but at what cost? Could they work through old hurts and find a new normal? The story was emotional and full of angst.
Read and reviewed for Reviews From the Heart.
Happy reading!
After disappearing without a word to her four years ago, Bash is back in Ember’s life. Although it’s not like he really left, her mom married his dad while they were in high school. Taken completely by surprise by their parents’ decision, they knew that they couldn’t be together anymore after a few months of dating. Needing space to collect himself Bash moved in with his grandparents across the country. Now he’s home for college, and all of the old feelings and hurts are still there for them both.
This was such a sweet book. Ember was relatable in her insecurities, and her need to please her mom, especially after feeling like they’d been given a second chance with her mom’s cancer in remission. Her need to be loved and please others was heartbreaking, and it was so wonderful to see her learn that even if they disagree, her happiness is important too. Bash was not without issue, his mom’s abandonment and reappearance in his life is definitely a tough subject to tackle and his hesitance to forgive is understandable. This is such a sweet and angsty read, my heart hurting for them all of life’s struggles, Bash’s patience, Ember’s fear, it all came together beautifully in the end.