“Are you dating him?”I’ve been best friends with David since we were nine, and that question has been asked about us a lot. It’s like people can’t fathom how a super hot, charismatic guy can be just friends with an overly tall, boyish-figured girl. Wait. I think they probably can, because the next question is always a hopeful, “He’s single?”David is always single. But, he’s never wanting. Girls … single?”
David is always single. But, he’s never wanting.
Girls throw themselves at his feet like he’s some kind of rockstar. But not me. No. I’m just his friend; a fact he likes to remind me of at every opportunity.
And I’m OK with that—I think—because he’s right. Our friendship is too important. And honestly, I don’t want to be one of David’s girls. I see the way he uses them to meet his needs then casts them aside when his interest wanes. I’m not about that life. I want something more.
Something I don’t think David is capable of giving me.
That’s not to say I’m immune to his charms. I’ve never been immune.
I delight in the way his eyes twinkle when he smiles at me.
I relish in the way his voice ripples beneath my skin when we share a secret moment.
And I love the way his fingers feel against my skin when we touch…
Love.
Yes, I’ve always loved David. Problem is, David has never loved me. Not the way I want him to, anyway.
So, what’s a girl to do? Pine and hope for something that will never come? Or suck it up and move on?
I’m choosing to accept my reality and move on, a choice made easier when I start a new job and the hot AF junior solicitor shows an interest in me despite our office’s ‘No Dating’ policy.
David should be happy for me. Elliot is the first guy I’ve felt a deep attraction to in years. Despite the secrecy needed, he seems like the perfect distraction from my troubles, the perfect solution to heal my heart. He even likes David and doesn’t make an issue about my best friend being a guy.
But David isn’t happy. In fact, he’s downright angry over my new relationship. He says he’s worried I’ll get hurt again. But I don’t know, it feels bigger than that. It feels like I’m losing my best friend. Even though I’m playing by his rules.
What am I supposed to do? While I’m torn with indecision, the choice could be made for me. And this time, I might lose everything…
Katrina struggles with following her heart or following her mind in this gripping romantic drama featuring new and extended scenes from books A Beautiful Struggle and Too Close, republished as Struggle: Beautiful Series, one.
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Love with all your heart, even if it means watching her find love from the sidelines. Katrina and David have been friends since they were 9 and 10years old. Childhood best friends never lovers, there love and friendship for each other was unbreakable until it broke them apart. This story was well written about how in life through fear of losing your friendship you lose your heart. It’s a struggle to find the strength to fight for love. Recommended reading.
This book is my first read from this author. What an introduction. I understand this this is a revamped book that is actually two books into one. Either way hang on to your hats as this one will take you on the emotional rollercoaster. As a reader you get all kinds of feels with this book and a need to just turn one more page. Katerina and David are.childhood friends who have developed feelings for one another over time. But neither one will admit a thing and take the chance at losing it all. This has it’s own set of challenges to their friendship as each one will date someone else. Both Katerina and David have pasts, but there are no secrets between these two as they have been stuck together since they were nine years old. I found this to be a really entertaining read and so glad the ending played out as it did. This book is well worth picking up to enjoy.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A Beautiful Struggle is a re-release of the 1st book in Lilliana Anderson’s “Beautiful Series”. This book focuses on the story of Katrina Mahoney – a college student focusing on her law degree, training for a triathlon, and starting a part time job at a law firm. Lilliana brings you into the life of Katrina by articulately describing her life, her feelings, and her non-interest for any type of serious relationship due to an unfortunate ending to her last relationship. Thankfully she has her best friend, David, to rely on as she embarks on her new part time job. That is, until she meets Elliot Roberts, a junior solicitor from her office, and sparks immediately fly!
This story takes you through the lustful relationship of Katrina and Elliot, along with the jealously that overtakes Katrina’s best friend (and lady’s man), David.
Lillana does an amazing job pulling you into the life and love triangle of Katrina by making you really fall in love (or hate) with the characters. The book is full of romance, desire, loathing, hurt… I mean.. All the feels and emotions! It’s definitely an adult read!
I would definitely recommend this book and all of the others in this series as she takes you on a journey through the lives of several characters that you meet along the way.
Happy reading!
Despite the title, there was no Struggle with reading and enjoying this
Overall I had a very positive experience reading this and on reflection would say that I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I liked the initial scene setting, world building and getting to know the main players. However I’m going to be brutally honest and say that there was a part of this book that dragged for me. From about 35%-45% I just wasn’t quite feeling it, the pace felt slow and the story line a little repetitive. Then **POW** it really kicked up a gear and I found the Lilliana Anderson I know and love. I found the emotional turmoil, the heartache, the feelings that I had only caught passing moments of, until that point.
This is ‘sort of’ a love triangle, with Katrina torn between her BFF David and her work colleague Elliot. David is the one who she has loved for a very long time but who has already said no to any chance of a relationship. The one man who has always been there for her and can be relied upon, too special to risk losing. Elliot is the hot guy in the office, the one all the girls lust after, but work have a no relationships rule. Is a relationship worth risking their jobs for?
There are times when neither guy deserves Katrina, at one point I even felt as though she should give Connor a chance. They both have baggage that ends up hurting Katrina, leaving the question of who will get their act together first and give her the HEA she deserves?
Since this is an update and re-release of both Struggle and Too Close , I already know who the hero of Book #2 Forever is. Which gave me a heads up of what to expect in this, without actually giving away any spoilers for how this plot would play out. Now in some ways I thought she forgave her ‘forever’ guy a little too easily BUT the heart wants what the heart wants.
The entire story is from Katrina’s point of view, though the author writes with such emotion and passion, that it was very easy to understand how other characters are feeling too. I loved how my feelings towards ALL the main characters altered over the course of the book. There were times I liked them and other times I loathed them, but never did I not care about them – a sure sign of excellent writing.
Katrina very much felt like the young adult she was, sometimes she was naive or foolish, sometimes just down right careless but always believable and real. I sometimes forgot David was the same age, he occasionally felt older, however when I did remind myself of the facts it made his behaviour so much more understandable. Whilst a little older, Elliott was still somewhere between boy and man, evidenced by his lack of backbone where his father was involved. I have to say, normally NA isn’t my thing, the fact that I enjoyed this is further evidence of how good I find this author’s writing.
I loved how the Too Close gave us a deeper understanding of David. It also altered my perception of Struggle , though I’m still undecided on whether I would have preferred to read it first or not. I do recommend reading this book for NA fans, those who love a good emotional contemporary romance and fans of the author. It’s a cracking good read.
3.5 stars
This book annoyed me. A lot. It started off with so much promise. I loved the characters and I loved Katrina and David’s relationship. Unfortunately, it started going downhill before too long. It got super annoying and some of the decisions they made had me yelling at my kindle. “Are you flippin serious right now??? Are you a dagum idiot?” Sigh. Then after the long wait and the anticipation, the ending was anticlimactic. This book had so much promise but the author unfortunately rushed the ending and just kind of ruined it for me. Seriously disappointed.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
*5 Stars*
ARC kindly received in exchange for an honest review.
This is my first Lilliana book, although she has been on my TBR for a while as she was recommended by a friend. This is a revamp of A Beautiful Struggle and Too Close, combining them into one book. I must say, I was hooked on this one pretty fast, and I will definitely be reading more from Lilliana in the future.
Struggle is the story of Katrina and her best friend David, and then things get even more messy when Katrina’s hot colleague Elliott is added to the mix. Katrina and David are inseparable best friends, and everyone around them wonders why they aren’t together, and they always struggle with the balance of maintaining their friendship when dating.
Katrina has had a pretty horrible past experience with an ex, David is overly protective of her, and then she starts this new job and meets Elliott. He seems like just the right person to help her move on from her past, and also from the fact that nothing is ever going to happen between she and David.
Let me tell you, things really begin a roller coaster ride as all this starts, pretty much from the beginning. I was not expecting to dive into a book with so much angst, but boy oh boy, I could not stop reading. I was so torn between who I wanted Katrina to be with, as I equally liked both David and Elliott. By the end though, David was the one who I was cheering for the most.
Throw in some despicable secondary characters, who I really wanted to punch, and the circle is complete. We have a whole range of people who we’re wondering what they will do next, if they’re going to cause trouble, or if they’re going to get what’s coming to them.
I also loved that this was set in Sydney, and whilst I don’t live in the city itself, or the Western Suburbs, it’s very easy to picture everything and to laugh at, and enjoy how thoroughly authentic these characters are, because I’m a Sydney-sider myself. There were quite a few little things where I messaged my friend, and we had a laugh about how true something was that Lilliana had included.
By the end of the main novel, I really had my heart set on particular things, and I also had suspicions about other characters and what may happen with them. I was fairly accurate with my thoughts for the most part, and I was invested in how things would turn out for these guys. I was quite happy with the ending, although it may fall a little flat for some, because there is a hell of alot of angst for probably 95% of the book, and then you get this ending which seems quite smooth. I did like the ending, I just know that it’s contentious for others. I did really like this one, and I would love to see what comes next for some of the other characters. Definitely recommend.
The novella part of the book comes right after the main story, and this one is from David’s POV and is his and Trina’s story before and right up until the accident with Christopher. It was interesting to get his perspective on things and even though you know how things ultimately play out, because you’ve already read the main book, you still get so caught up in whats going on. I enjoyed the novella as much as the main book.
I recommend reading Struggle, and I really look forward to continuing this series.
Probably one book that I can say the title more than explains the story. You will want to shake your reader and yell at these characters to knock some sense into them. There are characters who you’ll pray for comeuppance on and ones that will just get on your nerves.
Forget the Bermuda triangle, this is the triangle you want to get lost in. Don’t worry about packing any baggage because this story has more than enough.
I thought I knew or highly suspected how things would go but I may have not been fully correct, which I liked that it wasn’t too predictable.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is a YA friends to more with an unrequited love involved. There’s definitely the angst you would expect from such a story as well as a roller coaster ride of emotions playing out.
David & Katrina have been friends since she was 9, catching the bus together to school & having a BFF relationship. Of course their partners don’t get the dynamic & it also makes them a target for the ‘mean girls’. I might add poor Katrina also encounters this at her work.
David has made it clear that she is definitely in the ‘friend’ zone but is she? More will be revealed in the 2nd story in this bundle. There’s a lot going on with their partners esp Katrina, one being Christopher, who left her with more than nightmares. Then there’s Elliott, a work colleague, which she falls for. However there is that divide between their financial & social statuses, & being defined as a ‘westie’. He has his own demons to deal with esp his father.
This triangle becomes more & more difficult for Katrina to negotiate. So I will let you decide if you’re Team David or Team Elliott by reading this.
The author has re-tweaked & updated this story. Being an Aussie I liked the location references as my daughter at one time lived in Cranebrook & I’m well aware of the social divide, as I moved ‘west ‘ when I married. Well now it’s the centre of Sydney lol !
This is more mature YA story with a lot of emotional baggage carried by our H & h. I’ve read this author before & enjoyed her tear jeaker, 47 Things, immensely. So if you like a bit of angst & afew love triangles, no cheating, then you will enjoy this.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. 4.5*